The issue of school lunches is a big one for both parents and students. Parents with younger children have to make the big choice of sending kids to school with premade home lunches, picking them up for lunch, or asking them to eat in the school canteen. College students, on the other hand, have to learn to fend for themselves and either premade school lunches or eat at the campus like many others. However, school lunch is not just a matter of time and convenience. It’s also a matter of health and nutrition. So, these daily choices can greatly impact one’s health and even relationships with food. Let’s see how to make the right choice. Here is the comparison between eating at home and in the school canteen.
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Is home food better than in a school canteen?
So, the short answer to it is ‘it depends.’ First of all, it depends on the type of food served in each home. For example, many families rely on school lunches to provide their children with healthy meals. Thus, low-income children mainly benefit from daily free or reduced-cost meals in schools. Plus, not all parents or adult students have the skills, time, or interest in cooking at home. Students will better spend more time studying, reading things like a domyessay.com review , or going out than cooking at home. Thus, a canteen becomes the main place to receive a healthy, affordable meal during school hours.
Lessons on healthy eating
Schools and parents are responsible for teaching young people about healthy eating. However, many studies find that schools have an easier time giving students lessons on healthy eating plus helping students build healthy relationships with food. So why is that? First, school lunches follow strict nutrition standards. Hence, they are planned and prepared by professionals who follow certain protocols and have deep knowledge of food and nutrients. Of course, each student and parent can also educate themselves on this subject. For instance, one can always contact WritePaper writers to order additional research. By the way, if you wonder, ‘is writepaper.com legit ?’ just read their reviews online or contact the specialists there. It will end all your worries.
Secondly, often school canteens provide higher independence to students to choose (assemble) their meals for themselves. It’s different from home eating, where children often don’t get to choose what they want. Having the option to choose food may encourage students to pick vegetables, fruits, and milk (especially since schools rarely offer alternatives).
School lunch ideas
Before everything else, a school lunch should be diverse and packed with nutrients and vitamins. Of course, you don’t need to be a nutritionist to make such a lunch. Just get creative with it, and make sure to add most of the food groups to the lunch box, including the dessert! Here are some simple recipes you can try.
Frittatas
A frittata or a quiche is a complete meal in one bite. Plus, you can make a large portion of frittata, freeze it and use it for school lunches during the week. So, to make a simple, traditional frittata, you need eggs, some flour, fresh or frozen vegetables, some type of protein (like a sausage), and cheese. You can also add thinly sliced potatoes to the bottom or top of the dish. Bake everything till done and store in the fridge. Pack it alongside some fresh veggie slices and dipping sauces. It’s delicious cold, or warm.
Rice paper rolls
Rice paper rolls can be a great light and easy option for lunch. They are easy and fast to make. Plus, they can be very nutritious and good for your health. Typically, such rolls are made with shredded or thinly sliced veggies, avocado, and herbs. As a protein, you can use tofu, soft cheese, shrimp, or anything you like. Then, add tahini or peanut butter sauce to it, and you have a whole meal packed. Sure, it takes some practice rolling the rice papers. Yet, it shouldn’t look perfect to taste great.
Curries
A simple curry is much easier to make than many tend to believe. In fact, you don’t have to go fully traditional here. Just choose your protein (meat, lentils, chickpeas, or else), add a premade curry paste or spice blend mix, canned tomatoes, some vegetables, and coconut milk. That can be it. Pack curry in the thermos with some rice on the side. It is a delicious, hearty meal that will warm you up and energize you for the rest of the day.
Soup in a thermos
You can also take soup to school with you – to keep it warm, use a mini thermos with a volume of about 300 ml. In this case, the main thing is to choose the right thermos – it is small, durable, retains heat well. As for the soup recipe itself, choose it to your taste. It can be a soup based on meat broth, and if you don’t want to overload your stomach, soups based on vegetable broth taste great. Fish soups are also very tasty and healthy, especially if you follow a special diet.
Pasta salad
Making a pasta salad requires only creativity, some dry pasta, and whatever you have in the fridge. Indeed, such a dish can contain whatever you want. Just boil the pasta (preferably of a smaller size) and let it cool. Next, add to it some cold proteins (like sausage, leftover shredded steak, fish, chickpeas, or tofu), cheese cubes, maybe sundried tomatoes, fried eggplant, fresh veggies, etc. Finish up with some seeds and microgreens, plus a dash of olive oil and some seasoning. It’s simple, delicious, can be served cold, and has all your food groups for the day.