You can also run a free cloudflare tunnel. It's what I us3 so I don't have to open a port for my nextcloud but still want it to be able to sync to my phone while not on vpn
Dang sounds like such a pain, I remember in elementary just going down the lunch line and at the end would be a old lady on a stool and little cash box you paid, if not she would write you up and send you home with a note that you owed money haha. In high school we had the free lunch line in a building and the outside had some containers that sold food like chicken sandwiches or cup noodles for cash.
Me at work after a three day weekend trying to remember what I'm supposed to do