Rate my kid’s lunch

[Anonymous]

My kid gets a mini bagel with a separate cream cheese container, 1/2 a big sliced apple, clementine or berries and either a dried fruit or a piece of chocolate daily. Sometimes theres baby carrots. She eats a lot of veg at home, usually has an egg or avocado toast for breakfast.
Occasionally lunch switches out to hummus and veg and corn chips as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A cream cheese sandwich? I disagree with everyone saying that's a good lunch, especially if she's eating that everyday, all year.

DP. What’s wrong with a cream cheese sandwich? Just like peanut butter or ham sandwiches, it has fat, protein, fiber, and also has some calcium.

Cream cheese doesn’t have any significant amount of calcium (0%) and 2gm protein for an ounce which is probably more than what is on her daughter’s half sandwich. So really it isn’t a good source of anything other than some fat. I would do a regular cheese sandwich or PB (the natural kind)

Not OP. My kid won't eat regular cheese sandwiches and we aren't allowed to send PB to school. We do cream cheese on protein enriched bread sometimes. Dave's Killer Bread makes bagels that have 11gm of protein plus they don't use high fructose corn syrup in their breads. It's a decent substitute for a PB sandwich when my kid gets sick of other nut butter substitutes like sunbutter or wow butter.

We also use cream cheese to make veggies more palatable on sandwiches. Cream cheese with shredded carrot, squash, or cucumber, for instance, is a great way to get a serving of veggies into a lunch for kids who won't eat them on their own.

PP here. I did mean to sound criticizing, sometimes you just have to send it what they will eat. I was just pointing out cream cheese isn’t a source of nutrients beyond fat and calories.

macronutrients are nutrients, and kids need more fat in their diets than adults. If you look at menus for children designed by nutritionists you will see that there is butter and oil added to things because fat is an important dietary component.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5 or 6 Fruit Loops? The fact that you posted this at all makes me thing you’re overly rigid about what she eats.

When I read that I was like FOOD CONTROL ISSUES HERE WE GO AGAIN

+1

Overall the foods are fine, but the counting is not. Honestly, that's ^^.

Yup, this part is really strange.

Also, once kids hit a certain age, it doesn't matter what you are packing them. They will find ways to get garbage food. Kids take the class goldfish snack instead of the apple slices you sent, kids use lunch money to buy cookies and ice cream, and if you pack your kid a sandwich plus some snacky foods on the side, the sandwich goes in the trash and the kid eats only fruit snacks and chips for lunch. They'll survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My second grader eats the same thing for lunch every day. She has a variety for dinner. She’s not a picky eater; she just likes routine for lunch. Here it is:

Half a sandwich on wheat bread—either cream cheese or peanut butter and jelly
Baby carrots—about 4 or 5
Sliced apple
Almonds—about 10 lightly salted
A small bit of breakfast cereal in the “dip” container in her lunchbox—e.g. 5 or six fruit loops or kix, which she considers her treat.

That’s it. Every day.

She has a good snack when she gets home from school (cheese and crackers, fruit, a scrambled egg or something else with protein).

What do you think of this lunch?

I think it sounds great. Very balanced and your child ears it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My second grader eats the same thing for lunch every day. She has a variety for dinner. She’s not a picky eater; she just likes routine for lunch. Here it is:

Half a sandwich on wheat bread—either cream cheese or peanut butter and jelly
Baby carrots—about 4 or 5
Sliced apple
Almonds—about 10 lightly salted
A small bit of breakfast cereal in the “dip” container in her lunchbox—e.g. 5 or six fruit loops or kix, which she considers her treat.

That’s it. Every day.

She has a good snack when she gets home from school (cheese and crackers, fruit, a scrambled egg or something else with protein).

What do you think of this lunch?

I think it sounds great. Very balanced and your child ears it.

Sorry typo - eats it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5 or 6 Fruit Loops? The fact that you posted this at all makes me thing you’re overly rigid about what she eats.

Agree.

[Anonymous]

It’s fine for someone who wants to do the bare minimum for their child. In winter it’s better to pack something warm. I usually make a separate pasta or rice dish alongside our dinner and then reheat and put that in a thermos. Much more appetizing and comforting than a dumb sandwich.

[Anonymous]

I find it weird. But I’m not American. My kids have a hot lunch that’s different every day, could be pasta or rice with a protein and veggies. Protein meaning meat, fish, tofu, or beans. Veggies meaning cabbage, peppers, broccoli, kale, collards, etc. Snack is fruit. I personally wouldn’t want to eat the same thing every day. But there are definitely kids in their class who have the same lunch every day, like nuggets or PB&J.

I am sure your kid is fine and won’t starve. I do find the comments about how it’s fine bc there is protein and calcium in cream cheese just… odd. What about the microbiome? We now know that our guts are our immune system and bacteria help make a lot of neurochemicals. There’s so much more to eating than just counting calories and percent protein. It’s not a dis on your kid’s lunch habits, I more just feel sad that American culture doesn’t have a more holistic view of food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it weird. But I’m not American. My kids have a hot lunch that’s different every day, could be pasta or rice with a protein and veggies. Protein meaning meat, fish, tofu, or beans. Veggies meaning cabbage, peppers, broccoli, kale, collards, etc. Snack is fruit. I personally wouldn’t want to eat the same thing every day. But there are definitely kids in their class who have the same lunch every day, like nuggets or PB&J.

I am sure your kid is fine and won’t starve. I do find the comments about how it’s fine bc there is protein and calcium in cream cheese just… odd. What about the microbiome? We now know that our guts are our immune system and bacteria help make a lot of neurochemicals. There’s so much more to eating than just counting calories and percent protein. It’s not a dis on your kid’s lunch habits, I more just feel sad that American culture doesn’t have a more holistic view of food.

What about the micro biome? Lol. Please tell us how a bit of cream cheese is harming the microbiome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it weird. But I’m not American. My kids have a hot lunch that’s different every day, could be pasta or rice with a protein and veggies. Protein meaning meat, fish, tofu, or beans. Veggies meaning cabbage, peppers, broccoli, kale, collards, etc. Snack is fruit. I personally wouldn’t want to eat the same thing every day. But there are definitely kids in their class who have the same lunch every day, like nuggets or PB&J.

I am sure your kid is fine and won’t starve. I do find the comments about how it’s fine bc there is protein and calcium in cream cheese just… odd. What about the microbiome? We now know that our guts are our immune system and bacteria help make a lot of neurochemicals. There’s so much more to eating than just counting calories and percent protein. It’s not a dis on your kid’s lunch habits, I more just feel sad that American culture doesn’t have a more holistic view of food.

What about the micro biome? Lol. Please tell us how a bit of cream cheese is harming the microbiome.

The point is that if you eat the same processed foods day in and day out you’re not eating in a way that makes your microbiome diverse. You need to eat a range of vegetables, fruit, and fermented foods for that, too, not just the same two or three vegetables over and over again. Inflammation has been linked to an increased risk of everything from heart disease to diabetes to cancer. The bacteria also impact mental health and brain inflammation in ways that are just being understood. So no, a little bit of cream cheese isn’t unhealthy per se, but eating cream cheese for lunch every day and not varying your lunch isn’t good for you. It narrows your palate at a time when you should be learning to eat everything.

[Anonymous]

I'm remembering what I took for lunch every day in 2nd grade back in 1975.

2 slices white bread.
slices of sandwich pepperoni.
Some slice of liverwurst.
an apple or an orange

I bought the school lunch white milk. It cost a dime, I think!

Every. Day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it weird. But I’m not American. My kids have a hot lunch that’s different every day, could be pasta or rice with a protein and veggies. Protein meaning meat, fish, tofu, or beans. Veggies meaning cabbage, peppers, broccoli, kale, collards, etc. Snack is fruit. I personally wouldn’t want to eat the same thing every day. But there are definitely kids in their class who have the same lunch every day, like nuggets or PB&J.

I am sure your kid is fine and won’t starve. I do find the comments about how it’s fine bc there is protein and calcium in cream cheese just… odd. What about the microbiome? We now know that our guts are our immune system and bacteria help make a lot of neurochemicals. There’s so much more to eating than just counting calories and percent protein. It’s not a dis on your kid’s lunch habits, I more just feel sad that American culture doesn’t have a more holistic view of food.

Awesome for you. But my kids don’t want to eat dinner leftovers for lunch the next day. There is nothing wrong with a sandwich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it weird. But I’m not American. My kids have a hot lunch that’s different every day, could be pasta or rice with a protein and veggies. Protein meaning meat, fish, tofu, or beans. Veggies meaning cabbage, peppers, broccoli, kale, collards, etc. Snack is fruit. I personally wouldn’t want to eat the same thing every day. But there are definitely kids in their class who have the same lunch every day, like nuggets or PB&J.

I am sure your kid is fine and won’t starve. I do find the comments about how it’s fine bc there is protein and calcium in cream cheese just… odd. What about the microbiome? We now know that our guts are our immune system and bacteria help make a lot of neurochemicals. There’s so much more to eating than just counting calories and percent protein. It’s not a dis on your kid’s lunch habits, I more just feel sad that American culture doesn’t have a more holistic view of food.

Awesome for you. But my kids don’t want to eat dinner leftovers for lunch the next day. There is nothing wrong with a sandwich

Or sometimes I am planning to use the dinner leftovers for dinner. With our schedule, I can’t cook every single night and rely on the leftovers for meals some nights. Plus the thought of hot food, that has been in the frig all night, reheated in the microwave and put in a thermos in the morning only to be luke warmish by lunch, just doesn’t sound all the appealing.

[Anonymous]

10 year old - pasta plain, chips, little debbie
8 year old - black beans, fruit snacks
6 year old - little debbie, chobani yogurt, croutons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it weird. But I’m not American. My kids have a hot lunch that’s different every day, could be pasta or rice with a protein and veggies. Protein meaning meat, fish, tofu, or beans. Veggies meaning cabbage, peppers, broccoli, kale, collards, etc. Snack is fruit. I personally wouldn’t want to eat the same thing every day. But there are definitely kids in their class who have the same lunch every day, like nuggets or PB&J.

I am sure your kid is fine and won’t starve. I do find the comments about how it’s fine bc there is protein and calcium in cream cheese just… odd. What about the microbiome? We now know that our guts are our immune system and bacteria help make a lot of neurochemicals. There’s so much more to eating than just counting calories and percent protein. It’s not a dis on your kid’s lunch habits, I more just feel sad that American culture doesn’t have a more holistic view of food.

This. My kids get a rice or pasta, or dinner leftovers. I find most lunches atrocious, and the reason why most Americans have such terrible eating habits. These lunches aren’t meals. They’re just a collection of sugary snacks. PBJ is not a great daily lunch. The sugar intake in this country is WILD