School Lunches
Until last year my kids didn’t really mind buying their lunch at school. The cooks in the school prepared most of it right there and the menu was pretty varied. Ice cream was only served on Fridays and you had your choice of a popsicle or an ice cream cone.
Somehow, our county decided that they needed to go with a food service company county wide - they chose Chartwells. Their reasoning? To serve healthier food to the county’s students and save the county money. Honestly, they screwed up! The first thing the food services company did was increase the school lunch prices. The second thing they did was begin to offer ala carte choices daily - like chips, ice cream, cookies, and fruit roll ups. Does that sound healthy to you?
Then there is the quality issue. My son has completely stopped buying his lunch at school. It was the day of spoiled milk, under cooked pizza and moldy roll that sent him over the edge. Honestly, I don’t blame him. My daughter is starting to see the light too, which means I get to come up with creative lunch box solutions daily. To me that is a small price to pay to ensure that my kids actually eat their lunch.
Do your kids buy their lunch at school or pack? And does anyone have more ideas for what to pack a child who doesn’t eat bread or cheese (lactose intolerant)?
For another Mom’s take on school lunches, go visit Cottontimer. It sounds like her son’s school made an improvement and her son is a better eater for it.
Tags: Chartwells, lunch-box, school-lunchesRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Kids Cooking, Lunches, School Issues
5 opinions for School Lunches
Neena
Apr 29, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Our town uses Chartwells also. They don’t offer a la carte choices (thank goodness) but there are 4 menu choices offered each day. My kids tend to go with the “fast foody” choices like burgers and chicken nuggets. I am not thrilled with the offerings.
As to special diet, one of my sons has multiple food allergies so he cannot buy lunch. I agree, it is a challenge to pack his lunch everyday and planning is everything.
V-Grrrl
Apr 30, 2007 at 11:27 am
While my children’s school serves decent lunches, they also cater to the school staff and so have lots of junky a la carte items. The official policy is that the kids cannot buy those items BUT the reality is that the cafeteria manager does not enforce the policy and sells the kids whatever they can pay for. She even lets them charge! My son takes advantage of this system and eats too much junk.
In their old school, every child packed and no one was allowed to trade lunches. I liked that policy much, much better!
Gayle
May 1, 2007 at 5:45 am
My daughter’s high school has several different choices,including salads, but most of the kids, of course, pick the least nutritional choices! My daughter has gotten into the habit of packing her own lunches most days. She likes to make her own salads, pita bread sandwichs, smoothies, etc. About all I have to do is add the items she wants to my grocery list.
k.lee
Sep 22, 2007 at 9:39 pm
sorry this is long i know please bear with me :)
ive been making my own lunch each day for school, because i like a veried healthy meal, plus i cant have some of the stuff they sell at my school. i love making my own dips and (hommus is a great easy dip, just buy a can of chickpeas and blend in a food proccessor with a tbspoon of sesame oil and a pinch of seasoning. ) with pita bread and veggies ,such as carrot, it can be a great healthy meal. im 17 but i still love lunches with heaps of colorful veggies and fruit with different shapes. i like cutting up fruit slices or bread to look like stars or animals. i found its all about varying the look of healthy food to make it interesting. the best things are that things like dips are easy to make so that kids can help make their own lunch, and that if you make your own lunch, your more liking to eat it.
Emme(pronounced Ee-mee)
Dec 1, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Vegetables. Make fun shapes like triangles or stars. For some carbs you can use a thermos to keep pasta or soup hot, and you can give cold rolls(made with cold turkey or chicken and a spinach wrap maybe some veggies inside) At my daughter’s school, they serve meatloaf that you can’t tell if it’s cole slaw or vanilla pudding.Emme
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