Surviving School Lunches

It’s back to school season and everywhere kids are likely dreading it. They don’t want to leave carefree summers behind for homework and a scheduled daily routine. Meanwhile, parents are secretly rejoicing that they have a bit more time to themselves after carpool duty. But, perhaps parents and children are dreading one of the same things– school lunches. Not only are they often less than appealing, but they are also are unhealthy. There are actually a number of reasons why school lunches aren’t ideal, and even if you choose to send a lunch, that doesn’t mean you aren’t dreading doing that too. Choosing the right foods to pack and coming up with appetizing and creative ideas your kids will actually eat can be a challenge.

If I asked you what you had for lunch, you could probably tell me without hesitation. If I asked what your child had for lunch at school, could you answer just as easily? Even if you know the lunch menu, what’s actually in the food may be a mystery. A look at one school’s burger found it had 26 ingredients. Among those 26 components, it contained disodium inosinate, a flavor additive that can spike heart rate, and caramel color, which contains sulfites and ammonia. Labdoor Magazine explains "processing carbohydrates with ammonia under high temperatures can produce a toxic byproduct, 4-methylimidazole (4-MeI), that has been linked to convulsions and an increased incidence of cancer in animal testing." These types of chemical compounds, and many others, are prevalent in the processed foods served at schools in these processed foods to avoid feeding your children.

Have you ever tried to find out the ingredients in the food being served at your kids’ school? It’s certainly not an easy feat. Some have even had to file a freedom of information act to learn what food children were being served. Yes, school lunches leave little to be desired, but are they actually posing a threat to our children’s health? Our own Mamavation founder set out to get school lunch ingredients and find out. She met with a 64 ingredients chicken sandwich. The ingredients are displayed below.

What’s in a nugget? Apparently that can be a hard question to answer. It took a Freedom of Information Act to get a Chicago school district to answer "chicken nuggets." After some more pressing, the school district came back with an incomplete 28 ingredient list. It took some serious work, but our Mamavation founder was able to get ingredient lists for some of the items served at her son’s school. I’ve already detailed the 64 ingredient chicken sandwich, but now I’m taking a closer look at this cafeteria favorite, chicken nuggets.

Back to school time is here, and for frazzled moms in a hurry that often means your back up lunch solution: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Easy to make and easy for kids to loves, this mainstay of American school lunches can be found everywhere, but peanut butter is not necessarily as good as it’s cracked up to be. And if you asked most kids what’s in peanut butter, they’d probably say, "mushed peanuts," but that jar of nut butter may have a few surprises in store for you.

Now that the kids are ready go back to school, it’s time to answer this question: Is it possible to get the kids back to school without toxic chemicals in their school bags? Typical school supplies and gear often contain a mix of chemicals associated with cancers, birth defects and other medical and physical troubles for children.

Bubble gum flavored apples. Sounds bizarre, right? Well, they are now a reality. And they could be coming to your child’s school lunch tray soon.

There’s lots things to think about to prepare the kids for school each day. And maybe with the new year in motion you’re asking: what can I do to keep kids healthy, strong and ready to learn? Read on for some tips on what we can do to ensure school kids across the country have access to nutritious, tasty pesticide free food.