Whats your opinion? School lunch or packed /cloth diaper or disposible

[TX Honky]

Well I've got two things I'd like to hear some opinions on. One is my sons school is way out in the middle of nowhere, k-6 theres only 28 students. His class is k-2. Anyway it cost 55 cents for him to eat breakfast and lunch there. .55 for both meals. And from thier menu that I read, they seem to have pretty ok stuff, however today is chicken patty. Whats a chicken patty, to me that sounds processed. Yuck. But I'm sure to a 5 yo that and some ketchup is sooo good. I'm a mom who likes to be needed and for me to pack a lunch with a dinosour shaped jellie sandwich makes me feel good! But with me wanting to cut back on our food bill I'm thinking of just letting him eat at school. I can't beat .55 a day.

Next I've got a 1 yo and I'm considering getting some cloth diapers. My mom said she didn't recomend it because of the alltime washing ect. But I've seen some cloth diapers out there that are not only better for babby's butt and enviroment but they have all these layers and liners all in one and theres no need for rubber pants. So what do ya'll think?

 

[FarmerChick]

OK for me---this is my opinion on both

school food....great price. How about a compromise. Some days let the school lunch happen, some days pack his lunch....that way if you get a menu from the school, you can pick which foods seem unhealthier to you and on those days pack him a better lunch if you wish. But you are so right, that .55 is unbelieveable good deal and it is great that it is a low price so parents can afford that.

Nicole (age 3) eats chicken nuggets and chicken pattys. Kids are going to eat this at some time in their life. I can't avoid all processed foods but I limit where I can so maybe checking out the school lunch menu and picking and choosing what foods he eats, them pack the other days.

For diapers....I used disposable. I was not interested in cloth at all. Disposable worked perfect for me. Having 1 kid I guess I didn't over-contribute to the landfill...LOL-LOL---but honestly, I am not the cloth diaper type person...ain't happening here for me. Good thing Nicole is potty trained now and I only buy the overnight big girl panties for her. 1 per night to get her thru and we are working on stopping that.....so freedom is coming soon for me..Yippee

so that is just how I think about both.....good questions to post.

 

[patandchickens]

School lunch - I'm with Karen. How about some days she can buy lunch, some days she can pack lunch, depending what's on the menu and what's in the kitchen or bank account. I think it is good for them to eat the occasional chicken patty or whatever, btw, jsut so it is not 'forbidden fruit'

Diapers - I use/used both kinds. Disposables are *great* for going places without good change facilities, and long car rides, and so forth -- at least with my kids, they will happily put up with a soggy (not pooey) disposable diaper for some good while, whereas a soggy cloth diaper pretty much needs to be changed, comfort wise. (Which expedites potty training, for many).

But you know what, cloth diapers are not really IMO any more trouble at all, and can be cheaper. We have not experienced any stink from them -- DRY diaperpail, not wet, and poo is rinsed into the toilet first using a handheld thingie that attaches to the toilet's water supply line. (A great gadget!). We use plain ol' 6-ply rectangular prefolds, sewn by a SAHM, which do require plastic pants but that's never caused any problems at all. (BTW for plastic pants I highly recommend Bummis' "whisper pants" I think they're called, the plain white ones. Cheap, last almost forever). In contrast, the fitted all-in-one cloth diapers are MUCH more expensive, and many of them require you buy more different sizes, and are not really reusable for anything else once the kids outgrow diapers. Whereas well broken in rectangular diapers are wonderful household clothes/rags/etc. I dried mine on the line most of the time, with vigorous twisting afterwards to resoften them or sometimes fluffing in cold drier for 5 minutes. They work GREAT. That said, my 1 yr old currently wears disposables more than cloth diapers at the moment, b/c I have gotten lazy about not wanting to be dropping everything to do a diaper change right away. Bad Pat.

But that's the ONLY thing I can possibly say against cloth; everything else is in cloth's favor. Plus, to me, it is somehow bizarrely satisfying to look back on the nice tidy row of clean diapers I've just hung out on the line. I have no idea why. But it makes me feel useful

Good luck and have fun,

Pat

 

[TX Honky]

Wow thanks. Me and baby are at home pretty much all day and I thought sense we aren't out and about I would use the cloth and save a some disposible diapers. I'm fine with plastic pants, as long as my new carpet stays clean.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I can't address school lunch, we homeschool, but diapers...

Cloth
environmentally sound
reusable
don't jam landfills
soft on baby
mult-use
cheaper than disposables


Disposables
Don't have to put your hand in the toilet!

 

[the simple life]

Wow, great lunch prices.
Mine cost $2.50 for the elemantary school and like $4.00 for the highschool kids.
one little milk is 55cents.

 

[the simple life]

By they way, forgot to mention.
I do both , pack lunch and buy lunch depending on what it is and if I think they will like it.

Today for instance, I packed my 7 year old son a turkey sandwhich, yougurt and mixed raw veggies.
Usually loves that, will ask for that.
Today I pick him up from school and the teacher tells me that he was upset because he wanted the school lunch which was a taco.
He has a lunch account there at the school that I prepay at the beginning of the year so they let him have both.
Who in the world would want a school taco?!
I would never thought he would want one, but I guess its good that he tried it. He said he loved it.
One the other hand, he had a perfectly good lunch that also cost me money to make.
So I would take the menu and go over it at the beginning of each week and see what you can agree on, which days to make and which to buy.
Believe me, there are going to be days that you are rushed and frazzled that you will be happy to have your kid buy lunch. It gives you a break once in a while.
I have on occasion caught myself trying to talk my kid into buying lunch when I don't have time to make 3-4 lunches in the morning, what do you mean you don't like frogs legs and fish eyes you LOVE them, you will be sorry if you miss out on this lunch today.Believe me, when you see all of the other kids eating pigs feet you will wish you had bought lunch today.

 

[PotterWatch]

I would do as others have said, look at the menu and only pack lunches on those days that you don't like what the school is serving. I agree that $.55 is impossible for me to beat.

I didn't use cloth diapers but if I had it to do over again, I think I would at least try them.

 

[poppycat]

I have on occasion caught myself trying to talk my kid into buying lunch when I don't have time to make 3-4 lunches in the morning, what do you mean you don't like frogs legs and fish eyes you LOVE them, you will be sorry if you miss out on this lunch today.Believe me, when you see all of the other kids eating pigs feet you will wish you had bought lunch today.

I say at .55 you should go for school lunch at least now and again. We try to do both, more heavily toward the packed lunch. For starters school lunch costs $3.00 for elementary and $3.50 for the jr. high. Also it's completely processed food. But sometimes I just can't get all of those lunches packed.

As for the diapers, when my first kid was born I was all idealistic and environmentally friendly and was going to be the perfect mother.
So I bought all the cloth diapers and accessories. Then my son was born with a clubfoot and he had to go through a bunch of casts and surgeries. When I brought him to the orthopedist for the first time, the nurse saw that cloth diaper and told me that it had to go. His leg and casts had to stay clean and DRY and it was much more likely to stay that way in disposables.

I felt like he had given me a get-out-of-jail-free card. So I say disposables.

 

[krjwaj]

I believe the school lunch here is close to $2.00/day.
My daughter brings lunch everyday; basically the same thing for the last 8 years (with a little variety now and then)! She would cry if I made her buy a lunch. I think the quality can vary greatly between school districts but she is a vegetarian and I like to know what she is eating.
ALso, it takes time to wait in line and buy your lunch.
When I worked in the hospital, I always brought. People could spend half their lunch break waiting in line and then end up eating fast without enjoying their food!

We thought briefly about cloth diapers, but never used then. I did have her potty trained at 2 years, though.