It depends on the children. Which do they prefer? For their younger years in school (thru about 4th grade)
I sent my girls with bag lunches. I sent sandwiches, fruit, small snacks,and money to buy milk. I found out my younger daughter used the money for chocolate milk. When they were older, they decided they wanted cafeteria food. They usually bought slices of pizza or french fries. So the only time they ate what I wanted (nutritious food) was at dinner.

I saw that article the other day and thought it was ridiculous. Public school has no right to that rule and it interferes with parental authority. My kids would be moved from that school at my first decent opportunity.

The food pictured in the article is unhealthy. I feed my family better quality food than that at home.

Oops! I didn't answer the question. Scool lunch is $2.00 here.

I would have been up in arms if our school district had tried to do that. As for the lunches they served when my kids were in school, I would describe the food as starch and grease. My children brought their own, except for occasional pizza.

We started out the school year by reviewing the menu each month, and let him pick if he wanted school lunch or home lunch. It was about 50/50. Eventually, he found that he liked most of the school lunches, so he buys school lunch everyday. It's always a protein, vegetable, fruit, bread, and milk. On Fridays, they have Papa John's Pizza and for 50 cents they can buy ice cream. Our school lunches are $2.75.

The reason the CPS principal of this school gave for banning non-cafeteria lunches was that the kids were bringing junk food to school for lunch and the school could provide better nutrition. The story didn't go into detail on the weekly cafeteria menu.

The reporter raised the question of whether the school was more interested in good nutrition and fighting rampant obesity or in generating more government subsidies for school lunches.

We need to remember the school in the story isn't in a lovely neighborhood. Our DIL teaches in a CPS school in the inner city where few children live with any close relation, let alone an nutrition-aware, caring, lunch-packing mother. They eat whatever is cheap from the substandard grocery stores in the area. The school in the story is in a similarly hard-pressed part of Chicago.

If the school doesn't want certain unhealthy foods brought to school, then they should ban them. There is nothing wrong with saying something like soft drinks,etc., have no nutritional value and are bad for your heath so they are not allowed at school. There are a lot of foods I'd rather not see brought to school by kids like Lunchables and a coke. I have a problem with parents/guardians being forced to buy something without any options. There are other ways to control the problem without removing everyone's rights.

Being a retired school teacher: I saw more food thrown away from uneaten school lunches, and brought from home lunches as well as food swapped with classmates.

I forgot that many inner city schools are lacking in both money and education in feeding the children. Many have only a single parent who for reasons we cannot/do not understand just barely make it and they are lucky their children even go to school. A school can only do so much and a parent can also do so much.

I love the cafeteria food when I was in high school. It was all cooked on the spot and very good. I watched the jocks go through the line and you wouldn't believe the food they ate, double servings of meat. Mom didn't think the food would be good so she packed my lunch. Then she got a job at a school kitchen, she apologized for not letting me eat there more than I did. Now I wouldn't want my kids to eat cafeteria food. I would hate to eat at school now and I would starve before I ate meals on wheels. It may be nutritious but it looks like something the dog threw up.

vala, so did i...they had the best enchiladas i've ever had, lol...(1961-4, hollywoos hi) everything including the moring cinnamon rolls were made on site..in fact, one memorable flu season, they recruited students to fill in..i frosted rolls instead of cooking class, lol...

my kids got reduced lunch rate so took advantage of school lunches...the kids ate from a fresh salad bar everday (made their own)
havn't a clue what the lunches are like, anymore...

When I was a kid school lunch was 35 cents and a carton of milk was 4 cents. They published a monthly menu sent home to parents. EVERYBODY bought on spaghetti day and fried chicken day. I usually brought my lunch from home, but I do remember the spaghetti and chicken. That was 50 years ago.

When I was a child I had a very small appetite and would become very nervous and be unable to eat at all if expected to eat more than what I actually wanted.

We had a principal in elementary school who would go around checking lunch boxes to see if you ate all your lunch before leaving the table. Of course I started to dread lunchtime. My mother told him I was to be allowed to make my own decisions on how much I ate. About a week later I was standing in the ice cream line and he asked to check my box. I told him my parents said I didn't have to show it to him. I was in first grade. Well I don't know what happened but from that day on I went home for lunch. My appetite miraculously improved. By the time I was in middle school I was happy to buy my lunch. We had choices of box (burger, potato salad and cookie),or hot lunch and we didn't have the snack police. Our snack bar sold chips, ice cream and candy bars. You didn't see too many fat kids either.

So the idea of forcing kids to eat cafeteria food galls me.

Hmmmmm I wonder if the principal is responsible for my strong stance on being unwilling to submit to all the unwarranted searches we are subjected to today?

Until high School in Chicago kids went home for lunch or brought something to eat in the playground we could buy white milk for 2 cnts or chocolate milk for 5 cents. In high school we seldom ate in the school cafeteria preferring Casey's across the street

I think the subject is like the light bulbs.

The school lunches here are horrible. I've gone to school to eat with the kids quite a few times. Lauren buys her lunches at school and sometimes takes it depends on how she feels. They say the high school has slightly better food than the grade and middle schools.

Our junior high and high school food was really good. It was back when the cafeteria ladies prepared the food on site. None of this prepackaged stuff like my kids had to deal with. At the second high school I attended they even had hot chocolate and fresh baked cinnamon rolls in the morning at the outdoor food area window. Lunch was served from around 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM since we were on a modular class schedule.

In elementary school and junior high you could even go back for seconds once everyone was served since there was only a single lunch period.

At a lot of schools here in Calgary, we have a breakfast program for the underprivileged children. They can come to school early and have a healthy breakfast, for free.

My husband has a cousin who one day got a call from the school, which her kids attended, that was directly across the street from her house. They offered to give her assistance with food vouchers to get them through the month. She asked what they were talking about. Her 3 kids were showing up for breakfast for over a week, she was told. When she told me the story, I burst out laughing. I was in her kitchen. Her walk in closet in the hallway, doubled as a pantry. It was packed full of food. The tops of her cupboards were full of cereals, crackers, and other dry foods. Her deep freezer was full.... She told the school she was deeply sorry her kids did that and if they ever walked in for a free meal again, to send them home.

love that story debby

When I went to school I ate in the school cafeteria everyday. Their lunches were very good. Many times in the fall they had fresh produce donated by the farmers in the area. We did not have food like they have today, no pizza and things like that. We had real mashed potatoes, not instant. My Mother worked in the school cafeteria all the years I went to school and even after I graduated. I went there for 12 years. This was over 60 years ago.

Sue

My kids attend a private school and lunches are catered in. They cost like $3.50 to $4.75 depending on the portion ordered. The food is good, and nutritional and there are ususal fresh fruits, veggies, etc... The problem I see is the kids just don't eat the "good" stuff.

I thought it was just my kids because they are very picky but when I volunteer in the lunch room, I see sooo much food thrown away by almost every child. Even kids who eat the veggies, take like one bite. It's one thing to offer, provide and/or send a healthy lunch but it's another thing to have a kid actually eat it.

I think someone needs to work on providing nutritional foods kids will actually eat. At the requests of parents, our lunch program also offers a specialty salad for a meal every day on top of the regular offering, but usually only one person evens orders it. You can't win. Maybe PB&J's are the way to go. I don't really know what the answer is...

I mostly pack Chloe's school lunches, and they're usually leftovers in a Thermos container, along with a piece of fruit, some carrots or other vegetable, and a treat. For the treat, I've sent cookies, cakes, gummies, and sometime chips. All small bits, no objection from the school. But one day, I sent a piece of a candy bar, maybe 1/4 of a Milky Way, certainly fewer calories than anything else I'd sent. And the school made her throw it away, because they (unbeknownst to me) don't allow candy. Made me laugh.

I don't know what I think about Banning homemade lunches, except that the school better be providing the school lunches for free.

Gummies were served as part of the school lunch at the last school my kids attended.

Nachos are a main meal.

My kids started eating the school lunch this school year. Now they are complaining. They actually like what I make better because I put the lettuce and tomato on a sandwich and don't just have ham and cheese. There has been some trading. My middle child found out that he could get almost anything he wanted for homemade banana bread. My dd has to make sure she doesn't sit next to a certain little boy because he steals sandwiches and things out of her lunch and eats them when she isn't looking.

marie - nd, When you started this thread, you should have said that the school in question made this change 6 years ago. That's how long home lunches have been banned at this school.

Well if they banned them 6 y ears ago Why is this JUST now making the news. Must really have been a slow news day if they went they far back.

I am a lunch lady in a school that serves Pre-K thru 5th...If our lunches looked anything like what was pictured.. I would quit. That is not food, that is premade prepackaged crap.. We offer very little of that.
We hardly ever fry anything. Most everything is baked, the only exception is french fries..because they were really nasty after baking and being put into the warmer. When we tried to bake them we could not keep up so we had to go back to frying them.
We serve lots of fresh fruits and veggies. At Thanksgiving we cook and debone the turkeys and make our own dressing.. We have real food!
Alot of food is thrown away every day..it doesn't matter if it was sent from home or bought from us..The kids are talking and playing and run out of time.

It would be a cold day in h*ll before I listened to a school tell me what I could feed MY child! Talk about becoming a nanny state. We are about 50/50 with home/hot lunches, which run $4 each.

Our school lunches are $2.65. The lunches here seem decent. They offer 3 main meals each day. Everyday there is also a choice of Yogurt, Hummus or PB&J sandwich. With the above you get a choice of fruit, veggie or starch. There is also a salad bar option. I have checked the lunch menus all year and was THRILLED to see NO FRENCH FRIES EVER. I think that's great! Although there is pizza every Friday, but the portions are small and kid appropiate.

We also have a credit system, where I place money on her account. Kids don't handle money at all if they don't want to. I can also get an itemized list of what she has bought.

My DD brings her lunch 95% of the time. Once a month they serve "Breakfast for Lunch" (Pancakes, turkey sausage & milk) which she absolutely loves. But I am very happy to pack her lunch since I know it's healthy and foods she enjoys and will eat. Normal day she gets turkey, carrot sticks, fruit (like apple slices, grapes) and popcorn. Kids are not allowed to "trade" or bring Candy for the snack, but I'm sure it goes on. My DD is picky, so she would not eat a school lunch each day-heaven forbid the sauce touch the pasta!! LOL

My issue is that kids may take the veggie or fruit option but not eat it. Or just choose the starches and ala carte "junkier" items. I think our school system does the best they can with foods most kids like (Baked chicken tenders instead of fried) Most of the breads are Whole grains each day etc. Nice selection of fresh fruits.

When I was in school the lunches were so/so. I knew my mom's fresh food was better then the mass produced, waiting under a heat lamp school lunch. I normally brought my lunch as it was MUCH quicker too. But you could have spent your "lunch" money on a meal of Twinkies and chips! I could strangle the 15 year old me, for all the junk I ate and NEVER thought twice about!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lunch menu for the month

I think you nailed it when suggesting the decision might be based on subsidies rather than concern about nutrition. Really, school lunches? When they're serving Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, soft drinks, candy bars and Fritos? And today peanut butter is a banned villain in many schools because someone might burp near someone with an allergy. I'm reminded of the thread in one of the forums about the school banning homemade cupcakes "because they might contain eggs" but store-bought or bakery cupcakes were fine. Don't stores and bakeries use eggs in their cupcakes? It's going too far in too many ways, excepting of course teaching the kids to read and write.

I just recently heard about this ban...so news seems to travel slow if it happened 'years' ago.
I was surprised when my Grand daughter was still in high school in an affluent part of MPLS. Their 'cafeteria' was actually cafes. Depending what the student wanted to eat ,they could get pizza/Italian, burgers & fries, Chinese, Thai (sp?) and there might be other ones I don't remember. I thought that was a bit over the top. Yes the kids paid reduced prices for their lunches, but the stores were run by the school.
I remember bringing the same lunch to school for all of jr & High school......Minced ham with mayo & mustard on white bread and I bought a pint of milk.
I don't think it is a good idea of banning home made lunches. There are some kids who are fussy eaters, then there are some with allergies. I say the decision should be left with the parents.

I have three kids in school and the school lunch is $3.00 for the bare minimum. Add in a juice, the "salad bar or deli bar" piece of fruit, extra slice and OMG, LOOK, A SCONE! and my teenage boys will spend $7.00 to $10.00 a day! Its not hard to beat $7.00 a day with a bag lunch. But $3.00 a day isn't impossible either: I used to throw out dinner leftovers all the time, even after saving them with good intentions of using them. I recently invested in two high quality wide mouthed thermoses (for the cost of a weeks worth of school lunch). To my joy, they loved it. Hot Meatloaf potatoes and corn lunch, or chicken on a Caesar salad, completely free because I likely would have thrown it all out. Buying bottled water by the case brings the beverage down to pocket change, 4 generic fig newtons, few more coins. The most expensive thing I pack is fresh fruit and at any supermarket price is cheaper than the $1.50 orange the school cafeteria sells. Now, I don't have leftovers every night, so its easy and cheap, in a pinch, to heat up a can of chili, raviolis, soup, or beans and a frank and corn bread. Not very healthy but neither is obsession. I can also rip up waffles with syrup and toss in fried eggs on top. Oatmeal, Farina, GREAT in a thermos. Cold bean salad. I also bought a good set of freezer to microwave Rubbermaid collection and twice a month make an inexpensive casserole or pasta and freeze lunch portions.