school lunch prices

[scooter15]

Lunch at my kids school cost $4 per day. You have to buy it a month in advance. Right now we buy it for them because of our work schedule...I work 40 miles away from home. I'm actually leaving my job in a couple of months so I'll most likely start making his lunches.

 

[barkley]

hot lunches are $4.50 per day-but if i buy 20 tickets at a time i get a 10% discount. so if both my kids ate hot lunch everyday i would be looking at about $40 per week.

while that might not seem outrageous to some, i take into consideration how much it costs to just pack them something from home (often leftovers which they can reheat in the school microwaves) and it seems excessive to me.

so for now i limit the kids to 2 hot lunches per week. one reason being consideration of the family budget, but bigger consideration being-when i watch all the financial shows about wasted money in people's budgets it's always pointed out how much can be saved by brown bagging it vs buying everyday. since one of the ways dh and i have economized over the years was by brown bagging to work i figure if i can start instilling in the kids the concept of balancing out the cost of purchasing a lunch vs. bringing their own-maybe i can instill habits that will help them avoid the financial pitfalls that seem to plague allot of people today.

 

[aprilgail2]

Two years ago she bought every day but this year she wants her lunch packed. I would SO prefer her buying everyday to me having to pack lunch every day. To buy is 2.75 but you get a nice discount if you pay the year in advance.

 

[MushyMushy]

Two years ago she bought every day but this year she wants her lunch packed. I would SO prefer her buying everyday to me having to pack lunch every day. To buy is 2.75 but you get a nice discount if you pay the year in advance.

Make her pack her own!

My DD wanted to bring a lunch every day at the middle school and started off the year packing her own lunch. That got old real quick and she started buying.

 

[aprilgail2]

Make her pack her own!

My DD wanted to bring a lunch every day at the middle school and started off the year packing her own lunch. That got old real quick and she started buying.

In middle school I will but she is only 7 and if she packed her own lunch it would consist of cookies, pudding, crackers and that would be it! High school is no problem because there are 3 strip malls, 2 across the street and one next door, so the kids just walk over and get sushi, pizza, chinese food, deli, greek-what ever they want.

 

[powellrj]

our plate lunch is $1.95 a day so I just give each child $10 a week. If they buy ala carte, its much more expensive and they have to use their own money for that. I think a sandwich alone in the ala carte line is $2.00.

I also keep food in the house for lunch and snacks and if they want to take their lunch they can do it and save their lunch money. I just won't make it, they are on their own! I know when DS is trying to save some extra money he will take a salad with him.

 

[weregoingtodw]

Lunch is $2.00 here but DD has never purchased it. I wouldn't want her to at all (I am very careful about nutrition and only buy organic dairy & produce), but I wouldn't stop her if she felt strongly about it. Middle school is tough enough as it is without being the "out" kid. Fortunately, she's very into nutrition as well, and thinks it's ridiculous what qualifies for a nutritionally balanced lunch.

Averaging out what I spend to pack her school lunch daily (I pack another mid-day meal for her to eat between school & when she skates each day), I'd say it's between $2-$3, but $1 of that is for the aseptic pack of organic milk she takes each day, which can be closer to $1.25 each if I can't pick them up at Trader Joe's). Then another $2-$3 for her after-school meal. I guess it does add up, but I would much rather cut corners if necessary elsewhere, rather in her nutrition. It really does make a difference. I can tell in her performance if she's has a "junk food" meal earlier, like fast food, so we avoid that out of necessity.

 

[phorsenuf]

I work in our HS cafeteria as a cashier. If you buy lunch meal it is $2.50. That includes your choice of pizza, a chicken sandwich or spicy chicken sandwich , salad (4 different kinds) or a sub (turkey, roast beef, tuna, ham or veggie). There is usually another sandwich selection too which varies day to day. Each choice comes with fries, fruit, milk and/or juice. Not a bad deal if you ask me. You can buy ala carte but that is more to do it that way. We also offer water, vitamin water and various bagged snacks for sale as well as bagels all day long. I think we are adding some menu items to include soups
Most kids (including mine) buy lunch everyday. I think we have a great cafeteria for the kids.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

DS is in elementary school. Lunch costs $1.45, he buys lunch 3 or 4 times a week.

same here. It goes up a little more in middle school & high school.

 

[Banshee]

2.75 a day and oldest DS who is in 5th grade insists that it is way more cool to buy then bring!

 

[MareQ]

My kids buy every day and I pay for 160 days each upfront. Right now I only have 2 so kids and lunch costs $2.00 each - lunch so far for the year has cost $640.00.

The final 20 days of school I send in $$ as we do not get a credit for lunches not used and I never know how many sick days my kids will have.

I also give them money a few times a week for snack which is .50. Next year DS will start Kindergarten which is full time here so lunch will cost $960 to pay upfront....

Works for me - I cannot stand packing lunches and my kids are not sandwich eaters so we're all happy.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

We leave it up to DS. Lunch at his school is $2.50 and I'm sure I spend that much or more when we pack for him, which is most of the time. He doesn't like to waste socializing time waiting in line for lunch.

 

[mickeyboat]

DD's buy at least three days a week. They look at the lunch menu and choose which days they want to bring - and I try to limit them to twice a week to bring. Lunch costs $2.40.

Denae

 

[Kath2003]

I used to buy occasionally in high school but I only ever got the food - I used to bring my own water bottle. No point in spending $5-10 a week on water!

 

[mickeysgal]

Works for me - I cannot stand packing lunches and my kids are not sandwich eaters so we're all happy.

Thats just it. My kids, from years of bringing a bagged lunch, have just about totally burned out on sandwiches. Now that they're older, they want hot food - a meal. It's only occasionally that I can get them to eat a sandwich at home and thats only if we're making subs with all the trimmings.

What I've found that when we were bagging lunches is that we'd keep so much lunch stuff in the house that they'd burn through it as general snacks at home, then I'd have to buy more, etc. etc. This way, they buy a hot meal, and I generally do keep less snacky foods now at home. Financially, I'm not sure how it all works out in regards to which way is cheaper. On one hand, I probably could pack a lunch cheaper, but on the other hand, I'd be buying more stuff that they'd just see and eat at home just because it's there and available.

 

[EthansMom]

We don't have a cafeteria, so the PTO moms take turns picking up fast food for our Hot Lunch program. Hot Lunch costs $2.75 to $3.50, depending upon which place the food is from and doesn't include milk or fruit (and additional 35 cents for milk and 50 cents for an apple). So, a 6 inch Subway sandwich with a bag of chips is $2.75 and a meal from Boston Market is $3.50.

I let DS6 pick one meal a week to buy (currently he's alternating Subway one week and Boston Market the next). I also pack DS a bottle of water (he's lactose intolerant like the OPs kids), a piece of fruit, and his morning snack.

 

[ckay87]

I will pay virtually any amount of money to make my mornings and my grocery shopping less complicated. We all have our favorite little conveniences that we're willing to pay for and school lunches is one of mine.

I never did the math, but I'm almost positive that the school lunches are a better bargain for us. AND my kids prefer hot stuff to sandwiches, so I'd rather pay for what they eat than what they mostly throw out.

 

[lemondog]

Lunch at DD's Catholic school is $2.75. She is allowed to buy once a month. I don't think the choices are very healthy, which is why I opt to send her food. She does buy milk every day, though. Usually she chooses chocolate milk, and I allow her to get lemonade on Fridays.

 

[mamamary]

DS & DD are both in elementary school. They buy lunch just about every day. The lunch costs $1.50 each.

 

[VolleyballQt07]

My brother ,sister and I all buy our lunch every day (unless they have a field trip and have to pack).,
Theirs is $1.60 (elem) and they have a choice of 2 hot entrees or a PBJ plus a bread or rice, hot veggie, fruit sauce , milk and unlimited fresh fruits and veggies and mine is $1.80 (hs) basically the same structure except I have 5 different entrees to choose from or I can go ala carte (but that does run the cost up).
My mom likes that we have access to all the fresh fruit and veggies we want everyday. My brother and sister usually only want to pack PBJ anyways so by choosing that on the days they don't like the main entree choices works out good.