The "healthy" eating plans our government comes up with astound me. I just found out that our senior citizens' center is not even allowed to have a frying pan in the kitchen. Our churches take turns fixing breakfast once a month to raise money for the center and they have to bring their own skillets each time for scrambling the eggs, etc. I figure if a person can't decide for themselves what they should or shouldn't eat by the time they're going to the senior center, the government has gone too far. I'll go along with Indydebi's quote from Reagan.
Diane
If I went to a bake sale I would expect "made from scratch" baked goods.
Does anyone else find it funny that if this were the rule, then none of us who bake professionally could contribute?
After all, our cakes are not "home baked".
yes, i asked a lady who worked for a bakery and she told me they use mixes . infact my husband went to an bakery auction . he was too late, but they gave him 50 lb. bags of cake mix. one white and one chocolate.
Here is my 2 cents.
I live and deal with two different school districts - The one where I live and the one where my DSS lives.
The one where I live adopted the "healthy" meal plan, The kids declared a no eating cafeteria food (not one of them ate for two weeks) the school lost so much money, they had to bring some of the other foods back so they could gain profits again. The main one being French Fries. These kids came up with it on their own and had their parents bring in foods from "outside" and ordered food and had it delivered in order to eat. It was really funny that they were able to tell the school what they want to eat. Since then, The Government has come into play and taken out the soda and candy machines. The kids were told that if they even tried doing anything to get them back, they would end up going to school later, as they would take days off school and push the date back. (NOT FAIR - what happend to Free Speech, and all that jazz?)
I always say (along with my husband) I live in the land of the Free as long as I conform -- I'm tired of conforming ... LOL
As for the other school, my DSS's School, he is not allowed to have any sweets, etc. for snacks, However, I was allowed to make Rice Krispy treats and bring them in for his birthday, I was told by DH not to put fondant on them as that would add in the sugar factor LOL. I am trying to come up with a cookie treat for his teacher for helping us with some different things and I thought about using apple sauce in them instead of oil, but I don't know how they would stand up. but then I was going to put chocolate and carmel on them so the healthy factor would go out the window.
Now My cousins went to a private school, and their lunches were Homemade, or meals brought from parents for the kids to eat. Now I completely understand the NO PEANUTBUTTER rule because my middle cousin (a very mischeivious/curious boy) was eating peanut butter, and knew the kids next to him was allergic and smeared it on his face "to see what would happen - the kid ended up in the hospital. Also, being a red cross instructor and Home health aide, know that if you have just eaten peanut butter and then kiss, or even talk to someone who is allergic, they can have a reaction. Not to long ago there was a story about a teenage boy and girl, the boy was allergic to peanut butter, and the girl ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich, then brushed her teeth, however the peanut butter was still in her mouth.... she kissed her boyfriend, and he died from the peanut allergy.
All of that being said. I perfere organic, natural foods. I drink organic milk specifically and will only use that in my cakes, cookies etc. I would love to eat more organically however it is so expensive. As gross as my next statement may be, I am surprised it hasn't been done yet. I read an artical recently that said people were not ment to drink cows milk, it is not digested well. We should only drink milk from the species in which we come. Hmmm... Are they going to start harvesting breast milk for human consumption, giving them hormones in order to produce more? I don't think I want any part of that. Could you imagine, reading a carton of milk, Please be aware, the human that made this milk could have consumed this this and this, if you have an allergy please see the next carton.
Now as for the no boxed mixes, that is just rediculous, I would make my box mix, write down the ingredients off of the box, plus my additions and say here ya go. Some people are getting out of hand.
It should be the parents, grandparents choice to buy/give their children goodies and not buy them when they think they would be in harms way. The whole Sue Happy nation we are in is also out of hand!
Sorry this has been so long... but we need to take back our lives and stop letting the government from running them. They have us by the teeth and everything else with Gas prices steadily climbing, that it is getting hard to even buy groceries, now they tell us what we can feed our kids... So rediculous.
UPDATE!
As the OP of this thread I had no idea it was still going! I haven't been getting any notices...
Anyway, I finally heard back from the person in charge. She said no one could remember when the "no box mixes rule" was added. Just that they were trying to make the quality and variety of the items very good and to try to avoid getting 20 trays of brownies and 30 trays of rice krispie treats.
Thankfully, my in-laws cancelled their visit the weekend of the bake sale, so I was able to work on scratch cupcakes - which came out very tasty!
And they were really fun to decorate!
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1218064
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1218065
Oh, and there were still lots of brownie and rice krispie treats - and I don't think that anyone cared one bit! Everyone was buying things all afternoon!
In our school, we may not send any food, PERIOD. For snack time, we all give some $ at the beginning of the year and the school provides snacks. for birthday parties, we also give $ and the theachers buy the stuff. this is only for preschool. This also eliminates competition between the mothers, who can make a fancier party or send a better snack.
This also eliminates competition between the mothers, who can make a fancier party or send a better snack.
NO!! I was counting on that!! Some Moms are pretty, some Moms are athletic, I was counting on treats to carry me through!!! Wahhhh! How am I going to be the best Mom in town now??? Hahaha!
In our schools there are no treats PERIOD! This is for healthier eating and also allergies. As someone who gets migraines from peanuts I understand being cautious, but I know parents that won't let their kids eat meat for fear of Mad Cows, poultry for fear of Bird Flu (can't catch it that way people!), pork for fear of parasites, but then they give their kid mass farmed spinach from some bag at the store. When I asked about the E Coli outbreak they looked at me blankly. It was as if they enjoyed thinking they were so on top of things.
Anyway even in the military there are not supposed to be bake sales, cook-offs, etc, but all the Marines ignore it and they host them anyway to save money for the ball. When I told them this year that I would bake for them but the Marince Corps order bans those kinds of activities they looked at me like I had 2 heads. I showed them the order and they laughed and said if we can get shot at and sent to war then we can eat some homemade treats. And as parents they would not bring something home to an allergic kid. I was so happy to be around such sanity finally!
I hate to burst a bubble folks, but anyone, and I mean anyone can develop food allergies at any time of their lives for NO reason! It isn't something someone does wrong, or from eating chemicals or because they clean too much (although I do totally agree that the current germ phobia is getting nuts!). It just happens.
I was a total tomboy. My mom despaired of trying to keep me clean. I grew up a total tomboy. As an adult, my house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy. The only time I use anything antibacterial is after I've had to clean up bodily fluids from a sick kid in my classroom. Yet, at the age of 47 I developed a life threatening allergy to shellfish. Literally on a Friday I made shrimp in white sauce for dinner like I had done 100 times and then on Sunday, when I ate one of the remaining shrimp I went into anaphylactic shock. There was no warning. Needless to say, I survived. 
As I said before, now if I walk by an open shrimp/crab display at Sams my lips go numb. I keep an Epi-pen with me at all times and I've had to use it a few times.
So, I have great sympathy for parents of kids with food allergies. Folks in general don't understand how life threatening they can be and those parents have to be terrified every time their child is away from them.
I know this thread went back and forth over the food allergy thing, but I just wanted to post this for some clarification.
UPDATE!
As the OP of this thread I had no idea it was still going! I haven't been getting any notices...
Anyway, I finally heard back from the person in charge. She said no one could remember when the "no box mixes rule" was added. Just that they were trying to make the quality and variety of the items very good and to try to avoid getting 20 trays of brownies and 30 trays of rice krispie treats.
If the answer is "because we've always done it this way", then it's the wrong answer. When I was in corporate management, I refused to allow this answer to be the do-all-tell-all. If that was the ONLY reason anyone could give as to why something was done, then we found a different/better way.
With or without box mixes, you can still end up with lots of the same thing, so that's not even logical. And if you're a lousy baker, requiring everything to be from scratch could result in a lot of stuff no one could eat!
Was keeping hubby posted on this topic and he reminded me that "back in the day", a woman was measured by her culinary and housekeeping skills. A woman that couldn't make a good pie crust, just didn't have a chance to hook a husband!! I think we measure the value of a woman by MUCH different (and better!) standards today.
If that were my boys school I would NOT help them out. For them to tell me what not to do when I would be doing this on my time and not getting anything for it, it would be my choice not theirs. In fact this rule they have of only baked goods from a bakery has me telling them no to everything....especially when I'm in a licensed kitchen now when I'm doing cakes (not my home, a friends bakery) besides, there is nothing in that cake mix that you won't find in anything you buy i.e., flour etc. well maybe preservatives, but still...
Someone asked for this recipe earlier in this thread. I don't know if it what is remembered, but I hope it's close for you...
PEANUT BUTTER BARS
(From Westowne Elementary School Cafeteria Recipe - 1960)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 c. peanut butter (creamy)
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 c. melted butter
1 c. sweet chocolate chips
(for icing)
Add dry ingredients to butter and peanut butter gradually. Mix well. Press into 9 x 9-inch cake pan. (No need to grease it.)
Melt and spread 1 cup sweet chocolate chips over top. Do not bake. Best not to refrigerate. Will set in about 2 to 3 hours.
---------------------------
On the allergy front. We found out my son was allergic to eggs about a month before his 1st Birthday. After certain meals his face would get red, splotchy, and hot. I'd give him Benadryl and a bath and it would go away but it took a while to figure it out.
Once we knew he had allergies to eggs, we just read a lot of labels and made sure to bring food for him wherever we went. If my mom was babysitting, I'd tell her exactly what he could have and leave it out on the counter.
That being said, I also learned my lesson about asking people "does this have eggs in it". The best example is when I was on bed rest during my 2nd pregnancy. Our church has a meal ministry and different people were delivering meals and they were told about the egg allergy. One day a woman dropped off a meal and I asked her if it had eggs in it. She said "no, I know about his egg allergy and didn't use any eggs." So at dinner we went to warm the meal and to our surprise, it had EGG NOODLES!
My mom is the same way. She'd go to McDonalds and get a Fish Sandwich with Tartar sauce. I can't tell you how frustrating it was to explain to a 57 year old woman that Tartar Sauce is made with Mayonnaise which is made with EGGS! Of course I'm explaining this AFTER she has given some to my son. Praise God his allergy wasn't severe or he'd have been killed by several well meaning people.
I think that things are super crazy now with allergies but I also know that the safest route is to supply your allergic child's meals and NOT allow them to eat things made by others if your kids have severe allergies. With the egg allergies, the allergist gave us a list of about 20 different words to look for on labels because the whole egg isn't always used and all those different breakdowns have different names.
By the way, he grew out of it. I can't tell you how exciting it was to not have to read labels anymore!
My daughter's school does the same thing and I think specifying no mixes is ridiculous, especially because the school pushes the families to purchase items from a program called âMarket Dayâ. All items that are sold through âMarket Dayâ contain ingredients that anyone could be allergic to. Why is it OK for the school to promote that, but then they specify no box mixes for a bake sale???
My honest opinion is if you know your child or other family member has particular allergies and you are unsure of ingredients, then you donât buy it!
The better way for the schools to handle this type of issue is request special items for families that do have members with allergies. There are many parents out there who are willing to help out with special need items.
Not everyone has allergies, so why do we have to act like they do. Doesnât seem fair?!?!?
Iâm sorry if this sounds harsh, it isnât meant to!
The people who setup the "bake sales" with that stipulation obviously don't understand that when you mix ingredients together, boxed or otherwise, and cram it in your oven, it is therefore... "baking".
They should call them "scratch sales" if they are gonna be that picky about it
Maybe someone on the PTA or school committee is familiar with "Cottage Foods", which varies state to state. Cottage foods requires ingredients listed on any home baked goods sold. Maybe they're afraid of legal action? Maybe they're thinking too hard on this one...
I mostly do everything from scratch, but there are a few mixes that I do use and doctor them, and no one can even tell. I think that they are just being ridiculous. The same ingredients that we use in scratch cakes are in box cake mixes , don't they know this????
I always feel a little guilty serving my decorated cakes because they start with cake mixes, which contain so many preservatives and artificial ingredients. When I bake from scratch, at least I can pronounce all the ingredients that I'm using. Unfortunately, most of my favorite scratch cakes don't release from the pans easily or crumb alot, so I can't use them to make decorated cakes.
Also, when I make a non-decorated cake, I use a non-hydrogenated shortening instead of Crisco for the icing. Personally, I like the taste of the non-hydrogenated stuff better, but you can't decorate with it because it has a very low melting point and the colors tend to separate out of it.
I also had a severe peanut allergy in the days when no one had even heard of peanut allergies. I will react if someone touches peanuts and then uses a book or computer that I then touch. I'm also allergic to raw eggs, and remember the days when people used to make royal icing out of raw egg white rather than meringue power. This an allergy most people don't even think about because most eggs are cooked and I can eat those.
I'm glad to see that the awareness has grown in recent years, but I don't think that the kids without allergies shouldn't be allowed to eat certain foods either. As a kid, I learned to ask what was in cakes and baked goods served at my friends' parties. If the parents wouldn't answer me or didn't know, I wouldn't eat it. I have never bought baked goods from a bake sale for this reason. I think the risk of cross contamination with allergens is greater from prepackaged foods such as cake mixes than from so-called "scratch" foods, but that's just my personal opinion. It really can happen either way.
That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. So few people bake at all anymore, much less bake from scratch. And that's the last thing you need... a non-baker attempting a scratch recipe.
I agree 150%!!!!!!
Ditto here!! People who think scratch is automatically better have not tasted scratch baking from people who can't bake!
When you say the school does not allow anything homemade, you mean nothing for the whole class, right? You can still send your child homemade items in his lunch?
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You know how some nasty deadly diseases persist (e.g. sickle cell anemia) because the mutation that causes the disease can also offer protection from other diseases? I read a theory one time that maybe the reason we have so much more asthma/allergies these days is that it is the downside of develping resistance to some other disease (can't remember which one). I personally think that some of the allergy stuff is really just food intolerance, not true allergy, but people still call it an allergy.
When you say the school does not allow anything homemade, you mean nothing for the whole class, right? You can still send your child homemade items in his lunch?
----
You know how some nasty deadly diseases persist (e.g. sickle cell anemia) because the mutation that causes the disease can also offer protection from other diseases? I read a theory one time that maybe the reason we have so much more asthma/allergies these days is that it is the downside of develping resistance to some other disease (can't remember which one). I personally think that some of the allergy stuff is really just food intolerance, not true allergy, but people still call it an allergy.
Completely agree with you on the food intolerance vs. allergy issue. As someone with some very sever allergies (anaphalactic (sp???) shock at about 3 yrs old), I get a little bit upset when people say they're allergic to something just because they can't digest it. In some cases, inability to digest a food can be a symptom of an allergy, but in most cases, it's not.
Completely agree with you on the food intolerance vs. allergy issue. As someone with some very sever allergies (anaphalactic (sp???) shock at about 3 yrs old), I get a little bit upset when people say they're allergic to something just because they can't digest it. In some cases, inability to digest a food can be a symptom of an allergy, but in most cases, it's not.
Similar but different .. my intolerance is for people who have the sniffles and say "I have the flu. (sniff! sniff!)" My response? Can you raise your head up off of the floor? Can you keep anything down for more than 37 seconds? Then you DON'T have the flu!!!!" I've had the flu. I lost 12 lbs in 4 days. Don't do the sniff-sniff thing and tell me you have the freakin' FLU!!! 
Sorry for detouring this a bit, but couldn't help it. 
Completely agree with you on Similar but different .. my intolerance is for people who have the sniffles and say "I have the flu. (sniff! sniff!)" My response? Can you raise your head up off of the floor? Can you keep anything down for more than 37 seconds? Then you DON'T have the flu!!!!" I've had the flu. I lost 12 lbs in 4 days. Don't do the sniff-sniff thing and tell me you have the freakin' FLU!!!
(Actually, if you're vomiting it's probably something other than influenza. See http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/misconceptions.htm .)
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