RIVERTON - Nathan Peterson is a pretty typical fourth-grade eater. He eats most of the main dishes served at Riverton Elementary - sloppy joes, bean and meat burritos and pancake-wrapped sausage sticks - but he gets a bit picky with the sides. Tater tots are given away ("too dry"), chocolate milk is thrown out ("too old-tasting") and canned corn is passed over ("I only like corn on the cob"). Instead, he makes the unusual move toward watermelon, bananas and oranges. Vegetables? He gets those mostly at home. They are not offered regularly at school, unless you count the tater tots. So while Peterson's diet is better than most kids his age, he still isn't eating a healthy meal each school day.

School officials recognize the problem, but say providing a nutritious meal is something they struggle to do with a tight budget.

All Utah schools meet USDA standards, but that still includes highly processed foods often filled with sodium and excess fat and calories. A big part of the problem is that children rarely refuse chicken nuggets, pizza and fries for lunch. Their lack of complaints means few parents know what their children are eating.

Peterson's mom, Cheryl Roberts, says he only complains about the milk, and she doesn't really know what they eat at school.

She does provide a balanced diet at home for her five children and husband.

Peterson eats a bowl of Frosted Flakes or other sometimes-sugared cereal every morning, and he generally comes home to eat a hot, nutritious meal such as a full spaghetti dinner.

While he picks and chooses, more worrisome are the offerings his older sisters get at Oquirrh Hills Middle School.

"I really like the fried chicken sandwiches and french fries," said Laura Peterson, who is entering 10th grade this year at Riverton High School.

Her sister, soon-to-be eighth-grader Megan, nods, but says she likes the salad bar, too.

"They have croutons, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, ham, peas, carrots, sprouts and Italian and Ranch dressings," all on a bed of iceberg lettuce, she said.

Their other options are the pizza and ice cream line, the breadstick or peanut butter and jelly sandwich line and the hot entree line, which daily trades out dishes such as deep-fried Navajo tacos, sandwiches and potato bars.

"The pizza and ice cream line is always the longest," Laura Peterson said. "The seventh-graders start off eating salad because they are worried about not having enough time to eat, but they usually start eating pizza and ice cream by the end of the year."

Cheryl Roberts laughs nervously when she hears the news.

"I've always wondered what my kids are eating," she said. "Now I guess I know."

Megan Peterson says serving ice cream during lunch "doesn't feel right." Students do have to pay extra for the Creamies, ice cream sandwiches and plastic cups of the treat, but that means many students eat nothing but ice cream for lunch, she said.

She says even if schools stopped serving ice cream and french fries at lunch, students would find a way to incorporate such food into their school diets.

"Kids would just bring something else from home, or get something from the snack machines in the hall," she said. "There are some healthy things to eat at lunch, but that's not what the students choose to eat."

But at some point, someone has to take responsibility for the foods offered at schools, says Gina Cornia, executive director of Utahns Against Hunger, who lobbies for subsidized school meals. She says both lawmakers and parents can't ignore lunch food.

"Having schools provide meals is great, but how nutritious are they? How fresh are their fruit and veggies?" she asks.

That's a question Cheryl Roberts has ignored because she, like many working mothers, struggles to find time to prepare home lunches. She depends on the school to provide healthy meals for her children. She provides breakfast and also takes one day a month to prepare and freeze a month's worth of food. The kids can defrost their meal and supplement it with frozen or canned vegetables and a salad.

The kids especially love taco soup, which is made with beans, hamburger and vegetables and topped with cheese and sour cream. Other favorites are lasagna and cowboy casserole, made with various beans topped with biscuits.

"If it's a really busy day, we eat frozen pizza, cereal or sandwiches for dinner," she said. "But usually it's a hot meal."

Warren Gaddis, state assistant director for child nutrition, wishes he could get the legislature to increase the quality of foods.

"We at the nutrition department all feel helpless," he said. "If parents rallied at the legislature, that sure would go a long way."

The responsibility falls on parents to make sure their children are getting a good understanding of nutrition. That's something Roberts has attempted to do, but that isn't being reinforced at school.

"We don't really talk about what to eat at lunch during nutrition classes," Laura Peterson said.

Her younger brother, Nathan Peterson, quickly remarks, "I think it's weird they have health class but then serve them pizza and ice cream for lunch."

---

Contact Sheena McFarland at smcfarland@sltrib.com or 801-257-8619. Send comments about this story to livingeditor@sltrib.com.

Meals in a minute

Here are some ideas for quick and nutritious meals: