Which is Healthiest For Your Child a Packed Lunch or a School Lunch?

When you send your kids off to school, chances are good that you plan on letting them eat whatever the school cafeteria has to offer.  This is certainly a convenient choice, but it might actually be a bad thing to send your kids off without a healthy lunch that you’ve packed yourself.

Why should your kids always eat a lunch that you packed at home?  What’s wrong with school lunches?  While you might believe that school lunches have gotten healthier in recent years, this is not necessarily true.  While many schools have added healthier options to their menu, the food is still not particularly healthy in the first place.  Kids are also offered a choice, so they may be picking fries and ketchup day after day – you have no way of knowing.

When you send your child off with a packed lunch from home, you are ensuring that they eat less fat, consume less sugar, and enjoy a more healthful meal overall.  With a packed lunch, you can control what your child eats, and see that he or she gets the right nutrition.

With a packed lunch, you can ensure that your son or daughter has fresh fruit, a nutritious beverage, and a healthy main meal option.  There are many things that a packed lunch can contain that are healthier than what your kids will eat at school.  Even the humble PB&J is preferable to some school lunches. 

Make sure you are actually packing food that you child likes, however, or they may simply trade unwanted ‘healthy’ items with their friends.