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Meals

Interview with Kristen, Renee, Chad and Dennis

JM: How many meals did you get per day?
Kristen: You would get breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you wanted it. You could choose to stay in your cell if you didn't want to go eat.
Renee: We got 3 meals a day provided by the prison.
Chad: Inmates are given 3 meals per day.
Dennis: I would say none because the quantity of food you got was such that i wouldnt call it a meal but they feed us three times a day

JM: How would you rate the food? Please give details of why.
Kristen: At first it's horrible and it's very small portions, but after awhile you get used to it and come to even like certain things that you couldn't eat before. Bread is served at pretty much every meal...they like to serve a lot of things high in carbohydrates, probably because the portions were so small.
Renee: The food was horrible. We got potatoes with every meal, and usual pasta with a meat. Everything was tasteless, we were provided with salt and pepper to add flavor. We also got a side of veggies which was usually peas or greenbeans a desert, either cake, no icing, jello, or a cookie. Breakfast was the best meal, with pancakes, or french toast. Milk was served with breakfast, and a banana or orange on the weekend only. The rest of the meals were served with koolaid, which has no taste.
Chad: The food is absolutely horrible. Why is it horrible? The jail likes to spend their money on other things. Also, they think if you feed the inmates good food, that they may like it in jail. The food is usually cold, small portions, and very a basic. After a few weeks, you get used to it though.
Dennis: For the most part it was a little worse than terrible. The inmates cooked it so they didnt care if it was cooked properly or not. you had a rotating menu so you got the same things to eat all the time for breakfast four times a week you had instant eggs and oatmeal too and it was just enough to wet your appetite.

JM: Did you have any favorite/least favorite meals?
Kristen: Yeah, the veal and fish was my least favorite and my most favorite was lasagna(which we didn't get very often) and Thanksgiving dinner.
Renee: Breakfast was my favorite. Also bologna sandwiches, and the cookie. My least favorite was any meal with tomato sauce, it tasted like metal. Every once in a while they would serve this stew which looked like it was all our meals from the last week put together.
Chad: I did not have any favorite or least favorite meals while in jail. It was all rated as horrible in my opinion.
Dennis: Yes i did the version of country fried steak they had was fairly good and depending on the vendor they would get the patties they would get were sometimes a decent size, but that was few and far between.

JM: Were there any other snacks offered outside of meals? What was commissary like and how expensive was it?
Kristen: No, only what you bought on commissary. Most of the items were pretty cheap, but cigarettes were pretty expensive. You would order it one day a week, but it would be 2 weeks before you received it.
Renee: Commissary was available twice a week, where we could spend up to 60 dollars per order day. Commissary was good, and nesessary.because the meals only left you full for a few hours. It was reasonably priced. We had pepsi and sierra mist, candy, cup of soup, chips, and coffee. Coffee was a big deal in jail.
Chad: Commissary is a life saver in jail. Without commissary, I do not think the meals they provide are enough food to nourish someone ( I don't care what the numbers say.) Commissary is a list of junk food items with inflated prices. For example, you can get a pack of Ramen noodles at Walmart for 18 cents, but they are a dollar or more per pack on commissary.
Dennis: AS far as snacks no not at all. the commissary was a two page list of nothing but candy and potato chips. There was cup of soups on the list and that was the only thing of any substance. The prices were way over priced the soups were 85 cents and in a regular store they are 40 cents the chips were over priced too for a 25 cent bag at a regular store the prison charged 85 cents

Read about inmate access to medication in the Erie County Prison