Greening School Lunches: Part One

Remember the school lunches from back in the days of your youth?  Playing the guessing game was a daily occurrence.  Was that mound of goop macaroni and cheese?  Or maybe tater tot casserole?  You would think that by now things have changed in the lunchroom, but have they?

In public schools all over the United States children are at the mercy of the National School Lunch Program.  The NSLP was started back in 1946, with the purpose of providing affordable nutritious meals to kids.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s wonderful that this program provides lunches to children no matter what their family’s financial situation is, but the quality of the food being served is very questionable.  (In the 1980’s the Reagan Administration declared ketchup a vegetable for use in school lunches.)  According to a 1993 survey, the USDA found the nutritional quality of most school lunches to be mediocre at best.  In this day and age, with childhood obesity at an all time high, and overly processed foods being the norm, is “mediocre” good enough for our children?

• » See also: The Joy of Green Cleaning by Leslie Reichert
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The lunches provided by the National School Lunch Program are littered with excess meat and dairy provided by the USDA.  Remember the beef recall in early 2008?  Food lunch programs were using this meat from sick and downed cows, and feeding it to kids.  Considering the number of sources the meat being prepared can come from, it’s unrealistic to think this isn’t continuing to happen.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are something you won’t find much of in the typical school lunch.  The majority of produce served is of the canned variety…peaches or fruit cocktail in sweetened syrup, soggy corn, peas, and green beans in salty water.  Doesn’t sound very appetizing, does it?

Now take into consideration the massive amounts of paper napkins, milk cartons, and other disposable  things used, and you have one big unhealthy trash producing meal!

What can we as parents do to ensure our children are getting proper nutrition, and not contributing to the landfill at the same time?  Take the time to contact your school district lunch director, ask about what your school is doing to increase the nutritional value of the lunches served.  In some areas, schools are starting to make an attempt to work with local farmers and have more fresh produce available.  Is a salad bar a possibility?  Is recycling an option?  How about composting unused food?  Are reusable dishes and trays being used, or is everything disposable and thrown away?

Otherwise, a better meal can be as simple as packing a lunch every morning.  (Or pack it the night before if your mornings are too hectic.)  For the lunchbox itself, there are many varieties to choose from.  Organic cotton or hemp makes a great sack style bag.  Vinyl and PVC free plastic insulated bags are a good option if you’re looking for something a little more sturdy.  The ultimate in lunch boxes, if you’re willing to shell out the extra money, are the stainless steel bento style ones.   When putting together the lunches, make sure to use reusable containers, napkins, silverware, and stainless steel beverage containers.  If your kids tend to forget to bring these things back home, look for utensils made from corn or potato starch rather than the usual plastic.  Recycled paper napkins, as well as recycled wax paper sandwich bags are also available.

Let your kids help pick out their lunchbox and accessories, as well as help decide what foods to put into them.  Giving them several options to choose from makes them feel more involved, and teaches them about healthy eating at the same time.

Watch for fun lunchbox friendly recipes in part two of this post…

Image credit:  bookgrl Flickr Creative Commons.

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