One tip is to not make the lunches the morning of, as everything warms up on the counter, goes into a warm bag, and has no hope of staying warm. Make it the night before, keep it in the fridge so that even the bag is cold, and chuck an ice pack in before they leave.
Parent Packed School Lunches Unsafe?
- Thread starter Bar Sinister
- Start date
One tip is to not make the lunches the morning of, as everything warms up on the counter, goes into a warm bag, and has no hope of staying warm. Make it the night before, keep it in the fridge so that even the bag is cold, and chuck an ice pack in before they leave.
Not only that, but who has time to make lunches in the morning? We make them all the night before, there's too much to do in the morning.
Depends on the kid. I can't afford 200 properly insulated thermal lunch packs per year.
that could be one of the problems, along with others. When we were kids, there were no ice packs to put
in any lunch, and some people didn't have refrigerators, only ice boxes, so great care, and everyday
shopping had to take place to make sure food was very fresh all the time.
no thermal lunch bags, just brown paper lunch bags, or a metal lunch box,
and there wasn't even anything plastic yet.
There were lots of little grocery stores in neighbourhoods, so one could drop by and pick up fresh food
for tomorrows lunch easily, the only big store in my town for food shopping was the first 'overwaitea'
ever, and it was about the size of a big drugstore, and way downtown, had to take the bus to shop there.
With many kids packing their own lunches today, because most parents work, and chores are varied, I would
be very careful about the food they are taking with them, and as the parent I would know exactly what
is in my frig, and just how fresh the food is, checking dates on packages, etc, and milk products.
At least now it is good to see that the schools have upgraded their supplies of food for the kids, so
its not all about popularity of products now, but 'nutrition' as well.
Kids can be so careless in the kitchen, leaving food on counters after snacks, etc., and no parents there
to observe, causing food to deteriorate, then it goes back into frig later, then back out for lunches,
poor habits for keeping food fresh, then if it sits around the school for 3 or 4 hours, more problems.
It's called teaching responsibility, but for those that aren't, it makes it difficult to teach.
Thanx for the generic diagnosis having no information about my kid. I will file it in the appropriate location.
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My kids have thermal lunchbags, every once in a while they forget them at school, then bring them back the next day. We have an extra or two around.
It's not really a hardship to spend 5 or 10 bucks on a lunchbag so that your kid can have lunch.
My son tends to forget stuff or lose stuff at school all the time. Thus a new one each day for each of the 200 school days.
How many pairs of shoes and coats do you have to buy him? I suspect you should give the kid some credit.
This seems like another study that probably could have been scrapped in favour of something more urgent. I mean we all knew that bacteria can grow in perishables at room temperature, and meats are especially susceptible. We know that veggies and fruits don't keep as well at room temperature either. A study into causes and solutions to childhood obesity would have been more useful to most parents.
Now I think technology is giving us some answers and common sense exercised by parents gives us others: there are vinyl thermally insulating lunchbags that can help keep food cooler. Karrie brought up a very good point about even without these containers, just putting the whole lunch in the fridge the night before can help slow the warming. Cold packs are another option as well, but I think we also need to bear in mind that younger kids do get distracted more easily than adults or teens, and items that can end up mistakenly tossed out aren't always going to be much of a fix. We can talk all we want about teaching responsibility to our kids but how often do we see a responsible 7 year old? A lot of them may try but its not a sure thing...
Now I think technology is giving us some answers and common sense exercised by parents gives us others: there are vinyl thermally insulating lunchbags that can help keep food cooler. Karrie brought up a very good point about even without these containers, just putting the whole lunch in the fridge the night before can help slow the warming. Cold packs are another option as well, but I think we also need to bear in mind that younger kids do get distracted more easily than adults or teens, and items that can end up mistakenly tossed out aren't always going to be much of a fix. We can talk all we want about teaching responsibility to our kids but how often do we see a responsible 7 year old? A lot of them may try but its not a sure thing...
I know where I'd put it.........................in the closest place where the sun don't shine to the person who wrote it! (But then I grew up (to be healthy) without things like refrigeration)!
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He does not lose something everyday. But more days than not he will forget or lose something at school. Sometimes he brings it back later, sometimes he doesn't. I can pretty much guarentee he will lose a pair of shoes, a jacket, and a backback this school year at least once. Its not ideal but is a part of his condition (of which I will not discuss here).
I was not assigning credit or blame on my son. My point is that I accept that he will lose stuff, but I choose not to give him another opportunity to lose stuff when a satisfactory alternative (a bag) can be used instead.
It's too bad that things can't be labelled somehow, say with a kid's name, and the school could have some place, call it, I dunno, lost and found, where stuff left behind could be collected.
LOL
Strangely, not all items make it to the lost and found even if they have his name on them.
I have a highly disorganized son as well, but even so, I can't imagine all the plastic spoons, ziploc bags, and assorted other disposables, being a satisfactory alternative to a reusable bag, containers, and utensils.
