To all the parents out there. Is it better for your child to eat in the cafetaria, take their lunch to school, or if they're in high school to eat off campus?

I don't know if it is better but I have my kids buy a hot lunch every day ..... I know it is probably more expensive too but that is just what I have always done.

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I give my 7th grader and 12th grader $3.00 a day, so that they can make a choice on where they want to eat. They have never gone off campus to eat, so they are either getting snacks from the vending machine, or they are eating a good cafeteria meal. I think it is half and half...sometimes they snack and sometimes they eat in the cafeteria.

I know when I was in high school, I rarely ate in the cafeteria. Even though I only had a 30 minute lunch, myself and two of my friends would go to A&W at lunch and get something to eat.

We give our girls a certain amount each month. I write a check to the school at the beginning of the month. It does not cover an entire month's worth of lunches. So, my girls have to choose what days they will eat. Some days, they simply don't like what is available. If your kids have a tendency to throw away food, or not finish meals, I'd say it's better to have them take their lunch and bring it back home at the end of the day. In the early days, I felt like we wasted so much money when I would ask the girls how much of their cafeteria food they ate.

As far as off campus eating in high school. Not a lot of schools offer this anymore do they? I grew up in Stillwater and we had open campus. I still ate at school most days, due to money, and traffic was horrible. I hate the idea of my child driving at lunch amongst all the other teenagers who may not be as responsible as I expect my child to be. It's an accident waiting to happen. There is just too little time so the kids end up driving more wrecklessly than they should.

We had to take one of our children to a pediatric thryoid specialist. He said the two worst places for the kids to eat were fast food places and the school cafeteria. We do not eat at fast food places. My junk food junky husband does during the day when he is at work. He hides his habit from the kids. I pack lunches every day for our 3rd and 6th grader. I have done this for many years. I read lots of labels when grocery shopping. It is not easy. I have 2 jobs and a 1 year old, but my children's health is important to me. The thryoid specialist helped give ideas on things to pack. My third grader would love to eat in the cafeteria. My 6th grader would die first.

i dont let my kids eat at the cafeteria at school unless they buy fruit or something healthy.
Theres nothing worse for kids concentration than eating fatty, greasy foods.

I would never, ever in a million years expect my children (though I don't have any--they are hypothetical at this time) to eat in a school cafeteria. I work at an OKC public (charter) school and frankly, the food disgusts me. I had to eat there one time because I forgot my lunch. Cold chicken nuggets (like ice cold) and some green jello with "fruit" in it. They had brown carrot and celery sticks, as well. Or incredibly greasy pizza.

I would send my kid with a lunch. At my school, we have microwaves for the kids who bring a sack lunch. We also allow them to use the teacher refrigerators to store their lunches (though this coming week the lockers in the hallways will probably be cold enough since they are not heated!) but I also know that most schools could not do this. We are very small.

Again, though, I wouldn't make my kid eat that. There are almost no vegetarian choices...there is hardly a real vegetable in the lunches. I try not to complain at lunch, because I know the workers are doing all they can with what they receive!

It seems as though the cafeteria food goes from bad to worse from elementary to hs. I don't expect my child to eat the school lunch every day, but I hope in the future she will to make a sound attempt to eat healthier foods than junk food. My little cousin often tells me the Moore elementary lunches are so horrible that she is willing to eat any lunch from her previous school. hah

I have seen reports that school cafeteria foods are very unhealthy for children. My son refuses to eat the school food unless it is spaghetti day. I agree with the above posts that it is healthier for the children to pack their lunch rather than eat the school food. If I didn't give my son this option he would go hungry everyday because if he doesn't like the way food looks he won't touch it. I have to admit though its hard to change up the packed lunches to keep them from being the same day after day.

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