Hi Reader,

A mom wrote to me last week sharing a dilemma that I’m sure a lot of you relate to.

She was telling me how helpful it is for her kids to eat lunch from the school cafeteria – it saves both time & money – but she worried because other moms said they “wouldn’t feed their kids that crap.”

So she wanted to know, is it okay to feed her kids the cafeteria food? Is it really that bad as these other moms are saying?

First – I told her that feeding our kids is always about more than just nutrition. The time & money saving factors are HUGE, and they are allowed to be part of the decision.

But second – school lunches are for the most part not nearly as bad nutritionally as people think they are.

Public schools who offer free/reduced lunches are REQUIRED to follow federal nutrition guidelines.

Food quality is a separate issue. Like, would most of our kids prefer some fresh sliced watermelon to canned peaches and canned green beans? I know mine would.

But that doesn’t mean that the food is bad for them.

So do I think there’s room for improvement? 100%. But I think you’d be surprised to see that there are a lot of good rules in place to ensure their lunches have nutritional value.

In this new post (linked below) I share what those rules are and how you can help encourage your kids to make smart choices when they get to decide what food to order for themselves.
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New This Week From Mama Knows
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​ON THE BLOG

Is School Lunch Healthy? A Dietitian’s Guide to Helping Kids Buy Lunch at School

Every new school year I get questions from parents about whether school lunch is healthy or not. Social media can make it seem like school lunches are total ultra-processed garbage in the US. And when you hear something like that, of course you’re going to worry about whether your kid should be eating it!

Make Your Own Packed Lunch Menu

If you haven’t prepared one yet – make this packed lunch menu to take the guesswork out of what to pack in your kid’s lunch each day. Or better yet, use it to allow your kid to pack their own lunch!

Looking for My New AI Prompt?

If you want a detail-oriented prompt to help you sort through the noise and misinformation regarding health and nutrition in the media, my new prompt is for you. Click here to view last week’s newsletter and save the prompt for all future questions you want solid fact-checking on!

3 Things I've Tried Recently and Loved

1. Water can be incredibly boring sometimes but we obviously need to stay hydrated – I tried this Dragon Fruit Punch electrolyte drink and loved it! There’s only 20 cals for the whole bottle and 1g added sugar.
2. Plant based protein bars can be really hit or miss. Aloha sent me a box to try and I was genuinely impressed! They’re dairy free and gluten free, and sugar alcohol free. I loved the chocolate chip cookie dough and pumpkin spice!
3. I love when my house smells good – so I decided to try the large area version of the Pura to see if it would spread to more of the house than the regular one. And it DOES!

Take care, friend!

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© Mama Knows Nutrition 2026
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