Made with love: Mum Nik Nur Haswani packs meal boxes for her children Imran Zikri Mikail, 15, Iman Elayna Darin, 13, and Imran Zarif Sulaiman, seven, to bring to school to save money. — RAJA FAISAL HISHAN/The Star
PETALING JAYA: With rising food costs, parents with schoolgoing children claim to notice smaller portions of food being sold at school canteens despite some of the operators having raised their prices.
Many parents have now made it a priority to prepare homemade food for their children to bring to school in order to provide them enough nutrition, as well as to save on daily expenses.
Engineering site manager Muhamad Hanif Abd Wahab has two sons in primary school and said both of them bring packed food prepared by their mother.
“My sons will get RM4 each as pocket money. We have noticed that the school canteen food is now more expensive. Nasi lemak, for example, is priced at RM3 compared to RM2 before.
“We would expect a bigger portion but it is getting smaller instead,” said the 35-year-old, who resides in Ipoh.
Human resource manager Masrah Marsinda, 35, said food sold at her son’s school canteen in Rawang were all priced at RM1 each but the quantity was inadequate.
“Food like nasi lemak, pizza bread or keropok lekor are priced at RM1 each but the portion is too small, so they have to buy more than one item,” she said.
Masrah added that she would pack food for her son to bring to school, which usually consists of rice and chicken.
“It’s the only way we can save on daily expenses for food and make sure he gets enough nutrition.
“We give him RM10 as pocket money per week and only add on to that amount if he needs it,” she said.
Social media consultant Farhana Razali claimed the prices of certain food and beverages sold at her son’s school canteen in Petaling Jaya were very high.
“After school started operating like normal last year, a pack of chocolate drink increased to RM5 from RM3.
“We told him to stop buying because it is too expensive,” she said.
The 37-year-old mother of three said her son was given RM5 pocket money daily.
“Sometimes, he’ll bring a bun or some snacks from home but occasionally, he will buy mee goreng or other food at the canteen, which costs about RM2 to RM3.
“We try to provide some packed food so that he does not have to spend so much money at the canteen,” she said.
Personal driver Mohd Khairie Edy said the prices of food at his daughters’ schools were still reasonable as most items were priced at RM1 each.
“However, the canteen also sells unhealthy snacks and we cannot monitor their spending on such items.
“The price of dishes also depends on the type, which can range between RM2 and RM5,” said the 39-year-old from Shah Alam.
Event consultant Bob Faizeli Mohamed Din, 42, who has three schoolgoing children, said he would give his son in Year Five RM5 as pocket money per day.
“He told me that the price of chicken rice increased from RM3 to RM4 recently.
“His younger sister in Year Two is in the afternoon session, so she will have lunch at home first before going to school,” he said.
Bob, who is from Bangi, said although he and his wife were both working, they would still prepare food for their children to bring to school.
He said canteen food was still important and hoped that the prices would remain reasonable.
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