A couple months ago I found these. Mash Ups. My kids LOVE them. I love that they love them. I love that they contain a fruit, a vegetable, no sugar, no high fructose corn syrup, and no dye. What I don't love is the price. $4.49 a box. That is 1.12 per pouch. A sucker punch to the food budget.
I bought some today. And here is my receipt.
I am going to put them in their school lunches.
Which leads me to my next topic...
I have been struggling with the decision to pack my girls' lunches or have them eat school lunch.
Lunch cost at our school is $1.90 per meal. For us that comes to $76 a month and they don't even really use it. For example: Last year Breanna would come home and I would ask her what she ate for lunch. Crackers, cheese, and milk. WHAT!!! I am pretty sure I can get her crackers, cheese and milk for a whole lot less than $1.90. And did I mention a half pint of milk is .50, that comes to $8 per gallon. Would you pay $8 for a gallon of milk?
So this year, new plan. I will take the extra time to pack them a nutritious lunch that I know they will eat. The hard part is figuring out what to pack. A hot lunch at home is so much easier than a cold lunch to take to school. I will take any suggestions. Abigail will eat most anything, but Breanna, miss picky. No raw veggies and no meat. I would rather her not have PB & J everyday. So the search is on for healthy, cold foods that my daughters will consume.
So an added trial to my $300 a month budget is school lunch. I'll let you know how it all works for me. And seriously on the ideas for lunches will be greatly appreciated. Just keep in mind we are shooting for healthy here.
2 comments:
Luke is allergic to peanut butter, so we do a lot of nutella, which I think is chocolate :-( , Pastas are good...salad? The beneto boxes are cool to put lunches in. We pack 100% of the time, the food processing in school lunches is too much for us!
I am there with you on school lunch. We started a number of years ago having them take because of the nutritional value. Also, it's cheaper. It's hard to figure out what they'll eat though. I try to focus on balanced and good choices rather than a typical "lunchy" menu. My kids hate sandwiches. Sometimes they will take a tortilla rolled up with meat and cheese. The possibilties would be endless there with combinations of veggies and so forth. Sometimes they like ritz crackers(I buy whole wheat ritz) with pb or meat and cheese. If they would rather take the meat and cheese with no crackers, I don't freak out because they get enough grains elsewhere. Sometimes they take leftover pizza or hotdogs and eat them cold. (Keep in mind, I'm not saying hotdogs are healthy but it's an example to think out of the box.) Lexi likes plain noodles (I make noodles with butter, salt and pepper)so if we have a container of that leftover she loves to take and eat it cold.
My kids take yogurt and applesauce. I have the ziploc small round containers that are a good portion size. That way I can buy the big tubs of yogurt and applesauce and therefore cheaper.
They like cheese sticks but those get pricey as well. Sometimes I take a block of cheese and cut it into cubes. They think it's fun and get calcium besides:)
I like to cut up veggies and bag them at the beginning of the week so they can grab and go. They also are more willing to take fruit if it's pre-cut and put in containers.
For drinks, they take a water bottle. The small ones from sam's or any water bottle works as long as it doesn't leak. I don't have them buy milk because they drink alot at home. Juice boxes and bags get expensive and I limit that anyway. None of my kids complain about water for lunch because it's just what we do. They are usually pretty thirsty by then anyway.
Hope this helps! I totally support you sending them lunch. Try to keep in mind that this kind of change, like any other, might be met with resistance at first. But persevere! They will come around:)..
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