Bringing lunch from home ("food stamp lunches").

[bertha katzenengel]

I just learned something new about myself. I hate bringing my lunch from home because it reminds me of when I was a kid.

Part of it is this: Those of you who took their lunches to school as a kid: remember the smell of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that had been sitting in a box, wrapped in plastic or foil or waxed paper, for hours? :( Remember the smell if you hadn't washed your milk bottle out thoroughly the night before? :( Or forgot to toss your banana peel? :(

But I think this is a more logical reason: I don't remember ever going to the grocery store -- whether with a parent or alone, sent by a parent -- with cash. It was always food stamps (and being on welfare, I couldn't buy lunch at school).

I never understood why we got dirty looks in line at the grocery store. We'd put two separate orders on the belt: one, of food. The other, of beer, cigarettes, and magazines. (I wish I had ever noticed if the latter totaled more than the former.) Since reaching adulthood I've usually assumed we got dirty looks because it's bad to be on welfare. But lately I've come to realize some of the dirty looks were for the parent I was with, because s/he was buying so much with cash that also could've been spent on food.

But today I realize there's yet another reason I hate bringing my lunch from home. It means we are pinching pennies, and I hate feeling deprived.

Okay, now that that's off my chest, maybe I'll post my flame bait.

[MissB]

1. I like bringing lunch from home

But for me, it is because I'm saving money instead of (imho) foolishly spending way too much for lunch. I realize that by having the family take their lunches, we're able to keep our budget in line and spend more money on those things that are important to us. It almost becomes like a game to me. :shrug:

Dh could easily spend $50 a week on lunches. I'm also not willing to shell out $300/year/kid for my kids to eat school lunches three days a week (we don't exactly have a cafeteria service at our school).


Just a comment on the food stamp thing- nowadays, our state uses a debit card. I wouldn't notice if the customer in front of me received financial help from the state or not. I'm not one of those dirty-look people anyways.

Go post your flame bait. I've been waiting!

[bertha katzenengel]

5. Good perspective.

Thanks!

[tjdee]

2. You didn't get free lunch? But I know the feeling.Like clothes from K-Mart

To this day, I would never, EVER go on welfare...my mom was on it for a while (don't remember how long, thankfully) and I remember going to the store with food stamps.

YUCK YUCK YUCK. I still feel gross inside thinking about it. Kind of like buying clothes at K-Mart. The worst was when a kid in my school had gone there for non-clothes things, and came into homeroom going "I saw those fake LA Gear shoes...someone's always wearing them, who?" And all the kids looked at everyone's feet. They didn't guess me, but those shoes were at home and I never wore them again.

Which makes me sad today, because my parents were doing the best they could. I feel bad because I hope my kid doesn't ever feel that way--but I try really hard to make that not happen (no clothes from K-Mart, etc.).

Just... ugh. :( People like us can get into real financial trouble because of our past.

[bertha katzenengel]

6. "People like us can get into real financial trouble"-- OH, yeah.

Sigh. I'm still paying for the sins of the father, still learning things I should've been taught decades ago.

Oh, well. At least it's good to know we're not alone.

[Bill McBlueState]

3. the smells

I remember that the most about school lunches: everything smelled funny. My school district was one of six in the state of Ohio that didn't offer a school lunch program. It was cut to save the school district money after the voters refused to raise property taxes for ten straight years.

There's probably some irony in the fact that, to avoid paying taxes, people voted to deprive the schools of money that would allow their children to have free or reduced-price hot lunches. PBJs instead of property tax, I guess.

Anyway, I remember the odors of which you speak. The sum total of years of day-old sandwiches and questionable milk made the elementary school cafeteria a nasty place to have lunch.

[bertha katzenengel]

7. :shudder:

Odors can really mess w/ the mind, can't they?

[sui generis]

4. SO grabs it on his own

left over pork chops, tenderloin and brisket and roast vanishes, left over fried chicken <<<POOOF>>> gone. No leftover pasta, chili, turkey/duck/goose & stuffing. Home made mashers, cookies, brownies, boiled eggs, spaghetti and lasagna, all gone.

Whoa!!!! all this time I thought it was because he liked my cooking!

If he really loved my cooking there wouldn't BE any leftovers!!! I am distraught now. Maybe he's just ensuring he won't have to eat the leftovers if it was that bad the first time around. :(

Actually, Richard is quite enthusiastic about my cooking, which is why we have to work out every day to keep our girlish waistlines from expanding past our manly belt lines.

:evilgrin:

[bertha katzenengel]

8. He's just taking care of you.

We have the opposite problem. Most leftovers become science projects in our fridge. :(

[movie_girl99]

9. I bring my lunch from home

because i cant see spending 5.00 a day to eat out. Thats 25.00 a week and so on. I'd rather take the kids to a matinee movie on the weekends or go to dinner with my husband. I make my 13 and 18yr olds lunch because i wont have them eating the crap that the schools serve. I work in the district where they go so i know what they serve. Plus they don't want to wait in the long lines when they could be chatting to their friends.