Fed Up With Lunches: A Family Dinner Table Talk

What Mrs. Q Packs Her Son For Lunch
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This week's Family Dinner Table Talk, from HuffPost and The Family Dinner book:

This week, a teacher who has been outing her school for serving “barely recognizable as food” school lunches revealed her identity. She’d been blogging anonymously for a year at fedupwithlunch.com, using the pseudonym Mrs. Q.

It all started when she forgot her bagged lunch at home and joined students in the cafeteria to eat what they were being served instead. A hot dog in soggy dough, six tater tots, a Jell-O cup and chocolate milk… Not delicious. Not nutritious. So, she started blogging.

By coming forward to share her real identity on TV -- Sarah Wu, 34, a mom and speech pathologist from Chicago – she can now be counted as one of our everyday heroes.

Because it’s her mission to improve school lunches and to provide kids and parents with healthy alternatives. Each week, she posts a “Lunch wrap-up” on her blog of what she packed for her son (and then what she ate, too). Wu gave HuffPost Parents a sample menu for a week that you can click through below. But first, what are your thoughts?

Questions for discussion:
  • What do you think makes a healthy lunch?
  • Do you think the meals your school serves are healthy?
  • How could they be improved?
  • What’s your favorite food to eat for lunch?
  • And, tell the truth, what’s the one thing you always throw away?
Monday(01 of05)
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Omelet with taco and refried beans inside and daiya cheese, sliced apples, corn muffin, applesauce, baby carrots (credit:Sarah Wu)
Tuesday(02 of05)
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Rice, apples, turkey breast cutlet with ketchup, pepper (CSA), bar (credit:Sarah Wu)
Wednesday(03 of05)
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Chopped chicken sausage, goat yogurt, melon, carrots, corn muffin, pretzels (credit:Sarah Wu)
Thursday(04 of05)
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Melon, applesauce, Applegate bologna with rice cheese sandwiches, radishes and the spinach (CSA), pretzels (credit:Sarah Wu)
Friday(05 of05)
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Bacon, applesauce, melon, broccoli (CSA), bar (credit:Sarah Wu)

In her new cookbook, The Family Dinner, Laurie David talks about the importance of families making a ritual of sitting down to dinner together, and how family dinners offer a great opportunity for meaningful discussions about the day's news. "Dinner," she says, "is as much about digestible conversation as it is about delicious food."

We couldn't agree more. So HuffPost has joined with Laurie and every Friday afternoon, just in time for dinner, our editors highlight one of the most compelling news stories of the week -- stories that will spark a lively discussion among the whole family.

To see last week's Family Dinner Download, click here.

Subscribe to receive HuffPost Family Dinner Downloads by email every Friday afternoon.

For more tips and recipes, check out The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time by Laurie David and Kirstin Uhrenholdt (thefamilydinnerbook.com).

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