how much dinner money is appropriate?

[fircone]

Ds goes off to secondary school in September.

He will have to take his dinner money every day, but how much is normal? There has been no information from the school. Ds, who is quite anxious about everything, has been asking me. 30 years ago I remember lining up with 25p!

At my dcs school,a cooked meal is £1.70, and a smaller meal, like a pasta snackpot thingy is £1.30.

He also takes 20p for some toast mid morning.

DD has school lunches twice a week and takes £3 each time.

£3 a day here

I give £2/day but usually just give him a tenner on Monday and he needs to budget.

£10 on Monday here too

When ds1 started he tried to kid me that all his mates were getting £2.50 or £3 ... I said tough!

He gets £2 per day. A main hot meal is about £1.60. Pasta pots are cheaper. Then there are cakes and puddings and things. [or fruit - - fat chance].

Round here Free School Meals will pay £1.70 per day, so the schools have to bring in a 'main meal' for that price.

The deal we struck with ds1 is he gets £11.30* per week to spend as he pleases, but he has to buy 'a meal' each lunchtime. If he chooses to buy a drink rather than have water, he will have less to spend on other things like bacon butties or toast at morning break.

He is allowed to transfer up to £3 per week into his pocket money account at the end of the week. (ie he has to spend a decent amount on food, but gets rewarded if he budgets carefully).

*His weekly bus pass is £8.70, so he gets £20 per week 'allowance'.

At Ds's school they are given a lunch card, but meals work out at £2 a day.

I ate in the school canteen today. I had a plate of quiche and salad and a flap jack (which I've just remembered I left on my desk!) It cost me £1.70.

DD3 17 is aft college and she takes £3 on the days she buys lunch. She used to take £2.50 to school.

I had lunch in our school canteen today - veggie enchilada, apple crumble and a pot of pineapple and melon pieces - 2.30p.

What i had was a 'meal deal' which works out better value than buying pizza, or chicken wrap or whatever other rubbish the pupils like to eat!

£2 but I may increase it as it isn't enough to buy the muffin he likes too and he needs to eat more. I suggested he got some of the home baking but he likes the prepacked more expensive muffin.

Thanks for your answers. If no information is forthcoming from the school, I know to send him with £2.50 max.

No way will I be issuing him with a weekly amount - on day one he'd buy 10 puddings and 10 bags of crisps.

You may be surprised fircone. I've been amazed how much ds1 matured in just the first couple of months at secondary school. He had to get on and organise himself, manage cash, negotiate buses, etc. And he's really stepped up to the mark.

PS At most schools now they don't sell crisps and they're not allowed to buy more than one pudding a day.

£2.05 here, or you can get a 'meal deal' for £1.95

My dd has £10 on a Monday. I sometimes have to top it up by about Thursday if she has something to eat at break. She leaves home at 7.30 so sometimes doesn't feel like eating breakfast before she goes.

£2.50 here as well,that leaves her enough to get an extra such as a cake ect.

I give DD (12) £20 on Mondays
bus fare is £1 each way
that leaves £10 to put on her lunch card as the canteen uses swipe cards. They compile information about what the children eat and they have a maximum spend of about £4 a day. The children get rewarded for choosing the healthy options. Sometimes I do have to top it up by Thursday if she has had toast and hot choc in the morning.
She has become very good at budgeting.

DS1 was taking £3 per day when he started as to get the set dinner, pudding and drink it is £2.80 at his school.

dd takes £2.50 but usually brings back a little change

this at her school is enough for a main meal, and would also just stretch to a snack at breaktime (she finds it difficult to eat breakfast)

Between £3 and £4 per day.
Largely because she spends £1 per day on a fresh fruit smoothie as her drink, but how do you complain about that?

DD gets £2 the days she has school meals. Most days she takes a packed lunch, as she does a lot of lunchtime clubs and says she doesn't have time to queue up for food.
Her school does a smartcard system and parents can request a printout of what they have bought, so you can check they are not spending it all on crisps and cakes. I haven't done that yet, but maybe I should!