When planning out whether our eldest child will buy lunch or bring lunch to school, the cost involved is one factor. Last year, he brought lunch most of the time, and was allowed to buy a lunch for a special treat or as a reward for good behavior. With the cost of groceries increasing, I have been wondering if it still cost affective to have homemade lunches.
I like the idea of packing a lunch, for a few different reasons. The first is that since my child is still young, I can have a bit more control over what he eats. I know that he won’t choose a hot dog every day, for example. I can also ensure that the food he eats meets our particular standards for our family. The other reason is the cost of all of the add ons or a la cart items, such as 75-cent cookies.
Lunches that meet the National School Lunch Program are carefully crafted to provide a balanced meal, and they can be a good value for the money. But last year, after doing the calculations, I determined that I can offer a bagged lunch for less. But I really started to wonder about this coming year. That $1.75 that we were charged seemed pretty good. I have to recalculate the average cost for us to prepare a bagged lunch from home based on what we are currently paying for groceries, which seems to be constantly increasing.
To add to the complication, I’ve recently found out, the price paid for a school lunch will increase in price. Last year, in our district, a student lunch cost $1.75. This year, it will cost $2. While I am not surprised at this increase, I was curious to see if the school lunch, even a paid lunch, would be subsidized by the government. In other words, does the lunch that the school serves cost them more than that $2?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it does. According to them, the price reimbursed to the school to support lunches for each low income child who is eligible for a free lunch is $2.50, $.50 more than the price of a paid lunch. The department also says that this figure is more than enough to cover the cost of the lunch. Of course these numbers depend on the amount of students who qualify for free lunches, in other words, the economic status and location of the school can affect the rate to which the school is reimbursed.
After I run my calculations on homemade versus bought lunch, I’ll share our decision.
Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans.
Related Articles
6 Ways to Reuse Cereal Box Liners
Are you subscribed to the Families.com Frugal Living Blog? With the click of a button, you can receive an email notification anytime a new blog is posted in the Families.com Frugal Living Blog!
Just look to the right of this blog and find the subscription center (it looks just like this picture, although you’ll have to find the “real” one just above the category listing ). Click on “Subscribe via Email”. You’ll be instantly subscribed and the email address that you registered at Families.com with will receive an instant notification whenever we post a new Frugal Living Blog! Don’t miss a thing – subscribe now!