New Study Shows Parents Are Paying More To Pack A Kid’s Lunch Than In 2024

Back-to-school season is here! All kids are back in school, and that means we’re all back in the kitchen, staring inside the fridge with no direction because we already ran out of ideas for what to give the kids in their lunch boxes. We’re also spending more on those lunches in ways you might not even have thought of.

Deloitte recently released a new report on school lunches, noting that although inflation rates are "substantially lower than at their peak in 2022, groceries today cost 23% more than they did five years ago." So, if groceries are more costly, the average cost of a nicely-packed school lunch for our kids is also more costly.

"Based on our 2025 Deloitte Back-to-School Survey, almost half of parents and caregivers (48%) said the cost of lunch on school days this year will likely be higher than last," the report explained.

To determine just how much these rising grocery prices is going to cost parents, the company examined the past three years of lunch-related food prices. While noting that the contents of each kid’s lunch will obviously look different, it used classics like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich alongside a "contemporary lunch featuring a chicken and avocado quesadilla, a health-and-wellness lunch centered on a salad, and a convenience lunch built around a prepackaged meat, cheese, and crackers kit."

According to its calculations, the average daily cost of these lunch options is $6.15. That’s a 3% increase year over year, or "slightly higher than food-at-home inflation overall."

Then the study dug a bit deeper, looking at how each meal shook out price-wise.

The "classic" lunch was by far the most affordable at $4.84. It included a PB&J sandwich, carrots, an apple, cookies, and milk. However, while it has the cheapest cost, it’s still the steepest rise in cost of all four options, “driven by higher retail prices for apples, jelly, and single-serve milk cartons," the report noted.

Next on the list is the "convenience" lunch, which includes a meat, cheese, and crackers kit, along with a fruit cup, pudding cup, and a can of soda for $5.92. The next priciest option was the "health" lunch, which included a bagged salad kit, hummus, pretzels, a Mandarin orange, yogurt, and seltzer water for $6.54. The priciest of all was the "contemporary" meal, consisting of a chicken and avocado quesadilla, salsa, mango, a brownie, and a juice, all for $7.30.

However, the most affordable option compared to any packed lunch is the one provided by school cafeterias. According to Deloitte, those cost $2.99. (At my child’s school, it’s $3.25).

A 2021 joint report by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Center for Good Food Purchasing found that the American government's $18.7 billion investment in free and reduced lunches yielded nearly a $40 billion return, "providing at least $21 billion in net benefit to society even when we measure only their benefits to human health and economic equity."

This $21 billion net gain comes primarily in the form of improved public health and increased economic equity by helping low-income families.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under the Trump administration, slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in funding that helped schools buy food from local farms, in a move that one food service director said was “devastating.”

The department’s $660 million Local Food For Schools program, which was started under President Joe Biden in 2021, was canceled for 2025, according to the School Nutrition Association.

And when it comes to grocery prices, President Donald Trump told voters while on the 2024 campaign trail, “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.”

After he took office, he claimed that he had alleviated the price of groceries, saying, "Groceries went through the roof and I campaigned on that. I talked about the word ‘groceries’ for a lot, and energy costs now are down. Groceries are down.”

At present, there is no evidence supporting his statement that grocery prices are improving. The USDA's Food Price Outlook, updated on March 25, reports that grocery costs are expected to rise slightly faster than the average rate of growth this year.