I could have, and did on occasion, but that would have required my dad to go buy lunch food and keep it on hand. But he didn’t need to do that… the school needed to feed us!
I did learn around 7th grade that I could steal his cigarettes and sell them. I guess he did pay for more lunches than I realized, now that I wrote this.
The fact that you think this is a seriously practical suggestion shows that, very fortunately for you, you have no idea what goes in a household like this. I say this with sincerity, it's a good thing that you don't realize the problem with this suggestion.
Agree - if my 10yo son was in charge of getting his own food for school from our well stocked fridge, I know he'd struggle to get any kind of balance.
I know from friends in education who see kids come to school who have had to try to find food to bring in. I live in a relatively well off area but kids still come to school with stuff like just dry bread or a single cereal bar as there just isn't anything to hand for them to bring in for school - looking after their kids welfare isn't a given for a sad and sizeable minority.
I did learn around 7th grade that I could steal his cigarettes and sell them. I guess he did pay for more lunches than I realized, now that I wrote this.