Better box lunches for a healthy, sustainable meal for school kids
Published: Friday, August 26, 2011, 9:05 AM Updated: Friday, August 26, 2011, 10:15 AM
View full sizeFairmeadow Elementary School second grade student Jonathan Cheng (center) looks at fruits and vegetables available for school lunch in Palo Alto, Calif.Not the early mornings. Or the jam-packed schedules. Or the shorter, darker days.
It's this: packing my soon-to-be first grader's lunch.
To those without kids, that may sound strange. To those of us who fret about wasteful packaging, nutrition and lunches that come home uneaten, it can be a real chore.
By the end of kindergarten, I had defaulted to peanut butter and jelly nearly every day, which my picky eater stopped eating but somehow I kept making because I couldn't think of anything else during harried mornings.
The processed food giants seem a lifeline for harried parents. Just go to the refrigerated aisle at Fred Meyer. You can buy more than a dozen variations of Oscar Mayer Lunchables. The "Turkey & American Cracker Stackers" contain