But most Lunchables are based on some combination of fatty meat, cheese, and refined white flour, plus synthetic drinks and snacks. They are only considered a "better" alternative to most processed lunch products because of their small package size.

They were initially introduced in Seattle in 1988 before being released nationally in 1989. Many Lunchables products are produced in a Garland, Texas facility, and are then distributed across the United States.

chicken dunks Lunchable A delicious meal of Oscar Mayer breaded, pre-cooked white meat chicken nuggets with ketchup. Includes NERDS® and a Capri Sun®. A delicious, convenient, and fun option for school, picnics, or on-the-go lunch.

Lunchables were originally released in Seattle markets in 1988. Citing the success of the Seattle rollout, they went national in 1989. Now, it's estimated that around 49 million Americans a year buy Lunchables products.

Moss said yet another genius aspect of Lunchables is its marketing. The kits give kids a rare bit of autonomy to make their own meal. And, other kids will be envious of their bright yellow box. And, parents who feel bad that they can't make their kids lunch themselves may placate themselves by giving them Lunchables.

Lunchables, even modified ones, contain many ultra-processed foods, packaged foods that have been manufactured with very few whole foods.

“It was seen as a convenience solution to lunch for working mothers, working dads, and the like,” he says. But the creators of Lunchables aimed younger when they discovered in market research how much fun kids had assembling their meals.

Ingredients: White Boneless Chicken, Water, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil), Enriched Flour (bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Bleached Wheat Flour, Yellow Corn Flour, Vegetable Starch (modified Corn, Wheat, Rice, Pea, ...

Nervous tissue, connective tissue, bones, tendons, and fat are usually ground up together and then shaped into the common form of bite-sized oval meals. Many studies usually find nuggets that contain more fat than meat, along with some nerves, bones, and connective tissue.

Many Lunchables products are produced at Kraft Foods, Inc.'s Fullerton factory in Fullerton, California and are then distributed across the nation. A typical Lunchables meal combination includes crackers, small slices of meat, and an equal number of slices of cheese. They come in over 25 varieties.

The U.S. government recommends that elementary-school-age children get five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. According to the Department of Agriculture, kids ages 6 to 11 – the Lunchables target audience – are eating only 3.8 servings.

Further, sodium nitrite, present in the Turkey and Cheddar Cracker Stacker Lunchable, is used as a curing agent for meat and itself is classified as a Group 2A carcinogen (“Probably carcinogenic to humans”).

(Although they are what is called "calorie dense"--a lot of calories for the amount of food you get.) And as for the amount of total fat--on average, it's not bad--many contain less than a third of the recommended daily intake. In other words, Lunchables won't get stellar nutritional grades.