Teachers who run school lunch spend more time on daily photo reports than on lessons, and the per-child budget doesn't cover the menu
A teacher who runs her school's lunch program says she now does more lunch paperwork than lesson prep: photos of incoming ingredients, cooking, finished food and every tray, posted to the school page daily. Her example is 120 pupils at 24 baht each, 2,880 baht a day, with about 600 baht going to labor, gas and transport, while pork is 100 baht a kilo in the official price system and 130 to 150 at the market. Cooks have quit 3 or 4 times, and food the kids skip goes in the bin. At another school, parents complained about small portions on 22 baht a head: 303 pupils, 6,666 baht a day.
Is this you?
If you run into this every week, tell us. Teams only build for challenges with someone waiting for the tool.
0ready to build
Next build day
5 ways to tackle it
Camera and vision
Tray Snap: photograph the trays once and the daily lunch report writes itself
The lunch teacher snaps one photo of the tray rack and one of the ingredients. Claude vision checks that each tray has two dishes and fruit, counts trays, and fills the one-page daily report with a photo grid, so the 5 photo sets a day become 2 pictures and a tap.
Build with Claude vision, Google Sheets, PDF export
Data and maps
Menu Fit: plan the month so every lunch stays inside 24 baht a head
The teacher enters pupils by level (kindergarten eats less than secondary), and today's market prices from a short list. The tool builds a month of menus that meet the protein, vegetable and fruit rules and shows the gap between the system price of pork and the market price before anything is bought.
Build with Next.js, Claude API, price sheet in Google Sheets
Hardware and sensors
Leftover Scale: a bin scale that shows which menus the kids skip
A cheap load cell under the plate-scrape bin sends grams to an ESP32 with a small e-ink screen. The cook taps a button for today's menu, and a printed weekly card shows which dishes were thrown out most, so the teacher can swap them instead of guessing.
Build with ESP32, HX711 load cell, e-ink 2.9in, one button
AI agent
Slip to Ledger: market receipts become the lunch expense book
The teacher photographs the handwritten market slip. The tool reads items and kilo prices, adds a cost per child for the day, flags days over budget, and keeps the real prices so the next menu plan uses what things cost this week.
Build with Claude vision, Google Sheets, Apps Script
LINE or chat bot
Headcount LINE: parents report absences by 7 AM so the cook makes the right amount
Parents send one word in a LINE chat if a child is absent. By 7 AM the cook gets the exact headcount for each level, so portions match the money (121 pupils means 2,662 baht, not 2,880) and less food ends in the bin.
Build with LINE Messaging API, Cloudflare Workers, Google Sheets
What people reported
Lunch teacher: more lunch paperwork than lesson prep; 24 baht x 120 pupils; pork 100 vs 130-150 baht/kg; daily photos
pantip.comParents report small portions; 22 baht/head, 303 pupils, 6,666 baht/day; NACC checks the school
thansettakij.com