What are you packing for school lunches?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every public school allows nuts.

Ours is strongly nut-free. Why would you say this when you don't know every school?? Please think before posting.

How many kids in your school have severe peanut reactions that makes your entire school have to go nut free? You do realize that it is actually safer to have a nut free table then assume all the families are checking all the labels on every lunch item they send into school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not American, and I think typical American lunches are absolutely disgusting. The sandwich bread is THE WORST.

We're lebanese...hommus, stuffed grape leaves, pickled vegetables, lentils and rice in a thermos, tabouli, various dried meats and cheeses, yogurt salad, leftover grilled chicken/lamb, olives, hard boiled eggs...basically mezze. I just empty the fridge of random stuff we have.

Observation: if a DCUM post starts with "As a non-American..." or "I'm not American, and..." it will be b*tchy and judgmental approximately 100% of the time.

[Anonymous]

Roasted duck with spinach souffle. Strawberries for dessert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What am I packing for lunch? Nothing. 4 kids 10 and under in DCPS. Hot lunch is cheap. If they don't like what's on the menu they can make themselves a lunch.

How much is lunch? In FCPS it's like $3 a day. So 3x4=12, and 12x5=60, and let's say there are about 40 weeks of school that's $2,400 for the school year! Seems a lot to me. My child buys on average once a month, probably less. [/quote

At our DCPS, it is $2.10/day. I would imagine a packed lunch costs about the same. DD eats hot lunch around 60% of the time, at her request. It has helped her try new foods and she has liked many of them, which is huge for her because she was always been averse to new foods (I had to coax her into trying jelly), and it has saved us a ton of time. I love hot lunch days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What am I packing for lunch? Nothing. 4 kids 10 and under in DCPS. Hot lunch is cheap. If they don't like what's on the menu they can make themselves a lunch.

How much is lunch? In FCPS it's like $3 a day. So 3x4=12, and 12x5=60, and let's say there are about 40 weeks of school that's $2,400 for the school year! Seems a lot to me. My child buys on average once a month, probably less.

http://dcps.dc.gov/page/meal-prices-and-payment

Per the website, lunches are $2.10 in elementary school. $1680 for her four kids using the same math you did. Plus breakfast, school snack, after school snack, and supper are free for all students. Imagine the money you'd save by never having to feed your kid breakfast at home or send in snacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What am I packing for lunch? Nothing. 4 kids 10 and under in DCPS. Hot lunch is cheap. If they don't like what's on the menu they can make themselves a lunch.

Eh, why bother posting really? No other reason than to show disdain for a thread that other people are enjoying. No one is saying you should be packing - those of us who do like new ideas sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Peanut butter cups with pretzels and apples for dipping
Hot dogs
Banana pinwheels - spread PB on whole wheat tortilla, put whole banana on top, roll up and cut into slices
Lunch meat and cheese roll ups, cut up on and skewered on lollipop sticks
French toast sticks
Cinnamon bread or bagels with cream cheese
Frozen yogurt sticks
Lots of fruit
I include a veggie, but unless it's carrots it's completely ignored

I wish my kids would eat leftovers

Are you in DC? I didn't know any schools around here still allowed nuts

Don't worry, allergic kids sit at a different table in a bubble.

How fortunate you are that this is a joking matter for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What am I packing for lunch? Nothing. 4 kids 10 and under in DCPS. Hot lunch is cheap. If they don't like what's on the menu they can make themselves a lunch.

How much is lunch? In FCPS it's like $3 a day. So 3x4=12, and 12x5=60, and let's say there are about 40 weeks of school that's $2,400 for the school year! Seems a lot to me. My child buys on average once a month, probably less. [/quote

At our DCPS, it is $2.10/day. I would imagine a packed lunch costs about the same. DD eats hot lunch around 60% of the time, at her request. It has helped her try new foods and she has liked many of them, which is huge for her because she was always been averse to new foods (I had to coax her into trying jelly), and it has saved us a ton of time. I love hot lunch days.

Hell yeah! I'd be having my kid buy the school lunch too, if it were $2.10! I hate everything that goes into packing daily lunches, but I'm not spending $3 every day for the crap lunches they serve in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What am I packing for lunch? Nothing. 4 kids 10 and under in DCPS. Hot lunch is cheap. If they don't like what's on the menu they can make themselves a lunch.

How much is lunch? In FCPS it's like $3 a day. So 3x4=12, and 12x5=60, and let's say there are about 40 weeks of school that's $2,400 for the school year! Seems a lot to me. My child buys on average once a month, probably less.

http://dcps.dc.gov/page/meal-prices-and-payment

Per the website, lunches are $2.10 in elementary school. $1680 for her four kids using the same math you did. Plus breakfast, school snack, after school snack, and supper are free for all students. Imagine the money you'd save by never having to feed your kid breakfast at home or send in snacks.

That's amazing. It must be very expensive for the tax payers in Washington, D.C. though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every public school allows nuts.

Ours is strongly nut-free. Why would you say this when you don't know every school?? Please think before posting.

How many kids in your school have severe peanut reactions that makes your entire school have to go nut free? You do realize that it is actually safer to have a nut free table then assume all the families are checking all the labels on every lunch item they send into school.

Do you realize that I don't make the policies for my school? I don't have a census of the number of kids with allergies to nuts.

The point is that the PP asserted that EVERY public school allows nuts, when in fact that is not the case. Our school is nut-free. It doesn't matter whether I agree with it, or whether it's more or less safe. It's just that it is wholly inaccurate to claim, with no backup, that "every public school allows nuts."

[Anonymous]

Just in case no one posted this already:

http://www.momnewsdaily.com/five-meal-ideas-for-parents-tired-of-packing-school-lunches/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every public school allows nuts.

Simply not true. Our dcps elementary is nut free.

That totally sucks. MCPS nuts are allowed.

It doesn't suck for those of us that don't want our kids to stop breathing in the middle of a cafeteria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What am I packing for lunch? Nothing. 4 kids 10 and under in DCPS. Hot lunch is cheap. If they don't like what's on the menu they can make themselves a lunch.

How much is lunch? In FCPS it's like $3 a day. So 3x4=12, and 12x5=60, and let's say there are about 40 weeks of school that's $2,400 for the school year! Seems a lot to me. My child buys on average once a month, probably less.

What kind of math are you doing? $3/day at 180 school days a year =$540 a year. It's not that complicated. We are at DC charter and its $3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What am I packing for lunch? Nothing. 4 kids 10 and under in DCPS. Hot lunch is cheap. If they don't like what's on the menu they can make themselves a lunch.

How much is lunch? In FCPS it's like $3 a day. So 3x4=12, and 12x5=60, and let's say there are about 40 weeks of school that's $2,400 for the school year! Seems a lot to me. My child buys on average once a month, probably less.

What kind of math are you doing? $3/day at 180 school days a year =$540 a year. It's not that complicated. We are at DC charter and its $3.

Hit submit too soon - to add $540 per kid Xs 4 is $2160. You are comparing your one kid to someone that has 4 kids. Pretty hard to provide lunch for 4 kids for under $12. Not impossible but hard to do it consistently for 180 days.

[Anonymous]

Quick staples are usual PB&J, macaroni & cheese with hotdogs, deli sandwich, wrap, leftovers. Mom's lunchable with assorted crackers, turkey pepperoni, cheese, hard boiled egg.

A favorite is what we call "cat food" chez nous, stir fry leftover rice with ground turkey, peas, one egg, Singapore Penzeys spice and soy sauce.

Sometimes pick up sushi in the AM at Giant in a barren fridge pinch.

Always: some raw veggies and fruits. Baby carrots, mini cucumbers, red pepper slices, snap peas, broccoli. Apple, banana, berries or clementine.