bag lunch ideas

[Mamaof2rugrats]

We have 3 children in school this coming year and 1 at home. The bought lunches at school are 2.00 a piece. Last year they did a sandwich-usually bologna and cheese or ham and ( in a ziploc which I could never get them to save so I could rewash) and a ziploc of chips, a pkg of fruit snacks and a juice. I'm going to buy the sandwich keepers to use and just wash out instead of the constant ziplocks. How can I make lunches cheaper? I swear it costs a fortune to pack their lunches but I don't think we could afford to get them the lunches at school. I really try to keep our entire food budget under 400 but lately it's been 500-550. Any ideas???

[~kev~]

Instead of ziplocks, get some plastic bowls. In the long run they will be cheaper then ziplock baggies and its a reminder not to throw the bowls away.

At home kids usually throw plastic baggies away - even if you reuse or wash them. Sooner or later they get thrown away.

But how often do the kids throw bowls away? Almost never. Because we teach our kids to wash them.

By using plastic bowls in lunch buckets, you are extending what you teach your children at home. Eat out of bowl, wash, reuse. I like the rubbermaid brand. They seem to be pretty durable.

[craftypam]

You can also get drink containers and buy the large container and refil. I also think Sams club has a large container of fruit snacks for a cheaper price. How about the thread to make your own; they said you could do it in the oven.

[sunshine]

Send them with iced water, instead of juice - in a reusable container

chopped veggies and dressing for dip - instead of chips (use what veggies are in season and buy salad dressing on sale)

buy ham, beef or turkey at Sam's or GFS and have them slice into lunch meat slices for you. . . and freeze til needed. . lots cheaper and less salt, preservatives than packaged lunch meats. You can do cheese there too.

bake homemade treats -- oatmeal cookies, muffins, etc. . . or make fruit leathers, puddings, jello with fruit. . .

[frugalfriend]

Little individual juice boxes or fruit snacks can really add up. I bought my kids those Rubbermaid plastic juice containers and just wash and refill them. Buy whatever fruit is on sale that they like and cut it up and put in small plastic containers also. PB&J sandwiches here and there are also inexpensive. I use washable sandwich boxes for those, too!

[Nana2two]

Here lunches are $2.75 and up to $4.00 for high school. Schools here have a policy to where bags, book bags are not aloud in the class rooms. The girls lockers are so far away from the lunch rooms. I do make them a sack lunch. I get them at the dollar store. 75 count for $1.00 and baggies 100 roll count for a $1.00. They take 30 cents for chocolate milk. Now they do get to every 2 weeks when the school orders pizza hut they get to have it then. So between homemade lunches/milk/pizza day, we spend around $40 a month. They take/tuna/PBJ/cheese and crackers/chopped veggies/ homemade power bars/trail mix/ for junkie foods/homemade tortilas/store brand chips/cupcake/ homemade C-roll/cookies.

Another thing my kids love is wraps. These you can make with left overs. The one they love is chicken.cheese.lettuce. I take frozen cooked shreeded chicken and the other goodies wrap it up and by the time lunch comes around its still cold.

[mauimagic]

Great ideas!! Do your children bring home what they don't eat so you could spot some trends? Loved the idea about having 'real' meats sliced to avoid the extra sodium and processing.

I thought our school lunches were high - now $1.25 going to $2.20 next year. Yours on the mainland are crazy!!

Like the idea of sending water instead of fruit juice too.

[pollypurebred39]

When we packed lunches I had those hot thermos bowls and I would put leftovers in them, like pasta, soup or chili, even casseroles or things like chicken, mashed potatoes & string beans. I would put in a slice of butter bread, a biscuit or cornbread in a sandwich container. It was good for the food budgets bottom line to eat up leftovers, and getting a hot lunch was a bonus.

I also would pack a thermos of homemade iced tea and a homemade treat like cookies or cake.

[Grainlady]

Lots of great information already given...

1. Check at the deli counter at your favorite grocery store and find out if they discount the deli cut meats? Our store sells any sliced meats for 1/2-price after 7:00 p.m., so you can take advantage of those price cuts.

You're money ahead if you use your own cooked meats for lunches, instead of deli sliced, so make that a goal. Compare $5-$6 a pound deli meats to 78-cent a pound whole chicken.

2. We also use plastic containers (as many others mentioned), rather than plastic bags. This also means we portion foods ourselves, rather than buying individual-sized ANYTHING. If you've never compared the unit prices on a large bag of chips to individual bags, you're in for a big surprise. Compare the unit price of juice boxes to larger portions. I can purchase 100% frozen grape juice concentrate for .90 cents and that makes 48-ounces of juice when you add water. Kids love "purple cows" - grape juice mixed with milk, if you have someone who doesn't like milk alone.

Buy a large container of vanilla yogurt, and use it for desserts, instead of individual pudding containers, or use the vanilla yogurt as a dip for fruit. Add a small container (1-2 T.) of granola and they can top their yogurt with it for something different. The granola counts as a wholegrain, so use it if you don't send another food from the grain group.

3. It's important to build a well-balanced lunch around the Food Pyramid, rather than what comes in convenient pre-packaged, high-priced lunch items. Remember to pack serving amounts appropriate for the childs age. Wasted food is ALWAYS the most expensive food we purchase. A small child generally doesn't consume a whole piece of fruit, so check the portion sizes.

Until a child is over the age of 10, sandwiches should be made with ONE slice of bread.

4. Make your own fruit leather, if you have a dehydrator. It's a great way to use up fruit that is slightly over-ripe or fruit you find on the discount shelf.

How to: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry/fruit_leathers.html

Mango Leather: (I've also used part frozen peaches in this recipe, it's a granddaughter favorite.)
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry/dry...goleather.html

You can also make vegetable leathers:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry/veg_leathers.html

5. Keep hot foods HOT, and cold foods COLD. http://www.schoolfamily.com/school-f...packed-lunches

6. Check your local library for books on the subject. One book I have in my collection is Brown Bag Success - Making Healthy Lunches Your Kids Won't Trade - by Sandra K. Nissenberg, MS, RD and Barbara N. Pearl, MS, RD.

7. Get your kids involved. Here's a great web site for kids who want to venture into the kitchen. http://www.kidsacookin.ksu.edu/

[missyali]

We do homemade Lunchables and I cut the meat and cheese with a cookie cutter to the size of the cracker. Then I use the "scraps" of meat in a wrap for the next day.

The reusable drink box has helped tremendously!

My dd is INFURIATED that some of her classmates still use baggies instead of reusable containers. Kinda cute to see a 6 year-old environmentalist/frugalista.

One day is a sandwich (usually pb&j or a fluffer nut), next day is a lunchable, another day is a wrap, third day is something in a thermos and last day is kinda a free for all. We fell into the hot lunch trap this year, but I think we will be more selective next year.

Good luck & have fun!

[ttistin]

My oldest will eat whatever at school, he really isn't picky. Now my middle one is very picky. He isn't much into meat, so I hate him getting a school lunch and then throwing it away. he loves peanut butter and jelly so that is what I usually make for his lunch. If I have wraps leftI will make a peanut butter/jelly wrap and slice it up and put in sandwich holder.

I also found some sandwich holders at the dollar general store, one with Hannah Montana and another with Spiderman for $1 each, I use these for kids lunches. They love them.

I love the ideas everyone has, I am going to have to use them for next years school lunches.

[McD]

Something I have heard is really becoming interesting (and a way of turning lunch into art, lol) is bento-ing. I've never tried it, but here's are a few links. It apparently adds a lot of variety to the lunches.

http://bentolunch.blogspot.com/

http://www.obentolunch4kidz.com/

[RawrIisMelly]

I am wondering what are some great ideas for picky kids and school lunches?

My son starts school in August, first year, and he is super picky and has allergies to a lot of things. He loves yogurts, chicken nuggets, french fries, apples, carrots, pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, and mac and cheese, thats about all I can get him to really eat, without watching him gag.

[TigerGirl1226]

You could get a divided container and make him a custom "lunchable" with the veggies he likes, cheese and crackers, etc. I'm sure lots of other moms would send lunchables and it would make his lunch similar, but it would have the stuff he really likes.

[RawrIisMelly]

Thanks, that sounds like a fabulous idea.