Lunch Lady Land

As some of you know, I eat school lunch nearly every day. This school lunch preference has to do with 4 factors, each on a very deep personal level.

1) It's $2.10/meal without milk. $2.40 with. Done.

2) I'm way too lazy to pack a lunch every day.

3) It reminds me of eating school lunch as a kid.

4) I actually eat a balanced meal once a day.

Some of the lunches are much worse than others, it's true. For example; I love to eat cold meat sandwiches. Pretty much any type of meat on some bread is always a good option. But school lunch meat is different. The roast beef seems pickled and the ham is pink and shiny.

The turkey, however, is not bad. So today I will be trying a Turkey wrap.

What is this Turkey wrap, you might ask. Well it's turkey cold cuts on a tortilla with a little ranch dressing, lettuce and tomato inside. It's tasty. It's good. It's cheap!

The lunch always consists of the basic 5: grain, dairy, fruit, veggies and meat. When I'm at home a balanced meal consists of these 5 also, but they tend to be mixed together (Jack's Supreme pizza and a glass of milk. For the purposes of making me feel better I count tomato sauce as a fruit). Now that's a balanced meal.

Another fun thing about school lunch is the issue of recycling. Not paper and plastic, but food. Today's hamburger will be recycled into tomorrow's chili. Today's garlic bread is tomorrow's crouton. You never know what you're going to be getting - it's always a guessing game! This is how we stimulate minds in public elementary schools; "Guess how we reused the lunch."

When I was young I thought the cool kids were the kids who had cold lunch every day. How lucky they are, they get to pick their lunch every day. My parents would make me eat hot lunch. Now I'm thinking that I had it all wrong.

I'm proud to eat school lunch every day. I sip milk through a straw and use the tiny napkin that accompanies my spork, straw and napkin packet. I sit in a chair that's just a little too small for me. I chat with my colleagues and supervisors about reality tv (these ladies love their Survivor) and whatever is on their minds.

Some of these lunches have been downright racy.

At one point, one of my colleagues mentioned seeing a movie with a gratuitous secks scene (I'm typing this at school and it won't allow the three letter word). One of my supervisor (60 years old, graying hair, conservative in nature) piped in with, "There's nothing wrong with seeing a little secks every now and then. It's fun sometimes!"

Yikes.