COEUR d'ALENE - A little cup of sliced peaches graced each lunch tray Tuesday at Bryan Elementary School.

The cafeteria in the Harrison Avenue building is one of several area school lunchrooms still bustling with business even though classes are out for the summer.

Through the USDA's Summer Food Service program, breakfasts and lunches are served free to kids younger than 18 from June through August. Adults can purchase a morning meal for $1, and lunch for $2.

"The fruit was the first thing my son ate," said Rebecca Jacobs.

Jacobs, who lives near the school, was at Bryan Tuesday with two of her six children.

"It's convenient, and it gives them more of a variety besides just soup and sandwiches," Jacobs said.

The meals are available at Bryan, Fernan and Ramsey elementary schools, and at the Hayden Kinder Center, in the Coeur d'Alene School District.

Serving times are 8 to 9 a.m. for breakfast and 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for lunch.

"It gets us out of the house and gives us a place to sit down and have a meal with our kids," said Gabrielle Hensyel, who sat with another mom and a group of children with lunch trays at Bryan.

Allison Modine, the district's summer meals monitor, said they are serving about 290 breakfasts and 671 lunches per day among the four meal sites.

That's a 20 percent increase over the average number of meals served per day last summer when Coeur d'Alene school cafeterias served 42,730 meals.

According to the USDA website, the Summer Food Service Program is in place to fill the "nutrition gap" that occurs when children who normally eat free or reduced lunches at school are out for the summer.

"We can really take care of these kids because of this program," said James Curb, director of CDA4Kids, the Coeur d'Alene School District's summer enrichment program that takes place at Bryan.

Annie Mader, nutrition director for the Post Falls School District, said the federally funded meals are nutritionally balanced, just like they are during the school year.

Post Falls school cafeterias are serving about the same number of meals as they did last summer, roughly 1,500 free lunches and 600 breakfasts per day.

The meals in Mader's district will be served through Aug. 20 at Seltice and Ponderosa Elementary schools, the Post Falls Middle School and Post Falls High School. The meals program is available until Aug. 5 at Prairie View Elementary School, while River City Middle School is a meal site through July 14.

Times vary per site and are available at the district's website, www.pfsd.com.

The meals allow parents to use their food budget money for dinners and weekend meals, Mader said.

"And it kind of gives the kids a little exercise because they have to get here," she said.