If your kids are in all-day camp--what is their lunch?

[madteaparty]

I have three kids in two weeks camp and steam is coming out of my ears about what they ate for lunch today. Not what I saw represented on the website when I was choosing camps.

I know, first world problems but I'm going to have to pack now...

[bettyandbob]

I've never dealt with a daycamp that provided lunch. Every single daycamp and there have been lots, I packed a lunchbox daily.

[madteaparty]

I've never dealt with a daycamp that provided lunch. Every single daycamp and there have been lots, I packed a lunchbox daily.

At this point, I'd rather this. But two out of the three will choose the crap, given the choice.

[Farrar]

The camp my boys went to last year provided lunch. It was pretty good, according to them.

 

The menu from this year:

http://www.summeratsandyspring.org/files/1114/6911/4611/Camp_Lunch__Menu_2016_3.0.pdf

 

Looks pretty similar to what they had last year.

[Library Momma]

My son has done a park and rec camp for the last few years.  They usually have something like hamburgers/hot dogs, grilled cheese, wrap sandwiches or chicken nuggets with fries as an option and/or they can have salad.  There is usually some type of fresh fruit and later in the afternoon they get ice cream.  

 

 

[vonfirmath]

I have three kids in two weeks camp and steam is coming out of my ears about what they ate for lunch today. Not what I saw represented on the website when I was choosing camps.

I know, first world problems but I'm going to have to pack now...

 

The only daycamps I have had my kids in that provided lunch -- they were school lunches that were provided. The same sort of thing that would be provided at school, by the same food service company.

[madteaparty]

The camp my boys went to last year provided lunch. It was pretty good, according to them.

 

The menu from this year:

http://www.summeratsandyspring.org/files/1114/6911/4611/Camp_Lunch__Menu_2016_3.0.pdf

 

Looks pretty similar to what they had last year.

That's a legit menu. Not BS corndogs and burgers like my kids'. I'm crossing this, supposedly nationally known camp, from the list and packing for the next two weeks I guess.

*this* is when parenting becomes a thing, FYI :)

Edited August 8, 2016 by madteaparty

[Farrar]

That's a legit menu. Not BS corndogs and burgers like my kids'. I'm crossing this, supposedly nationally known camp, from the list and packing for the next two weeks I guess.

*this* is when parenting becomes a thing, FYI :)

 

It was a legit menu. I'm remembering now that they came home liking ravioli with veggies last year, which was a new food for them. The camp is at a hippy liberal, but also slightly hoity toity school so the ability to just continue the regular food service is easy for them, I think. They came home from sleepaway camp this year finally willing to eat oatmeal for breakfast and that was a big win in my mind. It's nice when they have to try something new.

[madteaparty]

It was a legit menu. I'm remembering now that they came home liking ravioli with veggies last year, which was a new food for them. The camp is at a hippy liberal, but also slightly hoity toity school so the ability to just continue the regular food service is easy for them, I think. They came home from sleepaway camp this year finally willing to eat oatmeal for breakfast and that was a big win in my mind. It's nice when they have to try something new.

Is that a private school? It's not a "normal" public school menu from my particular world (unless the PTA is well funded)... Sigh.

This camp mine are going to is mostly sleep away

[Jean in Newcastle]

We pack our own.  Today dd had cold ravioli (which she likes and planned for).  It wouldn't bother me if she had corndogs and burgers.  She's healthy.  She eats well at home.  Having one meal a day that isn't as healthy even for a week or two will not hurt her. 

[Farrar]

Is that a private school? It's not a "normal" public school menu from my particular world (unless the PTA is well funded)... Sigh.

This camp mine are going to is mostly sleep away

 

Yep. Quaker school.

 

The sleepaway camp my boys were at this summer didn't have quite such good food, but it was still plenty of vege and fresh fruit and whole grains and so forth. At least, according to them. Also a Quaker camp, but much smaller and less ritzy. Definitely no pdf menu published online.

[Library Momma]

Is that a private school? It's not a "normal" public school menu from my particular world (unless the PTA is well funded)... Sigh.

This camp mine are going to is mostly sleep away

That looks to be your average school lunch menu here except it doesn't include the alternate choices a school lunch would have.  I'm curious what would the PTA have to do with school lunch?

[madteaparty]

That looks to be your average school lunch menu here except it doesn't include the alternate choices a school lunch would have. I'm curious what would the PTA have to do with school lunch?

I speak for NYC public schools, whose Dept of education lunches I've experienced in-person and IMO are vile. Now a public school in a more expensive area might have a PTA that hires a chef or provides for say, a salad bar. Same story with after-school activities. Some public schools are more public than others, I guess.

[madteaparty]

Yep. Quaker school.

 

The sleepaway camp my boys were at this summer didn't have quite such good food, but it was still plenty of vege and fresh fruit and whole grains and so forth. At least, according to them. Also a Quaker camp, but much smaller and less ritzy. Definitely no pdf menu published online.

This one has a PDF but it only confirms that today was not an exception :( of course, I did not see the PDF in the winter when I signed up, just the nice brochure. Ugh Edited August 8, 2016 by madteaparty

[Farrar]

The PTA's here also drive the quality of the lunches. They raise money and change providers and make them healthier... at some public and charter schools.

 

It's so sad to me when "kid food" still equals chicken nuggets, burgers, fries, hot dogs, and pizza and nothing else. I mean, those things can be fine in moderation too and they can be greasy and gross or made well and accompanied by good sides and so forth. But when we don't offer something better, of course kids don't eat anything better.

 

 

[madteaparty]

The PTA's here also drive the quality of the lunches. They raise money and change providers and make them healthier... at some public and charter schools.

 

It's so sad to me when "kid food" still equals chicken nuggets, burgers, fries, hot dogs, and pizza and nothing else. I mean, those things can be fine in moderation too and they can be greasy and gross or made well and accompanied by good sides and so forth. But when we don't offer something better, of course kids don't eat anything better.

That is *exactly* the menu for the week. And my five year old might not understand why she needs to just eat her yogurt or whatever instead of the crap du jour.

[Library Momma]

I speak for NYC public schools, whose Dept of education lunches I've experienced in-person and IMO are vile. Now a public school in a more expensive area might have a PTA that hires a chef or provides for say, a salad bar. Same story with after-school activities. Some public schools are more public than others, I guess.

 

 

Interesting.  Here schools subcontract out lunch to companies that run their kitchens.  The cooks and kitchen personnel do not work directly for the schools and schools around the state that use the same company have similar lunch menus. There is always one main meal each day with a few alternates.  As they get into middle and high school there are more options like sandwich stations. PTA funds aren't used for that type of thing they are usually only used for extras like to supplement field trip costs or bring in speakers for special assemblies.  

 

I will add that my son's camp lunch experience was not at a school but a private facility.

[Farrar]

I think I'd probably just let them eat it. It's only two weeks. I'd make dinner extra healthy, pack them full of good protein and fruit in the morning, and make a note for next year. If it was all summer, that would be different.

[SKL]

Most of my kids' day camps don't provide lunch most days.  Some of them offer a fun lunch (not too healthy) one day of the week.

 

The one that provided lunch & snacks was their latino culture camp.  They had a kitchen full of volunteers who made a variety of ethnic recipes every day.  But that was part of the theme of the camp.

 

Then their cooking camp had them make and eat stuff every day.  Again, kind of the point of the camp.  :)

 

The science center camp offered hot lunch if you wanted to buy.  It was your usual kid food.  They didn't go to that camp this year (not because of the food).

 

Otherwise, all their day camps require me to pack a lunch.

[SKL]

But now that I think about it, there is a day camp attached to my kids' old daycare that provides a nice cooked lunch.  They are good about making it both palatable and [reasonably] healthy.

[SKL]

My kids never tasted a chicken nugget, hamburger or hot dog until they were like 6yo, and then only at rest stops during travel trips.  At restaurants they shared the adults' meals.

 

Nevertheless, now that they are allowed to order for themselves, guess what they order ... you guessed it ....

 

I would not worry about this.  You can make up for it with a great breakfast and dinner.  2 weeks of corn dogs won't make a difference in the long run.

[Loowit]

The day camp I was director for a couple years ago offers school lunches. The school provides lunches all summer in different locations so the week of our camp they have it at our location. They served sandwiches (usually a meat and a cheese option), fruit, veggie, chips, and milk. It was free to all children and staff under 18 years old.

[ktgrok]

I think I'd probably just let them eat it. It's only two weeks. I'd make dinner extra healthy, pack them full of good protein and fruit in the morning, and make a note for next year. If it was all summer, that would be different.

 

This. There won't be long term nutritional damage from 10 meals of crap. Make up for it at breakfast and dinner. 

[LucyStoner]

I packed a lunch and two snacks everyday for my son's 5 weeks of daycamp this summer. Thinking back on all the camps one or the other of my sons has attended over the years I do not recall a single one which offered meals there. It's always been brown bagging it.

[madteaparty]

This. There won't be long term nutritional damage from 10 meals of crap. Make up for it at breakfast and dinner.

I disagree in that it normalizes that sort of "food", like hot dogs are a normal thing to eat. Which they aren't. Anyway, there's not much I can do about it but be thankful

I guess that I have these problems and not others.

[mathnerd]

In your case, I would pack lunch, because these things are important to me - I packed lunch for my son's daycamp (and water bottles and snacks) even though the lunch was included in the cost of the camp because they offered unhealthy choices.

I also don't allow my child to eat from the children's menu at restaurants because of the lack of identifiable vegetables in them. He picks an adult menu item in restaurants and may not be able to finish it but, it ensures that he eats a meal that is nutritionally sound.

 

A simple sandwich (healthy choices of bread and veggies in it), fresh fruit and yoghurt would be easy for you to do (ours ask for brown bag lunches because it is hard to track down lunch bags because they move around a lot during camp. so, sandwiches are easy). 

Edited August 9, 2016 by mathnerd

[Amira]

My boys are in a two-week camp right now. When I've remembered to ask, they've reported eating enchiladas, spaghetti, and turkey and mashed potatoes. I wouldn't be pleased if they were served corn dogs and french fries, but I'm not really in a position to pack lunches for them right now.

[ktgrok]

I disagree in that it normalizes that sort of "food", like hot dogs are a normal thing to eat. Which they aren't. Anyway, there's not much I can do about it but be thankful

I guess that I have these problems and not others.

 

I'd just stress that these are camp foods, not every day foods. 

[bettyandbob]

I disagree in that it normalizes that sort of "food", like hot dogs are a normal thing to eat. Which they aren't. Anyway, there's not much I can do about it but be thankful

I guess that I have these problems and not others.

Not really. I specifically remember knowing some foods for some times. We only get that at camp. We only eat that on the way to grandmas. Etc. When I became a mom I noticed there were certain things my kids got at my mom's hours and it surprised me at first that they were treats she never ever bought me.

 

So I don't think eating certain things at camp for two weeks will be "normalized".

[meena]

We go to a family camp that serves decent food. One year they had a hot dog based meal like 3 times over the course of the week. We left negative feedback about that on the camp survey, and thankfully the following year there were no hot dogs!

 

My kids don't usually go to multi-day camps, but the single day ones always have pizza. Same for our co-op that meets once a week. I understand that it's cheap and easy to get/serve, but would it hurt to add a fruit and veggie for the sake of variety and nutrition? When we go to camps/co-ops I try to pack extra food to round the meal nutritionally.

[SKL]

I agree that kids can compartmentalize the kind of food they get at different places.

 

When I was a kid, the only time we ever had sugary cereals was when we went camping (in a tent).  When we came back home, it was back to normal.  Nowadays kids are used to the idea that camping means s'mores and hotdogs on a stick.  So far mine have never suggested we need to have either of those at home or in a restaurant.  :)

 

As for whether hotdogs are normal food, well, they were when I was a kid.  We generally had them with dinner about once a week.  My siblings and I are still alive to talk about it.  :P  Unless your child has food tolerance issues, really this is not something to lose sleep over.

[luuknam]

That's a legit menu. Not BS corndogs and burgers like my kids'. I'm crossing this, supposedly nationally known camp, from the list and packing for the next two weeks I guess.

*this* is when parenting becomes a thing, FYI :)

 

I wish my kids' day camps would feed them hamburgers and corn dogs (really, one meal a day for 1-2 weeks per year is not a big deal). But no, every single one of them requires me to pack them a lunch. And then micromanages what I pack - no peanuts, no nuts, yada yada. Blegh. If you're going to make me pack a lunch, let me pack whatever lunch I want to pack for them.

 

ETA: no nuts means no Nutella. How am I supposed to feed my kids without Nutella!?

Edited August 9, 2016 by luuknam

[SKL]

Yeah, today I had to send a "no peanuts" lunch with my kids.  I didn't get a chance to go shopping for lunch options yesterday, so I told my kids they were getting a cheese sandwich today.  "What's that?"  I kid you not.  "Two slices of bread with a slice of cheese in between."  "Oh ....  Can we go shopping tonight?"

[TX Native]

The day camp my son did once had chicken nuggets, pizza, burgers, and the like each of the 5 days. Along with an overpriced snack bar with Gatorade, soda, candy, and chips. A sports camp

[vonfirmath]

Yeah, today I had to send a "no peanuts" lunch with my kids.  I didn't get a chance to go shopping for lunch options yesterday, so I told my kids they were getting a cheese sandwich today.  "What's that?"  I kid you not.  "Two slices of bread with a slice of cheese in between."  "Oh ....  Can we go shopping tonight?"

 

This is the lunch at our school given to students that forget their lunch and are out of lunch money.  My son prefers it and ASKS for it on occasion. !!

[zoobie]

That's disappointing if they misrepresented what was included in the camp fees. The baseball camp DS goes to offers hot dogs or pizza for lunch. We let him buy it because it's one or two weeks a year, and it's part of the excitement to him (getting to "buy lunch" like in school or something). We call them "questionable hot dogs" (lol), but it's so not a big deal to me given the majority of the time we eat differently. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Having no nuts at lunch is a small price to pay to allow other children to be alive and healthy. 

[Desert Strawberry]

The camp feeds them breakfast and snack, but not lunch. I send packed lunches of whatever I have on hand. 

The camp food is crap. Sugary cereal with milk, oatmeal cookies, cereal bars. Just junk. I figure it's a nice treat for them, but it's not all the time. Then they have carrots, tomatoes and hummus or something like that for lunch.

[luuknam]

Having no nuts at lunch is a small price to pay to allow other children to be alive and healthy. 

 

If they're concerned about nut allergies, then it would make more sense for them to provide lunch. Because you don't know which parents forgot to follow the rules when they packed lunch. Also, it never happens that they say "there is a kid with nut allergies in your kid's group, so please be nut-free". No, it's a blanket policy. And kids can have allergies to all sorts of things, not just peanuts and nuts. Also, kids can have peanuts or nuts all over them from breakfast.

[TX Native]

Many kids around here spend their entire summer going to camps instead of regular daycare. I am not against my children getting these treat foods for a week at grandma's and a week at camp here and there. I am even all for a Friday night pizza night or Saturday afternoon hot dog grill here and there. But I feel for the kids who go from camp to camp all summer and only get hot dogs, nuggets, pizzas, burgers, fries, chips, and punch for lunch all the time. Growing up, I lived on hot pockets, pizza bite rolls, grilled cheese, Jack-in-the-box tacos, and kool aid in the summer. I am alive to tell about, but am certain itwasn't good for my health. ETA: forgot to add in potted meat or Bologna on wonder white bread as a regular in my childhood summer mealtime rotation.

Edited August 9, 2016 by TX native