OK, it's not just school lunches. It could be the cafeteria at your workplace, or the fast food joint enroute to an event. The thing is that most prepared meals, especially those done for the lowest price, offer good nourishing food. After recently reading what's in processed chicken food, I'm not even sure we should call it food.
BUT, meals prepared from ingredients purchased from local producers, that's different. Beans from Flyte Farm Too provides the basis for an incredibly delicious and nutritious baked bean dish that is as savory warmed up for lunch the next day as it was at supper the night before. Roasted winter squash from Kelly Lor will not only warm the kitchen, but makes a great foundation for a shepard's pie (Kelly has more vegetables for the pie as well). The last of the tomatillos from Juan at Los Aboelos Farley Farm is prefect for to tang up any purchased salsa. And the picture perfect white cauliflower from Nehmers on the end of the market is a perfect low-carb meal addition. Of course the folks at JenEhr want to remind you of their pasture raised chicken when a the entree needs meat.
The ingredients purchased directly from the farmers at the East Towne Community Farmers Market is the best place to start when combating the battles of choices of what to eat.
Of course, school lunches create a whole new battle with our elementary and teenage students. Lunch is as much about the social things of school as it is about eating. One parent told me how she's handling lunch with her daughter:
No fast food or processed foods this year. That means we’ll be packing healthy lunches at home (instead of allowing the purchase of ready-made foods at school). I’m not saying that the ready-made food available at school is “fast food” – but if we make it at home, then we KNOW what’s in it!
I plan to sit down with my daughter Sophia each Sunday, before we do our weekly grocery shopping, and plan what she’ll need to make her lunch each day (and breakfast, too). (Idea: my sister Jackie has created a “check list” so my niece can just “check off’ the menu she wants each day). We’ll create our weekly grocery list from this menu plan. We’re going to keep track of how many servings of fruits and vegetables we eat each day (goal is AT LEAST 5 a day…hopefully more).
If Sophia successfully packs (yes she’ll be packing her own lunch) and eats a healthy lunch each day – she’ll get a “bonus” at the end of the week (it may be financial or a credit towards something she wants). I got that idea from checking out the FOOD DUDES website. “Reward” is an important part of the program to change the way kids eat.
Sophia will go to the grocery store and farmers market with me each week and will pick her favorite fruits and vegetables (participating in the process really gets our kids to “buy in” to the changes, as they have control).
I plan to sit down with my daughter Sophia each Sunday, before we do our weekly grocery shopping, and plan what she’ll need to make her lunch each day (and breakfast, too). (Idea: my sister Jackie has created a “check list” so my niece can just “check off’ the menu she wants each day). We’ll create our weekly grocery list from this menu plan. We’re going to keep track of how many servings of fruits and vegetables we eat each day (goal is AT LEAST 5 a day…hopefully more).
If Sophia successfully packs (yes she’ll be packing her own lunch) and eats a healthy lunch each day – she’ll get a “bonus” at the end of the week (it may be financial or a credit towards something she wants). I got that idea from checking out the FOOD DUDES website. “Reward” is an important part of the program to change the way kids eat.
Sophia will go to the grocery store and farmers market with me each week and will pick her favorite fruits and vegetables (participating in the process really gets our kids to “buy in” to the changes, as they have control).
