Save Money on School Lunches

Yes, it’s entirely possible to save money on school lunches. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Get Your Children Involved in Meal Planning

Help to ensure the food you pack for your children each day doesn’t end up in the cafeteria trash by getting them involved in deciding on their own school lunch options.

Start with making a list of their favorite meals, including snacks and drinks. Construct menus based off of what you’ve compiled together. This ensures your child is eating well and enjoying his or her lunch in the process.

Request they bring home leftovers. It’s the best way to gauge whether or not you’re packing too much food. Make adjustments accordingly. This will mostly, if not completely eliminate food waste as well as save money.

Send Leftovers

If your children enjoyed last night’s dinner, they’ll most likely enjoy it again for lunch the next day. For picky eaters, get creative and make entirely new meals out of these same leftovers. They probably won’t even notice!

As an example, chicken from a previous night can be sliced or chopped and added to a number of different lunch options such as salads, quesadillas, wraps and soups.

Look for Sales

If you find a great sale on lunch-worthy items like deli meats for sandwiches or good quality canned soups, it’s an excellent idea to buy in bulk. I love combining BOGO items with coupons for the deepest discounts. Can’t find a sale on your kids favorites? See if you can find a cheaper alternative at Aldi.

It’s easy to freeze many perishable foods in lunch-sized quantities. Canned goods are simple to stack and save for later. This way, instead of shopping once or twice a week for full-priced products, you have a variety of stockpiled lunch options ready to use on an as-needed basis.

Buy Reusable Containers

Packaging food in plastic baggies each day is not only wasteful and harmful to the environment; it’s also a complete waste of money. What’s the solution? Invest in a few good-quality reusable containers for your child to take to school every day.

Bento boxes are trendy, functional food containers with handy, sub-divided compartments intended to keep foods separated. They allow you to pack fruits and veggies, dipping sauces, sandwiches and desserts all in one container!

Saving money on school lunches doesn’t need to turn into a frustrating chore.   It’s simple, just follow these tips, to see just how easy it can be. Really!