Is it enough lunch money?

[PILHELP]

DH and I are having a disagreement over DD's lunch money. She started at secondary in September and chose packed lunches initially, made them herself, all great.

She's switched to school lunches now and one of us thinks £4/day is too much on top of still taking two snacks from home and the other thinks the £4 should include snacks and drinks (if she forgets her water bottle) or it should be dropped a bit to £3/day. For reference, a main meal is about £2.50 and so £4 would buy a meal, snack and a drink.

YABU - £4/day is too much with taking food from home
YANBU - £4/day should include everything for a 12 year old

I may or may not have swapped the options to the interests of not disclosing which one I am!

@Chocolatewheatos

Both your options are the same. One thinks the £4 plus stuff from home is too much. The other thinks the £4 should include everything. The two people agree?

Exactly. I don't see the big difference in opinion

Here it's £2.10 for a main meal, between £1 and £1.60 for a hot snack at breaktime (samosa, pizza, sausage roll, bagel sort of things, changes each day) and £1 for a bottled drink. She takes water too.

I budget £5 a day and given she's had periods of not eating at all, I'm relaxed about what she buys and what she takes. Just glad she is eating something!

Im not sure going into adult life/uni with the expectation of always buying drinks and snacks as and when is a great idea tbh.

If you can afford it I'm not sure why you're intent on depriving your daughter of her school meal.

I left school 10 years ago and £3 wouldn't have bought a meal including a drink.

Load £15 a week
Give her one snack and water bottle per day from home

Or provide pack lunch and £5 for snacks per week ?

Irrespective of income I don’t think learning to budget is a bad thing for anyone and this is a simple way to do it

It isn't depriving her of her meal. The meal is 2.50.

This is 1.50 for extras plus snacks from home.

@WholeClassKeptIn

It isn't depriving her of her meal. The meal is 2.50.

This is 1.50 for extras plus snacks from home.

Doubt it. That'll probably be for the meal of the day type thing.

Its what it says in the OP. Similar in my kids school too. She is taking money in for extra s AND taking in snacks!

£2.50 a day budget for a meal, snacks from home is plenty. They can top up water at school.

She is at the age to start introducing budgeting and making choices. I would give her £15 a week for basic lunch + pocket money. Up to her if she spends her pocket money on extra snacks/drinks at school or going out with friends/other things.

We did that with ds when he was 12 and unsurprisingly drinking water and taking snack from home was suddenly ok. At 13 he got a bank account with a debit card and moved from a weekly to monthly allowance, the money went into his bank account and he topped up the parent pay account for lunch from it.

I did mention it was a trivial issue (to the PP wondering why we are giving it the headspace) but equally I am interested to see the other responses. So thanks for all the replies, it's really useful to read as we are new to this!

£4 sounds a lot

If a meal is 2.50 leaving 1.50 for snack or drink

Take a drink can water from home

And yes def good for dd to budget so £15 for week

When it’s gone it’s gone

Or she can pay with pocket money etc to top up

Yep my Dd takes £3 sometimes £3.50 and a breakfast bar and drink from home for break.

Mine gets £2.50 a day and takes a bottle of water and piece of fruit from home.
A main/hot meal costs £1.80-£2. A burger or panini is £1.50. Some days he gets a cookie or something as well.

I was never given enough lunch money and it really bothered me all through school...I know have an issue with food and keep so much stock here in the house with only two of us here.....give what you can afford first and foremost but if money no issue then more is always best

My DS also started secondary in September and to begin with he was completely taking the piss. I thought £15 would cover him for the week because I looked at the lunch menu and realised he’d most likely only eat 2-3 of the options on there so when I calculated, it came to no more than £2.50 a day. I didn’t realise they also had snacks at break time and that’s where most of the money was going. He was spending £1 a day on a big sugary waffle or pancakes… I nipped that in the bud and told him to take his own snacks if he wants one.

@Hemingwayscats

My DS also started secondary in September and to begin with he was completely taking the piss. I thought £15 would cover him for the week because I looked at the lunch menu and realised he’d most likely only eat 2-3 of the options on there so when I calculated, it came to no more than £2.50 a day. I didn’t realise they also had snacks at break time and that’s where most of the money was going. He was spending £1 a day on a big sugary waffle or pancakes… I nipped that in the bud and told him to take his own snacks if he wants one.

Omg, same issue here.

Thought the money we top up was enough for four days of lunches and take one packed lunch a week to ensure our kid eats some fruit in the week.

Then she buys waffles, bacon and cheese bagels or pizzas for snack time…!! Ridiculous and unhealthy too.

Lecturing hasn’t worked so topping up enough for the meal deal each day now. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Also I hate how buying stuff from the school shop also comes out of the parent pay pot so we end up paying more money. Secondary school got expensive over the years!

£4 plus snacks is fine. Do you really want to choose this as your battle?