[jeroenhd]

I've had the same experience here in the Netherlands. Except there often was no real cafeteria to order from if you forgot your lunch or if something special was going on.

This mechanism does cause troubles for the poorest kids, though. Poor families send their kids to school without lunch, or with very unhealthy food (because that's cheapest).

I'm in favour of schools offering lunch. Parents pay for the sandwiches or whatever they hand out to their kids anyway, might as well get the benefits of economies of scale to reduce costs, while helping poor kids through the day. I doubt the taxes necessary to make this happen would be close to the price parents pay for food (and the time they spend preparing meals for their young kids).