Do you ever find your stomach growling in class the period right before lunch? Do you find yourself standing in the lunch line, mouth watering from the aroma of fresh cooked penne pasta and berry smoothies? Maybe I am speaking for myself, but someone has to say it! The food here at Padua has changed drastically, and for the better!
As well as the food changes at our school, there was a HUGE price change. Prices have skyrocketed for lunch compared to past years at Padua. With the new and refined catering system, one chicken patty in our cafeteria costs $3.50. Three dollars and fifty cents for one sandwich that consist of a chicken patty on a hamburger roll? Now, that’s crazy! I bring in five dollars for lunch every day, now what I usually get for lunch is a chicken patty and a drink. Many girls favor the Wawa iced teas, which go for a price of $1.35. Altogether, my usual order costs me a total of $4.85, leaving me with only .15 cents to spare. The average amount a student spends on lunch each day ranges from seven dollars to eight dollars at our school. On top of this, the cafeteria is open to people during flex-time. Those who don’t have time when they wake up to eat breakfast rely on flex to eat, spending more money on food plus lunchtime later on. Don’t get me wrong, the food offered at Padua is great, but sometimes I, along with many other girls, can’t always afford it.
Along with the rising prices of Padua’s cafeteria food this year, the cost for snacks from the vending machine have shot up too! A bag of chips costs ninety cents, nearly one dollar! And on top of that, most often half the bag is air. Just because the prices for cafeteria meals have gone up, why does this mean vending machine snacks have to as well? If I can’t afford to buy a snack from the lunch line, I hope to be able to get something from the vending machine instead. Unfortunately, they’re both so highly priced!
Some students take advantage of the new ID system, where you can put monthly cash straight onto your ID and simply scan it at the cash register. I’ve talked to many students who keep tabs on their ID amounts and they all complain about how they spent over one hundred dollars on lunch in only the course of one month. Junior, Gina Mele states, “When I don’t rush down to the cafeteria I have to wait in the long line. By the time I actually get my lunch and sit down, lunch is almost over and I just wasted seven dollars on food I don’t even have time to eat. Plus, a cup of pudding is ridiculously high…it’s not even a full cup!”
I’ll admit, Padua lunches have improved tremendously since last year. The new lunch caterers provide us with countless options to choose from. There’s a salad bar for the healthy-go-getters, and choices such as pizza, chicken patties and wraps. My personal favorite is the iced coffee machine. I look forward to one every morning when I arrive at school. Although the new lunch options are great, we students find the food highly overpriced.
