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They are just going to trade it when they get to school. We stopped caring. My kids haven't gained any weight so I'm not concerned. Send them with something healthy and they use allowance or trading cards or something to barter or purchase junk food. My son took from his grandmas candy drawer and sold the fun size bars at school or would use them to get sandwiches other kids had.
My daughters make their own lunches. We taught all of our kids to be self sufficient early on. You could pack them a lunch that is the same exact thing that they would have packed but because they packed it they have more interest in it.
As I have said before they are just going to trade it when they get to school.
This. I am a cook at a junior/senior high school cafeteria. When we had to switch to whole wheat sandwich buns, the kids balked. One enterprising kid went to the local WalMart before school and loaded up on dozens of packages of cheap enriched white sandwich buns. He sold them in the cafeteria for 50 cents. Some of the teachers bought from him, too. The kids pitched their healthy whole wheat sandwich bun and bought the crappy white enriched bun. He made a lot of money. What an entrepeneur! He graduated several years ago, he probably went far.
Packing healthy food in kids' lunches, or serving it to them in a school made cafeteria lunch, doesn't mean they won't pitch it and buy cookies or ice cream. With the new healthy lunch guidelines we have at the school, we are seeing more good healthy food go to waste than ever.
This. I am a cook at a junior/senior high school cafeteria. When we had to switch to whole wheat sandwich buns, the kids balked. One enterprising kid went to the local WalMart before school and loaded up on dozens of packages of cheap enriched white sandwich buns. He sold them in the cafeteria for 50 cents. Some of the teachers bought from him, too. The kids pitched their healthy whole wheat sandwich bun and bought the crappy white enriched bun. He made a lot of money. What an entrepeneur! He graduated several years ago, he probably went far.
Packing healthy food in kids' lunches, or serving it to them in a school made cafeteria lunch, doesn't mean they won't pitch it and buy cookies or ice cream. With the new healthy lunch guidelines we have at the school, we are seeing more good healthy food go to waste than ever.
Kids will get used to it. It isn't that the food is heathy, its that healthy foods are cooked in yucky ways. I had the new school pizza one time...yeah, it was not good. But I love a whole wheat pizza and don't like it heavy on the cheese. I don't know why they had to make it taste so bad. I don't serve any "white" bread items (pasta included). All 100% whole wheat. My kids got used to it.
My kids buy hot lunch a few times per week. The oldest loves taco salad day, the younger one loves french toast day.
When I send lunch I do the following:
Sandwiches - pbj, turkey and cheese, ham and cheese...all on whole wheat
Soup in the thermos...only the older one likes soup and I look for low sodium options
Mac and Cheese in the thermos
Leftover dinner like spaghetti and meatballs or shephards pie in the thermos.
We make "sushi" on whole wheat bread, tunafish, cucumbers, and carrots
Usually a fresh fruit like berries or grapes
Applesauce
Dried fruits like figs, raisins, or trader joes freeze dried ones
Pretzels
Granola bars
Trail mix
Nuts (we are not a nut free school)
Fruit leather
My kids are older but pretty much go for the same main things:
DD 1- veggie wrap with hummus on whole wheat tortilla, yogurt
DD2 - salad with fruit
DS1- ham sandwich on white bread no condiment
DS2- turkey sausages
Then I have the lunch cupboard with veggie chips, mandarin oranges, chips and granola bars, along with fruit bowls, so they get to pick what they want to go with it. I can get pretty creative with the veggie wraps and the salads; my daughters like kale and spinach and pretty much any vegetable I can get in there. The two younger sons want no part of all that.
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