Cheap school lunches

When Tommy started Kindergarten, he begged me to bring cold lunch.  I wanted him to learn to eat whatever was put in front of him.  So, being the mean mom I am, he ate hot lunch.  All year.  Every day.  Except for on his birthday when I surprised him with a Happy Meal.  Dad and I go to lunch with him at least every couple of weeks.  I have to say, I love his school, but the large majority of the food is really bad.  And greasy or salty.

It was cheap, though.  Or so I thought.  I used to tell Tommy that if I could make his lunch for any less (than the $2.05 it costs at school), I would.  Well, guess what?  Where there's a will, there's a way.  I make every single one of his lunches for SEVENTY FIVE CENTS or LESS!  And 75c is on the high end of the spectrum!  The average is about 56-60 cents!

How do I do this?  I'll show you.  Now, mind you, these portions are for a six year old, so they're fairly small, but are more than enough.  He eats it all and has always said he's had enough to eat.  Here's a couple of examples of his lunches we've been taking to summer school...

Here is a homemade hot dog bun with one piece of bologna and a half piece of American cheese.  A banana, 8 Pringles, 2 Cookies and about 6oz Kool Aid type drink mix.  I fill this thermos about 1/2 full.  This whole meal came to 52 CENTS! 

This next meal has 1/3 of an apple, a small burrito containing <1/8# ground beef and 1/2 slice cheese, 

Aldi's 'cheetos', 5 Vanilla Wafers (Aldi) and Mixaide. This came to 74 cents. This has been our highest priced lunch as tortillas aren't as cheap as I'd hoped.  May have to look into making my own.

Bologna and cheese 1/2 sandwich on homemade white bread, 12 pretzels, 1/4 of an orange, 2 cookies and Mixaide.  This lunch takes the prize at .41 CENTS!  That just makes me happy!

Pig in a blanket (recipe HERE), carrots, berries, Mixaide, 1T ranch, 3 butter cookies. (45.5 cents total!)

Taco w/cheese (Recipe HERE), 1/4 orange, Mixaide, Cheese Nips, animal crackers.  48.5 cents total!

Hot dog on homemade bun (recipe HERE) with cheese, carrots, corn chips, vanilla wafers, Mixaide.  

41 1/2CENTS!

Now, you might say...wait a minute...Kool Aid?! Are you crazy!?  Well, yes. Yes, I am.  Thank you.  But because I don't think milk travels well and I don't want to spend the 35c they charge at school, thus throwing off my cost-cutting plan,  I'm giving him 6oz (or less) of Mixaide (off-brand Kool Aid) for one meal.  At first, I felt like a horrible mom for doing this, but you know what?  It's cheap, he likes it, it's the only serving he gets a day, and it travels well.  Besides, he has milk with breakfast and dinner.  That's enough for the day.  I'm okay with that.

Our average school lunch comes to about 56 cents.  That is almost one fourth of what the school charges.  I never imagined I could make it so inexpensively.  It takes a lot of watching portions, careful purchasing (mostly at Aldi's), making your own bread/rolls and not buying food that comes in convenient little packages or pouches.  He's still getting the goodies he likes and I'm saving a lot of money.  This is going to save us $33 a MONTH this next year!  That's $300 for the school year!  That's just crazy good!

Great bargains at Aldi's to help you save money with school lunches:

• Cookies that taste just like Oreos, but they're only $1.49!   Golden ones and double stuff Chocolate!  I've never found an off brand that tastes the same, but these really do!
• Cheetos (their own brand)  $1.19 for 8.5oz.  I use 1/2C serving, which costs .07 cents!  Watch the portions; this is key to making your lunch affordable.  Try to think how much they need, not how much they want. 
• Sliced American Cheese (the good kind...not the ones in individual wrappers that taste like plastic, blech!)  $2.99 for 24 slices. I only use 1/2 slice per lunch, which comes to 6cents!  Remember, these have a lot of sodium in them and they just don't need that much.
• Flour/Sugar/Milk to make homemade bread/buns.  Flour: $1.39 for 5# bag, Sugar: $2.39 for 4# bag,  Milk $1.99 per Gallon, EVERY day!  Click HERE to find my homemade hot dog bun recipe and  HERE for bread recipe.  If you have a bread machine, it doesn't take much work and costs just pennies.  (.05 per slice of bread, 7 to 8 cents for a hot dog bun)  To me, it's worth the extra effort to save this money.
• Clancy's potato chips...these taste just as good as the big brands at $1.39 per bag!  I give a smaller portion because my son is so young.  I give him about 10 chips, which costs about 8 cents.
• Mixaide:  This is Aldi's answer to Kool Aid and it tastes great.  These come in a 12 packet bundle for .89cents!  That's only 7 cents a packet.  The way I make it, after adding sugar and water, it comes to 2 cents per 6oz serving.  Click HERE to see my recipe to save even more money on this!  
• Bananas (and other fruit): I got a bunch of bananas the other day that had 9 small bananas in it for .79 cents!!  That's less that 9cents each!  
• Oranges:  You have to buy them by the bag, but they're a great deal.  I got a bag of 10 navel oranges for $2.49 the other day.  That's only a quarter a piece.  Since I send only 1/4 of an orange, that's 6 cents for the serving!  Again, portion control is a lot of this.  There's no sense in sending a whole orange if 3/4 of it will end up in the trash.
• Vanilla Wafers:  I got a 12oz box for $1.39 and these taste better than the name brand ones!  They don't have that bitter aftertaste.  These come to ONE penny each!  I usually send 5.  He looks at this as his treat or 'dessert', so we're both happy.

• Pringles:  I got these at Dollar General for a buck!  It is the smaller package, but it's worth it.  I send a 1/2 portion of what is suggested on the can.  He gets 8 Pringles and it only costs .10 cents!  This is actually one of our higher priced lunch items.
• Unless something is on major clearance, avoid buying those convenient little pre-packaged cookies/crackers/drinks.  These are designed to pluck your "I don't have time" chord and lure you into paying 3 to 4 times as much for a convenience item.  Don't buy it, literally and figuratively.  With a little planning (the night before), you can easily do this yourself.  I don't even have to think about it anymore.

I hope this information helps you to put together some lunches for your child(ren) that will help you save money.  It's all in just investing a little more time and thought into it...that's all!   It's so easy once you get the hang of it, I promise!

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