Do you make your kids buy school lunch? Would you?

[khalloc]

DH makes the lunches every morning. Now that DD has started K he wants to have her buy lunch every day. I dont. I think she should only buy it on the days that she likes whatever they are serving. DH grew up buying school lunch. I grew up having my mom make me lunch every day - even threw high school. lol.

The lunches are actually pretty good. Healthy items and usually include some type of local veggie, a fruit, milk. Today is chicken fajitas. Tomorrow is "Chilled Gazpacho Soup with
Local Veggies, Grilled Cheese, Local Tomato Sandwich, Fruit of the Day". But lets face it, kids are picky eaters and I cant see my DD having the soup. She would probably eat a grilled cheese but she is used to a mild cheddar grilled cheese, not American cheese.

Prior to June we always packed her lunch for daycare. But this summer she went to a home daycare where the lady cooked lunch every day...so DD had no choice. She ended up trying some stuff and liking it! So DH thinks having lunch at school will be good for her.

WWYD? I kind of think a compromise would be nice. Like we could pack lunch 2 days a week and she can eat at school the other 2 days. Lunch costs $2.50. DH would rather pay that.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'd let her try and then go from there. I let ds1 buy every day- what a time save for me!! They have great food at ds1's school so I'm totally comfortable with it. Your lunch program sounds good. I would consider letting her buy also to show you support the school's effort to do something better than average.

Beth

[carolinamama]

What does your daughter want to do? DS1 wants to take his lunch so I pack it daily. But if he wanted to buy, I would be all for it too. It would save me a good amount of time every evening.

[JBaxter]

No not all the time. Nathan would refuse to eat a tomato sandwich and FORGET Chilled Gazpacho Soup Cold and Green ...nope.
Chicken Fajitas are a maybe depending on how spicy. When Nathan is hungry he's a bear. Of that list for sure he would eat the grilled cheese and fruit.

[ett]

DS1 buys school lunch every day unless he doesn't like the main meal, then he brings lunch. I wouldn't make him buy lunch if he doesn't want to though. I leave the choice up to him.

[infomama]

I don't make dd buy lunch. We look over the menu at the start of the month and she chooses one day a week she wants to buy. Once a week is fine with me.

[crl]

I let ds choose. But I make him choose on Wednesday for the whole next week so I can plan and don't have to keep track day by day of whether or not I am making lunch. If he didn't want to buy, I would make it.

Catherine

[MommyofAmaya]

Have you actually SEEN the food? I thought our menu looked surprisingly OK ("local veggies" "whole grain" "heart healthy" options) until I went through the lunch line. The grilled cheese was two pieces of wheat bread and one slice of american inside a microwavable bag and nuked for 10 seconds. The cheese wasn't even melted. The "baked apples" were microwaved pink applesauce. Everything else was worse. I was sorely disappointed. Unfortunately, DD is obsessed with eating in the cafeteria. She sees it as going "out" to eat. Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon enough. She is eating in the cafeteria once a week and I am sending homemade mac n' cheese once a week as a compromise. The other days are regular packed lunch. Hope your school lunch really is yummy!

[khalloc]

No, I havent seen it. Dont know when I would be able to either! I would prefer to let DD choose 2 days a week when she wants to buy lunch and the other 3 days pack her something. We already have to pack a lunch every day for DS so really, whats 1 more? I guess I will have to start making lunch for her since DH doesnt want to do it.

I remember school lunches being gross.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Some lunch programs really have gotten their act together and aren't just using buzz words. I am impressed every time I go to ds1's school and I want to stay and eat. And I am a pretty big food snob. :)

Like a pp, we also look over the menu and plan packing and buying days.

Beth

[Moneypenny]

As the person who packs DD's lunches, I certainly see the appeal in crossing that particular item off of my daily to-do list. However, I can make healthier and tastier lunches for less than I'd pay for hot lunch, so we've compromised on hot lunch 1 day/week and bag lunch the rest of the week.

[wendmatt]

wow! that sounds like a lovely lunch, but dd wouldn't eat it! the lunches at DDs school are not that great and she's a picky eater. I pack lunch for her every day. I always had packed lunch at school, but made it myself once I got to high school.

[Clarity]

I'm committed to feeding my kids healthy, well balanced lunches so we have always packed for them. (DD1's schoold feeds them nuggests, hamburgers, spaghetti, and hotdogs on a rotating basis.) That said, lunch packing can be a chore. I relish days that my girls don't have school because I don't have to pack lunches the night before. If your dh is the lunch packer in the house and if there are indeed healthy and appealing lunches being offered than I would absolutely use that resource.

[ahisma]

I agree with PP, I'd actually go peek at the lunches first. We're in the opposite situation, DD would like to buy, but we don't let her buy often. I mean, really...last year the breakfast was pop tarts!

Our district had improved, actually. But with recent budget cuts it's gone down the tubes and from what I can tell this year is going to be even worse.

DH packs his own lunch so it's not that big of a deal to pack one for DD too. She gets a ton of input on what's in the lunch box.

[egoldber]

Have you actually SEEN the food?

:yeahthat:

Our district's food *sounds* healthy, but from what I have actually seen, I think it looks pretty gross. Older DD agrees. She has a few items that she buys (stuffed crust pizza, spaghetti, once a month they do pancakes for lunch) and other than that she packs her lunch.

In contrast, I buy younger DD's lunch through the optional hot lunch program at her preschool 3 days a week. But it is actually prepared on site and the ingredients are healthy. But the cost difference is huge. The district school lunch is $2.65 and the healthy lunch is $6 this year!

ETA: I generally pack/prep lunches the night before. In the morning, I assemble them and put the lunch boxes in backpacks while I am making my breakfast. On days no one is buying, I am packing 3 lunches. On a good night, we all help and it goes smoothly and is actually a fun family time.

[Corie]

The kids and I sit down and go through the monthly lunch calendar
as it comes out.

They get to decide if they want to buy or pack.

If they want to buy, then they are supposed to write their name
down on the lunch calendar for that day.

[pb&j]

We go over the menu at the beginning of the week and let DS pick 2 days to buy lunch; we pack the other 3.

[kboyle]

I don't make dd buy lunch. We look over the menu at the start of the month and she chooses one day a week she wants to buy. Once a week is fine with me.

we do the same thing...ds1 only likes their nachos/tacos/taco salad/etc (anything in the taco/mexican family) so those are the only days he buys. fine by me :)

ds2 would probably eat anything on the menu cause, well, he eats anything. but if i'm packing for 1, i'm packing for both.

i'd ask her to chose the days that she wants if you're more comfortable. i do know that in 1st gr when i had ds1 pack almost every day while he may not have liked the food he did eat it. it does encourage your child to eat different foods.

[kedss]

let her try the school lunches for 2 weeks or a month, we packed lunch for ds, and he didnt eat most of the lunch. But he had enough choices at his school so he would end up eating something good, and it gave him the feeling of having a bit if control over what he ate. :)

[AnnieW625]

No not all the time. Nathan would refuse to eat a tomato sandwich and FORGET Chilled Gazpacho Soup Cold and Green ...nope.
Chicken Fajitas are a maybe depending on how spicy. When Nathan is hungry he's a bear. Of that list for sure he would eat the grilled cheese and fruit.

:yeahthat: That's DD1 too, although she does eat more stuff for her DCP than she does for me sometimes. We aren't doing school lunch this year because I know that even for the small portion that our school offers, and it's $4 a day she may not eat all of it. She'll eventually get school lunch as a treat probably on Fridays if they are offering pizza. Hot lunch program starts next week so it should be interesting if she comes home and wants it.