Lunch: Good. Lunchables: Eeeeevil

I mash potatoes, add in my daughter's favourites, like corn and peas, dip them in bread crumbs and then fry them into veggie schnitzels. I then freeze the whole batch, and take one out every morning to thaw out and heat up for her school lunch.
With that she gets a bottle of mineral water and a fruit. She also gets a sandwich for a mid-morning snack.
Since every batch of schnitzels tastes different, I always ask her for feedback how to improve them.

You fry them into "veggie schnitzels"? Frozen?? I'm sorry but that doesn't seem healthy to me in the least bit. Maybe living in the west coast have given me a different definition of "healthy" (i.e. veggies, raw foods, nuts, fruits, etc) but I consider fried foods to be amazingly gross and high in fat.

Wow. I read that thing with the panelist of nutritionalists and kids..and I thought it was sad. I'm an adult now (20 years old) and it scares me to think that some day I'm going to be looking at nutritional labels and getting a new worry wrinkle over ever gram of fat or sugar in a product. Lighten up, will you? I eat Lunchables from time to time and I have yet to drop dead.

Um, what happened to kids just eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a piece of friut, a juice box and a cookie for lunch? Or a thermos of soup for variety? I just don't think this is that hard. Parents need to stop being enticed by the "ease" of lunchables and the like. Seems just as easy to me (and cheaper, and healthier) to throw some cold cuts, crackers, and cheese into a tupperware box and send the kid to school with a mom-assembled lunchable.

sorry but this is gross my daughter did a lab on the lunchables and it was truly discusting. my daughters both eat thir school lunches but most of the time they come home saying theyare hungerybucause thir lunch was very gross. i think the schools need to make better for the people who will one day be running huge buessnesses and the us

Thank you for this article.
I am a Food Service manager. In our district we prepare our foods. We serve lowfat and low sodium items.
When I do a class with my elementary students and ask about the lunchables that they bring the first thing I ask is "what do you eat first" 98%of the students tell me the candy, then the drink (not a 100% juice) then maybe the crackers etc.
I see at least 50% of the food parts thrown away.
Although they are quite convienent for the parents they do not fit in to a wellness program.
Parents need to read first and not allow the children to make decisions

When I went to school, mom would give us however much money the standard, cheap school lunch costs and we would just get that. If you found it disgusting, well, tough. You pretty much ate what you were served because you knew that it might be all that you got till dinner time. Packing lunches is just dumb and a waste of time. Most of the time, the shcool lunches aren't really that unhealthy if you eat the standard, cheap generic lunch. The Ala Carte line or "Burger grill area" are unhealthy, but the standard lunch is really not that bad.

Ann,

Oh, of course. You're from the west coast. Only you would know what healthy eating truly is. We're just a bunch of idiots that shove hot pockets down our throats. Get off your high horse. We all eat raw foods, fruits, veggies and nuts, as well as organic. And once in awhile, we'll eat something fried, just so we don't turn out to be a nutrition snob and criticize well-intentioned people who are taking steps toward a healthier diet.

Regardless of if you are a right or left coaster, I think it is important to promote healthier foods with less packaging, particularly for kids. It teaches them the importance of healthy eating and thinking about the environment above the convenience of prepackaged foods. Having lived both West & East, I have seen obesity problems with kids in both places. We all need to make efforts to reduce lunchroom waste. Lunchables are an epitome of a bad lunch choice--bad for you and bad for the environment. I've started a site to promote packing healthier lunchboxes and reduce lunchroom waste... please visit me at xobobox!