Elementary School Gets Rid of Hot Lunch, Feeds Students Moldy Turkey Sandwiches Instead

Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor

Jun 23, 2026 7:45 AM EDT

What's more important than making sure that children are fed?

People can be extremely weird about free school lunches. They don't think it's the taxpayers' job to ensure that kids are served at least 2 meals a day, because they think it's the parents' responsibility to feed them. Anyone who feels that way doesn't know what it's like to be a hungry kid whose parents are trying to keep the lights on. Kids don't deserve to be punished for their parents' financial struggles, and society is a lot better off if we put taxpayer money into caring for children instead of any number of things it could be spent on.

Most schools serve hot lunches because they believe that every child should have at least one hot meal per day, and if it's not dinner, it should be lunch. If you have never had a time in your life when you were deprived of hot meals, you might not know what those without them are missing. The teacher in this story is outraged after finding out her students, some of whom deal with homelessness, are no longer going to have hot lunches provided by the school. Instead, they are going to get moldy food and suspicious turkey sandwiches that taste weird even when they're fresh. The kids at her school deserve better than that!!!

via CDC

_{A model of an elementary school student eating hot lunch, which won't be available to him if his school switches to exclusively serving cold lunches during lunchtime.}
The elementary school where I teach is getting rid of hot lunch for all students

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Having half of the students at school bring their lunch is pretty standard at schools of any socioeconomic background. It shouldn't be grounds for taking away high-quality school lunches from the kids who need them! They're getting it for a reason, and that reason might be that it helps their struggling parents financially.
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via Nancy Hughes

_{A moldy orange between two fresh oranges. Well, fresh for now!}
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via Annie Spratt

_{Representation of kids at another school eating their hot lunch because their district didn't cut the funds necessary for hot lunch.}
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