LAUSD Menu Revamped Again To Serve More Familiar, Kid-Friendly Meals
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — When thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District students return to campuses for the first day of classes Tuesday, they will be greeted with breakfast in the classroom, more familiar lunch choices on environmentally-friendly meal trays – and higher cafeteria prices.
A year after the district dabbled with unexpected vegetarian choices, LAUSD will serve healthier, kid-friendly dishes like pulled-pork sandwiches, hamburger sliders and whole-grain spaghetti and meatballs to students, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
Last year, the district tweaked its menu to include healthy alternatives like vegetarian curries and tamales, quinoa salads and pad Thai noodles, which were pitched into the trash by the thousands.
The new entrees were introduced over the summer at the district's three year-round schools and have received positive reviews, according to David Binkle, interim director of the district's Food Services Division.
The first day of school's menu will include BBQ baked chicken, a whole grain breadstick, a green salad with cherry tomatoes and baby carrots. Students can choose between 100 percent apple juice, 1 percent, fat-free or lactose white milk.
Meals will be served for the first time on recyclable paper products rather than polystyrene trays, the Daily News reported, and prices will jump for those meals so Food Services can break even this fiscal year after operating at a multimillion-dollar deficit the last several years.
Elementary students will pay $1 for breakfast and $1.50 for lunch. Prices at middle and high schools will go to $1.50 and $2, respectively. Reduced-price lunches will be 40 cents and breakfast is free, according to the Daily News.
