OT - How much does your elementary school charge for lunch?

[Julia M]

Used to be $3, now it's $3.25. A Catholic school, so no subsidies.

But, it's pretty darn good. A mom makes all the lunches.....they have items like Caesar salad with grilled chcken, a small Jamba Juice with something on the side, homemade chicken noodle soup and so on. Of course, they also have the traditional nuggets, pizza.

I let the kids order once a week. Beyond that, they pay for it themselves.

julia

 

[ryanally]

Ours is $2.00 for elementary up from $1.65 last year in the burbs of Philadelphia. For every $10.00 increment the parents load on their account, the school district matches $2.00. With that said, DS will be packing 3 days a week and buying the other 2 if something interests him.

 

[Kimmie5870]

Ours is $1.25 for milk ,main,veggie,side and fruit or desert.Middle/high can get a tray or the potato bar.

 

[mjbaby]

My lunches were $1.50 20+ years ago (I graduated high school in '87) so I was totally surprised to see that the lunches at our local elementary school were...$1.50.

 

[Lives4Disney]

Ours were $1.75 for yrs, maybe now they are $1.85 as we are also in the northern Chicago burbs. I have two grade school girls that will do a mix of bringing and buying.

My $$$ trouble comes in feeding my High School son!! UGH@! He breaks the bank! He could get the cheapy lunch, but it is not enough food, so to eat a good lunch at his school can run close to $10/day! It is NOT cool to brown bag it. He does a mix of cheap and good, but he still comes home starving, LOL - and he is not a heavy guy.

Lives4Disney

 

[EthansMom]

We don't have a cafeteria at our small, rural grade school.

 

[mamacatnv]

$2 includes milk - juice not an option

Add $1.25 if you want 2 slices of pizza on Dominoe's day.

DD goes back and forth

DS at the high school usually spends about $3, he buys ala carte and this is usually a slice of pizza and a "Fruitopia" drink or a Gatorade

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

Think it was $2 last year and now it's $2.15 here in CT at our elementary school. My kids (DD8, DS8) prefer to brown bag it, which is fine with me -- they like the food choices, just don't like the having to wait in line as they feel too rushed. Most days, DD8 comes home having only eaten 1/2 her lunch -- think she does a lot of talking during lunchtime!

 

[ilovejack02]

1.50 a day when he was in middle school , he is in HS now and only goes half a day soo no lunch to pay for thank goodness. The awesome thing was that in Louisiana its free breakfast everyday for everyone.

 

[FreshTressa]

$2 a day and includes milk and a trip through the veggie bar.

 

[princessdaisy]

Wow, those are some great lunch prices! Here in San Diego it is 2.75 for hot lunch w/milk...or a small salad is available for 1.25 and this is public school.

 

[nursetink]

The private school my girls attend is $3.25 for lunch and .25 for milk or juice. We bring our lunch most everyday! This is in Little Rock, AR.

 

[MsLeFever]

$1.80 here just outside of Pittsburgh

 

[Off2DisIGo]

$1.75/day here. Costs me $26.25/week for my three little ones.

 

[fakereadhed]

$2.30 here. Sometimes it costs more to pack than that ,but I think they get a healthier lunch and may eat more of it when I pack it.

 

[MrsPete]

We live in the Indianapolis area, and I now have 2 kids in elementary school. I was just wondering if our rate for school lunches is about what everyone else pays. Ours are $1.85, with an extra charge for juice or bottled water(cartons of milk are included in the lunch price). I told my kids this year they can pick 2 days out of the week to eat lunch, the other 3 I will pack their lunch. I thought paying $1.85 for each of them every day would be way too much money. Does anyone else follow this idea?

Our elementary school is 1.70 per lunch.

Before you decide whether that's a bargain, however, there's another important question: How much will you spend on a packed lunch? Packed lunches can be very cheap or very expensive.

If you're the type of person who'll serve up last night's lasagna in a thermos jug, packed lunch is very cheap. PB&J is very cheap. On the other hand, if you're going to buy Smucker's Uncrustables, individual-sized Doritos, and string cheese, lunch is going to be just as expensive -- or possibly even more expensive -- than the school's hot lunch. Lunchables cost more than school lunch.

We're half and halfers: my kids pack half the time, buy half the time. When I pack, it's almost always the same thing: PB&J on wheat bread, some type of fruit, and a juice box. Sometimes a cookie. Moderately expensive, moderately healthy -- a good happy medium.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

$1.80 here regardless of the type of lunch

They can choose between 2 entrees or have yogurt and a muffin or pick the pb&j

Entrees are usually --popcorn chicken or ravioli===mini chef salad or cheese pizza

 

[Evil Queen]

$1.50 (I think), I usually send $2.00 and he can buy add ons if he has enough. But due to budget this year, he's taking a packed lunch right now.

 

[Harvest02]

Our elementary school is 1.70 per lunch.

Before you decide whether that's a bargain, however, there's another important question: How much will you spend on a packed lunch? Packed lunches can be very cheap or very expensive.

If you're the type of person who'll serve up last night's lasagna in a thermos jug, packed lunch is very cheap. PB&J is very cheap. On the other hand, if you're going to buy Smucker's Uncrustables, individual-sized Doritos, and string cheese, lunch is going to be just as expensive -- or possibly even more expensive -- than the school's hot lunch. Lunchables cost more than school lunch.

We're half and halfers: my kids pack half the time, buy half the time. When I pack, it's almost always the same thing: PB&J on wheat bread, some type of fruit, and a juice box. Sometimes a cookie. Moderately expensive, moderately healthy -- a good happy medium.

The problem at our school is that we can not send PB&J for their lunches. We have several kids in the school that are highly allergic to peanut butter. This makes it difficult to pack lunch sometimes. Does anyone have any good ideas for other good things to send? I don't like buying too many lunchables or uncrustables since they are so expensive. Any ideas would be helpful!!!

 

[Nienor]

1.50 here in Northern NJ for either the hot or cold lunch including milk. Unfortunately, my son thinks they're pretty bad, except for the pizza day which they order from a local pizzeria. I'm gonna guess between the low price and poor quality we're really government subsidized.