Anonymous wrote:Are gogurts considered processed? It's yogurt, just in a tube...

Yogurt is inherently a processed food. You cannot make it without a process. The fact that it's in a tube or a carton or whatever is irrelevant. The container isn't what makes it a processed food.

I mean, to make yogurt you have to take fresh milk and ferment it using lactic bacteria cultures. That's the first step in the process. Then the bacteria are added to heated, pasteurized, homogenized milk, and the milk is then incubated at a specific temperature to maximize the activity of the bacteria. The bacteria convert the lactose (milk sugar) to lactic acid, which thickens the milk and gives it the tangy taste characteristic of yogurt.

Yet, no one complains that yogurt -- which is about as processed as food can get -- is unhealthy. On the contrary, the process can be manipulated to make it healthier (probiotic).

So, I don't get all the complaints about "processed foods." It's like a dirty word or something, but it makes no sense.

Anonymous wrote:My K came home and told me how her teacher told her that her lunch was "unhealthy" and that she needs to eat more fruits and veggies at lunch. She then turned to my older kid and said "I hope your lunch is healthier"

Now I will say, she is right. Lunch was a homemade PBJ, GoGurt, some crackers and a Welch's fruit snack packet. I hadn't really realized that this is, in fact, all processed food. So, the good news is that I am now aware an will be packing fruit/veggie.

But...wtf teach? Seems odd that she would say something like that to my kids.

Short of throwing raw peanuts and a grinder into the kid's lunch along with some wheat, sugar and yeast in lieu of bread, it's sort of hard to avoid processed foods in a child's lunch. I mean, consider the staples:

Peanut butter is a processed food.
Bread is a processed food.
Yogurt? Can't make it without a process.
Jelly? Inherently processed.

Yet, these are all fine foods. And fine to put in a child's lunch.

If you were going to avoid processed foods, all you could ever really send would be like a piece of fruit, some carrot sticks and I guess a hunk of meat or something. Certainly no hummus -- that can't be made without a process. Cheese? Impossible without a process. Etc.

So, please don't worry about processed foods. Pretty much everything we eat is processed. That doesn't make it unhealthy.

OP, your kid really had an unhealthy lunch and it's good someone taught your DC about fruit and veggies since you couldn't be bothered with it. How hard it is to pack baby carrots or an apple?

Anonymous wrote:The lunch sounds fine except for peanut butter. Who the hell sends peanuts to school anymore?

Parents whose kids go to schools that allow it because the cafeterias have peanut free tables and/or classrooms. Some schools know how to take the necessary precautions

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did your kid eat it, OP? Mine is in K and is still too distracted to eat (& drink) whatever I pack. Started out the year with fruits and veggies included, but since most of them were kinda gross at the end of the day we no longer include them. We even tried the gogurt type things and those weren't getting touched. So, he now gets a carb/protein lunch and finishes it + has fruits/veggies as soon as he gets home. When I've been at his school during lunch, most of his table brings lunchables or buys, so I still think his pb + honey sandwich is a little better.

I am totally with you on the "distractin" but have to say he has gotten much better as the year goes on. Actually, the one thing she won't always eat is the crackers. Sometimes she won't always finish her milk.

We stopped sending crackers when they started coming home all crumpled up (literally to crumbs - on purpose) in the baggie instead of being eaten. He requests them all the time at home though. We also now only 1/2 fill his milk thermos as it usually is hardly touched. I will point out that he is at a free breakfast school - served every morning in classroom and is pretty junky (chocolate milk & cinnamon rolls for example ). So, it's partially distraction, partially not hungry after 2 breakfasts.

^^sorry - bringing something in for everyone.

OP here, I'm surprised by all the peanut butter comments. Our school (public) has no restrictions for individual lunches but if you are bringing something in it has to be store-bought and nut-free (and thank God because they really don't care for other types of sandwiches)

Anonymous wrote:Did your kid eat it, OP? Mine is in K and is still too distracted to eat (& drink) whatever I pack. Started out the year with fruits and veggies included, but since most of them were kinda gross at the end of the day we no longer include them. We even tried the gogurt type things and those weren't getting touched. So, he now gets a carb/protein lunch and finishes it + has fruits/veggies as soon as he gets home. When I've been at his school during lunch, most of his table brings lunchables or buys, so I still think his pb + honey sandwich is a little better.

I am totally with you on the "distractin" but have to say he has gotten much better as the year goes on. Actually, the one thing she won't always eat is the crackers. Sometimes she won't always finish her milk.

So what is a better lunch?

The lunch sounds fine except for peanut butter. Who the hell sends peanuts to school anymore?

Did your kid eat it, OP? Mine is in K and is still too distracted to eat (& drink) whatever I pack. Started out the year with fruits and veggies included, but since most of them were kinda gross at the end of the day we no longer include them. We even tried the gogurt type things and those weren't getting touched. So, he now gets a carb/protein lunch and finishes it + has fruits/veggies as soon as he gets home. When I've been at his school during lunch, most of his table brings lunchables or buys, so I still think his pb + honey sandwich is a little better.

We would be so much better off if teachers would teach. Unless the kid is being abused or grossly neglected they have no business doing anything other than teaching.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are gogurts considered processed? It's yogurt, just in a tube...

Well, they have ingredients that aren't great: modified corn starch (likely GMO), artificial colors like red #40, carrageenan. Non organic milk used to make the yogurt, so they likely come from cows treated with antibiotics and hormones.

OK, so stonyfield farm in a cup with a spoon? Is that better? I'm not the OP, just seriously asking...

If you are seriously asking I would say that yes, that would be better. But not so much better if it's a flavored yogurt. They add SO MUCH sugar to those kinds of yogurts. My kids eat plan full fat yogurt. Sometimes I add in some honey, sometimes some cut up fresh fruit. That's what they are used to though. But between the gogurts and regular flavored yogurt, go with the regular yogurt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the lunch was that bad at all.

sounded fine to me.
maybe she is one of those people who has time to go to the grocery store 3x a week and gloat about it.

I sounds fine to me. Just add fruit, subtract the candy fruit. But the teachers shouldn't have said anything.

Anonymous wrote:PBJ is trailer trash food which is basically a candy bar. Its also bad form to bring peanuts to school. Shame on you.

Huh? NP here, and you lost me at "trailer trash food." Do people really think this way? Would much rather have my kids eat PBJ than grow up with attitudes such as yours. And "shame on you" for a PBJ? That is so wacko I don't even know what to say. My kids eat PBJ all the time--whole wheat bread, low-sugar jam, etc. It's very healthy, so in addition to you being a narrow-minded bigot, you're also just wrong.