To give my 14-year-old a budget for school lunches

[StuntNun]

DS1 is spending around £20 a week on school lunches. I asked him to reduce his spending and have bought reusable water bottles and snacks for him to take from home but he still spends £3-5 per day. As he is 14 years old AIBU to give him a set budget and if he runs out of credit on his school account he will have to use his own pocket money or make his own lunch to take in?

[TrollMummy]

£5.15 This is a school canteen not Starbucks

[Kpo58]

It really doesn't surprise me. School canteens are really expensive as it is normally an outside company running them for a profit.

When I was at college, I didn't have enough money to buy proper food (even sandwiches were at least £3.50 on their own and I was fed up of the years of the same pack lunch), only chocolate. I think it might be a reason that I'm overweight now.

[expatinscotland]

'I didn't have enough money to buy proper food (even sandwiches were at least £3.50 on their own and I was fed up of the years of the same pack lunch), only chocolate. I think it might be a reason that I'm overweight now.'

If you were fed up of the same pack lunch, why didn't you make yourself something different? Even my 11-year-old varies what she makes herself for lunch, it's not hard or expensive.

[QuietNameChange]

expat

I mean, that does depend.

When I was in college (university) I sometimes lived of rice and usually lentil stew for weeks. (A friend of mine luckily bought me a spice rack as a hosewarming gift...).

That was the cheapest/most economical food in the local supermarket. And when they had reduced produce I'd sometimes buy a packet as a treat...


However, I didn't buy any chocolate bars either... So Kp's situation may have been different.

But I'm just trying to say that sometimes "something different" is already too expensive.

[RB68]

I think prices also vary by school - DD is a bit of a fussy eater so sometimes will spend all on snack at break and not bother at lunch etc. I also get annoyed with drink and fruit spending as there is plenty here but I understand that drinks are heavy and she is already dragging PE Kit and a school bag around so its a bit of a pain and there is risk of leakage. Without a budget she spends an average of £20 a week which is £4 a day for snacks and lunch which in the scheme of things isn't too bad if you think of buying a sandwich and drink out

[MissShittyBennet]

It's a fair point about teenagers needing more food than adults etc, but there's no excuse whatsoever for them to be spending on fruit, drinks and crisps if you have them available at home.

[withouttea]

I had the same problem with my DD when she started secondary school - she'd buy hot chocolate and an extra snack at morning break, her school food was coming in at over £25 a week!! I let her school payment card run right down and gave her a budget of £15 a week (which is what I spend on my own lunch). I top it up once a week. She has managed to stay nicely within that budget, which is wonderful (and slightly surprising tbh ) There's always bits and bobs around she can take in for a snack if she wants too as extra.

Budgeting is a great life lesson for kids and this is a nice way to start learning.

[user1490375610]

When I was in school about 8 years ago I had a £15 budget each week - £3 a day. Once I spent it even before the week was over I wouldn't dare ask for more.

[AndNoneForGretchenWieners]

DS used to have £15 on a Monday which had to last all week - that allowed him to buy a couple of extra drinks on cadet days. What i didn't know was that my soft touch DH would slip him extra cash here and there and he would waste it on rubbish. Now he has discovered the gym and is on a protein heavy diet he refuses to buy from the canteen and will make his own wraps to take in.

[anon1987]

That's a lot of money! That's nearly a grand a year!
You need to sit down with him and show him how much it's costing you and what he could have for that money.

If it were me, I'd buy in a load of lunch stuff and get him to make his own pack lunch.
Just so he could learn how to budget and make his own food etc.
Maybe you could put £5 a week on his account so he could get himself a snack or drink now and again.

[biggles50]

When mine started secondary school I put up their pocket money/allowance. Told them this was taking into account the school meals, so if they chose to buy lunches they could. Soon enough, they'd take in packed lunches and buy the odd school meal. Once it's their money, they aren't keen on wasting it.

[Proudmummytodc2]

When I was that age (26 now) I was given £25 at start of the week and anything I had left on the Friday was mine to do with as I wished. I never usually used the full 25 but in all fairness that £25 covered any break time snacks if I wanted anything.

But I always went out of school for lunch because for a ham and cheese sandwich and a bottle of water in school it was £3.75 so really not worth it in my opinion.

[ShieldMaidenMamma]

My grandmother used to give me £1 a day which not being that long ago, bought an apple or a cup of tea at my school. So I saved it up to spend on books instead (it was waaaay more than my £1 a week pocket money!) With care and a bit of research though, a budget is definitely the way to go. I knew some kids whose parents had thought direct access to their bank accounts would make things 'easier'! 😨 !

[Blobby10]

YANBU! All my 3 had £3 a day for lunch which got them a main meal, pudding and drink. Unluckily for them I could also see what they had purchased so when my DD started buying snacks for her friends "because they didn't like their sandwiches" I could tell her I wasn't buying her friends lunches too!!

[TrollMummy]

Also a can of drink everyday is unhealthy and unnecessary, there is no way I'd be funding that.

[Dumbo412]

OP, I think what you are proposing is fair,
There are others here that say their children get 9 or 10 pounds per week, how on earth do you expect your kids to eat for that?

My child is primary school age and her school dinners cost £2.40 per day.

[haggisaggis]

Mine tend to go out of school for lunch. There are not enough tables / chairs to accommodate those staying in for lunch and queues can be lengthy anyway. They tend to go to Tesco or Morrisons and buy a sandwich deal. Or Morrisons does a deal on chicken nuggets etc (though dd early on in S1 mistakenly bought a whole cooked chicken instead of nuggets - would have loved to see her try and eat it!) Generally they get £10 per week with a top up on Fridays. DD spends about £ 2.50 per day and ds £ 3.50 ish

[Notso]

DD 16 gets £15 a week, it's up to her if she spends it on food from the supermarket to make her own lunch or buys from the canteen or cafe.

[gluteustothemaximus]

Blimey. DS better not read this thread.

He has £1 a day

But...he does take in a drink, crisps, cereal bars/snacks etc as these cost a fortune at school. Then he buys a wrap, pasta, sandwich with his £1.

It works for us.

[DovahJunFeyn]

Very reasonable. My two oldest had to learn not to spend their lunch money on complete shite. It taught them a lot about budgeting.

[weegiemum]

Our dc all get a monthly allowance (they're 13, 15 and 17). Out of this they can pay for lunch at school or near school, and can save money if they take a free packup from home - which they do themselves, at their age its their own time they're budgeting as well as money!

Its not just lunch/snack money, theres a bit extra as they're also responsible for non-essential clothes/makeup/other stuff.

The bank of Mum&Dad will sometimes advance some cash (mainly for concert tickets) to be paid back so much per month. If they are running low there are extra jobs around the house and dog (!) which can be negotiated, not normal chores which must be done anyway.

I reckon from listening to them ds spends about £15 a week because he just can't be arsed making lunches, dd2 does it about half the time though needs reminded, dd1, the eldest, makes lunch every day as its usually her who wants to go to the concerts!!

[WannaBreakFree]

YANBU.

I had to set a maximum spend when my DTs were in Yr8. One was spending £6+ a day on stuff for friends including multiple bacon rolls at morning break . I never used to spend more than a fiver on lunch when I was working in the City!

They can get a meal deal in the canteen for £2 a day which includes a hot main, dessert and drink so I set their spends to £3 a day now in case they don't fancy the meal deal so they can get a deli roll and drink instead.