Packed lunches vs. School lunches
By: Christian Coler
Christian Coler
Mr. Meredith
Period 4
10/14/2015
Lunch is an important part of the school day, providing energy for the rest of the day. However, there has always existed a debate between packed lunches and school lunches. I honestly don't see the problem, as the issues with school lunches seem very apparent. The entire time I've been in school, the quality of school lunches has been barely acceptable. At least, for the price they are at. They also lack any real variety, leaving the students to pick between two things they usually do not want. All of these problems can be avoided with packed lunches.
First, I would like to address the quality of the school lunches. All school lunches these days are simply re-heated, as opposed to hand made. From pizzas to potatoes, all components of school lunches are made in a factory some unknowable distance away. Many student question which tastes better: the pizza, or the cardboard it comes on! With packed lunches, you know when, where, and how all the food you packed was made. This allows you to be more sure of the nutritional value of what you are consuming.
Secondly, the pricing of these lunches is far beyond food of this quality. They lack much substance, and is rarely filling. At our school, you don't have to look five feet to find a student who doubles up on his entree. Worse then, our school has a "premium" line with slightly higher quality, and prices these items at around three times the "normal" lunches. They also have vending machines at various places around our school, with a variety of overly priced snacks and drinks. Packed lunches, on the other hand, allows you to spend as much as you want to, as you can bring whatever you want.
Third, I would like to bring the lack of variety. Our school only prepares two entrees per day, giving our students next to no choice in the matter. Even then, our school only has a grand total of only about ten different entrees, creating an annoying lack of variety to our students. As previously stated, our school does offer both a "premium" line, as well as vending machines to help expand the choice, but they are severely overpriced. Packed lunches can have a new choice every day, students need simply pack a different entree.
So, as you can see, packed lunches avoid all of the problems. They are of much higher quality than school lunches, as well as having less dubious origin than school lunches. They also are not as expensive as the lunches offered. Finally, they have a near-infinite variety, instead of being bound by what they offer. So, the real question is "what should I pack?"