Parents - your kids are bringing garbage snacks to school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

Yep, plus one on this. I am a single mom with full custody who works way more than 40 hours a week, but providing food cooked from scratch is a priority for me, so I make it happen. And PP could too, if it was a priority for her, but sounds like it is not. Not surprising, a lot of people who stay home aren't high functioning, so stands to reason she went back to work and can't figure out how to adequately feed her children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Single working mom with full custody here. Healthy food is a priority for me so...I meal prep a few times a week, just like you did when you were a SAHM. And I work! Maybe you personally cannot do it, but I assure you it is possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

This single line from that list of suggestions invalidates it as a reasonable solution to most parents' healthy eating quandaries:

"- yogurt (homemade)"

Anyone who would say this to busy working parents trying to feed their kids is a bad person, the end.

Homemade yogurt takes 5 minutes of prep time in an instant pot. I don't do it, so I would not suggest this to anyone, but I don't see it as a guilt trip either. Not everything has to work for everyone. That doesn't make her a bad person.

Right! I experimented with homemade yogurt (my kid didn't like it and it wasn't a hill I was ready to die on) and I got a yogurt machine. You pour milk in, put in starter, and then...push a button. The machine I have will "keep warm" after the cycle is over. So yeah, if you want to make yogurt, you pourt the ingredients in before work, push a button, and voila, when you get home there is yogurt!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

This single line from that list of suggestions invalidates it as a reasonable solution to most parents' healthy eating quandaries:

"- yogurt (homemade)"

Anyone who would say this to busy working parents trying to feed their kids is a bad person, the end.

Homemade yogurt takes 5 minutes of prep time in an instant pot. I don't do it, so I would not suggest this to anyone, but I don't see it as a guilt trip either. Not everything has to work for everyone. That doesn't make her a bad person.

NP. I just Googled this and to make it you have to have a TBS of yogurt that you'd have to buy. So, you're already buying yogurt.

You buy a yogurt starter the first time, and then save some of your last batch of yogurt to keep making more. It's like how some breads need starters.

The sound of the point whooshing five feet over people's heads. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

Yep, plus one on this. I am a single mom with full custody who works way more than 40 hours a week, but providing food cooked from scratch is a priority for me, so I make it happen. And PP could too, if it was a priority for her, but sounds like it is not. Not surprising, a lot of people who stay home aren't high functioning, so stands to reason she went back to work and can't figure out how to adequately feed her children.

A two parent household wasn’t a priority, though? Why should anyone give a $hit what you think about anything? You’ve already failed your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

This single line from that list of suggestions invalidates it as a reasonable solution to most parents' healthy eating quandaries:

"- yogurt (homemade)"

Anyone who would say this to busy working parents trying to feed their kids is a bad person, the end.

Homemade yogurt takes 5 minutes of prep time in an instant pot. I don't do it, so I would not suggest this to anyone, but I don't see it as a guilt trip either. Not everything has to work for everyone. That doesn't make her a bad person.

Right! I experimented with homemade yogurt (my kid didn't like it and it wasn't a hill I was ready to die on) and I got a yogurt machine. You pour milk in, put in starter, and then...push a button. The machine I have will "keep warm" after the cycle is over. So yeah, if you want to make yogurt, you pourt the ingredients in before work, push a button, and voila, when you get home there is yogurt!

Correction. If you want to make yogurt, you: buy a yogurt machine or hot pot, figure out what you need, build it into your schedule, then add the ingredients an push a button, then give it to your kid who decides they don't like homemade yogurt, then give up on homemade yogurt, then find somewhere to store the freaking yogurt maker you bought for this project, then condescend to people online about how "easy" it is to "just make your own yogurt!"

It's a little more involved than pushing a button, admit it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Single working mom with full custody here. Healthy food is a priority for me so...I meal prep a few times a week, just like you did when you were a SAHM. And I work! Maybe you personally cannot do it, but I assure you it is possible.

Maybe she pays more attention to her kids than you do. Who knows what your spawn is up to while you’re spending all your free time in the kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

Yep, plus one on this. I am a single mom with full custody who works way more than 40 hours a week, but providing food cooked from scratch is a priority for me, so I make it happen. And PP could too, if it was a priority for her, but sounds like it is not. Not surprising, a lot of people who stay home aren't high functioning, so stands to reason she went back to work and can't figure out how to adequately feed her children.

A two parent household wasn’t a priority, though? Why should anyone give a $hit what you think about anything? You’ve already failed your kids.

I disagree that a single parent has failed their kids anymore than any parent has, but do think this comment is a great example of why it is a fruitless activity to wander around condescending to other parents about how you have it all figured out. There isn't a person on the planet who really has it all figured out, and when you present yourself that way, you just making yourself look stupid. Like I think PP basically asked for this kind of judgment by making a really unkind judgment about someone else for no reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

This single line from that list of suggestions invalidates it as a reasonable solution to most parents' healthy eating quandaries:

"- yogurt (homemade)"

Anyone who would say this to busy working parents trying to feed their kids is a bad person, the end.

Homemade yogurt takes 5 minutes of prep time in an instant pot. I don't do it, so I would not suggest this to anyone, but I don't see it as a guilt trip either. Not everything has to work for everyone. That doesn't make her a bad person.

NP. I just Googled this and to make it you have to have a TBS of yogurt that you'd have to buy. So, you're already buying yogurt.

You buy a yogurt starter the first time, and then save some of your last batch of yogurt to keep making more. It's like how some breads need starters.

The sound of the point whooshing five feet over people's heads. Sigh.

You are not buying starter every week.

[Anonymous]

We know. We’re packing their lunches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

Yep, plus one on this. I am a single mom with full custody who works way more than 40 hours a week, but providing food cooked from scratch is a priority for me, so I make it happen. And PP could too, if it was a priority for her, but sounds like it is not. Not surprising, a lot of people who stay home aren't high functioning, so stands to reason she went back to work and can't figure out how to adequately feed her children.

A two parent household wasn’t a priority, though? Why should anyone give a $hit what you think about anything? You’ve already failed your kids.

Please take a step back to figure out why you are so triggered by a single mom who cooks from scratch you feel the need to lash out like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Single working mom with full custody here. Healthy food is a priority for me so...I meal prep a few times a week, just like you did when you were a SAHM. And I work! Maybe you personally cannot do it, but I assure you it is possible.

Maybe she pays more attention to her kids than you do. Who knows what your spawn is up to while you’re spending all your free time in the kitchen.

The fact that you can’t figure out how to feed your family home cooked food without ignoring them speaks volumes. Do you not involve your children in cooking and other household tasks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Single working mom with full custody here. Healthy food is a priority for me so...I meal prep a few times a week, just like you did when you were a SAHM. And I work! Maybe you personally cannot do it, but I assure you it is possible.

Maybe she pays more attention to her kids than you do. Who knows what your spawn is up to while you’re spending all your free time in the kitchen.

The fact that you can’t figure out how to feed your family home cooked food without ignoring them speaks volumes. Do you not involve your children in cooking and other household tasks?

DP but now you are just trolling, which is undermining any real argument you might have had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

This single line from that list of suggestions invalidates it as a reasonable solution to most parents' healthy eating quandaries:

"- yogurt (homemade)"

Anyone who would say this to busy working parents trying to feed their kids is a bad person, the end.

Homemade yogurt takes 5 minutes of prep time in an instant pot. I don't do it, so I would not suggest this to anyone, but I don't see it as a guilt trip either. Not everything has to work for everyone. That doesn't make her a bad person.

NP. I just Googled this and to make it you have to have a TBS of yogurt that you'd have to buy. So, you're already buying yogurt.

You buy a yogurt starter the first time, and then save some of your last batch of yogurt to keep making more. It's like how some breads need starters.

The sound of the point whooshing five feet over people's heads. Sigh.

You are not buying starter every week.

I stand corrected. The sound of the point whooshing ten feet over people's heads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

Yep, plus one on this. I am a single mom with full custody who works way more than 40 hours a week, but providing food cooked from scratch is a priority for me, so I make it happen. And PP could too, if it was a priority for her, but sounds like it is not. Not surprising, a lot of people who stay home aren't high functioning, so stands to reason she went back to work and can't figure out how to adequately feed her children.

A two parent household wasn’t a priority, though? Why should anyone give a $hit what you think about anything? You’ve already failed your kids.

I disagree that a single parent has failed their kids anymore than any parent has, but do think this comment is a great example of why it is a fruitless activity to wander around condescending to other parents about how you have it all figured out. There isn't a person on the planet who really has it all figured out, and when you present yourself that way, you just making yourself look stupid. Like I think PP basically asked for this kind of judgment by making a really unkind judgment about someone else for no reason.

I’m PP and I agree with your assessment. My comment was tongue-in-cheek. Along the lines of first removing the plank from your own eye before worrying about the specks in your neighbors…