Yeah I don't get it, we've always packed a lunch for our kids as a matter of fact and it's not much money or work.
Same as I growing up and we were quite poor for the US.
Same as I growing up and we were quite poor for the US.
I'm not claiming it's an overwhelming amount of work, and if we just packed sandwiches it would be easier, but it's easily 30 minutes a day of food prep and cleaning lunch boxes.
My middle schooler can't eat whole apples because of trauma to one of his front teeth. The fruit with school lunch every single day is a whole apple, and he isn't allowed to bring a knife to school to cut it.
Did you qualify and decide not to use the program?
1 - Free lunch at 130% of poverty line, which for a family of four is ~$42k USD in 2025. Reduced at 185%, or $59k in 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/03/13/2025-03...