Back to School Countdown Day 11: School Lunches

[Cafe Kate]

Do you (or your kids!) pack lunches at home or buy school lunch? What's the difference in cost? Sit down and talk with your kids about how much lunch costs and decide what's best for your family.

How much do you spend on lunches each day? What about over the course of the year?

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[catngabsmom]

School lunches are $2.50 per kid, per day. So if they bough daily, it is $25 per week. I spend about $40 weekly on lunch box foods, they like fresh fruits and veggies, salads, sparkling waters or juices, etc. So buying a school lunch is cheaper, mine are more expensive but healthier!

[yvonne37]

 We purchase things in bulk at warehouses and so far I have three bags of things that are going to be included in their school lunches. I have snacks like cookies and bought them dry things like nuts and granola bars. I also put sandwiches in there and fruits (those I buy with the season, whatever is on sale) this year I will be giving cold pasta dishes a try. We spend around $40 a month for one child if they bring lunch from home and $80 a month for one if they buy it at school.... so you know I am packing lunch for both at around $80 a month and saving half of what it would cost to pay for school lunch, plus I am sure I am giving them healthier things.

[lyrick24]

 she eats hot lunch at school. we qualify for free lunch and breakfast so it saves us money.

[cjsmom1]

Since I'll be homeschooling ds will be eating at home

[MamaBear2cubs]

We plan to pack his lunches.

[embrigmom]

School lunches cost $1.25, we look at the menu and she picks the days where there is something she'd like to buy. We then do prepaid lunches and send a check to school to cover enough lunches for the days she wants to buy. The rest of the days she takes her lunch. Normally sandwhiches but this year we also got her a container to keep food warm and she says she will take leftovers.

[mammakisses]

This will be the first year that our son gets school lunches because last year he was too picky to eat what the school offers. They send us a list of all the meals served on what day and we get to pay for the ones we want in advance. I was thinking of getting him 1 meal from school per week only because they are kinda expenssive.

[MDWife12]

My son gets free lunches so it is cheaper for us if he eats at school - the more he can eat at school the better on our food budget! He will bring a lunch to school from time to time but it isn't that often. My daughter is only in pre-k so we don't have to worry about that yet but when she does start kindergarten (they do full day here) I will have to send her a lunch everyday just to make it easier on the lunch ladies and it will be safer on her belly since she has Celiac.

[MDWife12]

Same here - it will be WAY cheaper if he eats at school since it is free :) We actually have really good lunches in our school too!

Quoting lyrick24:

 she eats hot lunch at school. we qualify for free lunch and breakfast so it saves us money.

[Jules_]

We let them take lunches from home twice a week and the other three days eat at school.