I’m musing on school lunches today, because of two articles that popped up this morning.
This essay was in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, on the end of 21 years of packing school lunches.
And on a more somber note, this was sent by my friend Linda. The end of school means the end of a guaranteed meal for too many children in America. It’s really sobering that as a country, we have not done a better job of decreasing the incidence of “food insecurity.” (when did that bit of babble replace the word “hunger?”)
Today is the last day of school for Malcolm – Hugh finished a couple of days ago. Summer begins, sleeping til noon begins (not for us, alas), and more haphazard eating begins. I predict steady grazing all day long, which means we need to stock up on decent snacks, like grapes and cherries.
Cheezits vanish in the blink of an eye. Same with granola bars. We’ve almost completely stopped buying cookies because their shelf life is zero, and squabbles ensue over who was cheated, and store-bought cookies are a rip-off. Even worse, a rip-off full of trans-fats.
We’ve also largely succeeded at replacing ice cream with popsicles. The current debate raging in our house is whether Edy’s frozen fruit pops are better than classic popsicles. Ian, Hugh and Chris prefer Edy’s. Malcolm and I find them too icy/crunchy, and prefer the perfect blend of popsicles, but I am enjoying the illusion that Hugh is at least getting some fruit-based nutrition thanks to our freezer. And from gummy bears – there’s fruit flavoring there too, right?
Bottom line? Whatever’s on sale wins.
What are the most popular snack foods in your house? What just doesn’t stay on the pantry shelves or in the fridge?
