While spending money on official school lunches may not be a bad deal, we prefer to pack our own lunches for a couple of different reasons. The first is that it is easier to control the level of nutrition that my children need (the school lunches often leave my very active, thin son still hungry), the second is that the lunch period is so short that much of it can get wasted just waiting in line for food, and the third is that it is actually cheaper for me to pack a lunch instead of paying for school lunches.
Since this is the Frugal Living Blog, I thought I would share some of my secrets for saving on school lunches.
Incorporate Homemade Snacks
It is just as easy for me to create a double batch of muffins as it is a single batch. The extra muffins can be incorporated as snacks into a school lunch. Although I usually make standard size muffins, you can also make small ones instead of buying those expensive muffin packs at the store.
There are plenty of homemade snacks that you can make for the lunch box. Besides muffins, think about trail mix or granola, cheese and crackers, celery with peanut butter and raisins, and more.
Beyond Peanut Butter
You can really get creative with school lunches. Leftovers can work really well, especially when rolled up in a tortilla or place in a pita pocket. Take your clue from some of the lunch kits out there. You can create them all from scratch using tortillas, cookie cutters and lunch meat.
Don’t forget to make use of insulated containers and thermoses. You can provide a hot lunch even when you pack it yourself.
Buy in Bulk
Buy your snack items and ingredients in bulk and then divvy out lunch size portions. You can use snack or sandwiches bags, or to save money, plastic containers. Raisins, pretzels, carrots, goldfish crackers, cheese, cereal, yogurt, fruit and more can all be bought in larger amounts and then divided. You’ll save a ton over those convenient snack packs and generate less waste, too.
If you do want to use the convenience packs, get them in bulk at a warehouse store, such as BJs, Costco or Sams Club to save some money off of the price.
Consider hitting the bakery thrift stores. The Pepperidge Farm thrift store, for example, sells crackers and cookies for much less than the retail cost. I once got little packages of goldfish, 20 for $1.