Worried About School Lunches

I am a school lunch cook. My daughter is a picky eater and won't eat school lunch. If she would, I would let her because of the guidelines I have to follow. School lunch has come a long way since I was in school, there is more healthy choices for kids including whole grains, bagel fun lunch, all beef bologna & cheese on whole wheat and good macaroni and cheese. I don't know if you are in Newport or Middletown, which have different companies for the school lunch program. I work in Middletown and love my job.

Hi,
I work in a school and those are most of the lunches they serve are just what you described that she eats.
My daughter is also a picky eater and we look at the school meau that they send home. If there is something that she doesn't like that day I help her make a bag lunch.
I guide her toward healthy choices, but also let her think that she is making her own lunch. She is happy and I know that she has a healthy lunch that she will eat.
Good Luck!

No offense but hot dogs, mac and cheese, chicken patties, and cheeseburgers aren't the healthiest either. Sometimes if kids see other kids eating something they might be more willing to try it! I thought school lunches were supposed to be well balanced including protein veggies and fruit! Does your school have a microwave that may be used by your daughter to heat something up? It might be easier to keep it cold and then heat it up for lunch.

Hi J.,

I do not have many hot school lunch ideas but something peak my interest when you said "school lunches are not the healthiest." Schools are now trying to implement healthier choices for their school lunch and you should see if your school is participating in that. Also, hot dogs, chicken patties, mac & cheese, cheese burgers etc. are not the healthiest choices and if anything that is what a school lunch would be. :)

I use the silver with black cap Thermos brand food themos and it keeps thing HOT! I am a teacher and go into work at 7am.
Lunch is at noon and I can't tell you how steamy my chili has been on some days... I have to blow on the spoon to cool.

Your kid sounds like my middle. He eats all of 5 things. The only days he wanted to buy lunch at school were pizza day and nacho cheese day....yep skip the cheese eat the chips!

Due to schools being nut free (and for a valid reason) he could not partake in his absolute staple of foods..peanutbutter...
so we came up with simple lunch ideas. Lunch doesn't need to be hot to be healthy. I'd pack cereal and he'd buy a carton of milk. I included a throw away bowl and spoon in his lunch box. (he ate a variety of cereals)
ranch dressing in a small container and a bag of baby carrots
sliced apples. SLiced hot dog (he didn't like the school's boiled hot dogs)
you get the picture...I had to choose from a handful of food he'd actually eat.

My neice was a similar child my sister would send
Rice cakes with cottage cheese
rolled turky breast (she wouldn't eat a sandwich)
baggie of grapes
baggie of apples
baggie of carrots
in a thermos
soup
chili
chicken and rice
etc

I wouldn't worry to much about lunch...as she'll have a snack usually in the morning then lunch and they come home hungry and you can make up for what she didn't eat for lunch then!

I do work in the school as a teacher till my daughter was born 2 yr. ago. They are very balanced. They are requred to have the peramid as the balance. Much heathtier than when we were kids. I would give it a try and see how she does. The also send a menu hove for the month and you can pick what days she will eat the schools lunch and make her somthing. She could surprice you and eat it. All her friends will be eating it and want to do the same. GOod luck. Keep me up daed on how she does.

Hi J.,
I bought the small thermos containers that are stainless steel at Target or Wal Mart. They cost around 15.00 though the price may be higher now. I put hot water in them when I go to make a hot lunch and then heat something on the stove, pour the hot water out and pour the lunch in. My kids will sometimes take soup or Bernie'o's to school for lunch. You could put mac and cheese in too if you wanted to. I buy an organic soup with meatballs and orzo in it that my kids really like.(Whole Foods Market) Maybe you can go shopping with your girls and let your daughter pick out several different soups that she would like. I would try to include a nutritious snack, or try to make something at home on the weekend, like a zucchini or banana bread. It is hard to come up with new things for kids. I have 3 boys and my third one will be in first grade also. He is very picky too. Hope these ideas help!

Hi J.,

The school lunches are actually ALOT better than what you may think. They've come a long way since I was in school. What I do with my son, since I had the same problem last year as you with the thermos .... I let him pick 1-2 days a week on the school lunch calendar for the meals he knows for a fact he'll eat & then I pack 'cold' lunches for the other days. That way he gets his 'hot' & 'cold' lunches (and it saves me from straining my brain too hard to create fun new healthy lunches all the time). My son is a fairly picky eater as well & he LOVES the school lunches!

Now-a-days the schools are really cracking down to make much healthier choices for the kids to eat (and the garbage food is quite limited which makes me happy). Every school lunch he's gotten sounds like something he'd have here at home - for example - a chicken patty, green beans, a fruit cup, milk or juice (he always picks milk), mashed potatoes & a cookie or a brownie (and the cookie/brownie are small- i've seen them). That's a great lunch if you ask me!!!

He doesn't like everything the school has to offer, he IS only 6 =0) but it's nice to know that there's a healthy choice there for him when he wants a hot lunch.

But for some creative lunch ideas - check out lunchopolis.com, familyfun.com, parenting.com, parents.com, disneydreamteam.com, amazingmoms.com, etc - there are TONS of ideas out there waiting to be found. Last year I had so much fun with my son and even my husband, coming up with new healthy fun ways for my son for lunch - not only that but it expanded his pallet!!!

Good luck!
C. B.

I'll just reiterate that schools serve what you listed as your daughter's favorite foods. Schools have to follow certain nutritional guidelines (though most kids don't eat the veggies they are served!), and the food is always hot! So, if your daughter likes those foods, hot lunch is a lot easier than worrying about packing food and trying to keep it hot.

Have you tried Lunchables?

Unless you are buying mac & cheese, chicken patties, hotdogs, cheese burgers etc at Wholefoods Market or the like, they are not any healthier than school lunches I'm afraid.
Does she like fruit and veggies, you could send some of that with cheese and crackers for lunch once in a while.
My granddaughter is picky also, but has agreed to have peanut butter and fluff, cheese and crackers with fruit and once a week, pizza and grill cheese served by the school.
My daughter shops at Wholefoods and watches to be sure that her children have "kids stuff" for lunches without harmful additives.

school lunches are a little better than you think.. they usually give the kids a choice of fruit and veggies with every lunch. They even offer yogurts and by law, they have to be somewhat healthy.. Call the school dept and ask about them.

Hi J., I think every parent in history has had this concern at one time or another so you're not alone. I have been packing my sons lunches for 4 years now and he has been eating good ol' PB&J for probably 99% of the time. I have gotten creative with him and managed a turkey and cheese a few times but it's mostly pb&j. I use whole wheat bread and low sugar or all natural jam/jelly (we tried all natural peanut butter for awhile but it didn't last long and was very expensive so...back to jiffy. I just make sure to pack him a bag of baby carrots or some other veggie he likes or even fruit and WATER. My son really liked those gogurts so I would freeze them and stick them in the lunchbox to keep things cold and by the time lunch came it would be ready to eat. Anyway, I'm sure you'll find a solution that works for your family...Good luck! L.

Those foods that you listed above as being your daughter's usual choices are the things they serve most often in school lunches. If you are worried about her eating healthy, those lunches do come with fruits and veggies usually. The new mandates for healthier lunches have improved things quite a bit in recent years. You could try going to your local library and checking out some simple kids cookbooks and sitting with your daughter to help her choose healthier foods. Those that you listed as her choices are not particularly healthy to start with unless you pair it with vegetables and fruit. The important thing is to use this as a learning opportunity to expose her to new foods and help her learn to make healthy choices!
Things like apple fries (raw apple cut like french fries) with cinnamon and sugar for dipping (you only get a little sugar anyway, it's just for flavoring), ants on a log, carrot sticks with low fat ranch dip,etc,etc. might entice her to eat more whole foods. I think the suggestion of your other posters to check out the school menu and help her make some choices as to which days to buy will also ease your mind and give you a break. Good luck!

You can buy a pint sized hot thermos and pack hot food. There is this great cookbook called The Vegan Lunchbox. I am dying to order it but it's always back ordered and pretty expensive. Another creative idea I heard was to make kabobs of veges and cheese or turkey cubes and instead on having them on a sharp stick, have them on a straw. Hope that helps! J. D.

Your concerns are very common - I have a 4-year old that has been in pre-school and her school doesn't provide lunch...so we too have had to get creative with lunches. If your daughter will eat turkey and/or cheese, we've had great successs with mini roll-up sandwiches...OR making a traditional sandwich and cutting it into fun shapes with cookie cutters. My daughter loves pasta so we've made some cold pasta salads with chunks of veggies, chicken and a dressing that she likes.

Foogo by Thermos is suppose to be a GREAT brand for hot and cold foods - they say their thermos bowls keep food hot for 5 hours - may be worth some research. You may also want to check to see if the school lunch room has a microwave as many do...and they usually have someone onsite to work the controls as well.

I work in a school and you listed almost all of the normal lunch choices there are in a week! The only think you might not have listed that they also have is pizza, pancakes, waffles and sausage, etc. They always come with fruit and/or veggies too. But on the flip side, I have this parent that packs her child's lunch (hot lunch) everyday and it's amazingly hot everytime it's time for lunch. I don't know the brand, but they are heavy duty thick glass containers with plastic tops, and they are packed in a special lunch bag that has silver on the inside, (to keep warm), and "heat packs" rather than "ice packs". It's really cool. I will try to find out where she got it from - or the brand name when I start back to work next week or so...

Well, I hate to burst your bubble but I too work at an elementary school and our school system serves hot lunches which are exactly what your child eats and it's alot healthier and more wellbalanced than when we were kids (when the ketchup WAS the vegetable)...So I'm not exactly sure what you would then consider healthy, unless if your looking at organic and buy your cheeseburgers, chicken patties, and mac&cheese at whole foods....

Good luck
M. M.
45 year old mom of a second grader...working as a part-time pediatric office assistant and recess monitor the rest of the time

J.,

My daughter disliked the food served when she was in elementary school so we bought her an L.L. Bean thermos and she packed her lunch in it every day for more than two years. She took food like mac & cheese, soups, leftovers such as spaghetti or stew, etc. in it. We would microwave the food in the morning before school until it was "nuclear" temp (as she called it), put it in the L.L. Bean thermos, and it would still be hot when she ate lunch at school. She was the envy of her classmates who always wanted to know "what do you have today?" I don't remember the thermos being very expensive and it certainly lasted. She's in middle school now so it's no longer "cool" to bring your lunch but I know she misses the homemade food some days when the school lunch is "gross." Good luck!
R.

OK first off, school lunches are supposed to nutritionally "balance out" over the course of a MONTH, and in fact are very high in sodium. Add to that that most children pass over the "steamed broccoli" and load their salads with high fat dressing, it's NOT a super health choice .
Take a trip to the deli. Buy 2 or 3 three slices of everything! Boar's Head meats and cheeses are low sodium, no filler and gluten free. You can fill that Ben-to box with chicken and cheese cubes, grapes and crackers. Rolled up slices of Maple Ham and cheddar or Swiss squares with pita and baby carrots.
On weekends we are all about HOT lunches here. Thermos's are great, if your child can open it by herself. I can't tell you how many kids wolf down their lunch or don't get to finish because they had to wait for a lunch room monitor or teacher to come help them open their lunch.
Lunch should be easy to access, healthy and approachable.
Good luck, check out some tips at www.thelunchtimeblog.com

You can usually go on-line and see the school lunch menu. I have a picky daughter as well and we print out the menu and circle the days she will eat at school. They often serve the foods your daugther likes, hamburgers, chicken patties (my daughter's favorite school lunch meal), hot dogs, chicken nuggets, etc. along with veggies and fruit at every meal. They don't let the little ones (at least at my daughter's school) buy the extra snacks and junk food. For the days she's not eating at school my daughter takes yogurt, turkey, carrot sticks and juice.

Hi J.. I don't want you to feel this is a "testy" email because it isn't. I merely want to enlighten you and others out there about the new school lunch! I have recently had the pleasure of working in the kitchen at my son's school. My mother in law is usually the one who does it but due to an injury which required surgery and recovery/therapy I filled in for her. Anyway, I know for an absolute fact that school lunches are more than healthy. They have to do their menu's within strict state and federal guidelines that meet nutritional needs for children. So while it seems that they are getting "junk food" (ie: brownies, cake or cookies and the like) the truth is that those calories or carbs or what ever have already been calculated for the entire month on a week by week basis. Nutritionally speaking, your child will eat more healthy as far as getting the proper amount of everything they need in a balanced diet with a school lunch. Our school even grows its own garden and uses the fresh vegies in their meals. We even help my in laws pick fresh berries and freeze them for use in the school. Today for breakfast they had the choice of either chocolate chip muffins or blueberry muffins, made with fresh blueberries. Compared to what some parents feed their children at home it is a far cry better to let them eat at school than send them in a "cold" lunch from home. An example is like today, we served them turkey on a bun with a choice of lettuce and/or tomato to put on it, mayo or mustard (1 pkt. mayo, 2 pkts. mustard). We picked three different kinds of carrots (orange, white and red) from the school garden, broccoli from the school garden and cucumbers from the school garden and they could have 1 oz. of ranch dressing for their raw vegies if they wanted. We also offered them some pasta salad or potato salad, in which each contained vegies from the garden, and for dessert they could have a square of brownie with milk to wash it down with. Our kids are not allowed to bring in those lunchables that contain soda either. So, while I can understand about wanting your child to eat healthy, you should really check with the school's nutritional program director and ask to know how menu's are calculated. And if it isn't to your liking maybe you could get other parent's together and plant a garden to donate vegies to the school or see if the nutritional program director could buy different things that meet your standard of healthy foods. Most of us are pretty open to new ideas and suggestions. Thank you for letting me enlighten you and others who still think that school lunches are either unhealthy or are making kids fat. School lunches rock!