What's for Lunch - Mon., 3/18

Cup of Soup (Order Entree #1)
APPLEGATE HOTDOG
Whole Wheat Bun
OR
Whole Wheat Grilled Cheese Sandwich (Order Entree #2)
Potato Puffs
Applesauce with Cinnamon

The soup is chicken noodle. It has 3g of fat (1g saturated) and it's quite salty - 670mg of sodium. The ingredients are: Chicken Broth, Water, Chicken (Chicken, Water, Modified Food Starch, Salt), Carrots, Pasta (Wheat, Eggs, Egg Whites, Niacin, Iron [Ferrous Sulfate], Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Celery, Onions, Contains 2% or less of: Chicken Base (Chicken, Salt, Rendered Chicken Fat, Dextrose, Sugar, Natural Flavoring, Roast Chicken Flavor [Rendered Chicken Fat, Flavor, Safflower Oil], Chicken Broth, Turmeric), Chicken Flavor (Salt, Corn Syrup Solids, Natural Flavor [Chicken Powder, Chicken Fat], Yeast Extract, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Natural Tocopherols), Chicken Fat, Olive Oil, Parsley, Acacia & Xanthan Gum, Garlic, Turmeric, Nisin Preparation and Spices.
Contains: Wheat and Egg.

The hot dogs are from Applegate Farms - so they are far better than many hot dogs but are hot dogs nonetheless. They have 8g of fat and 330mg of sodium. The ingredients are just: beef, water, sea salt, less than 2% of the following: celery juice, sodium lactate (from beets), lactic acid starter culture (not from milk), onion powder, spices, garlic powder, paprika. They have 6g of fat(2.5g saturated) and 380 mg of sodium. They are dairy-, casein- and gluten-free. They promote it as nitrate-free but this NYT article indicates the nitrate issue is tricky - and cites the company saying their bacon has the same level (naturally) of cancer-causing nitrates as conventional brands.  You may also not want your kids growing up thinking hot dogs are a good lunch given the potential link between processed meats and cancer. The bun is whole wheat. 

The grilled cheese sandwich is made with cheddar or American on whole wheat bread.  We use Nature's Own Whole Wheat Bread for these. The ingredients are: STONE GROUND WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, BROWN SUGAR, YEAST, WHEAT GLUTEN, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: SALT, VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN OIL OR CANOLA OIL), DOUGH, CONDITIONERS (SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, CALCIUM, STEAROYL-2-LACTYLATE, MONOGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM IODATE, ETHOXYLATED MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM PEROXIDE, DATEM), CULTURED WHEAT FLOUR, VINEGAR, CALCIUM SULFATE, MONOCALCIUM, PHOSPHATE, YEAST FOOD (AMMONIUM SULFATE), SOY LECITHIN.

Then there are the commodity potatoes processed by McCain's into tater tots -- although they are labeled "frozen pre-formed potato rounds."  They are flash-fried before they get to the frozen part.  They have 7g of fat (one of which is saturated) and 190mg of sodium. Ingredients are: potatoes, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following oils: canola, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, corn). Contains 2% or less of dextrose, salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate added to maintain natural color.

Applesauce and cinnamon.