lunch program is creeping up on my budget

i am so putting Candra into the lunch program. I bring her to school 4 times a day and walk back home 4 times day. Thats 8 walks in a day. It's great excersice, but I'm really beginning to get dragged down by it and I'm sure as hell not going to want to go outside that much in winter.
But at $20 a month plus $5 for milk 50 milk tickets is going to a burden on our budget.

Our milk is fairly cheap here, and we don't have to pay for it until they reach their 5th birthday

I can't afford school meals though, its nearly £9 per week, so its sandwiches for Charlotte!!!

Having worked in a school luch programs are great way for children to socialise. At least by walking to schoolyou are saving on fuel.

^ I don't even know how to drive so walking and taking a bus is norm for me. However, I can't stand being close to so many stinky gross looking people (thats Winnipeg people for ya) that I avoid taking the bus often.

The lunch program will give me a niiiiiiiiiccccccccccce
loooooooonnnnnnnng 9 - 3:30 break

My DD's school don't currently do hot meals. There is a packed lunch service you can order but I'd rather do my own. However we got a letter home last week to say that if there is enough interest they will be building a kitchen area to start doing hot meals and that the children wont have to have school dinners every day. We will be able to look at the menu in advance and then pre-book meals for the days our children want them (based on what they like and how many days we want to pay for). I'm hoping this does happen as on the one hand my DD is abit fussy and I can't see the point in paying for meals she wont eat and then have her go hungry. But on days she likes the meal it would be nice to know she's having a change from her packed lunch and it also might help her to start eating a greater variety of food if she's hungry and sees her friends eating it. I think the meals will be £2 a day for first course, pudding, piece of fruit and drink of milk. Is this the normal sort of meals and value at other schools?

i cant imagine school without school dinners, all the schools here have kitchens altho there is one where the school is one end of the road of the kitchen is the other so students were leaving the grounds all the time but that one is a secondary school. hopefully the school will have enough interest so that in the cold weather you know your child is having something hot in the day

All the schools here offer a hot lunch ... some kids qualify for free hot lunch, some how I make too much money to qualify for Aaralyn but she has the option of me packing her lunch (which she prefers) or hot lunch at school... they are also implementing a program now so that they are serving fresh fruits and veggies from local farmers that has just kicked off recently, I think it's a great program!!

I'm really shocked to read that children have to go home for lunch and then go back to school after everyday in some places?