How much are your kid's lunches? $4.25 here!

[timzagain]

There is no way that I would be paying $4.25 per day for school lunches. I wouldn't do it for one child...and we have three school aged children.

Our school lunches are prepared at home because it's less expensive and we have a greater measure of control over the quality of food they eat.

One of the best investments I made was the purchase of Thermos food jars! (BTW, Wal Mart's website has food jars ranging in from about $15 to $30) When I am preparing dinner I cook a bit extra with school lunches in mind. Our daughters (including the teenagers) would rather take leftovers for lunch, but will settle for the occasional homemade sandwich. Thanks to the savings realized, the food jars have more than paid for themselves.

 

[twooley2]

lunch for my girls is running between 3.00 to 5.00 a day if they eat ala cart. Theys serve papa johns pizza slices, chik fil a and such. There is a line for 2.25 but none of the kids want it because they say it taste bad and its the free lunch line for the poor kids. I think this is wrong to make the low income kids eat a standard lunch while the rich kids eat ala cart fancy. Not to mention we arent rich but my kids use the lunch money on their account as they no longer take cash for payments only online payments on a lunch account set up.

 

[GothTink]

Each lunch has a main and side dish with a piece of fresh fruit every day. Milk is an extra $.50....so now my DD's lunch is $4.75. Oh, and an optional dessert is
$.75

Sounds like standard school lunch here...$4.75 is nuts!

 

[Queen of 3 princess]

Ours is $1.70. My kids don't eat school lunch, they take lunch. It's healthier.

 

[luvmikids]

we pay 2.75 for hot lunch and .60 for milk. My problem is not so much the price but the time limit they have to eat. When I asked my first grader how was lunch, he said he only had time to eat half his breadstick and a couple of drinks of his milk before they rush him off so the others could go in and eat. So I think 2.75 for half a breadstick is too much! I was told they have 20 minutes to eat. So after you stand in line to get the hot lunch and get to your table doesn't allow enough time to eat. I packed his lunch today

 

[disneyeveryyear]

My DD9 (4th grade) pays $1.70 for hot lunch at the Intermediate School (includes milk). I don't think that is too bad. If she wants cold lunch, she makes it for herself the night before. There is an additional charge for milk at snack time, but I am not sure how much that is though.

However, my DS14 (Freshman) has alacarte lunch at the HS. I checked his lunch account just now to see that he has spent $46.85 so far this year (13 days of school lunches) which averages out to $3.60/day. The individual days' breakouts were pretty interesting though. From a low of $2.00 one day to a high of $7.25 another. He still can't tell me what all he got for $7.25. It never even occurs to him to take a cold lunch. Probably not cool in HS. So it looks like his lunch will cost me approx. $666.00 this year. OUCH! Last year at the middle school I gave him a budget of $2.50/day. The problem this year is that the ala carte items aren't labeled with a price. He honestly has no idea how much his lunch will cost, other than a bag of chips is $0.50 and a bottle of water is $1.00. He has started bringing a bottle of water from home to carry around to classes. I think that $1.00 was coming out of his wallet, so better to use mom and dad's free water from home.

 

[ptcruisermom]

Catholic school in NW Ohio $1.75 for grades K-5, $2.00 for 6-12, milk is .25. They have a choice of two sandwiches or entrees ( which ever they are having that day and always PBJ) Then a veggie or starch , salad, fruit and milk. My kids when they were younger would buy according if they liked what they had that day. NOw the two left in school 8th grade and senior, they buy everyday. They also have healthy snacks available, so I give them a little extra if they want one of those, say they like the sandwich but ot the veggie, then they can get somethign to go with it for extra. I dont mind them doing this because a sandwich and mild for $2.00 is pretty good price for lunch. The lunch ladies usually bring the leftovers out for the HS students after everyone has been thru the line, so HS kids can get extras for free.

 

[wildfan1473]

$2.05 for Pre-K - 6th, and $2.65 for 7th and up. Also, 1st and up have to pay a fee for the morning milk break, but I'm not sure what it is, I think it's $0.45/carton, it's free for Pre-K and K.

 

[disneymamaof2]

Our school lunch increased to $1.65 this year and I complained about that!! Our breakfast increased to $1.00. Guess I have no reason to complain.

 

[beattyfamily]

In Southern MA here and ours is $2.25 (up from $2.00 last year) for K-6 and then $2.50 for Jr. High. Don't know about high school yet.

I thought that was a lot but you've got us beat, OP!

 

[momof2inohio]

We pay 2.50 and my friends son just leaves and goes to mcdonald's...so whatever that costs.

 

[Mandychelle79]

1.55 for lunch

 

[mandysbus]

DS is in 2nd grade and it jumped from 1.75 last year to 2.20. Which is a pain to give him change (I like to give him the exact amount so he wont be wasting xtra on junk). I thought that was a lot but I guess I'm thinking back to my school days when lunch was a buck.

 

[pooh4evr]

1.75 for an entree a couple of sides , salad bar and drink.

 

[PADISFAM]

4.25 is CRAZY! our K lunch is $1.55 & gr 1-6 is 1.70........not sure what middle school & HS is.

 

[PADISFAM]

DDs school only does pizza fridays = $1.50 1 slice
& hot lunch wednesday $3.50 a meal(can add more for extra charge)
milk is $17 for the year

I would for sure do the milk...........that's <10 cents a day......(assuming 180 school yr). Great deal!

 

[mrs.beast]

my DS and DD catholic school is priced by grade level (bigger portions for bigger kids) and they are 5.25 this year for grades K-4, but their food is all organic.

At the elementary school that I work in (that is just down the street) they just raised the price to 5.50 for an entree, side, and veggie. An extra entree (like a second slice of pizza) is 3.00 more and Milk is 50 cents extra. The food is not organic either. I would not eat it if they gave it to me for free, which I have been offered extra but passed. Some of the teachers get it and say it is ok, but 5.50 is insane for the nasty stuff they are serving. I have been working in the public school for 13 years and have always been at a school where lunch was at least $3.00, even when I taught in the "poor" area where over 1/2 of the kids received free lunch.

 

[VolleyballQt07]

My HS is $1.90 lunch BF is 1.00
not sure about MS
My brother and sister (elementary) is $1.70
milk all around is .35

And its good food. Lots of all you can eat fresh fruits and veggies. Plus lots of whole grains.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

I think I can go one better. DD has a new lunch company for her new school (Catholic school-NJ). We got a letter (mind you, no menus, just a letter) saying that there are different price ranges:

Lunch only $3.75 daily, $37.50 10/meals or monthly discount $3.50 per meal;
Lunch w/milk or 4 oz drink $4.25/$42.50 or monthly discount $4.00;
Lunch w/16 oz drink, $4.75/$47.50 or monthly discount $4.50;

I just wrote a check for over $70 for the first month of school for lunch and I have no idea what they serve. Also, the school has just installed 3 different vending machines (Snapple, candy, etc.) in the cafeteria. (BTW, what exactly is a 4 oz drink anyway -- a tiny little juice box?) It's going to be a very expensive year for me!

 

[asmit4]

I'm a little confused- for those that find 3.00 and above for lunch pricey...what is it that you can pack for a lunch that is less than $15 a week besides PB&J?

Here is an example of a packed lunch that I used to take....
roast beef sandwich on white bread (sometimes turkey, sometimes a can of spaghettios kept in a hot thermos)
small pkg of chips (like the kind that come in the 10 pkgs per box)
2 oreo cookies (ok, I liked junk food)
1 juice box
1 pkg of carrots

I doubt I could do this each day for much less than 15 a week. Perhaps I could...I'm gonna have to do some math to find out : )