Cost of living bites school lunch boxes

Annamaria Piscaglia’s budget to house, feed and dress everyone in her family has been stretched to the limit by the cost-of-living crisis.

Ms Piscaglia, who lives in Lockridge with her husband and two sons Achilles, 9, and Eros, 7, said it’s been a lot to cope with.

She earns roughly $20,000 a year as a cleaner and her husband about $60,000 a year as a mechanic but Ms Piscaglia was forced to reduce her purchases of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat due to rising prices and felt her family’s health was being sacrificed.

What’s helping, however, is the charity behind The One Box, a fresh food relief program providing struggling Australian families with a free weekly box of fresh fruit, vegetables, milk and bread over the entire school year.

“We know that many parents are under financial pressure and have to make tough choices about what to put in their children’s lunch boxes,” said Martin Halphen, CEO of The One Box.

“We want to make it easier for them to provide their kids with fresh and nutritious food that will support their growth, development and learning,”

Recent research conducted by The One Box in partnership with Monash Business School suggested food insecurity was affecting at least one in five Australians.

Mr Halphen said the charity already supports 2,500 Aussie households but another 70 schools remain on its waitlist so he is aiming to expand the program this year.

The fresh fruit and vegetables are selected from Australian farmers and packed into a single box along with fresh bread “ready for delivery to families in need,” he explained.

Each box is then distributed with the support of more than 100 schools and community organisations.

Ms Piscaglia said she knows many families who have been forced to cut back on the quality and contents of their children’s lunchboxes.

“Over the past two years The One Box has helped me a lot,” she added.

“It helped me manage my family budget as I was really struggling to provide fresh, healthy foods for my kids once prices went up.

“Knowing my kids were eating nutritiously made me very happy.

“When they saw things like apples and peaches in the fridge they were so excited and I was relieved they had a chance to try all the different types of healthy fruits and vegetables that were arriving for us.

“We feel very lucky to have had access to it while we have struggled and I know there are even worse off families than us out there that need it.”

Foodbank WA CEO Kate O’Hara said 388,000 WA households are going hungry, despite more than half of them holding down jobs.

A recent WACOSS Cost of Living Report showed surging rent prices have pushed many to the brink, with families caught in a cruel vice of soaring rent and empty cupboards.

The average single parent family has just $1.40 left over per week after meeting their estimated basic living costs, Ms O’Hara noted.

“This isn’t about a lack of hard work or responsibility; it’s about a system that’s simply failing too many people,” Ms O’Hara said in a media statement.

“Choosing between rent and groceries is a cruel ultimatum forcing people to prioritise survival over wellbeing.

“In a country with enough food to feed its entire population three times over, this is completely unacceptable.”

Did you know?

Foodbank WA’s vision is to end hunger in Western Australia by 2030. It provided 7.8 million meals last financial year to those who were doing it tough and provided breakfast and fruit to 501 schools feeding 22,000 children weekly.

The One Box is set to provide 120,000 boxes of fresh food essentials to Australian families in need this year and converts every $1 donation into almost $2 of fresh food in the hands of recipients.