Deciding Whether to Use School Lunches or Home-Packed Lunches

Another hot topic with going back to school is whether or not to send your child to school with a lunch or purchase the school lunch. There are several aspects to look at when trying to make the decision for this school year.

Nutritional Value:

In most instances the school lunch will provide your child with the nutritional needs of a balanced lunch. This is not always the case but it is in most instances, so to be sure that you fall into the most category you need to research what your child's school is serving up.

When it comes to packing your child a lunch you need to look at the nutritional value of what you plan on sending with your child. Are you planning on sending them with a sandwich, potato chips and a snack cake that is complete with a soda to drink? Or are you planning on a sandwich, fruit and some milk along with a snack cake? As you can see one will give them the nutrition that they need while the other simply will not.

Compare what you are planning on sending along with what your school is serving to help make the decision on the nutritional aspect. If your school falls under the least category when it comes to nutrition then you are best sending your own lunch.

Money Aspect:

When it comes to paying for school lunches or sending your own lunch money is a factor. Compare how much your child's school lunch costs each week with that of what a home packed lunch will cost. This will help you to see if it is cost effective you send your child with a lunch.

Nutritional value will play a role in the money aspect as well. It is better to spend more for a nutritional school lunch than it is to send a cheap non nutritional home packed lunch. So look at the nutritional value of both and then compare the prices. If your school does not provide very nutritional food in your opinion then it may be wiser to pay a little more for a home packed lunch.

Your Child:

Your child will also play an important role in this decision as well. Say you have decided that you are going with the school lunches and your child detests or is allergic to what is on the menu for that day. Then it does not hurt to put some thought into it and switch it up for a day and send them will a home packed lunch made just for them. The same is true if you are home packing the lunches as something may be on the school menu that your child just loves. In this case you can pay for just one day's lunch.

Even when we think we have it all figured out our children can change things up on us, so remember they will be an important role in this decision.