For this new Food Series, I gave myself the assignment to find out what High School kids are being fed during Covid-19. We here in Los Angeles care about the nutrition needs of young people.
I'll be sharing a different Breakfast and Lunch meal every few days. I think you'll be as surprised as I am of the good, the bad, and the ugly...oh boy.
Click on any photo to see larger.
These meals are Grab & Go from my local High School. I'm sure regular school cafeteria fare is different (better?) than the ones I am getting carryout at the drive-thru lane. You can click here to see the first meal I had at my neighborhood Grab & Go.
The GIF above is a drive-thru Susan Miller Dorsey High School's Grab & Go.
There seem to be plenty of meal bags laid out on the tables and once I asked if they ever run out and the attendant replied emphatically "Never!"
Breakfast: Conchas Mexican Sweet Bread, Corn Muffin, Apple, Orange, and Milk (always Milk.)
This breakfast is more interesting than typical sugary donuts.
Mildly sweet and a bit dry this sweet bread is of the Mexican pastry variety. Conchas is a tasty way to start the day.
Go to any Latin market and you will see these in the bakery department. I have found them at my local 99c Only Stores, too.
It's about the size of a hamburger bun. The white stripes on top are sweeter than the interior which makes a nice contrast and overall -- it is a good balance. It's a bit on the bland side but that's okay with me.
I think this is a Corn Muffin as there is no labeling on the package. Corn Muffin is a bit grittier than a cupcake probable due to the cornmeal base.
You can taste corn in the cake part and every once in a while I thought I got a chewy corn kernel. It is a sweet cornbread and more crumbly than a cupcake. The thin sticky-soft top seemed to hold most of the sugar sweetness. Overall I liked it.
Lunch: Chef Salad and Cookies.
I hit the jackpot today with a Chef Salad and Educational Snacks (cookies).
At almost 8 ounces this is a good-sized green salad with Turkey, Ham, and Swiss Cheese topped with a creamy Ranch Dressing.
Now the green part is just Iceberg lettuce and the label calls it a "Classic Salad" so I expect nothing less.
I like Iceberg for the crunchiness and an almost sweet (green) to a lightly bitter (white) range of chopped leaves. It is the kind of lettuce I grew up with and as far as I'm concerned it will never go out of style.
The segmented top to the salad holds small half-inch bars of lightly smoked ham and turkey.
The turkey is white meat and the ham is very lean. The texture is of real meat, not a processed ground and shaped type. It is a hearty and filling salad.
The Swiss Cheese is shredded and soft in texture and mild in flavor. I would have liked a more intense type of Swiss, but this is fine anyway.
And finally, you can mix in Ranch Dressing. The Ranch is thick and creamy with a slight onion and chive undertaste that comes thru the mayo and buttermilk base. It's a rich dressing and I liked it very much.
The ingredient list is a long one but this salad has everything in it.
If you're vegan then this salad is not for you, but I would line up at the Grab & Go anytime for this old school Chef Salad
The Lunch Dessert is a bag of smart cookies called Dick & Jane Educational Snacks. They are tasty and crunchy. Not too sweet and similar to Animal Crackers or a mild vanilla wafer - nothing special, just a plain cookie.
I never heard of this brand, but you can click here to find out what Dick & Jane are all about. But basically, the cookies are nut-free (Dick is allergic to nuts,) low sugar. They are distributed through Amazon to the general public and I guess they have a contract with schools.
They have nutrition and ingredients listed clearly on the package. And it doesn't look bad, mainly whole grain wheat and a few other ingredients including sugar, honey, eggs, whole milk, and sunflower oil.
For reviews or info about the purveyors of these food items you can check out Fooducate, just enter a product food name and see what pops up about it: https://www.fooducate.com/
And you can learn about Los Angeles Unified School District's Cafe LA (which supplies a lot of the packaged food) here: https://achieve.lausd.net/cafela
And do check back in a few days for more of my latest food series High School Meals.
And you can learn about Los Angeles Unified School District's Cafe LA (which supplies a lot of the packaged food) here: https://achieve.lausd.net/cafela
And do check back in a few days for more of my latest food series High School Meals.
Be safe & keep your distance!
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