I just dropped my daughter off at "tot" day camp, and discovered that courtesy of Uncle Sam, she'll be getting a free USDA lunch. But it's not like the federal government ever wastes money or anything.

UPDATE: I should add that camp ends at 12:15, so there is really no need for the camp to be serving lunch at all. The camp handbook, on the internet, tells parents to send a snack with the kids, but I've now been told that this requirement is obsolete, because they are getting the "free" lunch instead.

BTW, I expect that the reaction of most parents would be "cool, we're getting a free lunch that we weren't expecting." But just because you're not paying for something at the moment, doesn't make it "free."