Lunch Money

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-29-2003
Lunch Money
15
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 8:25am

What do you all spend on lunch money?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-18-2006
In reply to: shels2003
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 8:38am

$25? That's exceedingly cheap these days. Gone are the days where I could buy a packet of potato chips for 50c.

When I was in high school, I would spend up to $7 on food from the cafeteria at school a day, although I did order things like chicken schnitzels and chips and buy a couple of bottled drinks a day. We did have some food shops nearby and were permitted to leave campus during spare periods, but my parents had an expectation that I wouldn't drive with my friends who recently had got their licences. Sandwiches and rolls don't fill me up so it was usually a hot lunch for me.

But I *am* an only child, so it wasn't really stretching the budget for my parents to give me $10 a day. I saved what I didn't spend of that $10 given to me every day.

University is even worse - and unlike at high school, the food at university is exceedingly craptacular and even MORE expensive. $25 a week on lunches is modest. Try maybe $40. It's terrible, but what can I do? Not much. And I wouldn't go into the town near my uni on my own, it's got a horrible reputation even during the daytime.

And I know that my mother has the same opinion on the university's food given she works where I go to uni.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: shels2003
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 8:42am

I'd set limits and see how it goes-does he start accessing the food at home

IMO overspending usually means they are buying junk(its the highest priced)or buying for friends(NOT necessarily those in need)

I limited DS2 when he was in high school. They had an open campus and I gave him money based on him eating lunch at school some days and off campus some days. The child NEVER ate at school once in 4 years so somehow he made it stretch(or he had a friend like your son ;))

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2007
In reply to: shels2003
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 8:43am

I don't think $5 a day for a teenage boy is out of line at all. I don't eat all THAT much, but even I have spent $4 on lunch at the school cafeteria. If you don't go with the standard "hot lunch", it's easy to spend that much and I think that a lot of times it's healthier to pick and choose from some of the other offerings.


EJ


iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2007
In reply to: shels2003
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 8:48am

IMO overspending usually means they are buying junk


Although this may very well be the case, it is not necessarily always true. Even though our school district

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-29-2003
In reply to: shels2003
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 9:04am

I hear what you all are saying..I know in the midwest, things are not as expensive as on the East and West coasts.........but if you figure $1.75 for a standard lunch, then 10 days of 'lunch' would be $17.50---and we spend $25 in half that time.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: shels2003
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 9:08am

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Or what is even available

I know DS3 bought all sorts of chips and desssert in middle school but I dont think it is available in high school. They did a menu over haul somewhere in there. He lives on pizza and breadsticks which isnt exactly healthy but beats the fruit roll ups the middle school served

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-25-2002
In reply to: shels2003
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 9:11am

I give my girls $2-3 a day for lunch; it depends on how many singles I have. If I give them a five, they know it has to last for at least two days....they can either get the prepared hot lunch for the day, $2, or spend it as they want..there is a salad bar, sandwich choices, wraps, bagels and so forth. They aren't pre-made and wrapped but made to order, so it's all good. With the younger kids, there is a lot of sharing and trading going on.


Breakfast is available...my kids never do that tho...I keep Special K bars on hand for those rushed days.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2007
In reply to: shels2003
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 9:54am

Now, ej, $5 a day isn't a stretch, I know.....I spend that on lunch myself when I eat in our cafeteria....the 'cafeteria' price for lunch in my building id $4.79......but the difference in what he's spending as opposed to what the cost of his lunch is...is alot.


Our HS lunch is $2.25, and it's $2.10 at the middle school where I work. That isn't a huge difference over your school district. I'm just saying that even buying a bottle of water ($1 at my school) adds a lot to the cost. If you get yogurt or a cookie, it can add up fast. (And our schools recently made our cookies "healthy", so I can no longer eat them! They're awful!)


I know it takes a big chunk out of the family budget. My kids probably go through $15 per week (each). I'm just saying $5 per day isn't so hard to understand. But if it were my kid, I would definitely encourage him to eat breakfast at home or to brown bag it!


EJ

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-29-2003
In reply to: shels2003
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 10:05am

Well, I have a major weight problem, and my husband and kid do not.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: shels2003
Wed, 02-06-2008 - 10:19am

I think all they want at this age is junk food!


Or steak!


They would take burger and fries over anything I made and they seemed to like what I made unless I was doing South Beach or something-LOL. The dollar menu at MCDonalds is the be all and end all. Something about how much food you can get for the least amount of money(heck, DH is STILL lilke this-buys those awful pies at McDs because 'two for a dollar')


The telling moments came when the boys

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