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The two children at Perla Lozano are about to start school on Thursday. They will have lunch that their mom packs every day, despite the fact that brown bagging is likely to be more expensive than buying lunch at school – and the costs are rising.
Inflation and tariffs also increase in prices for food and other goods, as well as customs, has also affected the costs of school lunches filled at home. But parents like Rozano say they are willing to cut back elsewhere on their budget to ensure their children are eating healthy food.
In the latest survey of 1,203 caregivers of school-age children, a 2025 Deloitte Back Tour School survey said almost half of parents and caregivers (48%) were higher than last year. However, 42% of respondents said they would continue to pack their students with lunch.
According to Deloitte’s analysis, looking at three years of lunch-related food prices, the average daily cost for all Brown Bag School Lunch Options this year is $6.15. Compared to school launches last year, Deloitte said packing lunches would increase by an average of 3% or slightly higher than food inflation overall.
The company looked into a variety of rich lunches for the index, including classic peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, more contemporary lunches featuring chicken and avocado quesadillas, health and wellness lunches centered around salads, and more contemporary lunches featuring “convenient” lunches built around precal meat, cheese and cracker kits.
However, the rise in costs is still lower than the increase two years ago. The average index lunch cost at the start of 2023 increased by 6% from the previous year.
Classic peanut butter and jelly lunches are more expensive
Sandwiches and classic peanut butter and jelly lunch, baby carrots, apples, cookies and milk are the cheapest of the four options Deloitte reviewed for $4.84, but cost surged the most in 2025 (6% year-on-year). It’s driven by rising retail prices for apples, jelly and single-service milk cartons, Deloitte said.
According to Deloitte, “Contemporary Day” chicken and avocado quesadilla lunch, soaking salsa, mango, brownies and juice is $7.30. That’s an increase of 2% from the previous year.
The “Health and Wellness Day” lunch of bagged salad kits, hummus, pretzels, mandarin oranges, yogurt and seltzer waters increased by 1% to $6.54. Convenience Day lunches with meat, cheese, cracker lunch kits, fruit cups, pudding cups and soda cans increased by 2.2% from last year to $5.92.
In comparison, Deloitte said the average cost of lunch at school is $2.99, and can be free if students are eligible. More than half of respondents said the school offers free lunch to all students regardless of their income.
“Who knows where prices are heading next, but following the fall in February, prices for all four lunches have been on an upward trend, up 5.5% on average,” Deloitte said, “the price of stealing children’s lunches is getting higher.”
Parents say packing lunch is good value and diversity
The lunch provided by the school is almost always cheaper or free compared to hanging browns and having lunch at home, but four in four people (42%) in Deloitte survey say they cook lunch for their kids. Most respondents said they believe that bringing in lunch (63%) and diversity (52%) will give them better value. The majority of respondents with children eating lunch from home, or 69%, rated their meals because of their superior taste compared to cafeteria food.
“My parents pack lunch with both wallets and wellness in mind,” Natalie Martini, Deloitte’s vice-chairman and leader in the US retail and consumer products sector, told USA Today.
“Parents and caregivers want to ensure that their children are eating healthy and quality lunches during the day at school. They believe that bringing lunch from home is the way to do that,” she said.
Parents want the best possible value even if their children have a school lunch, according to Martini. “But they don’t want this to come at the expense of the nutritional value of lunch. As a middle school mom of two, I know that my kids get better at school when they’re eating healthy, nutritious lunches.”
“Parents may exchange name branded snacks for a private label or opt for cheap main entrees to make healthy lunch boxes on a budget,” Martini said. It is possible that 31% will choose a private label, while 24% will aim for cheap appetizers. Another 27% said they would replace cheaper main lunch items.
Families make sacrifices elsewhere to offset rising food costs
Lozano of Sylmer, California said that despite the fact that the four families had to cut other parts of their monthly budget and consider rising food costs, they would continue to pack homemade lunches for their two children.
Lozano packs lunches of 13-year-old Allenny and 9-year-old Adrian every morning. Their lunches are usually hot meals and leftovers from healthy meals cooked for dinner the night before. Often it becomes like meat with vegetables or fried rice. Lunch always contains vegetables, fruits and protein.
On Friday, Rozanos do sandwiches, but even those will be homemade without the crust, rather than being bought in the store. Not only does it cost less to make your own sandwich, but he also knows that the ingredients are healthy and there are no preservatives or other ingredients that other ingredients are trying to avoid.
Still, “It’s really expensive because, in contrast to junk, healthy lunches like fruit and vegetables are becoming more difficult to put together,” Rozano told USA Today.
She and her husband Adrian are willing to make sacrifices in other parts of the family’s budget to provide healthy food all day long. They cut violin lessons for kids, from week to every other week. And they cut back on just one streaming service.
“We’ve cut back on everything else, so we can afford delicious food for our kids,” she said.
Other highlights from Deloitte’s research include:
- Three in three caregivers believe there should be more fresh food for the lunch provided by the school.
- Fifty-seven percent of respondents want more locally produced cafeteria dishes and are willing to pay more for it.
- Overall, most (82%) parents and caregivers want their children to eat healthy during the day at school.
- Changes made to your food budget and shopping choices may vary from generation to generation. Half of GenZ caregivers (56%) said they are more than three times more expensive than any other generation.
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA Today. Contact her at blinfisher @usatoday.com or follow her on X, Facebook, or Instagram @Blinfisher, @Blinfisher.bsky.social.. Sign up for our free daily money newsletter. This includes Friday’s Consumer News.
