Next is the Quality. I know I buy certified organic foods. I don't know what the selection is like at the school, is it conventional, canned, high fructose corn syrup, GMO? I would not know and they do not disclose that information.
The amounts. My children are not on any diet beside natural good live foods and they actually eat a lot. They eat twice as much as I do, but it is all high fiber low calorie foods. Fruits and vegetables are really low in calories so you can eat as much as you want and stay in a healthy weight. Some of the lunch meals at the school I have counted to be between 2000-3000 calories in one meal. YIKES, that is a lot of calories for the beefy nacho meal.
I can go on, but I wanted to briefly explain why packing our lunches is so important to us. The obstacle with packed lunches is variety. How many ways can you make a sandwich? Quite a few but it is a challenge. That is what every parent faces when making lunches keeping it fresh and kid friendly. This is a challenge even for me. We have been packing lunches for 5 years and I still get stuck in the traditional lunch ideas.
I have four kids lunches I pack, and my husbands. Each child eats a little differently and I adjust their meals to them. On the left my oldest daughter does not like to eat a full sandwich but likes lots of lettuce with her turkey. On the right my daughter loves blueberries and I throw in a few for some extra antioxidants. Kirsten does not like blueberries and I have to sneak them into her juices and shakes. The pretzels and chocolate cookie are from Newmans Own Organics. They have delicious organic snacks that I like to add to the kids lunches, occasionally. 
