Saturday, September 20, 2008

School Lunches

We qualify for free lunches through the school- which is nice, it does save us alot of money... but I'm not happy with what the school has availible.
Each month we go through the calendar of lunches and cross out the entrees that are not healthy choices and the boys can pick from whats left. Last year the selection was much better- this year, they have one choice. The school does offer something else on those days- salad or meat sandwich. But really, a salad is not going to fill and keep full a growing boy and the sandwich is just 2 slices of store-bought bread and some deli meat... again, not filling- because I know if I were to serve the same thing, my boys would eat at least 3 sandwiches.
This year is even worse in that, as you can see there are a couple days where there is nothing on the menu that I approve of:


And the choices for those days?
Cheesy Macaroni
Corn Dog
Pepperoni Pizza

So, I have been sending a sack lunch on those days.
Regardless of the lunch at school the boys come home starving- they're like hobbits needing 6 meals a day.
The boys are very honest and do only eat what I say. Since the school offers salad or sandwiches they do have a choice between say Spaghetti Spirals or a turkey and cheese sandwich.
They don't drink chocolate milk- I don't know why the school even has that as an option, but they do.
The boys do catch some flack from other kids and many times have been told to lie and just take what they want. But they also understand what healthy is and that pizza or hamburgers every day is not good for them.
I have noticed that with the problem of obesity the school lunches have changed- but only to smaller portions. It would be so much better if they served good food! Growing kids need alot of food- but they need alot of healthy food.
It saves enough money each month that I can't justify only sending lunches, I need to take advantage of the free lunch. But I'm not too concerned- they eat a second lunch when they get home anyway. So overall, their diet is pretty good.

2 comments:

PerfectMomentProject said...

You may like this lesson learned this week about Free Lunches.

and where it took me on my thoughts about charity.

savvysuzie said...

It's unfortunate when "free" becomes a four-letter word because what they're offering is barely worth taking. at least your kids are wise enough to follow your rules! I think I'd have been going for the pizza :)

PS I have an award for you at my recipe blog :)

http://savvysuziefood.blogspot.com/

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