A Healthy and Nutritious Lunch  (http://photopin.com/)

Tomorrow, I am on canteen duty at the primary school.  The girls love it not only are they able to order lunch but are able to line up with the other children and get their morning tea and treats for “free” (I run a tally and at the end of my volunteer time pay the bill!).  I spend the morning with two other mums and we chat about our love of the school and the teachers, dinners we cook and how we could and would be doing x,y or z if we were not on duty!

My children have attended three different primary schools and the way they have been operated has been quite different.  The school in WA was extremely well run, they paid a lady who made delicious healthy meals such as chicken terriyaki and steamed rice, penne pasta with bolognaise, sushi and chicken nachos for lunches and morning tea had a special for the three days the canteen was open, freshly made muffins, pancakes, fruit salad with jelly and yoghurt.  There was no pies, sausage rolls or crisps and lollies, everything was of a healthy nature and the kids loved the treat of ordering at the canteen.

The children then went to a public school where the canteen served breakfast for children which was wonderful as there are many in that area that did not have breakfast.  It had a wonderful range of foods with the traffic light colours to guide the children but sadly it had too many red light foods and of that a better range of lollies, crisps and soft drinks than a lolly shop.

The school the children are attending at the present tries to run on volunteers and they, considering it is a double stream school, are hard to find.  The canteen provides packaged goods for morning tea so children have a choice of Red Rock crisps, packets of air popped popcorn, chocolate chip biscuits, jatz and cheese and Sara Lee muffin bars. Lunch choices are party pies, sausage rolls, hot dogs and chicken strips etc and sandwich choices and salad box.

There have been many parents that think that the school canteen should offer only healthy foods and foods without preservatives whilst others think canteen orders are a treat so it is okay to have unhealthy foods. Personally, I think that foods need to be healthy, nutritious and exciting, encouraging children to try new and delicious meals.  There are many yummy treats and we need to educate our children in good choices and ensure that they are aware that healthy does not mean tasteless.

With the rising cases of obesity in children we need to look at all areas where we can improve the health of our nation’s future adults.

What do you think?

photo credit: Sakurako Kitsa via photo pin cc