What did your kids take for lunch today

[Mouse House Mama]

Today was

Pb&J on whole grain bread (no processed stuff in it)
3 pretzel rods
1 Fuitabu smooshed fruit strip (like fruit by the foot except it actually is all real fruit)
water

 

[Jordan'sMom]

I too was amazed at the amount of food the OP sends. My son loves to eat but I still get a few leftovers everyday due to time constraints. I only send a sandwich (deli ham or turkey w/ provolone or cheddar-jack cheese on whole wheat),fresh fruit (usually some variety of berry), and white milk everyday. School lunches are $4.50. DS is dying to buy lunch. I have not let him in the past because the menu was so unhealthy. They have just switched to a healthy menu so I may give in once or twice before the end of the year!

I also send a cold pack with the lunch which I place in an insulated lunch kit. I occasionally will get a milk back half drank (I use Rubbermade plastic drink containers) and it is still cold at the end of the day! No worries about spoilage.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I put an icepack in my son's lunch too so his drink stays cool and then another if it is a cold cut sandwich. I too thought that was alot of food in the OP. What I pack is for lunch and afternoon snack. My son is a super eater and I know he eats what I pack. He also loves things like fresh fruit and celery. I am only too happy to oblige! We have gone dairy free in our home so he doesn't get to buy lunch too often. He misses that as he loves to buy lunch. (he's in K and likes eating out if you will! )

 

[mjantz]

$2.25 to purchase lunch in school. this equals $11.25 per week.

with prices nowadays more or less:

I'd buy 1 loaf of bread for what? $2.50
Peanut butter for? $2.50
Then she needs a drink box? $2.00 (for a case on sale)
Oh, and a small bag of chips: $4.00 (dorito's snack bags)
and a little something sweet oreos snack packs: $3.00
for a total of $14.00 per week (about) not including the one time purchase of sandwich baggies and a lunch bag.

if we get cold cuts and cheese it's more money...

You can get a big bag of chips or pretzels & put them in sandwich bags in the evening or over the weekend & save a lot. I sometimes pay my son $1 to do that for me on a Saturday afternoon. Ditto for the sweet snack packs. A box of generic fruit snacks can be about $1.50 for 10 packets. For more of a cookie-type sweet, we like japanese Pocky sticks. You can get them as most grocery stores with any kind of Asian section or we get ours at the local Asian Market (much better selection). They're cookie sticks dipped in various icing-like coatings. I usually open even the little packages that say 'One serving' & send 4 sticks at a time.
As far as keeping stuff cold, I pack the night before & stick it in the fridge and add a cold pack in the morning. I figure it has to keep cold until she has lunch. Plus, I try & cluster the cold stuff together.

 

[3kidsfordis]

Any ideas for non-bread lunches that are healthy? And that includes bagels and wraps.

Will they eat crackers? How about tuna salad or chicken salad to spread on crackers or peanut butter on crackers or peanut butter and spreadable cheese on crackers. Yogurt with a baggie of cereal or granola to mix in or just cereal to mix with milk and a banana or strawberries to go with it. I saw a container at the Container Store the other day where you could pack cereal in one half and milk on the bottom and mix them together when you want to eat. Didn't notice the price!

 

[pjlla]

Okay.... I have to admit, I was going to stay out of this. Nobody asked my opinion about this subject and it is off topic of the original post. But I feel like I need to say something.

I am shocked at the amount of artificial sweetener that some of you allow your children to consume. Lots of things marked "sugar free" or "no sugar added" contain many different kinds of artificial sweetener. This stuff is NOT good for your children (or you!). Admittedly, I consume too many items that contain this stuff myself, but as an adult I am making an informed decision and I am past my peak growing/developing years. But your children are not. If you are interested in learning more, find the book "Sweet Poison". It talks about what aspartame is REALLY capable of doing. And ths is just one book. There are more. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE.... do some reading and research before you continue to allow your children to consume this stuff. I know we are all concerned the amount of sugar our children consume, but this is not the best alternative. There are other choices.

Understand.... I am not trying to slam you. As a parent of two children, I can TOTALLY understand trying to make good decisions about your children's food. And unless you have been doing some research, you may not know how bad these sweeteners are, But you need to do some reading about these different sweeteners before you continue to give them to your children. At least then you will be making an informed decision.

My children do occasionally have a food and/or drink item that has aspartame. And sometimes food with Splenda. But I try VERY HARD to limit these items to not more than once a week. And you really have to READ THE LABELS so that you know what is being consumed.

I will step off my soapbox now. PLEASE understand, this isn't direct at anyone in particular. I am not trying to be "holier than thou". I just want to be sure that you all know what you are feeding your children. Thanks for your patience...........................P

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Oh, I agree with you pjlla. Aspartame is not found in this house. I think I do have some popsicles with Splenda right now, but that is rare. I did get DH to switch to Diet Coke with Splenda, since the stinker won't give it up entirely. I banned Aspartame awhile ago .

For lunch today:

Turkey sandwich
Apple
Organic granola bar
Bottle of water

My pre-k'er will bring:
Organic mac and cheese
Strawberries
Chocolate Milk

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Okay.... I have to admit, I was going to stay out of this. Nobody asked my opinion about this subject and it is off topic of the original post. But I feel like I need to say something.

I am shocked at the amount of artificial sweetener that some of you allow your children to consume. Lots of things marked "sugar free" or "no sugar added" contain many different kinds of artificial sweetener. This stuff is NOT good for your children (or you!). Admittedly, I consume too many items that contain this stuff myself, but as an adult I am making an informed decision and I am past my peak growing/developing years. But your children are not. If you are interested in learning more, find the book "Sweet Poison". It talks about what aspartame is REALLY capable of doing. And ths is just one book. There are more. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE.... do some reading and research before you continue to allow your children to consume this stuff. I know we are all concerned the amount of sugar our children consume, but this is not the best alternative. There are other choices.

Understand.... I am not trying to slam you. As a parent of two children, I can TOTALLY understand trying to make good decisions about your children's food. And unless you have been doing some research, you may not know how bad these sweeteners are, But you need to do some reading about these different sweeteners before you continue to give them to your children. At least then you will be making an informed decision.

My children do occasionally have a food and/or drink item that has aspartame. And sometimes food with Splenda. But I try VERY HARD to limit these items to not more than once a week. And you really have to READ THE LABELS so that you know what is being consumed.

I will step off my soapbox now. PLEASE understand, this isn't direct at anyone in particular. I am not trying to be "holier than thou". I just want to be sure that you all know what you are feeding your children. Thanks for your patience...........................P

I agree with you. I did a big science fair report on Aspartame when it first came out in the 80's (I came in third in the state). Bad stuff. Nothing wrong with good ol' fashioned sugar, in moderation.

 

[TenThousandVolts]

I use a lot of artificially sweetened products. (soft drinks, yogurt) -I buy this stuff mainly to keep my own cALORIe count down, but it is in the house and the kids definately eat or drink the stuff sometimes.
What is the big problem with aspartame? The FDA deems it safe.

I also use spenda in place of sugar whenever I can- this is when I am cooking for my whole family- I add it to salad dressings, spaghetti sauce, iced tea...

 

[disalways]

Okay.... I have to admit, I was going to stay out of this. Nobody asked my opinion about this subject and it is off topic of the original post. But I feel like I need to say something.

I am shocked at the amount of artificial sweetener that some of you allow your children to consume. Lots of things marked "sugar free" or "no sugar added" contain many different kinds of artificial sweetener. This stuff is NOT good for your children (or you!). Admittedly, I consume too many items that contain this stuff myself, but as an adult I am making an informed decision and I am past my peak growing/developing years. But your children are not. If you are interested in learning more, find the book "Sweet Poison". It talks about what aspartame is REALLY capable of doing. And ths is just one book. There are more. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE.... do some reading and research before you continue to allow your children to consume this stuff. I know we are all concerned the amount of sugar our children consume, but this is not the best alternative. There are other choices.

Understand.... I am not trying to slam you. As a parent of two children, I can TOTALLY understand trying to make good decisions about your children's food. And unless you have been doing some research, you may not know how bad these sweeteners are, But you need to do some reading about these different sweeteners before you continue to give them to your children. At least then you will be making an informed decision.

My children do occasionally have a food and/or drink item that has aspartame. And sometimes food with Splenda. But I try VERY HARD to limit these items to not more than once a week. And you really have to READ THE LABELS so that you know what is being consumed.

I will step off my soapbox now. PLEASE understand, this isn't direct at anyone in particular. I am not trying to be "holier than thou". I just want to be sure that you all know what you are feeding your children. Thanks for your patience...........................P

I completely agree with you. If my kid's food is going to taste sweet it is because there is going to be natural sugar in it. The chemicals scare me.

 

[Miz Diz]

I agree too on the artificial sweetner, but do allow my children to have items sweetened with splenda. Our pediatrician said it is okay.

 

[MEM]

I'm glad someone spoke up about the artificial sweeteners, and yes, that debate will rage as long as we live. I only know that they can give me and my children headaches and/or diarrhea.

I am happy to see that honey is enjoying a resurgence in popularity, being touted in the mainstream press as an antiseptic, among other things.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

PJLLA I am 100% there with you. The bottom line is that these fake sugars are chemicals. You would not say to yourself, hmmm...I think I will pack a bacg full of chemicals for myself and the kids for lunch today! We eat as whole as possible. If we can't understand the ingredients we don't buy it. There are many other alternatives that are not chemicals. Cane juice is one of them. It is used to sweeten foods and is natural. I am not saying our kids never ever eat junk but we try to limit the fake junk as much as possible.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

I use a lot of artificially sweetened products. (soft drinks, yogurt) -I buy this stuff mainly to keep my own cALORIe count down, but it is in the house and the kids definately eat or drink the stuff sometimes.
What is the big problem with aspartame? The FDA deems it safe.

I also use spenda in place of sugar whenever I can- this is when I am cooking for my whole family- I add it to salad dressings, spaghetti sauce, iced tea...

Ok, I'm remembering back to 1987, here, when I did the research and I was a teenager.

There were some studies done with rats where they were given the equivalent of a 6 pack of diet coke a day for about 5 years. The rats brains were then dissected and compared against control rats fed the equivalent amount of sugar.

The aspartame brains had abscesses.

This is because you're requiring the body to process excessive amounts of phenyalanine. If you look on a can of diet coke, you see the warning "phenylketelnourics: contains phenyalanine." There are people born without the ability to process the amino acid phenylalanine (aspartame is the synthetic form of phenylalanine). They're called phenyketelnourics. The body produces minute amounts of phenylalanine naturally and these people lack the gene to break it down. It's one of the things they test babies for at birth because if it's not discovered immediately and treated the babies will become irreparably brain damaged from the phenylalanine's effects on the brain.

Now, what we are doing to NORMAL people is flooding their bodies with massive amounts of phenylalanine in the form of aspartame and asking your body to break it all down and excrete it before it reaches your brain.

I'm not willing to take that chance. Because once it gets to your brain, it kills neurons and causes abscessing (holes and pits).

Additionally, recent studies have shown that the body, when given aspartame instead of sugar, believes it is starving (total lack of sugar) and triggers the "famine response" and begins storing fat in your body. They've figured out that people who use aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are about 20 lbs heavier, on average, than their counterparts who consume equivalent amounts of sugar.

I can spend a few hours and dig up all those studies for you, but I would rather you guys googled it and did the looking yourself-I've already done the research and believe it.