Back to school is an exciting time for most families, mine included. My kiddos are usually pretty pumped to get back to seeing friends regularly and the familiarity of routine that school provides. As a mom, I can appreciate that the leisurely days of summer and lenient bedtimes need to come to an end for the sake of (all of our) sanity. I would preface this post by saying we love our school and certainly the staff. However, I am OVER school lunches.
My flexible work schedule allows me to volunteer at school on a fairly regular basis, and one of my favorite ways to help out is “lunch duty”, which means I get to wear an apron and gloves and serve food or condiments. The best part about it is actually seeing my kids in their environment: it’s like watching them in the wild, in their little habitat. I was there on the first day of school this year, where I served K-4th graders. The lunch that day was: Hot dog on a bun, potato chips, brown beans, and peaches. Throughout lunch I saw kids come back for a hot dog and/or potato chips while the peaches and beans sat untouched, all at an additional cost. When it was time for recess, I watched entire trays of food get thrown away, a few chips nibbled, as everything else was scraped into the trash. I wondered how these little bodies and minds would get through the rest of their school day on so little actual nutrition.
The school year before last, as my kids burned through the lunch account I realized they were doing the same thing, which meant the lunch was neither cost effective or nutritious. To fill up, they were going back for seconds and thirds of their entree, choosing to leave the canned peas and fruit cocktail on the side. What I found was 3 pieces of pizza or 3 servings of popcorn chicken purchased, at a total cost of well over $6. This was NOT cutting it. I know schools are doing what they can, with budgets and regulations (disclaimer: I am not a professional nutritionist) but food is so important to these developing humans.
The basics:
-we keep money in their account for milk or “emergency” hot lunch, but otherwise have committed to packing a lunch each day.
-they need a fruit and a veggie, a protein and a starch of their choosing; they may also have a fruit strip or granola bar, etc as “dessert”
Clockwise from top: cheese stick, red pepper, hard boiled egg, dried edamame and sunflower seeds, fruit strip, goldfish
Clockwise from top: kale and parmesan salad with pine nuts, walnuts and chocolate kisses, crackers, cheese, salami, cheese, clementine in center
The benefits: (endless!)
-the whole family has an active role in our nutrition and we all learn to plan and prepare for our day
-my kids are part of the grocery shopping so they learn to weigh the options and associated costs (I will touch on this in a future post)
-they are getting full and eating better, more cost effectively. Win, win, win.
This takes an extra step in the morning, but so far has been very worthwhile for my family. Bonus: most mornings they prefer to do it themselves (hallelujah!)
