Frugal Friday: Lunchboxes

Everybody knows that packing your lunch, most times, is cheaper than buying your lunch. And most times, my boys pack their lunch for school (I say this as my boy is currently on his way to school with $2 tucked securely into his pocket for a hot lunch! i did say most!). Not only do I find it more inexpensive for them to pack their own lunch, I feel like it's healthier, and makes my kids more responsible (if they want to eat, they better pack something!). Now, if you buy all your lunchbox fixin's pre-packaged, then you might not be cheaper or healthier, but you will still help build responsibility. I buy some items pre-packaged, but not all. I also try and get away with making at home a lot of what you can buy pre-packaged. So lets start with what to put into a sacklunch...

The base, or the "entree'', what to start with and "pack your lunch around"...
Here are a few suggestions:

• Sandwich (so many possibilities... bologna, PB&J, egg salad, ham salad, tuna salad, etc...)
  
• Last nights left over pizza (kids LOVE this)
• Soup
• Pasta (either left over or Chef Boyardee ravs or whatever)
• Wrap (tortilla, lettuce, veggies, salad dressing, chunks of meat)

The other components I try to have in a lunch are: either some crackers or chips (the salty), a fruit or veggie (the healthy), a dessert (self explainatory), and a drink.

For the salty:
Get a big bag of chips or box of crackers and break down into individual baggies for easy lunch packing. I like to do this as soon as I purchase a package so that it doesn't get mistaken for "sit on the couch and finish and one sitting" type of food.

For the healthy:
Really, any fruit or veggie works...

• carrot sticks, celery sticks, pepper strips, cucumber slices zucchini slices or sticks... any of those with a small container of salad dressing for dipping.
• grapes
• a banana
• an apple or apple slices and peanut butter for dipping
• oranges slices

For dessert:
Something simple...

• a couple of homemade cookies
• jello (made at home and put into the small snack size plastic tubs)
• pudding (ditto above suggestion)
• brownie (also homemade)

The drink:
Most of the time I will just send 30 cents in for a milk purchase, but, we have done our own drinks also. I love the individual packets of drink mix you can get these days. You take a recycled water or soda bottle, fill it up with water and mix in the packet to make either lemonade, or tea, or kool aid... so many options out there. We have also found individual packets of chocolate milk mix... just mix into a bottle of milk! You can also go a little cheaper and mix up the big container and just pour into the bottle to save a little money.

I also like to have a "bonus" item a lot of the time, and that is either a granola bar or something of the like. I just recently made my own granola bars and the kids liked them! It was easy to do and I already had all the ingredients on hand for it. Look for a recipe for your favorite snacks, you might be surprised how easy it is to make your own!

There are so many options out there.... So make lunchtime fun and get creative!