Like seemingly everything in life, school lunches are hardly recognizable from what they used to be. At least the way mine used to be. I think I would get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and soggy chips most days when I ate a packed lunch way back when. Many of you know that I spent a portion of my childhood in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, my Dad worked for a steel company in the USA and they transferred us there so he could work in their overseas division). The schools in the Middle East generally did not have cafeterias, so I always brought a packed lunch. When we came back to the USA to stay, I usually ate the gruel served up in the school cafeteria, so my packing days were over.
One of my favorite childhood lunchboxes was a bright orange Snoopy lunchbox. There was a little plastic “arm” inside that secured a thermos (which always seemed to end up leaking all over my lunch). Would a kid today get made fun of for carrying a Snoopy lunchbox to school? I don't know for sure, my guess is probably yes. If the children today even know who Snoopy is.
My Snoopy lunchbox has sat lonely in my parents basement for probably almost 35 years now. Should I pass it on to Aster when she is old enough?
For a long time there was a lunch pail (that's an old timers call them), in my grandmother's closet. It was black metal, kind of like the ones construction workers used to use. I imagine it is also the kind of lunchbox most Amish workers might still use. Amish men that work at construction sites or in factories pack their lunch often. You might find a sandwich, some potato salad, some jerky, and a dessert packed in there.
And today's kids. What do they carry to lunch?
My six-year-old niece just started kindergarten this this week. And my sister-in-law is packing some amazing looking lunches for her. And gone are the days of plastic pails, she is using these eco-friendly snazzy stainless steel lunch compartments from Planetbox. Take a look at two of the lunches below from this week. Yum!
CAPTION: A tasty lunch can also be healthful. In the top photo, you see boiled egg, cheese stick, cherries, cauliflower, gummies,Annie's bunnies and a few chocolate chips! In the bottom photo, a delicious spread of salad, with green and red peppers, broccoli, ham and boiled egg, watermelon, string cheese, and Annie's gummies for a treat
Healthier trends have even hit lunch buckets among the Amish. More and more a glazed-dripping cinnamon roll is replaced with something lighter for a sweet.
"Jello with fruit is a healthier snack than something baked," says Leah Miller, of Adams County, Ohio. She was packing four lunch pails a day when I caught up with her a few years ago.
Of course there is always the option of brown-bagging it, something I remember doing when I was in high school if the featured menu item was just too unseemly to bear. So what is the state of school lunches today. Do you pack your kids lunch, and if so, what do you pack? I suppose Aster's school days will be here all too soon and I should brush up on this topic!
farmhousebarb
Wow,what a fancy way to carry a lunch! I have never seen those. I am packing my oldest grandson's lunch these days. He lives with us. I put the usual stuff in..bologna and cheese sandwich, fruit,jello,chips,and a snack like cookies or a brownie. He takes a juice pouch or buys milk at school. He started jr. high yesterday(already!),so we'll see if his lunch style changes. My own kids wanted to "fit in" when they started high school..so they used brown bags instead of a lunch pail. I love your Snoopy pail!!
Kevin
Thanks, Barb, maybe I'll pack my lunch in it one day this week for old time's sake:)
Mavis
My son is frustrating to pack for. He would rather chat it up with his friends than eat. Plus, he eats like a bird most of the time, but not picky per se. He's a great fresh fruit and veggie eater - he would love the cauliflower in the picture above - but he doesn't like traditional kids' stuff like Lunchables, macaroni and cheese (unless it's from scratch using my MIL's recipe), sandwiches, etc. He buys lunch only when chicken nuggets/strips, grilled cheese, and Brunch for Lunch are on the menu. That's maybe once a week or every two weeks, so the rest of the time I'm trying to figure out at least one thing he'll eat. It also doesn't help that his morning recess/snack is less than two hours before lunch, so he's probably not hungry when lunch rolls around anyway. Fun times!
Cindy
I love the idea of the bento box lunch. Portion controlled and hopefully, it helps stimulate the imagination for different things to fill those cute little spaces. I am the oldest of 5 children and I started 1st grade with the red plaid lunch box with lukewarm milk that may or may not have leaked. Soon the lunchbox was replaced with the brown bag that could be thrown out leaving hands free for play while skipping home. It wasn't long until Mom was packing 6 lunches a day (including Dad). She always had 6 bags lined up on the counter of the Hoosier cabinet before we were even up. I loved the idea of the surprise of what was inside. Thanks for the memory trigger, Kevin.
Lisa Combs
My boys pack everyday...My high schooler is more difficult, but I pick my battles with him....however my youngest will pack leftover salmon patties, cheeseburgers, chicken, etc. and if he doesn't have his fruit, then it's a bad day for him!!!!! And they never ask for lunch cakes or store bought sweet treats, they'd rather have anything homemade, which makes this Mama very happy!!!! and yes Kevin, you should pass the Snoopy lunch pail along to Miss Aster....retro is so in!!!
Lori N.
Ah lunchboxes . . . had almost forgotten about them. I still have my Partridge Family lunchbox and Peter Pan lunchbox. I rememeber when my Dad's thermos broke and he started to take my Partridge Family thermos (I had outgrown it by then) to work. He was a brakeman for the railraod. I always thought it was funny that a grown man would take a kid's thermos--espcially that one. I asked him one day if anybody ever made fun of him for having it. He said "no." I guess at 6'4" not many people are going to make fun of you! Thanks for the memory, Kevin.
Kevin
Ah, to be 6'4"....
Debbie
I always packed my kids lunches, especially when my daughter came home after seeing the label on the box of hamburgers that said "Grade Edible"! 2 of their favorite lunches were a thermos of tomato soup with a hot dog in it. I would pack a bun and a pack of ketchup & mustard, and they would fish out the hot dog to make their hot dog. Plus a pack of chips and a piece of fruit. The other favorite was one of those snack size thermos filled with a hamburger cooked that morning. At lunch time, same thing, they took the burger out and assembled their lunch.
Christine McDermott
I still have my Barbie lunchbox. One day when I worked at the paper for the morning run they asked several of us if we could also stay for the afternoon run. I called my mom and dad to ask if they could bring me a sandwich, they didn't live too far away from the paper but not close enough that I had time to go to their house. So I waited out on the dock for them....yep... they brought me my lunch in my Barbie lunchbox. The workers asked if it was one of their granddaughters' lunchbox. I said "Nope it was MY lunchbox!" Boy did I get teased but commented "And who is going to bring you some lunch?" To our surprise mom and dad put in a couple of sandwiches and bananas to share. My coworkers got some paper, white newspaper go figure ,and they wrote them a thank you note.
clk
my school lunch in high school contained a can of flavored pop....lemon lime...grape.......I had to make sure I brought a can opener with me or no soda pop....
SC Susie
I grew up in rural upstate South Carolina and went to a primary school that was 1st - 8th grade followed by high school 9th -12th. We had fantastic lunch room ladies that made great homemade meals (even baked homemade rolls, biscuits, etc) everyday. I had a Barbie lunch box but only used it on field trips. When my kids went off to school, I had NO IDEA they had all these choices and could "choose" pizza or nachos or burgers everyday!! I started packing healthier lunches with variety and they are allowed the "junk food" on Friday. My kids are good eaters but I just had to level with them that those junk foods are not good for them every day! Letting them choose their lunch box fillers helps too.
Linda from KY
I homeschool, so I don't have to pack lunches anymore. However, when my children attended a private Christian school, they brought a packed lunch almost every day because the hot lunch was prohibitively expensive, usually $3.50 per day. They were only allowed to buy once a week, if that. If they wanted to buy more than once a week they had to use their own money. Usually a packed lunch consisted of some type of sandwich, carrot sticks or fruit, a cookie or fruit snacks and sometimes chips. They would usually buy milk at school for around 25 cents per 8-oz carton. Sometimes I'd warm up leftovers and put them in a thermos for them. Or I'd put it in a microwaveable container so they could heat it up in the cafeteria's microwave oven. In the upper elementary years they began packing their own lunches. Of course, I didn't want them to exchange any of their healthy items for junk, but I'm quite sure that happened.