Will higher prices steal your kid's lunch money? Why more parents are willing to pack.
Perla Lozano's two kids are about to start school on Aug. 14. They'll be taking a lunch that their mom packs for them every day, even though the cost of brown-bagging is likely more expensive than buying a lunch at school ‒ and the costs are going up.
The rising price tags for food and other goods due to inflation and tariffs are also affecting the cost of home-packed school lunches. But parents like Lozano say they're willing to make cuts elsewhere in their budget to ensure their kids are eating a healthy meal.
In its latest survey of 1,203 caregivers of school-aged children, the 2025 Deloitte Back to School survey found that nearly half (48%) of parents and caregivers said the cost of lunch on school days will likely be higher than last year. But 42% of the respondents said they would continue to pack their students' midday meal.
According to an analysis by Deloitte examining three years of lunch-related food prices, this year's average daily cost across brown-bag school lunch options the company studied is $6.15. Compared to the start of school last year, Deloitte said packing a lunch is expected to cost 3% more on average, or slightly higher than food-at-home inflation overall.
The company looked at a variety of packed lunches for the index, including the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a more contemporary lunch featuring a chicken and avocado quesadilla, a health and wellness lunch centered on a salad, and a "convenience" lunch built around a prepacked meat, cheese and crackers kit.
But the rise in costs is still lower than the uptick two years ago. The cost of the average index lunch at the start of the 2023 school year was up 6% from the previous year.
Classic peanut butter and jelly lunch is more expensive
Although the classic peanut butter and jelly lunch with the sandwich, baby carrots, apples, cookies and milk still is the cheapest of the four options reviewed by Deloitte at $4.84, it also had the steepest rise in cost in 2025 (6% year over year). That is driven by higher retail prices for apples, jelly and single-serve milk cartons, Deloitte said.
The "contemporary day" packed lunch of a chicken and avocado quesadilla, dipping salsa, mango, a brownie and juice will cost $7.30, according to Deloitte. That's up 2% from the previous year.
A "health and wellness day" lunch of a bagged salad kit, hummus, pretzels, mandarin orange, yogurt and seltzer water will cost $6.54, up 1%. A "convenience day" lunch of a meat, cheese and crackers lunch kit, fruit cup, pudding cup and a can of soda will cost $5.92, up 2.2% from last year.
In comparison, Deloitte said the average cost for lunch obtained at school is $2.99, and it is sometimes free if the student qualifies. Just over half of respondents said their school offers free lunch to all students, regardless of income.
"No one knows exactly where prices are headed next, but following a drop in February, prices for all four lunches are on an upward trend, rising an average of 5.5%," Deloitte said in its study, "Will higher prices steal your kid's lunch money?"
Parents say packing a lunch is better value and variety
Although school-provided lunches are almost always cheaper or free compared to brown-bagging or packing a lunch at home, 4 in 10 respondents to Deloitte's survey (42%) said they make their kids' lunch. Most respondents said they think they get better value from bringing a lunch (63%) and more variety (52%). A majority, or 69%, of respondents with children who take their lunch from home rated those meals higher for superior taste relative to cafeteria food.
“Parents are packing lunches with both wallets and wellness in mind," Natalie Martini, vice chair and U.S. Retail & Consumer Products sector leader for Deloitte, told Paste BN.
"Parents and caregivers want to ensure their kids are eating healthy, quality lunches during the school day, and they believe bringing lunch from home is the way to do that," she said.
Parents are also seeking value everywhere they can, even with their kids’ school lunches, Martini said. "However, they don’t want this to come at the expense of the nutritional value of the lunch. As a mom of two middle schoolers, I know my kids do better in school when they’re eating a healthy and nutritious lunch."
"Parents may look to swap name-brand snacks for private labels or opt for cheaper main entrees to make a healthy lunchbox on a budget," Martini said. Thirty-one percent might opt for the private labels, while 24% might aim for less expensive entrees. Another 27% said they would substitute a cheaper main lunch item.
Family makes sacrifices elsewhere to offset rising food costs
Lozano, of Sylmar, California, said she will continue to pack a homemade lunch for her two children, even though the family of four has had to cut back on other parts of their monthly budget to account for rising food costs.
Lozano packs lunches for Aleny, 13, and Adrian, 9, each morning. Their lunches are usually hot meals and leftovers from a healthy meal Lozano cooked for dinner the night before. Often, it will be something like meat with vegetables or fried rice. The midday meal always includes vegetables and fruit and a protein.
On Fridays, Lozano will do sandwiches, but even those will be homemade, without a crust, instead of store-bought. Lozano said it not only keeps the cost down to make the sandwiches herself, but she knows the ingredients are healthy and without added preservatives or other ingredients she is trying to avoid.
Still, "it's gotten really pricey because it's getting harder to put together healthy lunches like fruits and vegetables as opposed to the junk," Lozano told Paste BN.
She and her husband, Adrian, are willing to make sacrifices in other parts of their family's budget to provide healthy food for their family throughout the day. They've cut back on violin lessons for the kids, going from weekly to bi-weekly. And they've cut down to just one streaming service.
"We've cut back on everything else so we can afford good food for our kids," she said.
Here are some other highlights from Deloitte's study:
◾Three in 4 caregivers think there should be more fresh food in school-provided lunches.
◾Fifty-seven percent of respondents would like more locally-sourced cafeteria food and they’re willing to pay more for it.
◾Overall, most (82%) parents and caregivers would like their kids to eat healthier during the school day.
◾Changes made to food budgets or shopping choices can differ by generation: half of Gen Z caregivers (56%), more than three times higher than any other generation, said they would switch to more school-provided lunches, while millennials were the most willing to cut back on buying fresh food to reduce the cost of perishable food waste (29%).
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for Paste BN. Reach her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her on X, Facebook, or Instagram @blinfisher and @blinfisher.bsky.social on Bluesky. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays, here.