School lunch programs vary across counties, states, and countries; "Nevada School Lunch Program" (CC BY-NC 2.0) by NevadaDeptofAgriculture
Our family moved from rural Calvert County, Maryland to East Northamptonshire, England in summer 2016 for the next three years. We found several differences in school lunches once the school year began.
| Calvert County, Maryland | East Northamptonshire, England | |
|---|---|---|
| Food Preparation | The school kitchen prepares all food. | A caterer prepares food offsite and brings it to the school. |
| Ordering Method | Students do not order meals ahead of time but can view the menu online. | Students order their meal through an online account at least one week in advance. |
| Food Selection | Students choose between two main dishes. All lunches come with assorted fruit, one vegetable, and milk. | Students choose a lunch from the following categories: main, vegetarian, sandwich, casserole, and stuffed baked potato. |
The school lunch catering website is easy to use. The website provides information for daily meals in each of the five categories. Weekly emails remind parents to order lunches before the deadline. If children mistakenly do not order a lunch, then they receive an extra meal from the "main" category.
Our child loves ordering lunches online because she likes having the choice of, and control over, what she eats. I have also begun to wonder if the combination of more food choices and pre-ordering leads to less food waste. The experience provided inspiration for this website's school food waste series.
The successes and lessons learned of this story are outlined below.
