Summertime.....and the Lunches Are Easy

If your household is like ours summer lunches are pretty easy. Kids often make their own simple sandwiches, fruit is out in bowls all day (really), the kids grabs some crackers, cheese, a yogurt or something reasonable as a snack. Even if there are a few batches of mac and cheese, or a couple hot dogs warmed in a microwave, its a far cry from school lunches. Especially with summer camps, vacations and the myriad of special programs almost every kid does.

For most of the year we perform a juggling act to get a decent lunch out to our kids on school days - balanced by the dreaded phrase (to us) - "Yes, you can buy today". Watch any episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and you might not say that again.

Somehow my kids finagled a 'tradition' of getting a "Lunchable" once a year, on the last day of school. It's the only time they get something like that for lunch. Sadly I read the label on Amy's lunchable and might have to eliminate the practice:

Wheat flour

Niacin

Reduced Iron

Thiamine Mononitrate

Riboflavin

Folic Acid

Whole Wheat Flour

Water

Soybean Oil

Glycerine

Sugar

Yeast

Vital Wheat Glutin

Mono- and Diglycerides

Salt

Soy Lecithin

Guar Gum

Carboxymethylcellulose

Datem

Caclium Proponate

Sodium Stearoyl 

Lactylate

Xantham Gum

Enzyme

Natural and Artificial Flavor

Sorbic Acid

Water

Tomato Paste

Sugar

Modified Food Starch

Garlic Powder

Salt

Onion Powder

Spice

Citric Acid

Dried Basil

Sea Salt

Potassium Sorbate

Xantham gum

Natural Flavor

Pasteurized Part Skim Milk

Water

Whey Protein Concentrate

Milk Protein Concentrate

Milkfat

Sodium Citrate

Salt

Sorbic Acid

Enzymes

Cheese Culture

Cellulose Powder

Pasteurized Part Skim Milk

Water

Whey Protein Concentrate

Milk Protein Concentrate

Milkfat

Sodium Citrate

Salt

Sorbic Acid

Apocarotenal

Enzymes

Cheese Culture

Cellulose Powder

Milk

The apparent duplication of the last 10 or so items on the list is not a typo. 270 calories, 90 calories from fat. But the cardboard tab that had the nutrition information is 100% recyclable. The container, of course, is not.

It's easy to mock such a product, so here are some more useful and thoughtful articles about home cooking you might enjoy. They might even provide some inspiration now for the school lunch season coming up in August/September.

• From Be A Better Cook,  Healthier School Lunches
• David Guas, a chef from Virginia packs healthy lunches for his kids, as described in his article Last Days For Lunchables. By 'Last Days' he isn't referring to the end of school - rather the end of Lunchables. 
• Nutritionist Kirsten Kirpatrick breaks down food labeling in Do You Know What's in Your Food?
• On a slightly different tack is Mark Hyman's How Eating Dinner at Home Can Save Your Life