Canteen Expenses
By Nina McKeever
Editors note: IVE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS - J
Food can be crispy, creamy, chewy, cheesy, crumbly, citrusy or chunky. Food is shared all over the world. But food isn’t free, it comes at a price. And sometimes, those prices are much too large for our little pockets. The cost of food can come at a great height, as the market prices are always increasing. The canteen is where you purchase your delicious bites and drinks, but are the prices right? Does it satisfy the amount you’re willing to pay?
In my opinion, the price of the food in the canteen is unacceptable, the drinks vary between $3.50 - $5.10, and it’s only liquid! At any IGA or pitstop shop, you can buy normal water for just $1! And soft drinks for only around $3. Coles lists their potatoes as $2.50 for 1kg, with 7-8 potatoes per kilogram, this prices a single potato at $0.28. At the canteen, hot food prices can vary between $1.50 - $7.50, and that can be reasonable for pizza, but for hashbrowns or even dim sims, is this not unacceptable? How many potatoes can you buy for a single hashbrown? Additionally, the price for snacks can be anywhere from $1.00 - $4.50, and I understand for a big pack of chips, but not tiny ones!
When entering a supermarket like Woolies or Coles, you may be bombarded, astounded, utterly shocked by the low prices, just one litre of Coke is $1.30, can the canteen match that for just 600mL? The supermarkets have microwavable pizzas, drinks, and chips that are actually affordable, and you may even find yourself hoarding potatoes from sheer excitement.
However, this isn’t an article aimed solely to spit on the canteen prices. A hashbrown isn’t the same as a potato (obviously), a lot of work goes into turning it into one. That labour is a factor in the canteen’s pricing. Every member of the canteen staff prepares the food hot and ready to be served, and they deserve the utmost respect from their customers. The accessibility and convenience of the canteen is also a part of what makes canteen food inaccessible, but hey I mean, it is right there. Ready to quench hundreds of kids’ hunger!
One creative solution to make the Canteen a bit more accessible for students would be to have a special day where an item on the menu is 50% off. For example, every Friday it could be Hashbrown Day or Pepsi Day. Maybe even a Taco Tuesday?
Do you think that the prices are reasonable at our canteen? Or do you think they’re too high?