Milk and... pretzels?

May 21, 2006 2:58 PM

SnackFilter: Milk with pretzels and orange juice with cookies. Why?

At my preschool, there are certain dietary guidelines that govern what we serve for snack. Basically, our beverage choices are broken down to milk, apple juice, and orange juice. For some reason, we are to serve milk with pretzels. No other snack gets milk. Why pretzels? Any nutrition experts have any idea?

It also boggles my mind that chocolate chip cookies are served with orange juice, but I sense some food-group distribution going on there. The milk with pretzels is way more mysterious.

posted by grapefruitmoon to food & drink (18 comments total)

Milk's a pretty good whole food and pretzels are mostly just starch. I suspect the milk is taking on the entire nutritional job for that particular snack.

Orange juice with chocolate chip cookies is simply heinous. Someone ought to be shot over that one.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:10 PM on May 21, 2006

Most of our snacks are simple starches: wheat thins, triscuits, etc. Which is why I wonder about the milk and pretzels. Why not milk with ALL salty starches?
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:26 PM on May 21, 2006

Besides, pretzels go with beer.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:26 PM on May 21, 2006

Those combinations are terrible, it sounds like someone is trying to discourage the kids from eating snacks.
posted by b1tr0t at 3:43 PM on May 21, 2006

For some reason, we are to serve milk with pretzels. No other snack gets milk.

Consider that there might be a "fat ceiling" where a snack cannot exceed certain amounts of fat. Milk is high fat. Pretzels are low fat. Ergo, milk + pretzels = a combination that delivers both milk and a non-liquid snack that stays within the desired number ranges. Pretzels + juice = low fat, but low proteins and vitamins, too.
posted by frogan at 3:48 PM on May 21, 2006

Me thinks frogan is on to something. Especially since we serve whole milk...
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:49 PM on May 21, 2006

"... It also boggles my mind that chocolate chip cookies are served with orange juice, ..."
posted by grapefruitmoon to food & drink (6 comments total) [+ add to favorites] [!]

Boggles my mind, too, and curdles the coffee and cookies film on my tongue at the moment. Yeck. Double yeck. You're creating the next wave of psychopathic serial killers doing that, gfm...

All snark aside, can the kids at least exchange snack elements once they've been issued, or do you have to watch them swallow? I mean, it's bad enough to have to give those combinations out with a straight face, but far worse for you if you have play Nurse Ratched, too.
posted by paulsc at 4:09 PM on May 21, 2006

paulsc: They can throw away the snack if they don't want it, but we have nothing to exchange it WITH if they don't like it.

Snack is assembled in the cafeteria and then doled out to each classroom. I keep a small snack back-up in class in case of emergencies, but I don't give it out unless a kid is sick. (My stash is mostly graham crackers and saltines.) Thing is, if kids could request/exchange snacks, they'd just be eating oreos and nothing else.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:27 PM on May 21, 2006

OJ + chocolate chip cookies is suprisingly good.

My personal favorite "juice in a milk related role" is cranberry juice over cereal. (OJ works too)
posted by beerbajay at 4:35 PM on May 21, 2006

"Warm pretzels and milk are good for you" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Don't tell me that you dunk them?
posted by cenoxo at 7:28 PM on May 21, 2006

Family child care programs and some child care and after school care programs may be reimbursed for meals and snacks. It's related to the school lunch program. They have to follow guidelines. The guidelines do get politically manipulated by Big Agribusiness, but these programs provide meals to a lot of kids who really need them. I can think of worse ways my tax dollars get spent.
posted by theora55 at 7:44 PM on May 21, 2006

Wow, in Canada, there's a huge campaign *against* giving kids juice to drink. I was shocked to read the guidelines above, which call for 3/4 c of full-strength juice. Here, they suggest no more than 1/2 c of watered down juice a day, if that.
posted by acoutu at 8:47 PM on May 21, 2006

theora55: Not only do we follow guidelines, we buy our food from the foodbank. All of our snacks are what doesn't get sold in the grocery store and has passed its expiration date.

It's a pretty grim situation, really.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:35 PM on May 21, 2006

All of our snacks are what doesn't get sold in the grocery store and has passed its expiration date.

Including the milk? Are the parents aware that you are feeding their kids expired food?
posted by b1tr0t at 10:12 PM on May 21, 2006

No, the milk is fresh. Thankfully!

As far as what the parents are aware of... we serve a low-income community and most of our parents receive financial aid from the state to send their kids to any kind of childcare. They're not going to be raising a fuss about the expiration date on the crackers anytime soon.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 11:40 PM on May 21, 2006

I find it fairly repulsive, and likely the work of a committee that was lacking ownership of functioning tastebuds and/or care for the fact that kids are people just like they, and might enjoy eating normal food combinations.

I also wonder what percentage of your school population is non-caucasian, since many (in some cases the majority) non-caucasians are lactose intolerant, and shouldn't be having milk with any kind of snack, pretzels or cookies or anything else.
posted by Dreama at 12:22 PM on May 22, 2006

Dreama: Most of my school is non-caucasian. I've only got four caucasians in a class of 18 kids.

And only 2 kids in my class are lactose intolerant. All children are screened for allergies before entering the center, we have a list of all dietary restrictions in every classroom in the building. There are very very few kids in the whole center with milk sensitivities - far more are allergic to apple juice, oddly enough.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:20 PM on May 22, 2006

I should elaborate that children allergic to one type of food are given other foods - we don't just send 'em off with a cup of water. (Though I had to do that ONCE when we were out of orange juice because I have a girl allergic to both milk and apple juice. She was very sweet about it and said that she wasn't thirsty anyway.) We may be low-budget, but we're not cruel.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:22 PM on May 22, 2006