Back to Basics: Healthy (and Easy!) School Lunch Alternatives
Unfortunately, last Friday I was extremely busy and was unable to post a Back to Basics post — so I will pick up on that now.
With this school year now in full swing, I think now would be a good time to dedicate a post to healthy school lunches. As I said in a few posts a couple of months ago, school lunches are not necessarily the most healthy foods. Oftentimes, school meals are prepackaged & highly processed foods that lack nutrients. In Philadelphia alone, 26 full-service school kitchens were closed and replaced with food that arrives in pouches to be microwaved for children to eat. Jamie Oliver (I posted about his views and his Food Revolution here, and a moving video of him speaking here) is attempting to revolutionize the way we eat, and more specifically, the way children are eating at their schools.
Since school lunches are often sugar-filled and lack the nutrients children need, it’s better to pack a healthy & nutritious lunch for children that is filled with lots of fresh foods, including fruits, vegetables, and protein — (at least until schools come around to serving healthier foods). Stay away from packing prepackaged & processed foods such as Lunchables and others like it, as that would defeat the purpose of packing a lunch in order to serve your child more healthy foods.
Here is a link by Jamie’s Food Revolution team that showcases some healthy packed lunches (these lunches were part of a “cook-off” to showcase healthy alternatives to school-bought lunches). These are great alternatives to the mystery food served at schools. Packing a lunch allows you to know exactly what your child will be eating that day, and you will know for a fact it’s a healthy meal.
Today I literally spent HOURS at Reading Terminal Market — there’s so much fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, baked goods, and skin care products. And the best part? It’s all LOCAL.
On my quest to be more healthy, I’ve been looking into quite a few different products/foods sold at local farmers markets. And it’s all SO great. I wish I had tons o’ money and could spend freely while shopping there. But for now, I went with just a few things: two loafs of bread (one as sliced bread, one as more of a dessert), organic lettuce, spinach, and a cucumber.
If you couldn’t tell already (by the picture posted above), I’m the most EXCITED about the homemade breads that I just bought. AH-MAZ-ING. And healthier, nonetheless. Fresh homemade bread from a local market is much more nutritious and more properly prepared than store bought bread that’s been sitting on the shelves for however long, had to travel quite a distance to get there, and is processed in a huge facility that uses lots of preservatives to ensure that the bread doesn’t rot before it actually gets to you.
Let’s take a look at loaf #1 (organic whole wheat), which will be used for toast and sandwiches. This bread was baked by Brian Hernon at Slow Rise Bakery.
Slow Rise Bakery has various homemade breads that are baked fresh, without the use of preservatives, and genetically modified ingredients (GMO’s). Most are even made without oils! :D Take a look at the ingredients: Organic whole wheat flour, water, honey, kosher salt, and yeast. AND THAT’S IT! Simple, minimal ingredients to do the job of the paragraph of ingredients often listed on store bought bread. Even with minimal ingredients, this bread is much more dense than commercially produced breads (which we all know to be light and fluffy). “Light and fluffy” isn’t necessarily a good thing when it comes to breads, since REAL (traditional/homemade) breads are mostly dense and compact when made properly (keeping in mind that the denseness has nothing to do with softness….two completely different things here).
This bread was purchased at Fair Food Farmstand ($5).
On to loaf #2 (homemade gourmet raisin bread). Wow. Speaking of dense bread…this bread is DENSE. The weight of this loaf is about as heavy as a pie. No kidding. And it’s packed with delicious raisins and cinnamon. If you like store bought raisin bread, you’re absolutely missing out. If you could just smell this bread, your mouth would be watering. This, and other amazing Amish baked goods, can be purchased at Beiler’s Bakery (an Amish bakery at Reading Terminal Market) for just $4.75!
For just a little more $$ than you’d spend at the grocery store, these freshly baked, homemade breads are worth it.
Find out which fruits & vegetables are most contaminated with pesticides - click here
USA TODAY tells what kind of produce we should definitely buy organic, and which ones are safe enough to purchase conventionally.
