BROWN BAGGING IT

The little purple, vinyl bag Gary Sullivan brought to school had quite a feast inside.

He arranged the two bologna sandwiches, a banana, an apple, a bag of chips, a fruit drink and a snack cake in a pecking order around him, racing to finish the meal before lunch-hour at Jefferson Elementary School was over.

"I pack my own lunches most of the time," said Sullivan, a fourth grader at Jefferson. "I tell my mom what I want for lunch and she buys it at the store.

"`Fruit by the Foot' is my favorite," he said.

Sullivan brings his lunch to school almost every day. He packs them himself the night before.

"I eat here sometimes -- when I like what is on the menu," he said. "But mainly I like bringing my lunch.

"I can eat what I didn't eat at lunch on the bus on my way home," Sullivan continued. "And if someone else has something good in their sack lunch, we trade."

And in case Sullivan leaves his "sack" at school when he leaves for home, "I have a backup bag," he said.

Jefferson Elementary School Principal Gary Kralemann said that less than 10 percent of the student body regularly brings sack lunches.

"It all depends on the menu," said Kralemann. "Some days almost everyone will eat here; others, we will have more bring their lunches."

Students bringing sack lunches to school leave them in their home room class during the day, and then set them in the hall outside the lunchroom when they go out to play at recess.

"The kids who bring their lunches actually have more time to eat," said Kralemann. "They don't have to stand in line to wait for their trays."

About four times a year, the school cafeteria has a "sack lunch day." Cooks in the cafeteria prepare sandwiches or hot dogs, chips, fruit and even sometimes ice cream and put them in brown paper sacks for the students to take outside to eat.

"On sack lunch days almost everyone buys their lunches," said Kralemann. "The kids really like going outside in a picnic sort of setting and eating a bag lunch. It's a nice change."

Kralemann said most cafeterias do not like making bag lunches for students because of the extra work involved.

"The kids like it though," he said. "And the cafeteria workers here know I like it, so they schedule the menus accordingly."

Marcia Nelms, a dietitian and instructor with Southeast Missouri State University's department of human environmental studies, said that scheduling is the key to good nutrition when it comes to sack lunches.

"Sack lunches allow individuals choice and variety in their eating at work or at school," she said.

"The basics of good nutrition are variety and moderation," Nelms said. "By packing your own lunch, you are able to achieve both."

Nelms said that packing one's lunch can be cheaper than eating out.

"Organization and planning are the key to packing a good, low-budget lunch," she said. Nelms cited a book on the subject by author Jeanette Miller called "Brown Bagging It."

"In the book, Miller has taken every day of the year and planned what is best to pack in your lunch," she said. "It is the best resource for anyone wanting to begin taking their lunches to work or school."

Nelms concedes that there are drawbacks to sack lunches, too.

"If you don't have access to a refrigerator or microwave, it can be difficult to take some perishable items or items that have to be reheated," she said. "They make packs now that come equipped with thermoses which can keep things warm or cold, but they can still be restrictive.

"People can also use small ice packs in their lunch pack to keep the contents cold," Nelms said. "It all depends on how far someone wants to go to take their lunch to work."

Six-year-old Margot McAllister has quite the modern lunch pail.

There is a compartment on the right side of the small, pink plastic box which holds a thermos or food which needs to be kept apart from the other baggies of goodies.

In the other half of the lunch box, McAllister had crackers, fruit snacks and a drink box full of apple juice.

"I like bringing my lunch," she said. "I can eat what I want for lunch if I bring my own."

Eric Wessel, a sixth grade student at Jefferson Elementary, brings his lunch to school because he likes to have a soft drink for lunch.

"I drink a lot of milk at home," he said. "If I bring my lunch, I can have a soda with my sandwich and if I want to eat a certain thing, I can."

Becky Martin, 8, brings her lunch for much the same reason.

"I am allergic to milk," she said. "If I buy my lunch at school I have to drink water; if I bring it from home, I can have a soda."

Martin and her classmate Dani Daigger sometimes exchange the contents of their sack lunches.

"I don't bring my lunch everyday, but I really like it when I do," said Martin. "You can get better food when you bring your lunch.

"A whole lot better," Daigger added, giggling.