My High School Diet 8 During Coronavirus

Pop-Tarts and Tacos are on the menu of my latest High School Diet series. 

This is the eighth free meal I picked up from my local high school and it hits all the sweet spots, especially if you are a student. Hey, even an old-timer like me had a pretty tasty flashback experience inserting a couple of strawberry flavored Pop-Tarts into the toaster, and it's pretty hard to mess up a Beef and 2 Cheese Taco.

And since when did Goldfish Crackers become healthy? I guess listing whole wheat as an ingredient gives junk food a passing grade! 

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.

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 Grab & Go walk up at Susan Miller Dorsey High School. 

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: Pop-Tarts, Apple, Orange and Milk

It's been quite a while since I had Pop-Tarts, and boy do they hold up as a cheap breakfast pastry. Since I tried Pop-Tarts again I've purchased off-brand ones called  Toast 'em from my local Dollar Tree and 99c only Store. While not officially Pop-Tarts, they are close enough.

You get 2 Pop-Tarts in a package. They are a bit smaller than a slice of toast. And the best way to heat them up is in a toaster, of course.

 Pop-Tarts were filled with strawberry jam. The thin smear of fruity filling is quite tasty if a bit over-sweet like typical grocery shelf fruit jam. It works with the soft cookie-like pastry. 

And there is that hard sugar frosting shell on top that softens when toasted. It's super sweet of course, just the way I remember them. When Pop-Tarts originally appeared on grocery selves in 1964, and we first had them it was a memorable day, indeed. They were a favorite at my breakfast table, and so convenient for late-running student sleepy-heads.

They used to be pure sugar and white flour, but now it's whole wheat flour and sugar.

Click on any photo to see larger.

Fresh fruit is needed after these sugary pastries. The school supplied apple and orange does the trick

Lunch: Beef and 2 Cheese Taco, Carrots, Goldfish Crackers, Apple, and Milk (always Milk.)

Let's dive into my High School Lunch bag and start with an appetizer of Goldfish Crackers. Can't say I've ever had many Goldfish Crackers before, I guess I missed that boat, but I could learn to like them after trying a bag. 

They are salty like a regular cracker, but with cheddar cheese as extra flavor. I can see how kids could become addicted to them.

I've seen different flavors of Goldfish in my local Dollar Tree, too. 

I do play with my food and Goldfish Crackers are another product in need of a personality like The Lego Movie.

Included in my High School Lunch is a small bag of baby carrots. Peeled and bite-sized they are a welcome raw veggie addition. No need to describe them, right? 

For the main course, the following high school Mexican treat is a Frankenstein Taco, halfway between a Jack-n-Box and  Taco Bell taco. But don't get me wrong, I actually liked it better than the Jack-n-Box two tacos for 99 cents. 

There is more cheese than ground meat. Again with no label, I could not tell if the meat is beef or fowl or a soy/meat mixture...hmmm

The corn tortilla is a swimming pool of molten cheese when microwaved. Cheese tastes of mild Jack cheese with a sprinkling of yellow cheese (American?) Since there is no ingredients label I am guessing specifically what's in the Beef and 2 Cheese Taco. 

The ground meat is mushy more than chunky. I couldn't tell what kind of meat it was. The seasoning has a welcome, but mild, chili flavor - this is a taco meant to please all palates. 

The tortilla is not a typical one, it seems like a rough cornmeal blend, it doesn't quite work like the corn tortillas you would normally get at a grocery or taco truck. But I can see how unformed palates would be okay with it, as it's really not bad, just inauthentic.

The Beef and 2 Cheese Taco reminded me of a Jack-n-box version with the mystery meat and off tortilla texture. Although I thought it better than Jack's.

 If you want to see what I really think of Jack-n-box tacos just watch my 99 Cent Chef Cheap$kate Dining Review below.

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 for more of my latest food series High School Meals.

 Be safe & keep your distance!