School Lunches

The school lunch frontier is less than uplifting. It is pretty crazy how expensive school lunches have gotten. Especially given the stuff the cafeteria is trying to pass off as food. I'm not that picky, but I'd rather skip lunch altogether than wait in line to pay good money for an unhealthy meal that now needs to be scarfed in under ten minutes.

Here's a cost analysis:
"Secondary lunch" (Hannah) $2.75
"Elementary lunch" (Caleb) $2.35
"Elementary lunch" (Mia) $2.35

Total per day: $7.45
Total per week: $37.25

And that's only if the kids stick with the plan. From what I understand, the plan involves picking five things. If you don't pick five things, they charge you a la carte, which means you'll end up paying WAY more for four things, or even three. If you choose the wrong things, like two fruits, instead of a fruit and a veggie, they charge you extra. I can't remember how much extra. 35 cents? 55 cents, maybe?

Here's a confession: on the rare occasions when I was left with no choice but to buy school lunch (which is slightly less painful, since teachers can generally zip to the front of the lunch-line) I had a terrible time trying to figure out "the plan". It was a big ol' slice of humble pie to ask for the students' guidance, but I had no choice. And I think I still messed it up. So if I, a wise, old, penny-pincher of a teacher couldn't figure it out, how can I expect my five-year-old to master it?

So we're going to brown bag it. I think I can make 15 lunches per week for under $37.25. Healthier, tastier lunches, I hope. I could have done if for sure if it wasn't for this nut-ban situation, but that's ok. Adversity makes us stronger, right?

The plan is to really analyze the cost of an upcoming week's meals, just to make sure I'm on the right track. I'll keep you posted.

By the way-- I noticed that the school's reduced lunch cost is 40 cents. 40 cents! That's... six dollars a week. There are two things to keep in mind, though.

A. We (just barely) don't financially qualify.
B. That wouldn't ease my concerns about the healthiness of the good and the lack of time to eat it, anyway.