Schools

Packing Healthy Lunches for Canon-McMillan Students

What do you send in those brown bags or thermal lunch boxes? Help with suggestions for other moms or dads!

I can't (and don't want to) remember the exact year, but the lunchtime rage in my elementary school was marshmallow cream sandwiches.

Some parents added peanut butter, perhaps for more nutrition. And I'm sure that the teachers hoped we'd burn off that sugar during recess.

When it came to my own children, I generally fixed a protein-packed sandwich, fruit sections or vegetable sticks, a snack like pretzels or popcorn, and a sweet. During eighth-grade, a principal snatched the Snickers bar in my daughter's lunch and proclaimed that candy was forbidden. My daughter, who never embraced cafeteria food, felt the school shouldn't regulate what food your parents chose to send.

Now, even birthday celebrations have to be healthy treats and not cupcakes in many schools. And school cafeterias promote healthy eating choices as a way of trying to combat childhood obesity. 

How times have changed—in a good way!

Do you pack your child's lunch? Do you make sure the food is healthy, organic or preservative-free? Do you ever pack hot foods in a Thermos? How do you keep foods cold? What are your child's favorite lunch choices?

Have a great tip for other parents packing school lunches? Tell us in the comments!


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