Lunch money or packed lunch?...

Everyday I pack a lunch for my son to take to school with him. If he comes home with permission slip for hot lunch days when they have hot dogs or hamburgers then I'll give him money for it. I use to also get money from my parents for the cafeteria in school and buy friend fries all the time. My son hasn't reached the age yet where they have cafeteria's yet and I think they just eat in their classroom so we have no choice but to send a packed lunch. They do although suggestful tips on what choices we should make in order to provide our kids with healthy foods and send home flyers with the Food Guide on it as a hint.

When I was a kid, I always had lunch money. I hated having packed lunch because, during those times, a lot of kids consider this uncool. I would buy from the school canteen or those street vendors outside the school. Looking back, I think it would have been better if I had a packed lunch and lunch money. I would have saved up a lot of money. LOL!

my kids usually go to their friends dad work... and they have top ramen! LOL otherwise they wait til they get home... don't have a clue how they do that!

not to mention cheaper! my older daughter is in highschool and has the option of purchasing her lunch but she takes her lunch every day (i do pick up snacks when they are on sale such as dunkaroos and fruit by the foot) so she is not lacking for treats. i pack my daughters' lunches the night before (they make their sandwich in the morning - they are 11 and almost 15).

I think a home packed lunch is better for kids. I always made their lunches until middle school. Once they were in high school, they barely got time to eat at all. I gave them lunch money everyday. I didn't worry about sanitation at the time. When kids get to a certain age, bringing a lunch from home is 'uncool'.

ever since elementary school my mom always gave me money for my lunches all the way through highschool. Well not so much my junior and senior year, then i would mooch off of other peoples food my best friend would always buy me food .

i always give them packed lunch and just little money...i give them extra money just incase theyre still hungry, they could buy some more snacks and drinks. although i told them if they dont eat the food i prepared im not gonna give them money anymore. usually on a weekend i let them choose what lunches they wanna bring to school then either we buy it or we prepare it in advance and just keep it frozen.

I think a packed lunch is healthier and probably more sanitary. Having worked as a substitute teacher in the elementary grades off and on I've seen some pretty nasty refrigerators in school cafeterias. I never had a hot lunch at school in all the years I was a student, and it was hard to see other students eating yummy looking entrees, but I lived, lol. Even in graduate school, I mostly ate peanut butter sandwiches and apple, and maybe celery and carrot sticks. Sometimes I juiced apples and celery together and put a quart of it in the freezer the night before and then drank the juice as it melted. I was skinny then.

Sometimes I give them money to buy food in school. Some other time, I prepare packed lunch for them. It depends on the availability of the food and if we wake up early. But most of the time, they bring their own food in school. That way, it's cheaper than buying food in school.

most days the children get packed lunches,it gets too expensive all the times.for a treat every now and then i will buy them lunch from the canteen,and when i am running late in the mornings.cheers sue

My GD is a picky eater so she only buys on certain days, but it is like $2 for a lunch and I've seen the menu and it is certainly not worth 2 bucks what they give! When I was in school, they didn't have cafeterias. YOu had to bring your lunch. You could buy milk, but that was it. (in the 60's in CA) But once back east and in middle school...i wanted to buy lunch so bad, but with 4 kids, mom couldn't afford it. So we had to take all the time, and then even bring our paper bags home to reuse again! Thought at the time it was embaressing, but then as a mom, my kids brought theirs home too! I was on the low income plan and they could buy lunch for 45 cents so they usually bought until high school, then they'd take or buy as the menu was. That was about the time the school started letting fast foods come in and cater - Taco Bell and such.

My kids eat at school. We get reduced lunches so it only costs .40 cents for lunch that is alot cheaper than how much it would cost me to pack a lunch and that way they get a hot meal not a cold sandwhich.

When I was in school we went home for lunch I've been out for a looooong time. So my Mom always had a nice lunch for us. I was always jealous of the kids that got to stay in school during lunch time. But then they discontinued the lunch program just when I went into Jr, High. so a packed lunch it was. Not so cool afterall. I ssay all this to lay the ground work for the rest of this response. When I started sending my own kids to school I had to pack their lunch. This was another job for me to da all the time not that I don't want to take the time to pack a nice lunch and cut the sandwiches into little hearts once in a while and add notes. I have done all of these things for them. For three years the city tried to get a hot lunch program into the schools by vote. I was always there on voting day saying YES. For three years it was shot down. Finally about 5 years ago it passed and we do have the hot lunch program. Yeah we won. I toured the facility where the food it produced and it is exceptionally clean. They have an open door policy so you can tour it anytime as a parent. Anyway I am thrilled with this and now I only have one child in school and we go through the menu and if she doesn't like something one day we do pack a lunch. so we have the best of both worlds. No longer a JOB to pack a lunch and I feel safe that the food my daughter eats if safely prepared. I have never heard of anyone getting e coli from schools although I am sure it could happen but not in our school district.

I used to always use a packed lunch, but after my sleep patterns got thrown off and I lost the time in the morning to pack a lunch, I just started to buy my lunch outside of the school.

when my first born started to go to high school i no longer give him packed lunch. i think he is responsible enough to have his own money. but i was wrong after a month of that he was rush at the hospital because of tummy aches. he is not buying lunch but instead just eating junk foods and them oney he used it on internet games. from then on i get back to giving him packed lunch. i was sure, that he eats. but when he was at his third year up to fourth year i still give him packed lunch and money too. i want to see if he is responsible. now he would be starting college. of course i wont pack his lunch anymore, but he has to make sure he will be eating right or else i will let him bring his lunch again just to humiliate him. lol

I give my kids lunch money - I have 5 kids in school so it is much to hectic for me to prepare lunch in the mornings.

In Sweden our kids get the food in school. You see, we pay taxes and let the community use those money to give our children proper food. I do not had to give them any money for lunch or other stuff. They have proper food every day in school. However, I can give my son some coins to use to get some coffee during the day.

Hello aseretdd, My mother always prepared packed lunch for me when I was in primary school until I decided to tell her not to do anymore. First, I pitied her and second, I felt a bit shy whenever she came to school to send me the packed lunch *big grins* In fact, I didn't eat too much and whenever my father gave me the pocket money, I will put in my piggy bank (that's the way I could have my 'own money' ) As a mother now, I think I prefer my son to bring a packed lunch rather than buying from the canteen. First, it is safer and healthier. Second, I don't want him to buy all sort of junk food. But at the same time, I have been thinking it will be pity for him too if I don't give him pocket money. Nowadays, I don't think school children can go to school without pocket money at all. Oh, by the way... it is still a long way to go...my son is only a year plus *smiles*

what my mother did was packed lunch, she don't trust us what were going to eat in the school. she always did a healthier lunch for us to bring on school. this will also i am going to do with my child to avoid getting sickness from unhealthy foods that were serve in school.

My grandaughter sometimes has a school dinner,thats because on a certain day they do a roast meal,and she loves a good roast dinner.Apart from that day she takes a well balanced packed lunch.Her Mum sends her off with a sandwich,and a mini cheese,some raisins and fruit,and the box always comes back empty,so she knows that she enjoys it.The other thing is affording a school lunch everyday,theres no way that she could do it every day,the once a week is enough.