Can we discuss price inflation?

Mysterious_wife · July 2013

Holy cow, I almost had a stroke. I just signed up for the new school year lunch program. (it is where we order and pay for school lunches) Lunch is $3.99 with a $.20 service charge per meal. That is $4.19 for lunch! The service charge is for using the online service. The only way to order lunch is online. AND you have to pay extra for milk if you want chocolate or low fat. They provide whole milk and almond milk for those with allergies.

Anyway, I remember lunch being $.50 in lower grades. By the time I was in HS it was $1.75! Now I know this was 22 years ago, since first grade, but holy shit!

Mysterious_wife · July 2013

H says I misread the milk thing. He is taking it as extra milk is $.30 that the options are the ones I listed above. She's still taking her lunch.

Mysterious_wife · July 2013

I guess it shows we are in a HCOL area.

amberinco · July 2013

Lunch costs are insane!

I started to realize that I'm paying right around the same amount for my son (he's in third grade this fall) and all he's getting is pizza and a milk. To me, that is not nutritious.

So I started packing his lunch. Now, he and I do it the night before together. That way he picks what he wants (from much healthier options) and I'm not having to sell my kidneys on the black market to feed him at school!

I'm leaning towards homeschooling this year, so that will make lunches 100 times easier!

Good luck!

Mysterious_wife · July 2013

We let her help us pick things out at the store. It seems to make her eat better. One thing we do is a junk meal a week. On days her friends are getting pizza at school, I allow her to take a lunchable or something we typically don't allow. She gets a fruit and veggie to go with it.

poptart109 · July 2013

Wow, when I was in high school 11years ago, lunch was $1.75. I think now it's $2.50 at the school I'm looking at for DS but there's a $5 fee for online also and a $20 minimum for his account.

bugandbibs · July 2013

Wow, that's a lot! At J's school lunch is $1.80 and breakfast is $0.95. Reduced fat white milk is free for everyone. No flavored milk is available. J takes her lunch most days but we keep money in her account for days when she likes what is on the menu. She does eat breakfast at school a lot because she's not ready to eat when she first wakes up.

Mysterious_wife · July 2013

Make the "new" box go away! I've opened this post a million times!

MrsWiseone · July 2013

At my school, I would see students spend up to $10 on lunch, buying extras along with hot meal and then throw majority away. I would get so mad at them!

outnumbered · July 2013

I live just outside of Boston (HCOL). Our school lunch is $2.50. Milk is included. There is a service charge to add money to your on-line account, but the charge is not for every meal. Your price seems crazy.

rainbowmkr1979 · July 2013

Lunch here in Texas is about the same high ridiculous price. And for teachers it's about $1-$1.50 more and we get the exact same portion as the kids. As another poster said the lunches aren't even nutritious. I stopped buying this last school year an so did a lot of the teachers. The school I'm at is mostly low income so most of the students are free/reduced so it doesn't affect them. We started getting weekly emails from the cafeteria manager reminding us what was for lunch trying to get us to buy. I wish I could be honest with them!