Moms: Please don’t bake for the Cake Walk!
Aunt Bea and Martha Stewart need to turn off their ovens and hold onto their baking mitts!
We’ve heard for several years that schools don’t want moms baking for class parties or for birthdays, but now I’ve heard of a school that doesn’t want the parents to bake for the cake walk! They just want you to buy it at the grocery store and hand it over. I don’t think you’re even supposed to repackage it to look festive.
Isn’t the point of cake walks and bake sales to get a really yummy, gooey dessert that only can be made at home? Also it’s a heck of a lot cheaper for me to buy ingredients and make 24 cupcakes to donate than to buy them.
I guess they want labeled store-bought goodies to protect themselves from lawsuits about food allergies. But I also think it’s about hygiene. But really, are the lazy or gross parents going to cook for the cake walk?
If your school will let you actually bake for the cake walk and bake sale, The Cake Mix Doctor, one of my favorite easy cookbooks, offers these tips for more successful fund raising:
- Loaves sell. Assign 4,5 even 10 loaves. It’s easy to double or triple the recipe.
- Rewrap the items with pretty clear cellophane paper and bags.
- Use a large enough label to include name of food, ingredient and cooking instructions.
- Coffee cakes sell the best.
- Offer a selection of small cakes or cupcakes for those who just want a little.
- Sell something to sip with the baked goods.
Will your school let you send in home baked goods for parties, birthdays, cake walks, bake sales? Do you think it’s an over-reaction to concerns about allergies to want only prepackaged goods? What about the hygiene issue? Are you freaked out about your kids eating items made by other parents?
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103 comments Add your comment
downsouth
September 24th, 2010
10:51 am
@ATLien – read the ingredient list on those cheap-a$$ whipped icing cupcakes – ewwww. and it’s cheaper to buy a McDouble than to make your own hamburgers. which tastes better?
LAZY!!!!!! and poor-mouthin’
Eat a Peach for Peace
Roswell Jeff
September 24th, 2010
10:52 am
They’re going to “ask” for food and then they’re going to tell you how to make it. I wouldn’t do it.
Everyone should make their own sandwich for their own kid.
downsouth
September 24th, 2010
11:00 am
@JJ – but what will the Jews do for sandwiches since they can’t eat meat and cheese at the same meal – oh the horror!?!?!?!?!?!?!
a request to go and buy sandwiches seems a bit much. it seems a better idea would be for the kids to -OMG- come to school with their own lunches!!!!!!!
@Kate – it’s too bad the teacher doesn’t have the nuts to call out the parents for sending in food with nuts in it. or maybe throwing the food away to prove the point. just make sure she has a back up treat…
Eat Pork BBQ for Peace in the Middle East
Over It
September 24th, 2010
11:24 am
On a flight a couple years ago a parent behind us complained to the flight attendant about her child’s peanut allergy. The flight attendant then refused to hand out nuts to the several surrounding rows of passengers. The parent then proceeded to eat a Snickers. No kidding.
I’m not responsible for your allergies or your kids allergies. Seriously not my problem. That sounds ugly but I’m tired of everyone thinking the world revolves around them. It doesn’t.
DB
September 24th, 2010
11:31 am
I wonder if those starving children in Pakistan would be as picky about where their food came from as many Americans seem to be? Think they’d turn up their nose at something because it was made in someone’s kitchen and didn’t come out of a commercial bakery?
Thinking you are going to evade germs by eating something out of a commercial kitchen is just whistling in the dark.
HB
September 24th, 2010
11:31 am
I know, downsouth — that was my point. Some of those type-A looking, super busy, perfectly groomed and dressed, shiny car driving folks don’t extend those habits of perfection to their kitchens.
DB
September 24th, 2010
11:32 am
@Over it: REALLY?!?!? Omigod, that is too funny! Did anyone call her on it? I don’t think I could have resisted!
RJ
September 24th, 2010
11:52 am
@JATL, I waited tables for 3 years in college, I know very well what happens in restaurants. If I bring a dish from Publix and you choose not to eat it that’s fine with me. I participated which was my intent. But, unless I know you well I will NOT eat your cooking. When I was a server I SAW some disgusting things, like people eating off of your plate, taking a swig of your drink, yeah, some nasty stuff. Now when you’re at home and you do the same I can’t SEE you do anything. And I prefer not to have animal hair near my food. Cats walking on kitchen countertops is
N-A-S-T-Y!!! Lettting your dog lick your fingers and then handling food is DISGUSTING!!! Funny thing is these were people living in homes that were in the $500,000 plus range! I’d much rather take my chances at a restaurant, but hey, that’s just me.
JATL
September 24th, 2010
12:11 pm
I can’t believe how many of you seem to think that rich = clean. Some of the best food and most cleanly-prepared food I’ve ever had the pleasure to eat came out of little more than a tar-paper shack. It may have been ugly, but the floors and counters were scrubbed with bleach and hot water daily. Keep deluding yourselves -I’ll keep enjoying my homemade treats!
For those of you who are teachers or other caregivers and you’re too snobby and silly to eat the homebaked treats that some mother probably did NOT have the time to make, but made you anyway because she can’t afford gift cards but would like to thank you for putting up with her kid -at LEAST drop by a homeless shelter (or hand them to a homeless person). THEY will take them. For people who eat out of garbage cans half the time -they’re not worried about how clean someone’s kitchen was who made it. Don’t waste it!
@RJ -that dog’s saliva is cleaner than yours.
JJ
September 24th, 2010
12:21 pm
I let my dogs lick my plate when I’m finished eating. Then it goes into the dishwasher. I let them like most of my pans too. AND I feed them scraps while I’m cooking……
No dinner is complete without a little cat or dog hair….
Sounds like...
September 24th, 2010
12:22 pm
…these teachers want to have their cake and eat it, too…
"You don't know where that mouth has been"...
September 24th, 2010
12:24 pm
…”Yes I do” – “I was talking to the dog” – an old joke, but a goodie!
RJ
September 24th, 2010
12:28 pm
@JATL, what is the deal…girl calm down it’s not that serious! Everybody has their little pet peeves. I don’t care to have animals running around in my kitchen. I don’t care to eat from peoples home kitchen. That’s just me. Some of you really need to come down a couple of notches! Life’s too short. A good meal and great $ex will release all that stress for you!
Have a great weekend!
LM
September 24th, 2010
12:31 pm
This is just crazy.. seems like common sense is lost to everyone
How can you not clean your kitchen to prepare a meal, wash your hands, use clean utensiles, not let pets on the counter top? Our house may not be the cleanest, but if I am gonna cook, the kitchen will be cleaned before I start, it’s just common sense.
No one can conveince me that “store bought” is better. Not gonna happen! You have employees there who may heave their mind on something other than work so you can’t guarantee the food will be made any better than at someone’s home who made the time to make it instead of dropping by the store and picking it up.
As to allergies, I have them and know how bad they can be, but again common sense should prevail. If you kid or you are so sensitive, than don’t even consider participating in the cake walk. If you kid just “has to” then explain that if they win something due to the allergies it will have to be donated to a homeless shelter. Child gets to participate, but you don’t have to worry about allergies. If food is to be supplied by parents and your worried about what it contains, then do like another parents does and make sure you have “treat” you child can eat.
Kate
September 24th, 2010
12:32 pm
@Over It, This may sound weird coming from a parent of a kid with food allergies, but I actually agree with you. My son’s doctor told my husband and me a long time that it was ultimately our responsibility as parents to teach our son about the dangers of his peanut allergy and to always ask about peanuts before he ate anything he wasn’t sure about (or if there is no one to ask, just don’t eat it). I don’t have any trouble believing your story about the parents on the plane. I’ve known a few parents like that and it’s really embarrassing to be grouped in with them!
Mary
September 24th, 2010
12:48 pm
So one kid with an allergy prevents everyone else from enjoying home made goodies?
motherjanegoose
September 24th, 2010
12:56 pm
HaHa…I am not the one who complains about T’s choice of topics. If I am not interested…I just skip the topic and do not post. It is not easy ( for anyone) to come up with something fun ( for everyone) each day.
Keri
September 24th, 2010
1:07 pm
Sometimes it’s difficult to understand just how oblivious some people are to both food allergies and basic hygiene. I’ve volunteered at a lot of potluck dinners, bake sales, etc., and most people just drop off food with absolutely no description of even what it is, much less what’s in it. I also make a lot of food for various functions, and whenever I do I always try to provide a basic description of the ingredients (nothing elaborate, I usually just scribble it on the front of whatever I cover it with), because I don’t want anything I’ve made to make someone else sick. I wash my hands before I make it for the same reason, but, that too is simply too much to ask of some of people.
shaggy
September 24th, 2010
2:20 pm
Hey Warrior Woman,
Where can I get one of those “roach cakes”. It sounds like they use whole grain roaches and not the ground up ones, like in similac. Wow, baked in goodness.
“Yummy, that was some good roach cake Ma. Can I have another piece and some of that crunchy similac? Ralphie says he wants to take some home to his mom.”
War Eagle
September 24th, 2010
3:05 pm
All the “stuff” posted about what schools make you do/prevent you from doing makes me SO VERY GLAD that I homeschooled my children.
deidre_NC
September 24th, 2010
3:32 pm
well im out of the school loop these days since my youngest in now in college…but i still go to the harvest sale and the spring festival at her old school JUST to get the HOMEMADE goodies!! at the harvest all kinds of things are auctioned and this includes home canned produce right from the donators garden…home made cakes and cookies made in the donators kitchen. the spring festival has lots of activities but the only one i participate in is the cake walk…and god forbid if i win and its a BOUGHT FROM THE STORE cake!! i will insist its traded for a REAL cake lol…some of the donators are the best canners and bakers ever and i love it …. i have never gotten sick from any of this…the only time i got food poisoning was from … hmm..cant remember the name of it…a great popular resturant/bar in atlanta…near the old great southeast music hall..some of yall might remember what it was called. nothing is better than homemade…anything…
Roswell Jeff
September 24th, 2010
4:33 pm
I was wondering… do the people that make these delectable treats ever get food poisoning from eating their own treats, prepared in their own germ laden kitchen? I think not.
abc
September 24th, 2010
4:48 pm
joe, I don’t think that the shelters want to unknown homemade from heaven knows where food, either. You don’t know much about the shelters, I gather?
abc
September 24th, 2010
4:54 pm
Reading some of these comments, I daresay that the ones who see nothing amiss with home-baked goods being distributed in school and other public venues might also not have the cleanest kitchens themselves. If only some home kitchens would get the same scrutiny that professional kitchens do, and published in the paper! An average mom in her own kitchen wouldn’t even know the criteria by which to abide. It’s not just about a sink full of dirty dishes or an unsanitary countertop, mom.
newblogger
September 24th, 2010
5:49 pm
Just catching up on the blogs from the last couple of weeks and they are all very interesting. There seems to be a common thread through some of them-is it “slam the public school teacher month” or something? I must have missed the memo! I can’t think of many other professions where people seem to know so much about what we do, so much about what we don’t do and so much about how to do it better, and don’t mind slapping us around in public forums. Geez people-we certainly don’t teach for the money. Most of us happen to love our jobs! And now, back on topic, yes I do eat what my students bring me, even if it’s just a bite. If they think that much of me- to bring me something from home then I am certainly going to try a bite of it in front of them if I can, if for nothing else but to be gracious. My husband and sons look forward to the day I come home from the Christmas party (yep-I said it-Christmas party) with all of my homebaked goods. They enjoy them all and we have never once gotten sick. I teach in a school with children from both ends of the economic spectrum and bringing me some cookies to show their appreciation is the only thing some of them can afford. I’m so glad I’m not as perfect as some appear to be. It must be a terrible burden to walk around that way all the time and your neck must get awfully tired having to look down on everyone. I’m done-stepping off my soapbox now.
deidre_NC
September 24th, 2010
7:04 pm
way to tell em new blogger lol
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BlondeHoney
September 25th, 2010
2:06 am
Hi all just back from another trip to Columbus, Ohio and Appleton, Wisconsin (!!!); I am getting just like my pal MJG in traveling for business :) As a prolific home cook, I have to say I am 200% with JATL on this topic. WAY prefer home made treats over store bought and have never EVER gotten sick from someone else’s kitchen, only from a restaurant kitchen. So much for all those inspections everyone keeps citing. It’s a bizarro world where we tell parents to bring store bought treats over home made and omg, if someone brings something from my local Kroger, wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole…that place is NASTY, it smells funny and it’s dirty ugh
J.B. STONER
September 25th, 2010
11:05 am
I purchased a cake once at a cake walk, it had a kinky hair in it .I wonder if it was from a head (oughush!!!) or from a crevice?
.
September 25th, 2010
11:06 am
Enter your comments here
Retired
September 26th, 2010
10:35 am
I have a friend who is the system food director for the public schools in our county. Several years ago she told me of the tightening federal guidelines on foods allowed in classrooms. The teachers in individual classrooms are not the people making the decisions to not allow homemade items. These are rules schools must follow if they wish to received aid in the lunch program. My friend shared the information with me because she was not looking forward to the full implimentation and she also knew how much I enjoyed sending or carrying baked goods to the classroom when my children were in school. She mentioned cake walks and birthday parties as two areas that would be hard hit by the new rules.
somewhereinga
September 26th, 2010
11:12 am
“Over it” said: “I’m not responsible for your allergies or your kids allergies. Seriously not my problem. That sounds ugly but I’m tired of everyone thinking the world revolves around them. It doesn’t.”
I sincerely hope you are never standing over your child watching him gasp for breath, knowing that he or she is 3 breaths from death because someone decided to “check” to see if he really had an allergy. (Yes, it has happened!) Or because you should be checking on your 5 year old (at kindergarden) and making sure he is not sucummbing to temptation and eating another playmates lunch. (Because we all know that 5 year olds always obey their parents and completely understand about health and death.)
It’s not being “PC”, it’s called caring for the health of others. Something, obviously, that your not aware of.
What an ego on that guy...
September 26th, 2010
11:51 am
somewhereinga ~ caring for the health of others means covering your mouth when you sneeze/cough, not going to work/school while sick, not spitting in public, washing your hands, etc…
That does NOT include everyone forming a protective barrier around YOUR kid. If your kid has problems with “giving in to temptation” and “not following your instructions”, then perhaps homeschooling would be a better option than to send your precious angel to a public building where 1 (or 2 if you’re lucky) teacher(s) are watching 20-22 other precious angels who don’t suffer from such afflictions.
You can’t seriously expect for someone else to take on that level of responsibility, do you? They’re teachers… not your personal educators/nannies. The moment your kids’ doctor said “Miss Somewhere, little Billy can’t eat peanuts”, you had very important decisions to make. You made the choice to let someone else deal with it.
budman
September 26th, 2010
12:10 pm
While waiting for a flight for Dallas a few months ago, I stuck up a conversation with the gentleman @ the gate house. Besides how many kids have do you have, where you live-etc. We talked about who we work for. This man worked for the bakeries that supplies Publix with cakes. Huh ? I replied, yea!! Publix does not make cakes they buy them from us. He said it is one of the great illusions, that Publix bakes all their cakes. They never have!! its just another BS tale of how you are tricked you into buying their product. So whats the hygiene of the baker..don’t know, who works there..don’t know. So when you buy your cake walk cakes it has already been handled by God knows who. For the ” germ freaks ” don’t ever go into the military and especially a combat zone. You will eat what ever, when ever you can get it. I have eaten off dirt floors with a plastic spoon that has been in my flight suit for a month. If you avoid every germ you can, exactly how do you develop or have resistance to anything. You sound like the type that takes antibiotics for a sniffle and uses antibiotic soap and wash their hands a hundred times a day. The most vicious bug ever lives right in your own gut..e-coli. It’s all Darwinian; how did people survive so long with all those germs!!!
sandy
September 26th, 2010
12:28 pm
OK , mom of three- DON’T BUY or eat the stuff at bake sales- You ruin it for the rest of us! We are losing a great part of our culture with this absurdity! The so called”hygienic” concern-…. Relax- you can’t get those parents to send the kids to school with a pencil, so they sure as hell won’t be baking for the bake sale- GET A Grip on reality all you politically correct nut jobs!
blue_moon
September 26th, 2010
12:28 pm
It is and should remain a violation of school health codes to allow any ‘home-cooked’ foods to be used for school events–but still this problem persists. I wouldn’t take my family to eat a restaurant that had not passed a health code inspection and I certainly don’t want my child eating food prepared in someone’s kitchen for the same reason.
sandy
September 26th, 2010
12:32 pm
YOU TOO blue moon_ Stay home then- You do nothing but complain and nit pick anyway- Keep your precious little brat away from my kids!
blue_moon
September 26th, 2010
12:43 pm
I’m not nitpicking Sandy…I’ve been in the homes of many adults with kids and some of the homes are so filthy that I couldn’t even imagine accepting a glass of water – let alone eating a cupcake from some of the garbage-riddled homes that some kids have to live in.
Stay at home moms are a JOKE
September 26th, 2010
12:54 pm
Giarrusso,
You should be more careful about labeling parents who don’t bring “homemade goodies” to school bake sales as lazy.
I find it condescending that you look down your nose at people who may not have time to make “goodies” at home. I guess some parents don’t sit on their duff all day at home and use their substantial free time for baking. It’s called a career, but you wouldn’t know anything about that.
No More Pot-Yuck
September 26th, 2010
1:01 pm
I maintain a high standard of cleanliness in my kitchen and I don’t expect that others do. My office does pot luck luncheons, which I renamed pot-yuck and now half the office won’t participate after I offered up some scenarios about other’s home cleanliness standards that were more truthful than hypothetical.
If I know a person has a cat(s) I will not eat anything they make, unless I was there to see it being made, like if I am invited over for dinner and I can attest that a cat was not inches away on the counter licking its anus while my meal was prepared. All cats get on counters.
I’ve seen too many people NOT wash their hands thoroughly in public when people are there to see them to allow myself to eat anything they make in their private domiciles where no one is watching them.
I don’t eat out often, I rarely or at least extremely limit the amount of pre-packed or prepared food I eat, and since I have when I do take a bite of things like that I can taste the chemicals that I never noticed before.
Jeff
September 26th, 2010
1:18 pm
Yet another reason to home school.
DB
September 26th, 2010
6:11 pm
@abc: I love it — now people who prefer home-baked goodies over Crisco-laden stuff from the bakery are guilty of having filthy kitchens, too. *eyes rolling* Everyone is entitled to their little phobias, and those with germ phobias are certainly entitled to theirs. I feel a bit sorry for them, because they spend a lot of time worrying about things they have, ultimately very little control over. HOWEVER — most of us are not, and the implication that if we are not germ freaks, we cook in slovenly hell-holes is amusing. That definitely does not qualify for a Q.E.D!
Here’s a suggestion: Let people bring whatever they want to the cake walk. Those who win, choose either a store-bought goody, or a home-baked goody. Then everyone gets what they want. If you don’t trust the home-made stuff, choose the Publix cake. If you like the taste of fresh homemade stuff, choose the cream-cheese-and-caramel brownies that Mrs. Smith makes every year. Good grief, folks — it’s just a friggin’ bake sale. Is this really the hill you want to die on?
And for all you germaphobics: Please tell me that your kitchen counters are all stainless steel, because that is the material that resists bacteria the best, and can be the most thoroughly sanitized. The next would be granite. Hopefully, none of you have formica or wood anywhere near your kitchen. And make sure you NEVER place your purse on the kitchen counter — after all, think of all the restroom floors it’s been on, or just even the floor in the restaurant where you had lunch.
You can make yourself go crazy with this stuff — or you can just go make another pan of cream cheese brownies . . . I know what I’d rather do!
JATL
September 26th, 2010
7:35 pm
@abc, funny that you think I have a nasty kitchen, when actually I have one that very well may come out with a 100 on a health inspection. My husband was a professional chef for years and I’ve worked in the hospitality industry quite a bit in the past. We’re both a little freakish about food temps, what food is stored near others, thawing things out and counter, sink, appliance and dish cleanliness. However, as anal as we are about our own kitchen, we both love bake sales, roadside stands and pot lucks! Live a little -you have about a 99.9% chance that eating something homemade is NOT what’s going to take you out of this world.
@No More Pot Yuck -you sound like you would have a fab time with Blue Moon and a scalded lettuce leaf to share for dinner. The two of you sound like frigid would actually be a warming trend for you. I had a cat for 18 years that never once -and I monitored it closely and checked closely -got on a counter. He got on plenty of other stuff, but the few times I saw him contemplating it, I squirted him in the face with water, so he steered clear. Fine if you don’t want to eat from anyone’s private kitchen, but keep your thoughts to yourselves and don’t ruin everything for everyone else.
DB
September 26th, 2010
8:12 pm
@JATL: I was with you until the last sentence! But c’mon, we are ALL “giving our thoughts” here — they can, too. We just don’t have to agree with them. ;-)
Roswell Jeff
September 27th, 2010
9:02 am
Basically, this all boils down to the fact that as a society we would let the Germophobes dictate what we eat and where we get it from. Have the cake walk and take every kind of cake you can get. Let the individual decide whether they want to participate or not. Germophobes don’t need to eat it.
JATL
September 27th, 2010
9:18 am
@DB -actually it doesn’t really read the way I meant it -I should have said, “Keep your thoughts to yourself when speaking to the schools…” or something like that. Nope -on this board they can sound off as much as they want! I’m just tired of it seeming that whenever one or two parents doesn’t want something, they complain to the principal or country school board and instead of them taking a vote or a poll or whatever with the rest of us -suddenly there’s just a new rule -no questions asked.
DB
September 27th, 2010
9:39 am
@JATL – “Minority Rule”, it seems to be the norm these days . . . *sigh*
ATL06
September 27th, 2010
2:18 pm
Daycare centers do this as well and I was told it was for sanitary reasons. Sorry but no one wants to eat the smelly kids cookies. Also at work I WILL NOT eat at potlucks except for 8 individuals that I know personally and I have been to their house and them mine. Sorry but I work with some disgusting folks. It is amazing the amount of women who do not wash their hands after using the restroom at my job not to mention all the animals who sleep in their owners beds. It is absolutely disgusting.
JJ
September 28th, 2010
8:58 am
My kitchen counters get bleached every single night. I use either Lysol 4 in 1 bleach cleaner, or the Lysol Antibacterial counter cleaner. EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT…
JJ
September 28th, 2010
8:59 am
ATL06 – 3 out of 4 of my animals sleep with me. Two cats and one dog. The other dog is older, and she cannot get up on my bed. One cat gives me kisses before she settles in and takes her bath….What do you think about that?