How do you manage school dinner money at secondary?

[Taswama]

DS is in Y7 and it’s still a bit hit and miss, some days he’ll have 3 cakes, other days he’ll have a proper meal.
I’ve said no drinks as a waste of money (and empty calories).
He takes a packed lunch some days but then buys something in the canteen instead.
How do other people manage it?

When my ds was at secondary he was entitled to free school meals, so the system topped his card up by £2.30 (I think) each day. I never policed what he spent it on. If he wanted to buy anything else at school beyond that, or go to the shops / takeaway he could use his pocket money. I feed him healthily at home, so I don’t feel the need to worry about what he eats elsewhere.

25 quid a week! I wouldn't spend that on my own lunch!

25 quid a week! I wouldn't spend that on my own lunch

It's be cheaper to do a Boots/Greggs/Tesco meal deal every day on the way in.

My DS is going into S3, he gets £15 a week.

DD school has parent pay and I can see what she eats. She has 3 school meals a week. This costs £15 and two packed lunches.

In year 7 she thought it was great at first choosing (crap) food each day. Now going into year 10 the novelty has worn off.

She used to waste £3_£5 of her dinner money buying water at school at £1 a bottle. I got her a snazzy water bottle to put an end to this!

DDs y12 & 13 get £15 a week with the option to take a packed lunch if they want. If they want to spend any more it comes out of their pocket.

Both my DC have just finished school, one at 18, the other to do an apprenticeship. Overnight I am £500pm better off just in school meals and bus fares Our free state education can be really expensive

@PenguinsRabbits that is absolutely adorable! He sounds great

School meals are compulsory at DC school. I thin’ we currently pay £2.30 a day, but that is increasing to £2.50 or £2.75 in September.

I don’t mind if the quality improves.

It was telling that when visited there were more choices, nothing ran out and portion sizes were larger

Thanks Pink

We were putting on £100 a month and DS was eating as much shit as he could so we decided to give him pack lunches. I did check what he was having but there was always an excuse, mainly time, why he ate 4 flapjacks and had a bottle of Oasis each day. 🙄

He goes to a different school now and his lunches are included but they don't have all the crap on offer that they used to have at his old school.

@MyDcAreMarvel it's normal round here. £5 pounds limit set by the school to spend a day. Food is expensive. Sometimes he uses all of it sometimes he doesn't. We only have one child I don't know how other people could afford £100 per month with more kids.

I've given up! He started well but now it seems he only buys flapjacks and milkshakes. Occasionally he'll have a meal but it seems to be very far in between now. He claims he is not hungry

@Yokohamajojo. Please don’t give up. That’s an awful lunch irrespective of hunger.
Come to a deal with him. 4 days of proper lunch and then fifth day he can do whatever the heck he likes.

Otherwise absolutely no treats at home

That kind of thing

DD going into Year 7 in September. Is used to packed lunches from primary so the plan at the moment is to start with packed lunches and see how things go, what days friends have hot food etc (have to eat packed lunches in a different place I think) and maybe buy stuff a couple of days a week. She will get a set amount on her card and will have to learn to budget a bit so if she wants a cake one day rather than something from home then she will have to balance how many days she can do that. It used to work for me when I was at school. Obviously we won't leave her short of a bit of emergency money on there in case she forgets lunch but they have to learn to plan and take responsibility, giving them whatever they want to buy whatever they want isn't helpful in the long run. Like one PP said if they go in early one day then bacon sandwich is sensible, or if they had a late lunch that day or a club or something it would be sensible but it would cost way too much to buy breakfast out every day. Well it would for us anyway

Funnily enough we’ve had a letter from the new caterers at DS’s school today to tell us they are increasingly the daily limit to £8 / day so they can take full advantage of the before and after school provision. Option to write in and get it adjusted, so I’m going to get DS set to £5. I currently give him £8.50 per week to pay for 2 x mains and some top ups to his pack lunches or 3 x mains and a couple of snacks.

I tried giving my son a fiver yesterday to see if he'd only spend the limit I set of £3. He spent the lot, I flatly refuse to allow a £25 a week spend so it's back to putting the money on daily.

I give my son £15 on a Monday, £3 a day. Told him he gets no more if he spends it all. Seems to have worked so far.

Citadels - what if he had to go hungry one day because he had spent it all the day before? do you think he would rapidly learn to budget?

nonickname he's autistic and no matter how many times you try this, he just won't learn or understand. He's really has no idea about financial responsibility.

My 17yr old has PDA and can't cope with money at all.
It wasn't a problem at school luckily as we're entitled to free meals

ah ok - that makes sense then.

Ours is £13.25 per week, I pay online and can be what he's had to eat. It's very repetitive as he has a food intolerance. I'd be very bored. I don't think he's had a cake or biscuit in the last 18 months.

Reading this with interest. Dd is year 8 and I top up her account with £25 per week. She normally spends between £4-£5 per day but this seems to only cover a sandwich/pasta pot, brownie and a drink. Ds is year 7 and I put £35 per week on his account. He spends around £6.50 per day, there is literally nothing of him! The meals seem expensive but I am definitely going to rethink these amounts come September.

My DGD get's £3 a day for lunch, she also take's with her bottled water(from the tap) a piece of fruit or crisp's.