Boxed food lunches
 

Did anyone else have any issues at the Championship with the boxed lunches? I know the salad seemed fine but not the chicken sandwich or the finale food. I saw the food staying out there for at least 90 minutes during the Einstein preparation. Maybe more. Not sure.

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Yeah... I went and had Chinese. [insert joke about Chinese food here]

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I had the chicken sandwich on Friday and it was decent, but my oreros were opened. I didn't eat them, but had a good laugh trying to pawn them off to people on my team.

Had the turkey wrap on Saturday and really enjoyed it.

I was not feeling great after the Saturday night boxed meal, though. Must have been the second slice of turkey that they generously added ;)


Overal they were pretty disapointing.

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The boxed lunches were a total disappointment. The most lifeless, boring food I've ever wasted money on.

Next time, just say no!

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I heard some students on my team talking about how a lot of the lettuce in the salads were black. I know this was true because the lettuce on my ham and swiss sandwich was blackish. Also, my dad claims that his chicken sandwich tasted like an "old soul", but mine was not too bad. It actually got me to like wheat bread. None of the students on my team liked any of the boxed lunches this year. I am not so sure about the finale meals though.

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Agreed.

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The finale meals were exactly the same crap!

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Most of our team remembers were forced into purchasing them, because we didn't know what would be at the expensive venue. Overall, not really worth it, but what can I say? Competition food...

The only issue we had primarily was that one particular student was allergic to fresh tomatoes in the wraps, and the teachers claimed that they called and asked about that. =\

I would have really liked a soda too instead of water.

Finger Lakes had better box lunches :(

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I had the picnic chicken on Thursday. It was so bad that I explicitly mentioned it as part of a larger email to FIRST.

The turkey wraps I had the other two days were fine, as was the boxed sandwich after Einstein.

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Overall, the boxed lunches and the finale version of the boxed lunch were poorly done and not well received by our team. I personally found them bordering on just gross. I selected the salad for one day and once again at the finale. To find my salad placed on top of the napkin and plastic ware with a water bottle smashed up against it seemed very unsanitary. And it made my cookie at finale very soggy. ICK. As a vegetarian option these meals were not nutritional, nor was there enough substance to provide energy to last to dinner.

For $9 a meal, there seemed to be more value expected than received.

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As a vegetarian I couldn't find a vegetarian option at all. I saw people with them but couldn't find them at all.

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I hope they do something different or at least cut the dome prices in half so that we dont have to deal with the disgusting food that was there. I really felt sick everytime I ate their boxed lunches.

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This has been a problem for as long as I can remember. I can't believe people still buy them. Make other plans. No mass-produced food at an arena is ever going to be good.

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I did not know that the food would be that terrible. I thought the chicken sandwich would be hot not cold and that it would taste like chicken not nothing. (tasted like air)

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Let's... let's not talk about the food at championships. Please. Makes me sick thinking about it again.

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Remember that this was the venue's food not First's food:)

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then why was the dome venue's food if we ordered it in the line? (chicken tenders and etc) so good and not the boxed food?

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My turkey and chese sandwich was... edible. The cookie was pretty cool with the edible St. Louis FIRST logo. However, I'd rather stand in line at Subway for half an hour talking to other teams. It was a much more enjoyable experience.

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Five or six member of 176 got sick Saturday night or Sunday morning. We suspect that it might have been the food; specifically the boxed meals. Almost all of us purchased the preorder lunches, and all of us had the finale boxed dinner. Many of our students were throwing up in their hotel rooms Saturday evening, and even during the trip back on Sunday.

I don't think we'll be doing these boxed meals again soon.

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When students from multiple teams report being sick from the food, that is a problem.

Everyone except me on our team got the box after Einstein. Luckily everyone only took one or two bites, and we went to get REAL food.

If people were getting sick from this, there DEFINITELY needs to be multiple emails sent to FIRST regarding this.

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If this was truly the case (which by reading the posts it seems to be), there not only should be a letter (or call) to FIRST (as mentioned in the post above), but you should contact either the dome or the St. Louis health department about this issue. When people's health and safety is compromised because of provided food there is a much larger issue than "the food tasted bad". The health standards of any state, if met, should not allow such events as this to happen.

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Quoted for truth. Does anyone even slightly doubt this?

Anyway, the Saturday cookie was not at all bad. Must've been an Archway cookie...

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I wont be doing them either. Some people on our team got sick as well. We should email FIRST definitely.

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It was probably the mold inside the turkey wrap... A team member found it on hers, my whole team examined theirs.. was on every wrap.. we took them back. they offered replacements.. I said they will probably have mold on them as well.. they offered ham and cheese.. I said you may want to stop handing them out.. they said, throw them away and I'll get you ham... and continued handing them out.. So we went to all we saw eating them and told them to examine them before eating! The ham and swiss had brown lettuce and hard cheese... we opted for corn dogs... :( what a waste of $10!!! I've already written the caterer and FIRST... I hope more do... We had team members sick as well!

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We only had the meals provided for the wrap party, and were disappointed that there were no alternative (such as gluten-free) meals available for several of our team members that have dietary restrictions.

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This is way too much illness that MAY be related to the boxed lunches, or other problem within the venue. Contact the local health department with known info. They will want to hear about it. Contact info for health department in city of St. Louis can be found here:

http://health.mo.gov/living/lpha/cou...LouisCity.html

They can provide you with information on how to officially report the problems/illnesses. If a number of people have contacted the venue about the illnesses, they should have already contacted the health department.

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I didn't even go to championships this year, and I am absolutely mortified. In 3 years of FIRST (not a long time, but bear with me) I've only succumbed to venue food once, and it's because the gap between selections and elims was 15 minutes.

Still, moldy food? I checked my salad at dinner tonight, and I'm 15 hours from St. Louis and 3 days removed. Like all things in FIRST, I hope, best case, everyone can at least take a lesson from it. If not, maybe you'll develop a higher immunity to foodborne illnesses. Maybe.

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Before I came to the championships I was in Boston visiting my mother for Easter and saw a news story on the 6 o clock news about a mother (who happens to be a chef) suing a bakery for getting her son sick (and killing an elderly man who got sick as well). If this is a similar occurrence I think the proper authorities and find out who is responsible for the food so they can be properly investigated. This is serious business. What if these people kill someone next time?

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I know that Dean and Woodie weren't slaving over a hot stove here...but as the primary customer of the arena, FIRST can undoubtedly shake a larger stick than each of us can individually. Even if contracts mean FIRST can't use a different source for boxed lunches, the extra attention may lead to improvements.