Kids meals
We rarely go out to eat as a family, but when we do, Logan is able to eat meals from the kids menu. Earlier last week we grabbed some lunch before running around town doing our thing. We ate at a sandwich shop that we've never been to. I thought it would be a great, healthy place to eat. The kids menu offered four different sandwiches. PB & J (not an option for Logan yet), turkey, grilled cheese or cheese pizza. Along with a sandwich, the meal came with our choice of chocolate milk, juice or soda. My thought about healthy eating was squashed when seeing the options, & even more so when our sandwiches were ready.
I ordered a turkey sandwich on whole wheat with apple juice for Logan. Juice is a special treat for him, as water is our drink of choice at home. There's just way too much sugar in there for it to be a regular part of his diet. I was OK with this since it's occasional. When I unwrapped his sandwich I just rolled my eyes. It was just a slice of deli meat & two slices of bread. That's it. No veggies. Again, I thought "Whatever" because he eats really well at home.
When people develop kids menus, do they ever stop to think about nutritional values? Does anyone in the food industry have even basic nutritional education, or are they primarily operating off of business degrees?
I know it's the parents responsibility to make healthy food choices for our children. However, it would be nice if there were healthy choices to make! It seems like every where we go, I have to order side items & make a healthy meal from that rather than order the crapola options from the kids menu. It's kind of sad, really. These are our kids we're feeding here!
I'm glad that we eat out once a month or so. Making less than healthy choices at that rate is not a big deal. And then, the choices we make (even if I have to construct them from side items) aren't that bad at all. I just wish that people who develop kids menus put a little more thought into the health of our kids & provide more opportunities for healthier living.
Our Roots
- Kristin
- Colorado
- I married my soul mate 10 years ago. We got married very young & we are very thankful that we did despite what other opinions may have been. It gave us a chance to grow up together & learn how to ride life's roller coaster ups & downs as a team. We had some good friends & adventures in Vegas when we started out. Then we hit a fork in the road & moved to Portland, OR so I could go to school & pursue a career in chiropractic. That's where we learned that sometimes life has plans for us other than our "perfectly mapped out" one. Bill got a promotion that moved us out to Colorado, somewhere he's always wanted to live, but a place where my thoughts of chiropractic school would die. Marriage is all about compromise, so we made the move to bigger & better things. As we continued to be successful at work, it felt like there was something missing. That's when I started to think about having a baby. As a stay at home mom to Logan, life was everything we wanted it to be. Then we were crazy enough to do it again & soon added Carter to the family. This is our adventure raising two boys in the Rocky Mountains.
Branches
7 comments:
Most of the items on kids menus around these parts are chicken nuggets with fries; a small burger with fries; child-sized nachos (meatless) or a pb sandwich with nothing on the side.
Since Kira loves chicken, when we happen to go out and she needs to eat, I'll order something with chicken (usually having to repeat several times to NOT PUT ANY SAUCE OF ANY KIND ON IT! which they never listen to but that's another rant) and then strip off bits for her to eat. We'll also buy nuggets and cut off the hard breaded shell and give her the meat on the inside, but I totally agree with you - not only is there not enough nutritional content, there's not nearly enough variety either.
Not all of us want our kids subsisting on McD's burgers and fries for gods sake.
Yeah, "crapola" is the key word here when it comes to eating out. I agree 110% with you. We're okay with James having a cookie once in a while, a bit of ice-cream, no biggie. But with diabetes running strong on both sides of the family it's hard. And this kids EATS!! Sometimes I get worried with how much it takes to actually fill his belly up. The only sugar I haven't worried about is the fruit. He loves fruit so much. But, going out isn't so easy. We keep packing up something for him, but no matter what he wants we've got (he'll actually get pretty upset if we don't share). Maybe someone out there can be the first to create an d open the first (actual) healthy family restaurant to eat at. Any takers?? lol
I completely agree! The options on the kids menu are horrendous - friend chicken nuggets, french fries, greasy pizza, processed mac 'n cheese! NO THANK YOU! Usually, if I know ahead of time that we're going out to eat I'll make Ava something at home, and bring it with us. And once we're there I'll share my veggies with her from off my plate too.
Wow! See, we just went to Applebees last night and all the adults had the "Chicken Confetti" from the Weight Watchers part of the menu. We do the same thing for Tate, we figure we are out, why not get him something from the kids menu. But it's ALL CRAP! Chicken Fingers and Hot Dogs and Cheeseburgers and Milk shakes. He loves fruit and veggies, why not put that on there? So we ended up feeding him his Baby Entree and sweet potatoes and apples and prunes. And a bite or two of chicken and rice.
My wife hates the McDonalds commercial where the little girl is eating Fried Chicken Nuggets and Apples dipped in Caramel and McD's promotes it as "healthy".
Ridiculous.
Yeah I totally hear ya! It's ridiculous when the leading cause of heart disease is high cholesterol which is directly linked to unhealthy eating such as fried foods!! Great, so let's start em' young, get em' hooked and then we can make money off the medical bills!! I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything, but when you asked if anyone even thinks about what goes on the kid's menu, I think it's well thought out, and it's disgusting...
I agree, although I sadly admit that PAisley ate WAY too many fries over the holiday. Eating out=figuring out what to feed small child. But we're like you, don't eat out very often on a regular basis.
We haven't really had that experience yet, as Henry's just starting on "people food."
I do have a hand-crank food mill that I've taken with us when we've been out for a family meal. I've successfully been able to give him some turkey and chicken and vegetables and potato.
One of the (many) reasons I love to read your blog is that it's a little glimpse of what to look forward to. So the 'kids meals'--I consider myself warned!
{Also: nice to see new commentors! YAY for De-lurking week!)
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