We are extremely grateful for the free meals offered by Loudoun County Public Schools. It is a huge benefit for students that cannot afford school meals or do not have the time to pack meals/eat breakfast in the morning. The breakfast provided by the schools is great! It is also helpful to students who don’t qualify for the fee waivers or have food insecurity. 

That being said, the quality of school lunches provided by the county has plenty of room for improvement. We do not mean to be unappreciative, however, not only is the school lacking options for all students (ex: vegetarian or zabiha) at times, but also the food is neither healthy nor appetizing. Many times, students buying lunch do not have options due certain dietary restrictions. Students go in expecting to find something to eat only to be disappointed with nothing.  

The students have brought up the lunches being tasteless many times and we have been told that it's because the school must provide healthy and inexpensive options. However, it is clear that the school uses food that is stored and frozen. This food is not fresh and when reheated becomes even worse. For example, the “Big Daddy’s Cheese Pizza” is sometimes brown/gray, oily, rock-hard, and has a plastic/cardboard texture. The “Grilled Cheese Sandwiches” are heated while still in the plastic wrappers which allows chemicals to seep into the food and is unsafe. The chicken does not taste or appear like real chicken which makes us wonder what it really is?! Sometimes, I observe mold on some of the food. Also, water is not free. How is it that milk is free, but water is not? Ever since Coronavirus has begun, students have avoided using the water fountains at school and as a result are dehydrated all day. Water bottles should be free even at the cost of milk. Before free meals began, the school offered snacks at a fee. This was helpful because even if a student was unable to eat a meal, then they could buy a snack. But, this is not possible anymore either. 

The schools also offer “snack packs” which are mandatory with every free lunch, but MOST students don’t want to eat what is in the “snack packs” and end up throwing them out. MOST food provided by the school is thrown out, half-eaten, or wasted. This is a huge waste of food and money. Also, most students tend to just skip lunch and end up eating nothing the whole day. This leads to bad productivity in classes and bad moods (stress, depression, etc.) and it is overall bad for people to skip ENTIRE meals. 

We are not asking to be fed gourmet meals or very expensive lunches, but rather something edible. What we are asking is not unreasonable; healthy, free, inexpensive, and delicious meals are feasible if we only work on it a little. The students would love to be considered when making these decisions.