A public educator on lunch duty brought the box to my attention after the first or second grader was dismissed from their table for recess.   Two idioms come to mind when viewing this boxed lunch.  “You are what you eat” and “You get what you pay for”.  This boxed lunch may have cost a dollar, but the price the kid pays for eating it is much more.  This “LunchMakers” by Armour  boxed lunch is almost completely processed and artificial.  This festive looking box comes with “ham, crackers, Butterfinger candies, and Hawaiian Punch.  I wonder if the parent even bothered to read the label or consider what is going into their child’s body after eating this product .  As a teacher, I can imagine the play/learning after ingesting this eye catching boxed lunch.  Hyperactivity is almost guaranteed, as well as, behavior problems in the classroom and on the playground.  The box has too many ingredients worth counting, but a few are worth mentioning.  High Fructose Corn Syrup, Red 40, Blue 1, Sucralose, Canola Oil, TBHQ, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Soy Lecithin, Soybean Oil, and Cornstarch are listed among the many other artificial ingredients.  Feeding a family does cost a lot of money as inflation causes the prices of food to increase.  A suggestion for a real meal would be ham cut from a whole ham (since it is Christmas, I recently bought a small one at Trader Joe’s), some organic mayonnaise on a slice of bread, lettuce and tomato, some carrots, and maybe a piece of dark chocolate for dessert.  Water makes a great drink at school.   Putting together a lunch like this takes about 5 minutes and will benefit the child far into their future.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Armour-Lunchmakers-Cracker-Crunchers-Cooked-Ham-2.6-oz/10291660