>>I know how you cook and care about feeding your family nourishing meals- how do you “handle” (for lack of better word, handle seems a bit dramatic), your kids’ diets while they are away in their schools? <<
We’ve found the meals in Israeli dorms in the past to be decent, with good amounts of protein and fresh produce. It helps that my children aren’t picky eaters. I don’t really worry about their food once they’re out of the house; I assume they’ll make the choices that are right for them and work within the parameters of what’s available. They do appreciate home cooked food much more when they come home, though!
However, at the current yeshiva both my boys are at, the menu seems to be scaled down; it’s heavy on the starches and light on proteins; there’s hardly any fresh produce. This isn’t a complaint; I think this is typical of yeshiva ketanas, and that the yeshiva high school my boys attended in the past had unusually good food. In any case, we have a situation we haven’t had come up before.
When I spoke with my sixteen year old son at the end of last week, he mentioned how helpful it was that I sent them with so much tuna, since he eats a can every day.
I sent it thinking it would be something he would have once in a while, and asked him why he was eating it so often. He explained that if he doesn’t have it a couple of hours after lunch, he’s so hungry he can’t think about anything but eating dinner the entire afternoon. He’s never said anything like this, so I asked him about what and how much he was eating. Since he has a cavity that just started that he wants to heal, he’s trying to avoid processed carbs. That’s the bulk of what is served at his school, and since he’s not able to fill up on bread/pasta/white rice, the small amounts of protein leave him unsatisfied.
I wondered what I could do about this. What could I send him other than tuna? I wanted him to have foods that would be satiating. Cookies and crackers wouldn’t be helpful, nor would any of the snack foods available in the stores. I couldn’t think of anything that would be filling that doesn’t need refrigeration or involve some kind of preparation.
Then I had a brainstorm. I asked him if he had room in the dorm for electric burners and a pot. He said he did. I asked if I sent him home canned foods, would he heat them up and eat them? Yes, he would.
I offered to make him some hearty homemade soups to supplement his diet and asked what he wanted. He requested split pea soup, so that’s what I started with. I made a thick stew with a generous amount of rich broth, to pack in nutrition and calories; he could eat as-is or thin it down for a more typical soup consistency.
I pressure canned seven liters of the soup, as well as seven pints of chicken wings. When ds15 returned back to yeshiva after Shabbos, he was traveling by bus with just a backpack and therefore could only take only a few of the jars back with him. Ds16 called to tell me that even without being able to heat it up, he enjoyed it at room temperature.
One jar is four cups of soup, and is enough for both boys to supplement one school lunch. Based on their feedback, though, from now on I’m going to can pint sized jars for them, so they can eat separately according to their schedules. This week I’ll make them some beef stew, and by periodically canning different dishes, they’ll have some variety.
This Shabbos both boys will be coming home, and I’m planning to send them back to yeshiva with a suitcase containing the burners, pot, and jars of food. They’ll bring the empty jars home for me to reuse. I’m also going to send some fresh vegetables and fruit, and a frozen bottle of raw goat milk. I suggested he buy yogurts and produce at a local store to supplement.
This is a first for me. Until now, the food served at the dorms has been adequate for all of our boys. In this case, I’m sure they could have found a different solution, but this is one that I feel good about nutritionally. I hope this will be a good solution to keep them nourished from a distance!
Avivah
I wonder if the dearth of fresh produce is related to shmitta, and they’ll get back to a better ratio after the chagim. Either way, home cooked foods are always best 🙂
These canned jars that you sent- are they shelf stable? the chicken too? that seems like such a useful use of canning. You’ve mentioned in the past that you didn’t want to be dependent on freezers/refrigerators, but I wasn’t thinking about this kind of use.
In any case, if they need anything local you can always let me know 🙂 I’ll be glad to help them out.
I don’t think it’s shmita related, since my older boys told me most of the yeshiva ketanas their friends were in were the same in years past. In any case, fruits and vegetables are available at prices comparable to past years so I don’t think shmita should affect the menu?
Yes, the jars are pressure canned and shelf stable. I mostly do canning of meats and soups, since that’s most useful for me, and it’s really helpful. It’s especially nice when I’m running late for dinner to be able to pull out a jar of meat/chicken/gravy, and quickly heat it up. I find a pressure canner a super useful tool and have thought about writing a post about why everyone should have one! 🙂
Thank you so much for the generous offer, I really appreciate it!
I was also wondering if shemittah played a part. Hopefully vegetables will be easier to acquire soon. Citrus just started shemittah so it’ll be a while for the winter produce!
Have you found a difficulty getting fresh produce where you live? Maybe I’m living in a different area with a different reality, but we have tons of fresh produce at good prices (I buy at Yesh and Mishnat Yosef, both have branches all over the country). Especially in the summer/fall season, we have such a nice variety of summer fruits!
Shemita can still be a factor but not due to the price. The Mishnat Yosef produce is by and large otzar beis din these days (at least the fruit), which makes things very complicated. You can’t just toss all the leftovers in the trash.
I am very interested to hear how you do canning here in Israel.
Safe and shelf stable bottled meat? Please tell us more!
I have heard similar complaints about the Yeshiva food. This has resulted in a lot of coming home to eat, which causes time to be there in a relaxed way during breaks to be missed.
Sadly, I don’t think it’s just shmitta but rather an idea that teenage boys won’t eat veggies, as I believe it wasn’t different the year before. Maybe it would be a good idea for parents to make suggestions to the Hanhala – they might be open to food changes.
Not from Yeshiva but from girls’ schools, I have developed a fear of complaining and then being labelled as the only one, which has happened in the past (why are you the only one whose child doesn’t want to wear a mask, why are you the only one saying this teacher yells, etc.).
When you say cans/jars, you mean glass jars that you prepared with the pressure canner, right?
I think that it’s not an issue for most parents because their sons can come home to eat. My kids are two of just four boys who are entirely dependent on what they are served, so it’s hard for them. My younger son mentioned to the rosh yeshiva during his intake interview that he tries not to eat bread and pasta, and was told that he should be able to avoid those foods and manage with the other things served. That son laughingly told me the first week that there’s no way to avoid those things, since that’s mostly what there is!
I agree that it’s unlikely that it’s a shmita issue, since the menu seems to be the same as it was last year.
I hadn’t thought about speaking to the rosh yeshiva. I don’t mind mentioning it to him, but I assume it’s a budgetary issue and most yeshivos don’t have extra in their budgets. Bumping up the amount of animal protein served would be much more expensive for them, and if most boys aren’t going to eat the fruits and vegetables, that’s a waste of resources. And I’m also assuming most of the students are happy to have lots of pasta and bread.
When I refer to canning, that’s the term for preserving food in glass jars; in the case of the foods I’m making, it’s pressure canning.
I got hungry just reading what you are preparing for your boys. You are very tuned in to your children and eating habits. It’s great they can warm up the soup/food on their stovetop. That helps alot.
BH, I’m so glad they’ll be able to have an electric burner. I already sent them a dairy toaster oven and that’s helpful for some things, but not for fleishig cooking.
Hi Avivah,
You’re such a great Mom and those are wonderful solutions! I have another suggestion for getting in more protein—I don’t know if they’ll ship to you but maybe you can find something similar. My kids love these beef or turkey sticks & they have only good ingredients like pastured meats, organic spices, etc. and they’re shelf stable too: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/meat-sticks
Take care,
Kelly
Thanks for the suggestion, Kel!
We don’t have a lot of options like that in Israel for the kosher market. When my husband came back with two boys in the winter from a trip to the US, they brought back some kosher jerky sticks and we all enjoyed them. I’ve looked locally at different salami/dried meat options, but they’re really expensive and more like a treat for once in a while.
Hi Avivah,
I loved your ideas regarding sending food for your boys in yeshivah. We also found that the yeshiva diet was high in starches and low on protein. When my son went out of town to yeshiva (U.S.) beginning in 9th grade, the yeshiva allowed mini- cube fridges in the dorm. I found one that had a decent sized freezer compartment. When he comes home (every 6-8 wks) I send him back with home cooked food. He really appreciates it:)
It looks like another parent is planning to set up their son in the same room with a fridge, so between the burners, toaster oven that I sent and the fridge from her, they’ll be well provided for!
p.s.
The yeshiva officially doesn’t allow the boys to have burners, etc -so the fridge/freezer is a huge help.
The soup/stew solution seems like a really good start, but hard on you. Of course you could also ramp it up by using bone broth as the base for the soups.
If they have some basic cooking facilities in their room(s), they could also do scrambled eggs and fish in a frying pan or even a sandwich maker. Or hardboiled eggs in a pot. Also cheese/cottage cheese/gevina levana, if they can handle dairy. I’ve heard you can even do shnitzel/chicken breast in a frying pan. Is there a fridge available for the bachurim to use? That would help a lot.
Thanks for your comments, Shira!
It’s not hard on me at all to do this cooking for them, actually!
I use broth as a staple ingredient for all of my soups/broths.
The fridge is in the dining room that is locked other than at mealtimes, so it’s available…kind of….since when they would want it wouldn’t be at mealtime.
I meant to say schnitzel or chicken breast in a sandwich maker.
And nuts. There’s always nuts…
Avocados seem to be in season now.
I hope these guys like salad. They can live off of salad+animal protein/dairy. Good salad dressing (even store bought) makes all the difference.
I’ve been eating Paleo for over a decade, through pregnancies and all, so while I don’t have dorm experience, I do have “fast, easy, and low carb experience.”
I make whole spelt/oatmeal/ground nut chocolate chip cookies for my kids. It’s healthy carbs, not low carb, but it’s a lot better than white flour grunk, and it’ll last a week or so at room temperature.
It would be nice if their yeshivah had good quality food. But given that it doesn’t, this can be a valuable learning opportunity in learning how to eat well when you have to do the shopping and cooking yourself. (I’m assuming that you’ll give them enough pocket money to cover the food – so at least they don’t have to pay for it themselves.) Of course you can and will also send food with them from home. And yes, they are young. But at some point people have to take responsibility for the way they eat, and it seems like this has come to your sons sooner rather than later.
Thank you for sharing your tips!
I don’t like nuts as a meal stand-in; they’re very expensive, we find it easy to eat a large quantity before feeling satiated and so I relegate them to the snack category. Avocadoes are great and we ate tons of them when they were in season, but it’s not the season right now. While we all like salads, for adult size teen bodies, I find hearty foods to be the best at filling them up and keeping them full. (And practically speaking, they don’t have a kitchen to use for food prep.)
We’ve discussed them doing shopping locally for dairy and produce, and that I would give them money for that. However, dairy is somewhat like nuts – expensive and easy to eat a lot of unless combined with something else of more substance.
I agree that life gives us all opportunities to learn new skills and step into new roles. My boys are already competent cooks and very responsible – taking responsibility for one’s self is a big focus in the way we bring up our children – so this isn’t a skill they’re missing. 🙂 They are still at the beginning of the school year, and while it will take time to finesse the details, they’re moving towards finding workable solutions.
how about canned chickpeas?
It’s a good suggestion, but I’m looking for something more ‘meaty’!