What’s For Dinner this Wednesday? Well, apparently I have been a little wound
up about the school lunches on Facebook according to some of my friends. I have tried to steer clear of political
issues just like my fellow blogger Debbie Lyons-Blythe who writes the blog Life On a Kansas Cattle Ranch. If you want
some background information and are clueless about why parents are up in arms
about the school lunch, go check out her post.
I have always been a believer in school lunch, but after the
first 5 days of school The Farmer and I gave in and started letting the kids
take a sack lunch to school. WHY? My kids get on the school bus at 6:45 am and
get off the bus at 4:30, that’s nine hours and forty five minutes to live off
of our school food service. My first grader
was absolutely starving when he got home school. One night, he ate 2 yogurts (I am not talking
about little kid size ones either), he ate supper with the family at 6:00, and
then ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (with 2 slices of bread) at bed
time. I couldn’t believe how much he
ate. It also took 2 hours before he
could concentrate on something other than food so we could get his homework
done.
So what are my suggestions for school lunch? Here is what we have done this week to make things interesting. I am looking for more ideas to put together this weekend.
- Gogurt- I freeze the Gogurt so it stays nice an cold until lunch time.
- Apples- My boys love apples even though my fourth grader tells me that it isn’t cool to eat them at lunch. So the kids can eat them easier, I use an apple wedger and then take a rubber band to hold the apple back together. It doesn’t turn brown, and I don’t have to use any preservatives to keep it that way.
- Sun Butter- Our elementary school is nut free due to a few of the kids with severe nut allergies. I think it is fine to keep these kids safe by restricting the consumption of nuts, but that limits our options for lunch. We used to grow sunflowers quite often and we have learned that there is a nut free substitute for peanut butter call Sun Butter. It does taste a little different, but at least it is a protein source for the kids.
- Cookies- If you want to make healthy cookies for the kids and again are in a nut free school, try making cookies that have roasted soybeans instead of nuts like this recipe for Henry Ford Chocolate Chip Soybean Cookies.
- Of course, I give them lots of fruits and vegies and I am using all those little bitty plastic containers that I never use.
- Ice Packs- I have a tremendous supply of frozen ice packs. Your veterinarians will probably kill me, but all vets get vaccine on ice and my vet throws out a ton of these every week.
While I understand that many kids are overweight in America,
I don’t think that putting the entire youth population on a diet is the
answer. Most of the kids are going to go
home and find the easiest thing to eat and I guarantee you that it won’t be
fresh fruits and vegetables.
I read the blog post that USDA sent out before their Twitter
event today. I was really glad that they
brought up that this was part of Mrs. Obama’s plan. It got me to thinking. Do her girls go to public school? No. Do
they have to eat under the same guidelines?
No. Do they have to ride to school? Yes, but I am guessing it is a 5 minute ride
in a limo and not 90 minutes before school starts on a school bus. If you would like to see what they get to eat, here is a link to their school's lunch menu.
I think my 9 year old summed this up the best and reminded
me why I believe 4-H is an excellent way for everyone to learn. When discussing this before school started
here is how our conversation went:
D: Mom, that is
stupid!
Me: Well there are
kids that are overweight and they need to do something.
D: Yes, but when I
was feeding my lambs and they started getting fat, I just increased their protein
and gave them more exercise.
Hmm, my 9 year old (who gets 40 minutes a day for lunch AND
recess and PE every 3rd day) knows that the way to increase muscle and
decrease fat is not by removing protein from a diet, but instead increasing
it. How about that!?
Let me know what you think and follow Sensible School
Lunches on Facebook. If you have any
great ideas on how to keep lunches fun and interesting for the kids, I would
love to hear from you.
Pinke Post also has a Link party going on to further the discussion on school lunches. Go check it out!
-A Kansas Farm Mom
Hey there KanFarmMom,
ReplyDeleteWe are in the same boat, my BIG teenage boys weren't getting full BEFORE this new lunch program and both mentioned to me that the poor kids who have to eat school lunch, they have it even worse now! We have been sending lunch for my kids for years. Also same boat, if they ride the bus it's 6:45, and about 4:15 when they get home. My kids aren't big bread eaters, so we do lots of wraps, I cube up meat and cheese and send it that way, they love grapes, which I freeze and add to lunch, bake my own cookies, bars, etc that have been known to be 'laced' with zucchini, shredded carrot, applesauce and much more....... We make a huge bowl of trail mix up on Sundays and they bag it up to take along, snack time for youngers, and feeds the bigs on the drive home after football practice. Some other things I do is that I have added to the breakfast offerings, we try to catch a protein every morning and I fix hardy things like baked oatmeal (big pan lasts almost all week) We love the Pioneer Woman's breakfast burritos. I try to make lunch NOT the main meal of the day, so that hopefully they can get by on what we can figure out to put in lunches. Do you do Pinterest? There's a lady on there who has a flickr album of the school lunches she fixed her child for a year, we gleaned a few good ideas there as well, such as pepperoni/cream cheese roll-ups and a ham and cheese roll up that is a crescent roll that's filled with ham and cheese. Okay gonna stop now, I am going to have a longer post that your blog was! LOL Take care, good luck finding foods! :) KH
Thanks for the great ideas & sources! My youngest son is getting bored with what I've been sending. He didn't eat much today and his mood this evening was not fun at all. Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know I am not in the same boat. Even thou my daughter is not school age yet I run into the problem most foods geared toward children are now low fat. I have a daughter who burns double the amount of calories of an average 3 year old and needs that fat. I now buy greek yogurt over regular yogurt just because it is higher in calories. I was thinking about putting her in preschool this year and had a panic attack because half of the things I feed her are deemed "un healthy" and aren't allowed at school. Lucky for me i decided to homeschool this year :) But a question that has been on my brain lately is yes there is an obesity problem but what about the children who aren't and need those nutrients in the food that is know labelled un healthy?
ReplyDeleteCandice @www.lillythroughthevalley.blogspot.ca
I know what you mean about kids who burn tons of calories. My boys are no where near getting out of slim fit jeans. LOL I am concerned that our school district does not put an emphasis on getting the kids moving through PE or recess. My boys are super active, but I know kids that go home and watch TV or play video games. I can't remember the last time the TV was watched by the boys. They are too busy playing outside, reading or doing crafts, etc.
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