How much are school lunches costing you?

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Last month, nine-year-old Scottish schoolgirl, Martha Payne, shot to fame via her lunch box blog “Never Seconds”. Her blog illustrates a primary school’s daily servings of school lunches. Each meal is scored on its taste, size and nutritional value and is valued at approximately £2 ($3.10) per serve.

This clever and insightful blog made me question why students often take/buy unhealthy lunches to school. The answer is often, “have you seen how expensive fresh food is?” The following analysis aims to prove that for little more than $3.10 per day you can prepare a healthy, delicious, nutritionally balanced lunch box.

Main lunch component

Type	Components	Daily Total	Weekly Total
Canteen	Meat pie $3.40 Apple $1.80 Gingerbread $2.50 Orange Juice $1.50	$9.20	$46.00
Store bought	Chicken sandwich $4.00 Mars bar $2.25 Apple $1.00 Coca Cola $3.00	$10.25	$51.25
Home made	Bread roll $0.85 Cheese $0.30 Tomato $0.15 Lettuce $0.15 Apple $0.75 Mandarin $0.20 Yoghurt $0.90 Bega Cheese Snack $0.65 Tap Water $0.00	$3.95	$23.00

While a meat pie may seem like a cheap, easy option, consider both the health benefits and the monetary savings you could make by simply preparing a salad sandwich and some snacks at home. While a $5.65 per day saving may not seem like a lot, this equates to $28.25 per school week and $1,469 a year.

Not to mention, your child will be consuming a healthy, nutritionally balanced meal which will boost concentration and energy levels. A home prepared meal will also provide your child with all the nutrients required for both physical and mental development.