School lunch money

[MessyNDepressy]

DS is in 1st year at high school. For most of the year they haven’t been allowed to go out to the shops but they are now and will be going forward. When he was having school lunches I would put £4 per day on his lunch card as that is the maximum they were allowed to spend. Now he is going out for lunch he is getting £5 per day but still wants me to top up the card with at least £2 per day so he can get a roll etc at break time. So it will be £7 per day, £35 per week. AIBU to feel like this is quite a lot of money?

I am a single parent and money is always a bit tight but if that’s a normal amount for most kids then I’ll make sure he has it, he won’t go without but it’s just a bit of a jump for me.

My year 7 DS isn’t allowed out of school yet at lunch but spends between £3 and £5 per day at school which I thought was a lot. I think £7 a day is a lot, they surely aren’t all spending that - if you had 3 kids it’d be over £400 a month 😱. I sometimes make flapjacks or brownies and send those in with ds so he doesn’t need to buy expensive snacks.

My DS is in Year 11 and they are not allowed out of school - you are only allowed out once in 6th form

We started in yesrs7-9! With £20 a week but he often complained about the food and cost so now he takes a packed lunch and snacks and I usually give him £10'axwek to use for odd break snack or a drink on way home

My DD gets £15 a week, she had the option to also take food / snacks / lunches from home so she has to decide the best way to spend it. I can’t afford £5 a day at work so equally she can’t have £100 a month for school.

That's a want, not a need.

Tell my stomach that.

We do snacks from home and make sure they have a nectar/clubcard/coop card so they can get a meal deal for under £4

I don't spend that much on myself never mind my child lol. She gets either £2.50 and a snack or a full packed lunch - the more l give her, tue more she spends!

£7?
Nice try...

No way. £5 is more than enough.
It's £100 a month!

But that would be ridiculous for kids eating lunch out of school

When puberty kicks in properly, a £2 roll for break and current meal deal may not be enough to fill him up. I would get him used to taking pack up for at least the snack and if his appetite kicks up a notch then he can make 2 rolls.

My year 9 son gets £30 per half term on his lunch account but I expect him to take a packed lunch every day. If he runs out before the end of a half term then he better take a bigger packed lunch.

My daughter gets a budget of £3 per day max for lunch at school. She's yr 13. It's used to be £2 per day in yr 7.

We have an agreement that once she's spent £15 in a week, she puts anything else on her own bank card or she takes snacks/a sandwich from home.

She realised very early on that it's best to take water from home and a snack. Drinks, crisps etc are a big expense.

£5/6 per day is ridiculous.

Same here.

He needs to understand there is a limit.
I think £5 a day is a huge amount to be spending on lunch - I certainly wouldn't be giving him £7.

Discuss with him there is a finite amount. If he wants breakfast rolls, then he'll need to take packed lunches, etc., like everyone (well most people) he will have to learn to budget.

As an aside, I'm surprised they let Yr7s out at lunchtime.

My brother kept asking my mum for more money like this, except it turned out the wee shite was buying snacks on the way to school, selling them for a profit and then keeping the money for his hearts desires. And not eating lunch 🙄😂

Mine used to get £15 a week (all left school now and it might have been more now because of COL, the youngest 2 left school at the start of lockdown).

They got the money in their account on Monday morning. They could choose to spend it on food at school, or take pack ups from home for free. At the end of the week they could keep what they hadn't spent. Dd2 in particular became an avid saver, once she figured out it was £60/month for clothes or makeup.

She really got into the saving habit and now she has a job and is 20 (she can't work full time due to a health problem she's waiting for surgery on) and working 3 days a week she saved enough in 2 years to buy a car!! That habit came from giving her the incentive while she was a lot younger.

This. My DS is in Y11. Lunch budget is £3 a day. For this, he gets the school meal deal - a hot meal, a traybake item, and a drink which comes to £2.40.

He never eats breakfast, but takes a cereal bar from home for break time, and fills his water bottle.

Why are they allowed out of school?! No one under 6th form gets out at ds school.
£7 a day is him taking the piss! It would be £4 a day max from me, in fact preferably £2 with a packed lunch.

We did the same @weegiemum .
Let them decide how they use their budget.

Mine is allowed to buy lunch one day a week... she mostly doesn't bother as I apparently but nicer food for a packed lunch! She sometimes gets a drink or a cookie or waffles.

Its about expectations. Frankly, we can't afford £5 x 2 per day. So they don't ask.

No way! My DD takes a snack for break and often makes a packed lunch by choice. She'll sometimes buy a packet of sweets to share at the shop after school. I'm very grateful. If he wants something at the shop and at break maybe he should bring a packed lunch so he can afford it.

No way could I afford that. I'm a single parent, two at high school. I top up £10 a week each. It's up to them how they spend it. They are not allowed out for lunch at school though and only get 30 mins so generally just grab a snack and then get something more substantial when they get home.

Well shock horror.....schools are different!! Different rules. Different areas. I know that's a hard concept for some to grasp 🙄 does it matter whether your child is allowed out of school at that age or not?? I think the op was asking for advice on how much other people give their child.

So to answer your question my ds gets £4 a day on his card. Anything he doesn't use gets carried over to the next week and I just top up less.

For the parents frothing at the mouth my ds has been allowed out after the first term of first year ( Scotland) he was 11. The horror of it all 😲

I used to give my two £3 a day but then I realised that this was so much of my monthly budget. So i make them take packed lunch now and give them a pound a day each for break. One of them does buy a biscuit every day, the other saves it for a school lunch once a week

In your position I’d say he has £5 a day and it’s up to him how he spends it but you won’t top it up.

@MissyB1

Why are they allowed out of school?! No one under 6th form gets out at ds school.

Because they don't go to your DS school?