Lunch

Digging into my 1949 The American Woman's Cookbook, edited by Ruth Berolzheimer this morning I found an interesting writing about the importance of the lunch time meal and preparing lunch boxes. I thought I would share some interesting facts and discuss the importance of preparing a healthy lunch for your family as they go on their way every morning.

Today's school lunches are (in my opinion--to put mildly), lacking in good nutrition. As our county school board has to make difficult decisions about where money is spent for our children, unfortunately their daily lunch suffers for the reason of cost. Lunch comes from frozen boxes loaded with carbohydrates, high fructcose corn syrup (HFCS), saturated fat and the drinks! Oh! At our local high school they've taken all HFCS sodas and replaced them with diet drinks! As if this were the best choice! Maybe milk is offered but let's not get started on the problems with affordable milk. Soap box indeed!

In light of this I make my daughter's lunches typically every day unless I've run out of an essential item during the week. I keep ten dollars in their high school lunch account just in case this happens. Once in a while a lunch of fried chicken sandwiches and french fries isn't going to hurt but...certainly not every day.

This is what the book states about boxed lunches back in 1949: As much care is needed in selecting and preparing the food for the lunch box as for the other meals served to the family. If the lunch is inadequate or lacking in food essentials throughout the year, the individual's whole nutrition will be seriously affected, and their work will suffer. The lunch box is one of the three meals, not just a "snack," and should possess the following characteristics: 1. It should be abundant in amount for a hungry, healthy individual. A little too much is better than too little. 2. It should be chosen with regard to nutritive needs of the individual, and in relation to the whole day's food. 3. It should be clean, appetizing, wholesome and attractive.

This cook book I'm quoting from was published by The Culinary Arts Institute in Chicago and previous editions published by Butterick. This edition was edited by several individuals directing the College of Home Economics at Cornell University.

The importance of the section I copied is the fact a person's whole nutrition will be seriously affected if their food is not healthy. Educated nutritionist who edited this cookbook for individuals who were studying home economics stressed the importance of a healthy lunch. I believe it's time to take back our children's (and husband's) noon time meals. Not only is it more nutritious but it demonstrates love and servitude and definately easier on the pocketbook.