Bento Box Fever!

[NewChickenMom]

i wish you guys were my mom!! i never got anything that cool when i was younger!!

my dad made my lunch for school K-12. either PB+J or turkey sandwich, chips, jello + fruit, fuit snacks and a juice box. i love him to death, but i would've much rather had the lunches you guys are packing!!!

and i wanted to let you know that little notes/suprises in your childrens lunch will make their day and it will stick with them for a long time, i still cherish the things my dad would write in my lunch and i'm 22.

 

[Henrietta23]

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I feel your pain. My mom gave me a pb&j sandwich and an apple everyday. I finally got the hint and started making my own lunches.

 

[BettyR]

What a great thread!!! I have enjoyed reading it very much....and I learned something as well. I had never heard of a Bento Box before.

It's a real shame the junk that the schools are feeding these kids and they wonder why our children are obese. When I was in school back in the 60's I ate in the cafeteria every day but they fed us real food. We had things like roast chicken with vegetables and homemade rolls. Roast beef with potatoes, carrots and peas and the wonderful homemade rolls. One of my favorites was sausage with sauerkraut roasted potatoes and those wonderful homemade rolls. I liked the rolls!

They never fed us junk food it was all real home cooked food. They have turned school lunch into a business to make money so they poke junk down the kids and pocket the profits while the children suffer the consequences of a bad diet. According to them catchup is a vegetable.

 

[Henrietta23]

DS came home with the school menu for the month of Septermber. Between yesterday and the end of September they will serve about 9 different items, in slightly different forms. Looks like there are veggie sticks and dip everyday and fresh fruit available everyday as well. Burgers are served on whole grain buns. Every Friday is meatless. Chicken nuggets or patties are on the menu 6 times for the month. I've seen worse but I've also seen better. I'm hoping that they do school pictures before lunch. They are serving taco salad with chunky salsa that day! Could make for some colorful pictures!

 

[chickiebaby]

anybody here into tiffin, or do you all prefer bento?

 

[Henrietta23]

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Had to google that but it looks great too!

 

[Tuffoldhen]

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Our kids still get those homemade rolls at school along with real food sometimes

 

[ninjapoodles]

Schools here have long gone over to the "dark side" nutritionally speaking. It's all pizza, burgers, fries, tacos, etc. There WILL be a token vegetable or fruit each day, but those options sound, um...less than appetizing. It gets much worse as they move up to middle/jr. high and high school. Even back when I was in high school (in the 80's), they were still offering a "hot lunch" or "plate lunch" that was meat/veg based, but it was sooooo "uncool" to eat that stuff that no one did. There was a salad line, and a "fast food" line, and a JUNK FOOD line, which is where a lot of people wound up. Lunch was cheese fries, candy bars, and sodas.

I've read good things about school districts in which the parents got heavily involved and convinced schools to incorporate fresh local produce in their school lunches, so we may need to mobilize as parents and get pro-active in that regard!

(And I love tiffin, too!)

 

[MissPrissy]

When I was in high school we had really good lunches.

Small country county with cooks who knew what they doing and a nutionist and dietician that was realistic.

My dd has fairly good lunches in her small school. There is a choice of a hot lunch plate or a salad plate with yogurt and fruit. She doesn't complain much about what is served. She gets the salad plate most days as she prefers salad to a heavy meal. On occasion the menu is a bit yucky even to me. On those days we pack her a nice lunch.

 

[EllyMae]

Years ago my grandmother worked in a high school cafeteria and her job was making all of the desserts. That was back when the food was all homemade, lol. I just remember how I loved going to her house and peeking in her cookie jar because she brought home all of the 'extra' on Fridays.