Dining via sleeper reservations - what times?

I'm trying my damnedest to figure out if/how we'll be able to keep using Amtrak as our primary means of cross country travel after the rollout of AGR2.0. One of the options I think might work for us - somewhat pricier, but a lot more flexible - is the idea of purchasing a 15 or 30 day rail pass and paying the accommodation charge for sleepers on overnight legs. If I play it right, I figure we can still get dinner and breakfast included on those legs, but I don't know what time we should 'switch' if we want to make sure a certain meal is included.

Does Amtrak have a general rule for what times you must be classified as a sleeper passenger to get the free meals? For that matter, does Amtrak even allow you to upgrade to a sleeper for only a portion of a leg booked on a rail pass? I appreciate any feedback!

You should only upgrade to a Sleeper for the entire leg on a Rail Pas, otherwise you will pay more for a shorter distance and use up two segments of the pass for one leg of a trip!)s ! ( ie Chicago-Denver).And you will only be eligible forthe Meals that are served in the Diner during this leg! ( in the example, Dinner and Breakfast).

You are eligible to use a Club Acela or Metro Lounge in the same day you have a Sleeper Upgrade. ( or Biz Class in some instances), ie the Metro Lounge in CHI when you board.

Of course, all your legs on that particular trip have to be reserved in advance, as there are a Limited Amount of Seats Available in Coach for Pass Holders. You will pay the current Buckets for the Sleeper Upgrade when you book it, which will should be done in advance! ( on board upgrades are now Highest Bucket )

Ah well, I should have figured they'd consider that to be two legs - I was just hoping they had something akin to the opposite of an open sleeper fare, where you could add accommodations to only part of a longer coach leg.

Sigh! I really can't come up with any way to keep Amtrak viable for us. I initially didn't think that ~3c per point was all that terrible, but I guess I didn't really have any idea how expensive cash fares were for LD trips. I suppose we might be able to rally on with coach fares, packed meals, and hotel overnights, but it's quite a sad thought.