I hate packing, shopping, and cleaning up my child's lunch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey, I thought the reason so many lunches are going into the bin was due to the lunch period being too short!!

My kids say they don't have enough time to finish. They often end up eating what was left over on the drive home.

I dread packing lunches myself, because I drive myself mad trying to be healthy on a very tight budget.

OP here. That could be part of the problem too, especially if many of the kids go through the lunch line. Plus the kids want to talk to their friends at lunch. I also try so hard to come up with healthy things on a budget too. And that he will eat. I'm not rich, but I look at the form & feel pretty confident I won't qualify. Last year I found these little apples at Wegmans that were $0.25 a piece. I hate paying about $1 for each (huge!) apple when I know he won't finish the whole thing.

[Anonymous]

I've often thought how cool it would be if there were decent chefs employed by the school system who could just make healthy soups and bread, or good pizza. Our kids used to go to a school (not DC area) with about 150 kids. A couple of moms made awesome pizza and other yummy lunches which everybody loved. They'd do giant sheet cakes, soups and it really wasn't expensive or that much hassle. And the school smelled wonderful from the kitchen!

We used to have delicious school lunches when I was a kid- a different era altogether, it seems.

[Anonymous]

Time for enforcing rules, OP.

My 9 year old with special needs is slowly growing out of his feeding disorder, rarely finishes his packed lunch and would love to eat chicken nuggets etc in the cafeteria.
However I hate that junk and expect him to eat the healthy food I give him.

He comes home at 3pm, eats the remainder for snack, and gets a "special treat" snack if he's already eaten his lunch at school!
Knowing his tiny appetite, I also pack light. I'm sure some children would readily eat double what I give him for lunch.

So check if quantities are reasonable for his appetite. Then enforce the rule: if your son gets home in time for 3pm snack or dinner, make him first finish his lunch food. No eating junk - it's not the financial cost, it's a health cost.

[Anonymous]

And, I HATE packing lunches too!
But given the food sold in schools, I make myself do it.

[Anonymous]

19:28 again - the kids barely have 15-20 minutes to eat, less if they have to stand in line at the cafeteria.
I prepare a bento box, with food ready to pop into one's mouth: pre-cut apple bites, steamed broccoli florets, elbow pasta or japanese rice balls, ham or chicken pieces, etc. Everything closely packed together so that nothing moves, with either lettuce or silicone dividers between sweet and savory foods to avoid mixing tastes. So there is just one container to open, and everything is easily seen and ready to eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've often thought how cool it would be if there were decent chefs employed by the school system who could just make healthy soups and bread, or good pizza. Our kids used to go to a school (not DC area) with about 150 kids. A couple of moms made awesome pizza and other yummy lunches which everybody loved. They'd do giant sheet cakes, soups and it really wasn't expensive or that much hassle. And the school smelled wonderful from the kitchen!

We used to have delicious school lunches when I was a kid- a different era altogether, it seems.

OP here. That sounds awesome. I wish they could do that at my child's school. I'd even volunteer to help do the shopping, cooking and cleaning if they did it. The school cafeteria smells nasty with the stuff they serve now. Not sure why my son wants to eat it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This can't be a real post.

Oh shut up. It's totally real. I can't be the only one feeling this way. Just not a "popular" point of view perhaps. But I know I'm not alone. Has anyone filled out the form and had it rejected?

If you don't meet their income requirements, why do you think you would get approved?

I don't think I would, but it doesn't mean I wouldn't. At my child's first school (title one) they begged EVERYONE to fill it out and sent the form home like once a week for the first two months of school and said "even if you don't think you're eligible, they may work something out for you". But we are not at that school anymore, and when we were, I never tried filling the form out.

This is just so they can gossip about your income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I normally hate when people say things like this, but I 'm going to say it anyway.... This is exactly what is wrong with our country. I cannot imagine just accepting a "free lunch". It's not free. Someone is paying for it. If we were poor, I would accept the help temporarily, but it would never feel right to me. I would certainly never, never, never consider applying for it if I didn't need it.

Add to that the fact that the OP is, by her own admission, too lazy to pack ONE lunch. We have five children, I packed for five kids plus my DH every day. It took about ten minutes and was probably the easiest task of the day. Not bragging because there is nothing brag-worthy about packing a lunch.

How much longer are we going to allow people to suck at the government tit? At some point we are going to have to expect people to become contributing members of society.

Do you still have one child living at home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't afford 3 dollars a day?

No, I don't want to throw it away. It's not about affording it.

So throwing away $3 every day of the tax payers money is OK? You have serious entitlement issues, OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This can't be a real post.

Oh shut up. It's totally real. I can't be the only one feeling this way. Just not a "popular" point of view perhaps. But I know I'm not alone. Has anyone filled out the form and had it rejected?

Why don't you just lie on the application. You know you'll do practically anything to get out of making your kid's lunch AND you don't want to pay the $3. Just BS the information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've often thought how cool it would be if there were decent chefs employed by the school system who could just make healthy soups and bread, or good pizza. Our kids used to go to a school (not DC area) with about 150 kids. A couple of moms made awesome pizza and other yummy lunches which everybody loved. They'd do giant sheet cakes, soups and it really wasn't expensive or that much hassle. And the school smelled wonderful from the kitchen!

We used to have delicious school lunches when I was a kid- a different era altogether, it seems.

OP here. That sounds awesome. I wish they could do that at my child's school. I'd even volunteer to help do the shopping, cooking and cleaning if they did it. The school cafeteria smells nasty with the stuff they serve now. Not sure why my son wants to eat it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't afford 3 dollars a day?

No, I don't want to throw it away. It's not about affording it.

So throwing away $3 every day of the tax payers money is OK? You have serious entitlement issues, OP

Um yeah, whatever. I've been a taxpayer since age 15, so get a life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This can't be a real post.

Oh shut up. It's totally real. I can't be the only one feeling this way. Just not a "popular" point of view perhaps. But I know I'm not alone. Has anyone filled out the form and had it rejected?

Why don't you just lie on the application. You know you'll do practically anything to get out of making your kid's lunch AND you don't want to pay the $3. Just BS the information.

Teehee aren't you the witty one. Yeah, I'll do anything to get out of making my kids lunch. You're so funny, I wish we could be friends. You are so clever, yes, lie on the form, good one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
19:28 again - the kids barely have 15-20 minutes to eat, less if they have to stand in line at the cafeteria.
I prepare a bento box, with food ready to pop into one's mouth: pre-cut apple bites, steamed broccoli florets, elbow pasta or japanese rice balls, ham or chicken pieces, etc. Everything closely packed together so that nothing moves, with either lettuce or silicone dividers between sweet and savory foods to avoid mixing tastes. So there is just one container to open, and everything is easily seen and ready to eat.

OP here, I typically use a containers with some pasta, a sandwich, or some chicken and a box of milk, juice or a water, a string cheese or a yogurt tube, an apple or similar fruit, or a vegetable such as carrot, celery, cucumber slices, and sometimes a very small pack of chips, crackers or cookies. I'm glad he hasn't caught on to throwing it out at school like a pp mentioned that their child did, but still most of the lunch comes home uneaten. It usually is two separate containers to clean and then cleaning the lunchbox.

[Anonymous]

OP you have to be pretty poor to qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Guidelines:

http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2014-04788.pdf

Family of 4 needs to make less than $23,840 a year to qualify.