School starts again in a few weeks’ time and there are many mothers wondering how they could save money on packed lunches without risking the lunch box coming back home without being touched. All children have their favorite lunches, but even the most delightful peanut butter and jelly sandwiches get boring if that is all you can pack for them.
Most people pack the school lunch into a brown bag, although this means that you do not have to worry about where your plastic containers are or whether your child will throw that reusable bag away, it is boring and the bag doesn’t give you much space to be unique. Mint Life suggests ditching the bag for some plastic containers and here are some other tips which will help you to pack lunches which excite your child.
Snack Packs – Instead of buying the pre-packed bags buy a large container and dispense for your child yourself, works out cheaper and you can buy a variety of large containers to give them a variety of snacks each week.
Durable Thermos – Don’t keep the thermos just for soup during the winter months, placing it in the fridge for a few minutes and putting milk, pudding or anything cold into it will work just as well as putting boiling water into it and putting left over stew or spaghetti.
Picnic Fun – Instead of making sandwiches, put what you would place onto the sandwich into separate small containers and let your child make the sandwich when they ready to eat it, this makes them feel like they are on a picnic in the school yard and if you give this suggestion to their friends mothers they can have some fun sharing their ingredients.
Presentation – If you are a little stuck in the middle of the month, instead of a plain old peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cut the sandwich into the shape of a butterfly or shark to make it more exciting for your child.
Prepare Your week – Instead of trying to figure out what you need in the morning while you running around trying to get everyone dressed and breakfast on the table, spend time on a Sunday washing, cutting, cleaning and doing the preparation for the lunches for the week ahead.
Morning Dash – Instead of trying to fit everything into the hour or two in the morning, prepare the lunches the night before while you are preparing supper. If you wanting to give your child left over supper for lunch the next day you can simply dish it up into the container and place it into the fridge once it has cooled down to room temperature or colder.
Monthly Preparation – Sit down and think of a ‘menu’ for lunches for at least two weeks, then when you do your monthly or weekly grocery shopping you can include any ingredients you require so that each day of the week for two weeks your child has something different, you can then rotate the weeks and days so that each day is an exciting one.
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