I moved to the New England a couple years ago from Florida, and I am still in shock over how much food costs up here. We are a family of 5 and my food costs nearly doubled from what I was spending in Florida. All three of my kids take packed lunches and in a moment of defeat from sending the same types of things every day for lunch, I looked up what it would cost to buy school lunches. It would cost us $48.00 a week to feed all three of my kids school lunches. I am just in shock. So I won't be doing that. Does anyone have any good ideas for economically priced lunches that deviate from the traditional soup/sandwich route?
My kids are ages 7 and 8. Breakfasts cost 90 cents and lunch costs $2 (up from the $1.90 last year and the $1.85 the year before). This is our family's "lunch system":
**Even tho our school has lunch accounts for each child (you send money in either by check or cash or you can do it electronically for a fee) and the child just gets their lunch and then punches in their PIN code at checkout, we choose to pay cash any time our kids buy lunch to help keep the money "real" as opposed to making it feel like play money. Each week I put $3 for each of my kids on top of the TV stand (1 breakfast, 1 lunch each week). Our cafeteria puts out a monthly calendar that lists what will be available each day of that month. We look at that calendar and then each kid picks out 1 day each week that they would like to buy. I highlight that day's meal with a highlighter (different color for each kid) so that we can keep track of when they wanted to buy instead of pack. When the highlighted day comes, I double check with that kid to see if they really do want to buy or if they would rather pack. If they want to buy, it is their responsibility to get the money off of the TV and put it into their book bag. It's also their responsibility to remember to tell their teacher what they are buying for lunch (I don't know if it's a big deal if they forget...all I know is that each morning the teacher will tell the kids in the room what the choices are and then ask kids who are buying option 1 to raise their hands, then option 2, then 3).
** We do alot of PB&J, PB&banana, and PB&honey sandwiches. My kids don't mind the monotony of the same thing day after day. I have also done banana burritos.....unpeel a banana, smear PB all over it, wrap it in a tortilla. You can also roll the PB covered banana in rice crispies cereal before wrapping it in the tortilla to add a crunch.
** To make PB&J more fun, I'll make PB&J sushi. I take a piece of break, smear PB on it and then a small amount of jelly or honey and then roll that one piece up (like a jelly roll). Then I put 2 tooth picks into the roll (at about 1/4 of the piece away from each end) and then cut the piece in half (between the 2 toothpicks). I usually will put 4 or 6 little sushi pieces into the lunch.
** Another fun way to change up PB&banana is to take a hot dog bun and smear PB all over the inside of it and then plop a banana into the bun. I've also smeared Nutella on the bun instead of the PB and then smooshed PB chips into the banana.
**Also, grilled PB and banana is good (tho, definitely not warm by the time my kids get to eat it)
** I will make our own Lunchables type thing for the kids sometimes. I use cupcake liners to separate the items. I put 8 Ritz crackers in (4 into 2 different liners), then 4 pieces of sliced ham or turkey, and then 4 pieces of cheese. The kids can then make their own little sandwiches or whatever. I've also done mini pizzas (I just make my own tiny pizza crusts OR you can use mini bagels!) and then put a tiny rubbermaid container with sauce into the box as well as a small snack sized baggie with shredded cheese.
** When I make pulled pork for dinner, I'll pack pulled pork sandwiches (my kids do not have access to a microwave at the elementary school....at the high school they will....and they do not like to carry thermos containers)
**I make mini pancakes and then include a small container of syrup (if you don't like to pack a small tupperware container of that, you can order hot cakes from McDonalds and then order extra syrup and save those little containers and pack them). I've also made PB&J with pancakes instead of bread...they LOVE that!
**Ham and cheese skewers are always a hit. I get a block of ColbyJack and cut it into cubes and then take a skewer and alternate pieces of cheese and bologna or rolled ham or rolled turkey on the skewer.
**Chicken salad or tuna salad in pita bread is good. I make my own pita bread and the kids love to have sandwiches with it.
** I always put a bit of fruit or veggie or other healthy item into their lunch. These include: apple slices (my kids don't care if they get discolored, but if yours do, just do a quick dip into lemon juice), grapes, raisins, pistachios (in the shell or out of the shell....doesn't matter with my kids), carrots/celery with ranch, oranges (clementines when in season), cucumbers, black olives, pineapple chunks, peaches, pears, fruit cocktail (I buy a huge #10 can of any of the fruit and then can it in pints the huge amount doesn't spoil...MUCH cheaper that way), hard boiled eggs, pickled red beet eggs and beets, cubed meat and cheese, etc.
**I also put a snack in the lunch: a piece of candy, a few chips, yogurt, jello, animal cookies, pretzels, cookies, brownie pieces, etc. I never put much of any of that in there.
I use what is probably considered a bento box. I got it from Easy Lunchboxes on
Amazon. I got my first set of those 4 years ago and then another set of them last year. The newer ones aren't handling wear as well as the first set did. The plastic seems more brittle than the first set. Their customer service is really good, tho, and I'm going to contact them to replace them.
For more ideas, you can do a search for bento lunches or lunches on Pinterest. Sometimes, even just changing up how the every day PB&J looks is enough to make it taste better.
