With a struggling economy, families across the nation have re-evaluated their spending plans. The same goes for the Hillsborough County School District. This school year, large strides were made to cut down district spending. The district is saving $1.3 million by making large changes in the supplies used and the food served, according to the Tampa Tribune.
The cafeteria now serves juice in plastic pouches instead of the classic carton, the hot dogs are smaller and fewer of students’ favorites are being sold.
The price for lunch also rose this year to offset food prices. But on the upside, more families are qualifying for free lunch (53.2 percent from last year’s 50 percent). For a family to qualify for free lunch, it’s annual income must be at or below 130 percent of the poverty level or $27,560 if it’s a family of four.)
The biggest saving was made by the change in the chemicals that are used to clean the kitchen pots and pans.
This saves $275,000.
By serving chicken sandwiches and Big Daddy Pizza once a week rather than twice the district saves over $400,000.
Other savings include $200,000 by using canned fruit rather than fresh fruit three days a week, $108,000 by using a new brand of biscuits that contain trans-fat, $65,000 from the new juice pouches which also cut down on environmental waste, $14,000 from the use of plain paper napkins and cutlery and $8,000 by serving hot dogs that have been reduced in size by two-thirds of an ounce.
While some of the changes may not seem big, when there are 190,000 students eating school meals, any money saved helps.
But the quantity and quality of food has been a problem for some students this year. Some ‘C’ lunch students find that by the time they get there, the better meals are gone and the food that’s left is cold.
“They need to give you more food, and if they serve chicken sandwiches less, then they should give us something in place of it,” said sophomore Nick Nadeau. Many students have also been aggravated because the lunch room counts juice as one of your food options.
“It’s upsetting that they count juice as a food. It’s liquid, you don’t eat it, it’s not food,” said junior Jose Perez.