School

Packing an awesome school lunch on a budget!

Abby H.1 Comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Most kids are on Fall break right now and school starts back up on Monday, but this post comes from my heart. I can’t tell you how many times I opened my lunch bag as a child, only to be disappointed by a limp, sweaty bologna sandwich, a warm juice box and a bag of chips. My mom is an awesome cook, but lunches as a kid were always uninspired. She packed us the same lunch that our friends had.

Kids now have a lot more choices when it comes to lunches. Cooler bags/soft sided insulated bags are now chic, and many schools have restrictions on what kids can bring to school (mostly due to common food allergies).

Here are some tips that can help you pack a yummy, nutritious, frugal lunch for your kids (or heck, even for you if you pack your lunch for work):

  • Plan ahead. Take an inventory of your pantry, fridge and freezer.  Make a list of lunches you can make with what you’ve got on hand.
  • Eat what’s on sale! You’ll save more if you eat what’s in season.
  • Involve the eater of the lunch: if you involve the kids, they’ll be more apt to eat what’s packed.
  • Keep Lunch fun! Use cookie cutters (like this one– I love it for sliced cheese) to make sandwiches, fruit, and cheese into fun shapes.
  • Set aside time for prep: When you get home from the store, set aside some time to chop veggies, fruit, and cheese and place single servings in baggies. Store the baggies in a drawer in the fridge. Resist the urge to snack on them!
  • Resist the urge to buy individual packages of snacks. They are usually not the best value for your dollar. Set aside some time after your shopping trip to portion out cookies, crackers, snacks and even yogurt.
  • Along the same lines: Resist the urge to buy pre-made sandwiches, like UnCrustables. Many schools don’t allow Peanut Butter (or other nut butters) in school lunches.  If your kids love those sandwiches, make your own. All you need in an empanada press (like this one) or a Wonder Bread Sandwich Sealer and D-Cruster a loaf of bread, your fav. peanut or other nut/seed butter, and some jam or jelly. Make about 12 sandwiches for less than $10. The average price for a box of 4 UnCrustables is around $3.50! You can use whatever type of sliced bread you like too!
  • Sandwiches need not be an everyday food! Make wraps with tortillas, sliced cheese, deli meats, and flavored cream cheese. Send sliced cheese, sandwich meat, and crackers (think a homemade Lunchable!) in a plastic box in separate muffin papers. Cold Pizza, salads that include a protein, soup in a thermos, heck, even cereal in a plastic container and a thermos of cold milk.
  • Re-use your empty Mio containers to send condiments or salad dressing to keep sandwiches and salads from getting icky and soggy. Simply remove the wrapper from the empty bottle, pop the top off and clean out the bottle and lid.  Once they are dry, fill 1/2 to 3/4 full and write on the front of the bottle with a sharpie.
  • Don’t just stick to Major Grocery Store chains! I love shopping for lunch yummies at Grocery Outlet. They have a wide variety of crackers, cookies, lunch meat, and a killer cheese section!  Now that we have a Grocery Outlet and a 99 Cents Only in the same shopping center, I can get most of my school lunch shopping done in one trip!

Oh, and most importantly- Don’t forget the note. My mom always put a note in our lunch each day. It made my day, especially when I was having a hard morning!

Looking for more ideas on keeping school lunches fun? Here are a few books I found on Amazon:

Frugal ways to help your Child’s School!

Abby H.

For most of us, school starts soon, if it hasn’t already started… That means the fundraising will start.  Wrapping paper, candy, candles, you name it, you’ve probably seen a catalog and a doe-eyed child selling something to raise money for their school.

We’ve got a pretty tight budget around out house, and $12/roll wrapping paper is not in my budget, but I do want to help Lil’ Man’s school. Here are a few ways that you can help your kiddo’s school. If your kid isn’t in school yet, ask the parent of your favorite mini-fundraiser if their school participates in any of these programs!


Screen Shot 2015-08-12 at 10.21.07 AMBox Tops for Education (BTFE): This Program has been around for a while, and it’s probably one of the easiest ways that you can help the school of your choice. Look for these little box top doodads on hundreds of products that you probably already buy (here is a list), clip them, and drop them by your school’s office. LIl’ Man’s class sends home a cute themed Sheet for us to attach up to ten each month. If I have more, I just staple a ziploc bag full to the worksheet. Any parent would be thrilled to receive an envelope of bag of BTFE from family or friends!

Screen Shot 2015-08-12 at 10.21.16 AMLabels for Education: Similar to BTFE, but this program is run by Campbell’s. To find products that are a part of the Labels fro Education Program, click here.

Screen Shot 2015-08-12 at 10.21.24 AMTarget’s Take Charge of Education®:
Choose your kids’ elementary school, the neighborhood middle school or any other eligible K–12 school. We’ll donate up to 1% of your REDcard purchases at Target stores in the U.S and at Target.com.

 You can learn more here. 

Escrip: Now this one has been around since I was in High School. It’s super easy. Once your school is registered, all you do is sign your various loyalty cards (like your Vons Card), and shop like you usually do. You school gets a percentage of your total purchase!

The best part about these four programs is that you just do what you already do: Shop and save money! Clipping Box Tops for Education and Labels for Education are not that much different than clipping coupons off of packages.