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For $25 a week I would definitely buy it just for convenience. I imagine it will be ok - I think kids eat differently when they're away from us whether or not everybody is eating something different. It also might be a good way to get your son involved - assuming all the lunches are reasonably healthy you could maybe let him pick what he wants to eat for the week.

If the options are fairly healthy I would buy lunch, although $25/week feels like a lot to me for daycare lunch (our daycare meals are baked into the overall price, so no clue what it really costs). I just started packing my 4yo's lunch when she switched to public preK from private because the options are pretty awful and it's not nearly as much work as I envisioned, but DD2 (1yo) will eat the daycare meals as long as she's there (although this is the norm there because it's included).

$25/week for lunch is a lot, but I'd still pay it for the convenience!

I understand wanting the convenience, but I wouldn’t in this case because $5 is a bit much for a young kid, and most of the meals seem to be very carb heavy. Carbs are cheap and easy, but they aren’t very filling.

We are in this situation and have chosen to pack a lunch. We make enough dinner for all of us to have leftovers for lunch the next day. Our school actually encourages parents to send food that needs heating. We add in cut up fruits and veggies, cheese sticks and occasionally crackers to round out the meal. It only takes a minute to pack it while cleaning up dinner and we are packing our own lunches anyway. We prefer to choose what he is eating.

@MenagerieMama: you are my anti-cooking soul mate. I feel like I’m a good mom and I take good care of our home. Except for cooking and meal planning. I suck. But I’m really really trying to change that. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. It’s stressful to think of what to make. Buy the stuff. Then feel pressured because the stuff will go bad if I don’t. I’m annoyed when it doesn’t come out perfect. My husband doesn’t care if he gets a home cooked meal so he doesn’t even appreciate it that much (but also gets annoyed when I don’t have a plan). Then the f*cking clean up after.
I hate it. But I’m trying.

@SweetiePie: @MenagerieMama: once upon a time (aka almost 6 years ago before I got pregnant with my first) I used to really enjoy cooking. Looking up new recipes to try and getting the ingredients wasn’t even that bad. Add kids and it’s like, ugh, everyone has to eat AGAIN?!

But i agree that $25 seems high for that. If everyone was eating mostly the same things I would likely do it, to encourage my kid to eat more things that all the other kids are eating (even if it wasn’t the absolute healthiest, I really want my kids to try more new foods and peer pressure helps). But if they could just choose nuggets every day not sure how much that would help. I basicallymake the same few lunches every day anyway and for less than $5. But if it made my life easier (not having to shop for, plan? Clean lunch boxes, on top of the actually throwing together a lunch) is consider it.

I pack LO's lunch b/c I don't have a choice. He gets leftovers from food I've cooked for dinner, as well as sliced fruit. It would be super easy, except his daycare requires everything in small bite size pieces so it ends up being slightly annoying. If there was an option to buy healthy food, I'd probably be willing to pay $25/week for it, just to have one less thing to worry about and to give him more diversity in his diet (since I pack leftovers).

@Anagram: fwiw, I see a nutritionist for some health issues (colitis) and her goal is to get me eating a more balanced diet overall (initially it was help getting inflammation under control). But she tells me if something is overall unhealthy and I should avoid. She has zero issue with grilled cheese. I eat it a fair amount since I’m home with the baby and I like warm meals and grilled cheese is easy. She just said to make sure I pair it with fruits and veggies (which you’re doing) and it’s fine.

So we are in ny public school and lunch is free. So I pick and choose the days he has school lunch and when I pack. If it feels really unhealthy I pack (like one day the main is mozzarella sticks and I just can’t wrap my head around that and I’m not a health nut at all). Or if it’s something I know he won’t eat (a couple days a month they have Jamaican beef patty, for example) I’ll pack.
But I only have him mostly eat school lunch because it’s free. If we had to pay for it, we’d pack every day. I don’t think that the menu is healthy or diverse enough to justify paying for it. And he LOVES having a lunchbox and seeing what I packed that day, so it’s not even like he’s be upset.

If you could do day by day I’d say do a mixture. But if you have to do week by week I would just choose one week a month that’s maybe really busy at work or you just don’t feel like dealing with lunches and have him eat school lunch. Otherwise I’d just pack. I personally don’t even think $25 is that much, but I still am not sure it’s worth it if you don’t absolutely hate packing a lunch. I’m all for outsourcing things you don’t like doing.