Struggling parents say since the school lunch buget cut it's been costing them more to fill their children's lunchboxes. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Parents who are scraping by say the school lunch programme - when it was working - helped them to save a little bit extra for emergencies.
According to the first RNZ-Reid Research poll the majority of voters believe parents should be most responsible for providing school lunches - over the government.
The results, gathered between 21 and 27 March, came after a string of problems bedeviling the school lunch scheme - including late delivery, unappealing food, and even an exploding meal.
The poll found on the lowest-incomes were more likely to name parents as being the most responsible, while those with the highest were more likely to name the government.
However since the programme budget cut, struggling parents say it's been costing them more to fill their children's lunchboxes and getting on top of bills.
Sarah, not her real name, works part time and is studying for a career in IT.
Topped up with the sole-parent benefit, she makes about $800 a week, depending how much work is available.
While she manages to get by, Sarah told RNZ's First Up life feels poor.
"I'm sorry if I'm getting a little bit emotional, but I'm just poor all the time, you know? Like I don't have any money."
While she has a degree in costume design, she said it was difficult to find a well-paying job that works around her daughter's schedule.
She considers herself lucky to be in a living situation with cheap rent and solar power, which means she has enough to buy the occasional treat, like crop tops for her daughter.
"She got given one from her friend and she was wearing it every day. She'd take it off and hand wash it herself and hang it up to dry so it's ready for the next day. So I bought her 5 crop tops to get her through the whole week without having to wash her own crop tops. They were $10 each. Being able to spend $50 on something like that is a big treat."
Other than that, she feels stuck in jobs that pay just enough to survive.
"I would always have to be on the dole and then having the dole top up what my poverty cycle job couldn't pay me. There was no way of bettering, getting a higher pay and getting out of basic poverty."
A selection of new school lunches showcased to media at Parliament on 22 October 2024. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Last year the lunch in schools programme meant Sarah could save about $50 on groceries a week, and save some for surprise bills.
But after the funding cuts, Sarah said her daughter is only getting half the amount of food at school as she got before.
Now Sarah is using the little money she has to top up her daughter's lunchbox.
"At the beginning of the year, I had to give her extra food because she was so hungry. The amount of food has gone down because the food budget was basically halved."
But that's before her daughter began refusing the snacks and chose to go hungry, in order to fit in with the other children who only have the free lunches to rely on.
Rich Griessman, deputy chair at Child Poverty Action Group, urged the government to see the school lunch programme as an investment, not just a service.
"So the problem is that we don't think enough about investing in our kids. We need to invest in our kids and if investing in our kids mean we feed them healthy, nutritious lunch to ensure that they do well in their studies, let's do it because it pays dividends."
Griessman used to be a volunteer reading tutor at an Auckland school, and said without Ka Ora Ka Ako, many students would not be eating at lunch time.
"We have this notion that poor people just sit on couches and live off the benefit, but we're talking about hard working people who, ironically, have multiple jobs. It's just that all the work they do, simply doesn't add up because it's minimum wage work. Now, you really can't raise a family on a minimum wage."
Allan - not his real name - is one Auckland parent who's trying to do exactly that.
He works full time in mental health, and is paid just above the minimum wage, at $25 an hour.
After rent, Allan said he was left with $120 a week for bills and food.
Despite the hardship, Allan said some nights he would have a protein shake for dinner but he would not skimp on his daughter's lunch.
A lunch box prepared by Allan, for his 13-year-old daughter. Photo: Supplied
"She usually has a roll with salami salad that we make at home. She'll have a museli bar. She'll have a piece of fruit. She'll often take trail mixes to keep her going during the day. Always some type of carbs, always some type of protein."
Allan's daughter goes to a school that's not eligible for the Ka Ora Ka Ako free school lunch programme and he spends about $9 a day on lunch for her.
He said if his daughter could opt in for free lunch, he would do it, but not the current one.
"No way I would opt in to a programme if it was still being run as shoddily as the school lunch programme is right now."
And luckily, he still has his savings to dip into to cover everyday eseentials, sometimes at $300 a week.
"My savings are my spending money."
But he is worried that he is stripping away his daughter's future.
"I worry that she won't be able to have the basics, she won't be able to afford university. She knows she wants to be a kindergarten teacher, so she's gonna need to go to university for that. I want her to have stable housing. I want her to not have to rely on government subsidies for things.
"It feels weird to talk about it because I sit here as a person who's obviously in a privileged position, [with] clean clothes, housing, food, but the future is not looking bright. The future is looking pretty grim."
The living wage will be going up to $28.95 an hour from September. Meanwhile, the minimum wage increased yesterday by only 35 cents to $23.50 an hour.
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