PARENTS SPEND 432 HOURS A SCHOOL YEAR ON MEAL PREP... AND HALF OF IT COMES HOME UNEATEN 🥪🎒

Parents, back-to-school season is almost here, which means it's time to return to your second unpaid job: feeding children who suddenly hate everything they liked last week.

A new report found that during the 36-week school year, parents spend an estimated 432 hours planning, shopping for, cooking and packing food.

That's 12 hours every single week devoted to feeding the family.

Here's where the time goes:

• 3 hours planning meals.
• 3 hours grocery shopping.
• 2 hours packing school lunches.
• 4 hours cooking.

Twelve hours a week! That's basically a part-time job where your performance review is a teenager saying, "There's nothing to eat."

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And school lunches bring their own special challenges. Parents say their biggest struggles are finding foods their kids will actually eat, keeping lunches interesting and avoiding food waste.

And every parent knows the lunch-packing cycle:

Monday: carefully balanced lunch with fruit, protein and vegetables.

Wednesday: sandwich, Goldfish crackers, whatever.

Friday: "There's a granola bar in the cupboard. Godspeed."

Then comes the ultimate insult: your kid brings home the lovingly prepared sandwich untouched because apparently "the bread felt weird."

Meanwhile, the $4 snack their friend gave them? Absolutely demolished.

So as another school year approaches, remember: you're not just making lunches.

You're operating a tiny, poorly reviewed restaurant where the customers don't pay, constantly change the menu, and occasionally leave a banana rotting in a backpack for three weeks.

Bon appétit, parents. 🍎🎙️🇨🇦