Post by rootbeerfloat on Aug 31, 2015 19:22:35 GMT -5
My kids buy school lunch for the same reasons: less work for me, peer pressure to try different foods, more variety, etc. It may not always be the healthiest food they could eat, but it's not like they would eat any super nutritious lunches I sent either. So whatever.
Post by SpartanGirl on Aug 31, 2015 19:30:38 GMT -5
I love when my kids buy lunch at school. My oldest is really picky and it has helped her try new foods. She doesn't always like them, but she did add some new things to her list of acceptable foods.
Ditto pp. We do pack DD a lunch occasionally because she gets a bee in her bonnet about wanting a specific thing, but it's not like that specific thing is a healthier option most times. I send her with TJ's seaweed chips for snack time at least once/week, so I figure that makes up for anything else.
Post by bananapancakes on Aug 31, 2015 19:36:32 GMT -5
I would not feel guilty about this. I eliminated one daycare when I was looking because they didn't provide meals/snacks. I'm in love with the thought of someone else preparing food for my kid!
I wouldn't let this worry you at all. Your doctor sounds like he's out of sh8t to nitpick quite honestly. And if you're okay with the menu so be it. A lot of schools are going super healthy with the choices (Ours is and it's actually good now and met with great kid approval). So I have a feeling it will improve as times goes on.
95% of the kids here eat the hot lunch. You're the odd one out if you are packing a lunch from home.
And it's one meal a day you're kid probably won't eat much of anyways. Do a healthy breakfast, a decent dinner, make good snack choices and you'll be fine.
I grew up on the grossest school lunches ever and I'm a functioning adult.
And for the love, don't tell me this about to become the newest mommy war?
First, school lunches have changed significantly in the last several years. Chances are decent that your doctor doesn't actually know what is being served in the first place!
Your child will benefit more from having a significantly less stressed mom than she would from eating a potentially *slightly* more healthy lunch. Guaranteed.
Post by Jalapeñomel on Aug 31, 2015 19:57:24 GMT -5
When I lived in South Korea, Burger King catered our lunches. It was before those nasty fries they have now, and it was awesome. I felt bad for the kids who had to bring their lunches. Lol
Also, I hate to go here but is your doctor saying this to everyone?
If so it's offensive and degrading to the group of kids where a subsidized hot lunch and milk and crackers at break are their only remotely decent meals of the day.
When you deal with that everyday I just can't care about whether or not you buy the kid hot lunch to save your sanity and make life easier or buy a $50.00 bento box and fill it with kale and organic black rice with a side ethically sourced water chestnuts.
And for the love, don't tell me this about to become the newest mommy war?
It already is. Who can pack the most nutritious lunch that is ALSO the cutest/most creative AND packed in the most expensive stainless steel bento box.
Sorry, kids...rectangular pizza, goldfish, and canned peaches for you. I obviously don't love you as much as other moms love their kids.
I really think some of our lunches are horrid- cheese filled breadstick, green beans, peaches. I only let him buy once a week because I'm cheap.
In Columbus City Schools it's free for everyone. It was something like 70% of kids qualified for free lunch but they had a hard time getting people to turn in the paperwork so they just made it free for everyone.
Of course we moved and now I'm all "$2.50? What am I, a Rockefeller?!" lol
Our cafeteria rarely serves fresh fruit or veggies (more canned) and I don't love the variety so I send him a Yumbox full of easy stuff from the fridge and pre-made/frozen pbj sandwiches, so packing lunch takes less than a minute. Cafeteria food varies greatly so if yours is any good at all, I wouldn't worry about it.
And for the love, don't tell me this about to become the newest mommy war?
It already is. Who can pack the most nutritious lunch that is ALSO the cutest/most creative AND packed in the most expensive stainless steel bento box.
Sorry, kids...rectangular pizza, goldfish, and canned peaches for you. I obviously don't love you as much as other moms love their kids.
I'm just going to pretend this is limited to a specific subset of moms on instagram who consider lunch packing a hobby and an art form.
By all means, more power to them. I just don't believe this is something the rest of the population does on the regular.
I really think some of our lunches are horrid- cheese filled breadstick, green beans, peaches. I only let him buy once a week because I'm cheap.
In Columbus City Schools it's free for everyone. It was something like 70% of kids qualified for free lunch but they had a hard time getting people to turn in the paperwork so they just made it free for everyone.
Of course we moved and now I'm all "$2.50? What am I, a Rockefeller?!" lol
$2.25 here. I made 10 "main dishes" for his lunch for $2.50.
There's no reason to feel guilty. The lunches aren't horrible. There's a guaranteed fruit and vegetable plus they try to offer a variety of items.
If it makes you feel better, most of the packed lunches I see aren't that phonomenal. There's a lot of cheetos and Capri suns in the lunch room. I'm not judging those things because I'm sure parents are packing what they know their kids will eat and its just one meal a day. I just want you know that most kids aren't showing up daily with quinoa and organic grass fed kabobs.
It already is. Who can pack the most nutritious lunch that is ALSO the cutest/most creative AND packed in the most expensive stainless steel bento box.
Sorry, kids...rectangular pizza, goldfish, and canned peaches for you. I obviously don't love you as much as other moms love their kids.
I'm just going to pretend this is limited to a specific subset of moms on instagram who consider lunch packing a hobby and an art form.
By all means, more power to them. I just don't believe this is something the rest of the population does on the regular.
Sometimes my denial bubble is a good thing.
I think your bubble is more realistic than you think. I've worked in both poor and affluent achools. The lunches are not that different and I've never seen a parent consistently send a fancy lunch. Bloggers may be doing it because they need fodder for their blogs but normal parents are sending sandwich, fruit, and a juice box.
Post by lizlemon19 on Aug 31, 2015 20:39:04 GMT -5
Nothing to feel guilty about. At least she is eating! And I do think they have gotten better than in the 80's. I have my kid buy 2 days a week when I start to run out of stuff to send.
It is by far more varied and healthy than anything I would do myself daily. Plus then I feel less pressure on dinner because I know she has had a healthy varied organic lunch.
Am I the only one who wants to eat the cheese filled breadstick? lol
they are not as delicious as you would think. Waxy cheese and slimy undercooked bread.
The dairy farmer in me cringed on cheesey breadstick day.
Now thanks to Obama Cheesy breadstick day in my school has become a wheat french bread with tomato sauce and two kinds of cheese in which the kids can sprinkle on Italian seasoning if they choose. It's quite good. Except for the part about a kindergartner trying to effectively use a spice shaker...ha.
Post by cincodemayo on Aug 31, 2015 21:21:16 GMT -5
Our hot lunch was the best. I never brought cold. In my case, what the school would feed my kid would probably be healthier than what I would end up sending after a few weeks of begrudgingly packing a lunch.
I'm just going to pretend this is limited to a specific subset of moms on instagram who consider lunch packing a hobby and an art form.
By all means, more power to them. I just don't believe this is something the rest of the population does on the regular.
Sometimes my denial bubble is a good thing.
I think your bubble is more realistic than you think. I've worked in both poor and affluent achools. The lunches are not that different and I've never seen a parent consistently send a fancy lunch. Bloggers may be doing it because they need fodder for their blogs but normal parents are sending sandwich, fruit, and a juice box.
I know it is realistic..haha.
I've done my share of lunch duty over the past 10 years and there are days I wish some kids would just get a hot lunch even for the canned peaches. A HiC juicebox and a bag of potato chips washed down with a fruit snack does not a lunch make. And I'm not the food police. At all.
There is one mom who packs great lunches but it's more in the sense of she figured out who to send last night's leftovers safely and so her kids will eat it. It's still a very "real" lunch and not exactly '"fancy." There's also a lot of apple slices and ham sandwiches. A few with Lunchables consistently. And some who have junk pretty much constantly.
Honestly it's hit or miss. There are some days I walk in the cafeteria and think I would have no problem having my daughter eat that for lunch. Other days I cringe. For example nacho supreme day is a favorite at my school. Chips, nacho cheese, taco meat, beans, some fruit and milk. Except the kids only take the chips, cheese, fruit (because they have to) and milk. So I have 20+ first graders that only ate chips, cheese and chocolate milk for lunch and that's suppose to sustain them for the rest of the school day. It doesn't.
Yes there have been some improvements to school lunches but in large part I wouldn't call most of them "healthy". It's not going to hurt them though and if they have a well balanced breakfast and dinner they'll be fine.
Honestly it's hit or miss. There are some days I walk in the cafeteria and think I would have no problem having my daughter eat that for lunch. Other days I cringe. For example nacho supreme day is a favorite at my school. Chips, nacho cheese, taco meat, beans, some fruit and milk. Except the kids only take the chips, cheese, fruit (because they have to) and milk. So I have 20+ first graders that only ate chips, cheese and chocolate milk for lunch and that's suppose to sustain them for the rest of the school day. It doesn't.
Yes there have been some improvements to school lunches but in large part I wouldn't call most of them "healthy". It's not going to hurt them though and if they have a well balanced breakfast and dinner they'll be fine.
Nacho day is the worst. The absolute worst. The smell alone about does me in sometimes. Our school did away with it last year when they had a huge menu revamp. Thank god.
These kids ate what amounts to a 4 chip serving size, two sips of milk and a grape and they're supposed to be full? They burned that all off getting their coats on for recess.
When I sent food she wouldn't eat any of it. She asks me to, but it all comes back a huge mess that's 95% uneaten because "it was too cold" "it wasn't cold enough" "it was gross".
The limits for free lunch are really high, so I'm enjoying free breakfast and lunch for her. It's free, she'll eat it (and gets the ability to make her own choices, which she does like), and it saves me time. She knows that it's important to eat healthy items and she'll tell me about how she worked to balance her food so she gets fruit and vegetables as well as pizza and corndogs it really is better for my stress and us not arguing in the morning as she eats as slowly as possible and then would complain to her teachers about how hungry she was. So I also seem less like a negligent parent too ;p but only because my kid quickly learned she gets pity snacks from the teachers if she didn't eat at home before school.