School lunches?

[humptydumpty]

Do you pack your childs lunch or buy a weekly lunch ticket? If you pack is it to save money?
I currently buy a hot lunch for my kindergratener, but when I ask her what she ate, it doesnt seem to amount to much?

[HAPPY6]

At our school you can buy lunch by the day or week. Some days they buy lunch or sometimes take lunch from home. When my gandson was in 1st grade he would say he had milk and jello that's all.....but upon asking the lunch aid we found out he was eating everything. This sounded more like him. I think when they are younger they forget just what they ate for lunch. lol .....My grandkids lunch is not packed to save money it is packed because that day they don't care for what is being served at school but this isn't to often. Maybe you dd does not like everything that is being served for her lunch.

[madmum]

I pack my boys lunch, they are in the Juniors and the Infants. I have always sent them with packed lunch as I know what they have eaten because they bring home what they dont eat, also with the school lunch I think it would be too much as we have a full family meal every tea time.

Our Midday supervisors are really good with the little ones and encourage then to sort themselves out.

My daughter who is going to secondary school this time is going to have school meals. They take money and place it in a machine and the machine will use their finger print to charge the child accordingly.

[happymomof4]

I give dd #2 a check for a few weeks at a time. The school runs accounts for the kids by there school id #. It works great. DD just tells me when she is getting low on funds and I write out another check. Our school lunches are $3.50 for high school now.

[Sammi1961]

At our high school, you can buy lunch by the week or the day but I have always packed my dks lunches since forever. Our school lunches are basically fast food fare such as hotdogs, chicken nuggets, burgers, subs, etc. and I just never thought they were that healthy. And now that my youngest ds is in high school, he says the lunches just aren't big enough. My dks have always bought school lunch when they were serving the Thanksgiving and Christmas lunches, though, because those are both big turkey dinners with all the fixings.

[ajrsmom]

My daughter will probably take a packed lunch just about every day this year because she rarely likes more than one item on the menu that is being served on a particular day. I know that I can pack her lunch cheaper than she can buy it - especially if she's going to throw away half of it and not eat it!

Now that my son is in middle school, he's finding that they offer more choices so he wants to eat there. For the most part he'll probably pack his lunch but there's days, like today, where stuffed crust pizza at school will win out.

[humptydumpty]

Thanks for the replies so far.
I think I will try to send her a packed lunch on days I don't think she will eat much of the school lunch. At first I just wanted her to have a hot meal during the day, but pp was right about the fast food type meals they serve. Our lunch here in Indiana, (I need to change my location, as we have moved) are $1.75 for elementary. Is that low compared to your school? I noticed one pp listed $3.00 for a school lunch.

[Bilby]

Packed lunches for school or work, saves money but is also more convenient than buying. We don't have a school lunch set up like the US or UK. ds2 does buy his lunch once per month. The 2 workers in the house usually friday.

[mommyof2girls]

I send a packed lunch with my kids if the school is having something that day that they dont like. But here at my DD's junior high they have like 2 to 3 choices per day. My kindergarten DD tho has 2 and most of the time the 2nd choice is a PJ sandwich which she doesnt like.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I got custody of my grandchildren this summer. Their ages are 6 and 4 in grades 1st and preschool. They attend 2 different schools, but in the same school system. They post the menu for the entire month. I show the children the list for the week and ask them if they want to eat in the cafeteria or if they want to take a lunch that Nana made. So far, they have wanted my homemade lunches. It is my understanding that I can prepay for their cafeteria lunches and they would just need to punch in a code known only to them if they do get cafeteria food. It costs something like $1.75. The menu is also posted online. Today, the children would have had hamburgers, baked beans, fruit, and milk. My GKs say they love my homemade lunches in their cool lunch boxes better.

I usually pack a juice box, chips, a fruit bar or cookie, a sandwich, yogurt smoothie, apple wedges, raisins or or fruit, and some cheese cubes.

I usually buy a block of cheese and cube it myself. I buy a large bag of chips and put them in portion sizes in baggies each night before school. I buy the yogurt smoothies instead of regular yogurt. The younger children seem to have a more difficult time opening the regular yogurt, eat it with a spoon, and then tossing it in the trash. They would have to keep up with the yogurt and the spoon. With the smoothies, the children tell me that they use the straw that comes with their juice to punch open the smoothie and then they just drink the smoothie. The sandwich varies from day to day. Sometimes I make fried baloney and cheese, almond butter and molasses, honey, or jelly, tuna salad, and so on. The reason I get the almond butter is because it looks like peanut butter, tastes like peanut butter, and looks like peanut butter. Their schools do not allow any products with peanuts in them. The almond butter allows them to enjoy the pbj experience without endangering students who are allergic to peanuts.