Academics · Subject Resources

What lunch really costs
over a school year.

Enter the school’s meal prices, what a packed lunch costs you and how many days each child buys. The calculator totals the year, the month and the week, compares buying every day with packing, and tells you what to load on the meal accounts each month.

Plan our lunchesWhat you get

The lunch budget

The worked example is made up: a second grader who buys lunch three days a week and a seventh grader who buys every day plus breakfast twice a week, over 180 school days. Use your own district’s prices. Nothing you enter leaves this browser.

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What you get

Academics · Subject ResourcesFree

What you finish with
The cost of school meals for the year, a month and a week, for each child and the family; how that compares with buying or packing every lunch; and the amount to load onto the school meal accounts each month. A one-page plan prints and the figures download as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Parents and guardians budgeting for the school year, and students old enough to manage their own lunch money.
Format
Browser tool. Works on a phone, tablet or computer; totals move as you tap. Up to eight children. Prints a one-page plan; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Subject Resources space in Caveat Academics.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Enter the school days in the year and the months you want to spread the cost over.
  2. Price one packed lunch from your groceries: the main, fruit or vegetable, a snack and a drink.
  3. For each child, choose full price, reduced price or free meals, enter the school’s prices and tap how many days a week they buy lunch and breakfast.
  4. Read the year, month and week, and compare with buying or packing every day.
  5. Load the monthly amount onto the meal accounts and print the plan for the fridge.

Plan our lunches

How the budget is worked out

Days bought times the price, plus days packed times what a packed lunch costs.

1 Grade 2: buys 3 days a week, packs 2Bought lunches108 × $3.10180 days × 3 ÷ 5Packed lunches72 × $2.45the other daysYear$511.20$334.80 + $176.402 Grade 7: buys lunch daily, breakfast twice a weekLunches180 × $3.35$603.00Breakfasts72 × $1.95$140.40Year$743.40$603.00 + $140.403 The familySchool year$1,254.60both childrenA month, over 9$139.40$34.85 a week1 Grade 2Bought108 × $3.103 days a weekPacked72 × $2.452 days a weekYear$511.20Grade 22 Grade 7Lunches180 × $3.35every dayBreakfasts72 × $1.95twice a week3 The familySchool year$1,254.60about $139.40 a month
The worked example: two children over 180 school days come to $1,254.60 for the year, about $139.40 a month.

The arithmetic

Days a week buying, divided by five and multiplied by the school days, gives the lunches bought in a year, rounded to whole days; the rest are packed. A child’s year is bought lunches times the lunch price, plus packed lunches times the packed-lunch cost, plus bought breakfasts times the breakfast price. The month divides the year by the months you choose; the meal account amount counts only what is bought at school.

Free and reduced-price meals

Schools in the National School Lunch Program offer free meals to children from households at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty guidelines and reduced-price meals at or below 185 percent, and children in households getting SNAP or certain other benefits qualify automatically. Federal law caps the reduced price at 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast; some states and districts cover that too. Some schools serve every student free through the Community Eligibility Provision. The income limits change each July, so check the current ones with your school.

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service. National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program fact sheets: eligibility at 130 and 185 percent of the poverty guidelines and the reduced-price maximums.
  2. USDA Food and Nutrition Service. Child Nutrition Programs: Income Eligibility Guidelines, published each year in the Federal Register.
  3. USDA Food and Nutrition Service. Community Eligibility Provision: meals at no charge for all students in participating schools.
  4. Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, 42 U.S.C. 1758: eligibility for free and reduced-price meals and the maximum reduced price.

The worked example is made up and is not any district’s price list. The page adds up the prices you enter; your district sets meal prices and decides meal applications. Everything stays in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.