If you're thinking about what to do for your child's lunch tomorrow, here's the menu:
Whole Grain Spaghetti w/ Meat & Marinara
Bagel w/ butter or cream cheese
Ham & Cheese Plate/Sandwich
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich
Choice of Sides:
Fresh Garden Salad
Whole Wheat Garlic Bread Slice
Chilled Cherries
Asst. Juice
Milk
The good news is that the spaghetti is whole grain which means complex rather than simple carbohydrates - definitely better for you. The marinara sauce is a canned government commodity food that contains corn syrup and various additives -- and a lot of salt - 870 mg in 1/2 cup. The meat is also government commodity beef. The alternatives aren't great - the ham, also from the government, has 600 mg of salt, sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, and sodium nitrate. The peanut butter is another free commodity - the ingredients are peanuts, dextrose, hydrogenated vegetable oil and/or partially hydrogenated palm oil, salt, and molasses.
For the sides- the fresh garden salad is a source of raw, fresh vegetables but not necessarily what the kids think of as "salad." WW Garlic Bread is just what it sounds like. The chilled cherries come from a can which is unfortunate but don't seem to have added sugars. The district may be able to get frozen cherries at times.
Hope this helps everyone make informed choices. Please - come back and let us know which foods your child selected and how they rate.
Sara
Thank you for such an in-depth, direct look at the menu. My son, Ezekiel had a brown rice tortilla with smoked salmon, spinach, shitake mushrooms and black olives. He also had some coconut water and a bit of Rubarb pie left over from a weekend diner party. I like Dr. Preggers, and believe that much of the line is gluten free. The potato and spinach bites are yummy as well.
ReplyDelete