At 12:44 P.M. every day, students file into the last lunch of the day that will be served. As they walk up to the lunch line, they wonder what will be left for them to choose from. More often than not, it won’t be what was listed on the menu. Students often recall times when the staff had to microwave more food to keep up with the demand or when the lunch option they would like was completely unavailable.
This continual dilemma has students in D-lunch asking questions.
“[I’ve wondered] why don’t they ration more between lunches.” Miley Farniok 25’ said. “One time it was chicken and rice, and they ran out of rice and started giving us these weird whole grain noodles, but then it was like half the original [serving] size because they had ran out.”
While students may feel the quality of lunches is inconsistent, Kim Hinrichs, BHM’s Nutrition Services Director, feels that the quality of lunches is mostly equal, with staff doing their best to forecast what they should prepare based on past demand.
“There is always enough food to feed all lunch periods,” Hinrichs said. “The selection may vary at the end of the serving time, as they base their calculations on past usage. If they run out of something, the staff will try to offer another option or quickly make more food. They try hard to avoid running out by planning ahead and having backup food ready, but it doesn’t always work perfectly. For example: the trimester change makes a difference in their calculations as there are different students eating at different times. It takes a few weeks of the new schedule to determine how much food to prepare without having a shortage or wasting too much food. Also sometimes the teachers may change their classes’ lunch period without informing the kitchen, so they have no idea that they may be having an extra 30 students in D lunch on any given day.”
She also explained that D-lunch food should always be as fresh as A.
“Food is prepared before each lunch period, so the D lunch options should be as fresh as the A lunch options,” Hinrichs said.
Another comment that is rather common among students is whether or not the quality and quantity of lunch has changed since nutrition services have become government funded making it free for all students.
Hinrichs insisted, “There has been no change to school lunches due to the financing. We follow the same guidelines and offer the same food selections as before.”
Despite the reassuring comments from Hinrichs, many students with D-Lunch aren’t fully satisfied with the options being given to them, and feel that this is not always true, as their own personal experiences speak for themselves.
“I feel like that’s not what is actually happening, the options definitely aren’t as fresh as the other lunches. When I had D-Lunch there were a lot of occasions when the staff had to bring out an entirely different meal and there were no sides left. I think there is more going on than what she realizes,” an anonymous BHS senior said.
