School-age children and their parents must decide on a plan for lunch.
As a parent or student, you may wonder whether you should stick with the convenience of cafeteria lunches or stay in control of the food you or your child is consuming by packing lunch for school. There are positive and negatives of both options, so it is important that parents and students work together to come up with the best solution for their family.
Issues of Cost
Cost plays a huge role in whether a student packs his own lunch from home or purchases his lunch at school. For some families who receive a free or reduced lunch, eating school lunch food is a much better option financially. However, for families who pay full price for school lunches, packing your lunch at home is the cheaper option. In fact, a study from the School Nutrition Association found that "mean prices of home-packed lunches were less than the reimbursable school lunch sale prices at all four schools" researched.
Nutritional Differences
Parents and students must remember that just because a lunch is packed at home and brought to school it is not guaranteed that the lunch will be more nutritional and healthful than a lunch bought from a school cafeteria. Many school cafeterias offer healthy choices and many parents pack junk food in their children's lunches. However, a UCLA Center for Health Policy Research study found that children who purchase their lunches at school ate 4.75 servings less of vegetables and consumed 1.75 more sodas. When parents and students pack healthy options like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and proteins in school lunches, the packed lunches are often a much healthier option.
Link to Fast Food Consumption
According to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, students who purchase their lunches at school are linked to higher fast food consumption than those students who pack their own lunch from home. A student who purchases her lunch at school is less likely to know make her own food than a child who packs her own lunch every day. Students who choose cafeteria food may also be less concerned about healthy eating and enjoy the fast-paced environment associated with cafeteria and fast food menus.
Teaching Responsibility
Both packing a lunch from home and purchasing a lunch at school provide opportunities for students to learn about responsibility. The Environmental Protection Agency encourages children to pack a waste-free lunch. Encouraging your child to pack a healthy and waste-free lunch is an excellent way to teach him responsibility and teach him to take care of himself. Encouraging your child to make healthy choices in the school cafeteria also teaches your child about the importance of taking care of his body and fueling his body with healthy foods.
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