Thanks to all those who have asked what I do for school lunches. I want my kids to eat healthy meals and don't like much of what is served at school, nor can I pay for it. Lunches add up quickly when you are buying for multiple kids! Heck, they add up for one kid! Even buying pre-made things at the store (pudding/ jello cups, granola bars, string cheese, etc) adds up too quickly for us. So here is what I have found works for us, although to warn you: it does take prep work.
First, I make a lot of my own bread. Not all of it, but most of it. I already have several extra loaves of bread frozen in my deep freezer for when I need them. I also go to the discount bread store and will buy bread there. My local grocery store will frequently discount about to expire bread and I will buy as much of that as I can and freeze it as well. I'm all about cheap. I get 100% whole wheat bread with the occasional white loaf because grilled cheese is just better on that and the boys will take leftovers of that for lunches.
We don't do milk or juice boxes for lunch. My kids get milk for breakfast and dinner, so they are covered in that area. Juice boxes cost a lot and are extra calories they don't need. I buy small water bottles that are 8 oz. and we freeze them the night before. The boys take them out of the freezer in the morning and put them in their lunch box. By the time it is lunch time the water is defrosted and their lunches are still chilled. They bring them home, wash them out, and refill them for the next day.
My boys are normal kids and they like jello cups, just like everyone else. I make ours. generic brands of jello go on sale all the time so I stock up on them when they are cheap and use them for lunches. I bought a bunch of 1/2 cup containers and pour the jello into them and refrigerate for lunch. Sometimes I will also add fruit to the jello. I have also done pudding in the past but my kids don't like it very much so I don't make those any more.
The jello containers. Please ignore the messy fridge.
We do fruit and vegetables for lunches, too. We pick apples each fall and I make applesauce. These containers have homemade applesauce for lunches, but you could just as easily buy a big bottle of applesauce at the store and do the same thing. I can peaches, too, so they can also take peaches when we have them (they are gone right now). I put together baggies of fresh fruits and vegetables. Grapes are a good choice for us as are cucumber slices. They will also eat carrots, blueberries, etc. I sometimes get a large containers of plain, non-fat Greek yogurt and add a package of Ranch Dressing mix to it. The boys can take small containers of that to dip their vegetables in.
Some fruit - I need to go shopping!
I have a box in the pantry for other lunch stuff. They can pick one item a day from it. I make
granola bars and put them in snack sized bags. Those go in this box. Occasionally I will buy a bag of chips on sale and divide them into baggies that also go in here. Cookies go in here as well. I frequently make cookie dough and freeze it. I make individual balls and flash freeze them so all I have to do is turn on the oven and let them bake when we want cookies for lunches. And this way I can make as few or as many as I like. If I can keep my husband out of them!
Sandwiches aren't fun all the time so some other things I make are Pizza Muffins and Ham Muffins. I'll get those recipes posted soon. I can make a double batch of each and freeze them for lunches. The boys take them out in the morning and the are thawed by lunch time. We will do roll-ups from time to time as well - tortillas with lunch meat and cheese, but those are more expensive so they are a treat.
Well, those are my lunch ideas and what we do. Feel free to chime in with your ideas!
