~ HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD...? New madness ?? ~

Well, here is the thing- I can make macaroni and cheese from scratch - I use two 8 oz blocks of extra sharp cheddar; plus some milk, some butter, cayenne pepper, of course; and a box of whole wheat elbows.

The elbows alone cost more than a box of store brand macaroni and cheese. You can't compare for quality and nutrition; but sadly, the store brand stuff is all that some people can afford. I can afford to pay more for fresh produce, pastured beef, organic eggs , etc. Not everyone can.

I think sometimes the prepared foods are cheaper because they are not really food.
 
Real food can be more expensive than that fake stuff. You will get way more mac & cheese from scratch though. When I used to live on crappy prepackaged food it took 2 boxes of mac & cheese to feed the kids. I could feed the family with a meal made from a $1 box of pasta, a $1 can of spaghetti sauce and a $1 lb of ground turkey.

I think if you calculated unit cost it will be close.
 
I think it's convenience as much as cost. My town's median income is three times Huntington, WV and our schools still serve junk. Chicken nuggets nearly everyday. They still serve the grilled cheese with tomato soup and salad as they did when I was a kid once a week, otherwise I don't recognize the menu. Pizza and cheeseburgers are an option everyday. Our only option was bringing a lunch or leaving campus. And I don't think they even have the apple machine anymore. :old

Not sure how the schools come up with pricing but the district I'm in currently charges $3.25 while my old district charges $2.50 and serves slightly better food. I understand there are layers upon layers of subsides for the grains but not for the veggies . What I don't understand is why.
 
wifezilla said:
Real food can be more expensive than that fake stuff. You will get way more mac & cheese from scratch though. When I used to live on crappy prepackaged food it took 2 boxes of mac & cheese to feed the kids. I could feed the family with a meal made from a $1 box of pasta, a $1 can of spaghetti sauce and a $1 lb of ground turkey.

I think if you calculated unit cost it will be close.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that is true. And you can't put a price on better taste and better nutrition, or knowing what is in the food you eat.
 
I teach at an elementary school and cringe at what I see in the food lines.

Chicken nuggets, microwaved bean burrito, always pizza, everyday, pancakes and syrup, corndogs, uncrustable pbj, you get the idea.

There is a salad bar with salad, celery, jicama, apples, strawberries, bananas and I always make my kids choose something from the salad bar.

BUT, I wonder about the source of these fruits and vegetables, especially after reading this:

http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/food.jsp?food=CE

I seriously doubt the fruits and vegetables are organically grown.

When I look at kids lunchboxes prepared by parents, I usually see a lot of packaged processed foods as well.

I call this group of kids the flaming hot cheeto generation.
 
I can understand the concerns. A very good start would be to NOT buy fruits/vegetables from anywhere but the USA. The other countries use massive amounts of pesticides with most of them outlawed in the USA.

On a talk show on our food source, the most unclean fruit you can buy from a pesticide standpoint is banana's. Their peels are almost toxic waste.
 
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