School Lunch:
Good for Kids and Good for Your Wallet
As the cost of everything increases – there is one meal that is still a great value: both nutritionally and economically! School lunch is still an incredible bargain at $2.00/2.25
Every School Lunch Includes Nutritious Food Choices
- Milk – Fat free or 1% – flavored or regular.
- Fruits & Vegetables – Favorite varieties including hot cooked veggies, fresh green salads and veggie sticks, fresh fruit, and chilled fruit in juice or light syrup.
- Grains – Assorted enriched and whole grain foods such as breads, rice, pasta, noodles, tortillas, taco shells, and cereals.
- Meats and meat substitutes – Sources of high quality protein, for example lean chicken, beef, beans, eggs, and reduced fat cheeses and yogurt.
Healthy Meals Feed Eager Minds
- School meals must meet nutrition guidelines based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
- No more than 30% calories can come from fat and less than 10% from saturated fat.
- School lunches provided 1/3 of the recommended Dietary Allowances of protein, vitamins A and C, calcium, iron, and calories over the course of one week of menus.
- Students who eat school lunches consume fewer calories from fat than students who bring lunch from home.
- Compared to lunches from home, school lunches contain 3 times as many dairy products, twice as much fruit, and seven times the vegetable amounts.
- Students who eat school lunch have substantially lower intakes of added sugars than students who do not eat school lunch.
Save Money
Eat School Lunch
- On average it costs less to buy a school lunch than to bring a lunch from home.
- The estimated national average of a school lunch was brought from home was $3.43 last school year.
There is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch
(and a Reduced Price One Too)
- Families meeting certain income guidelines are eligible for free school meals or for meals at a reduced price of .40.
- Applications for free/reduced priced meals are approved based on current income, and families may apply for benefits any time during the school year.
- Typically families complete meal applications at the beginning of the school year. Families are also encouraged to complete a new application if their particular financial circumstances change during the school year.
- For more information or to request a meal application, please contact your School’s Secretary.