Creative, Healthy Lunch Box Ideas

My son went back to school this week. At his old school, hot lunch was not an option; all kids brought their lunches from home. He can get hot lunch at his new school, but for the sake of our pocketbook and his health (my son gets WIRED with sugar), we are only allowing him to get hot lunch once a week. We pick the two healthiest choices and let him choose the one he wants.

Meanwhile, we are trying to avoid the lunch box boredom by packing him something different AND good for him each day. Today we packed him a Cola BBQ sandwich, mixed fruit and pretzels














A little earlier in the week we packed him Beefy Cornbread Muffins, apples, and cucumber.













Both of these main meals were made during my freezer cooking bout earlier this month, so they required very little effort on my part for packing.

If you are looking for some other creative lunch ideas for your children as they head back to school, here are a few sites that have creative sack lunch ideas:

Easy Lunchboxes
You can click on Neat Ideas and then either "Gallery of Yummy Lunches," or "Lunch Making Hints and Tips" or "Lunch Recipe Ideas." There are tons of ideas on this site and many links to other good ones.

Life as Mom
Follow the link and you will find a host of recipes for lunch boxes shared by readers (yours truly included).

Family Fun
If you want to get really creative, check out these artistic sandwich ideas. I have only linked to the sandwiches, but they have several other categories such as snacks for school, snacks for after school, etc.

Do you have a great box lunch idea? If so, leave a comment. I would love to hear it and be inspired!

I shared this post at What's For Lunch Wednesday and Life as Mom.

How I Got My Son's Uniforms at a Significant Savings

I am used to buying my kid's clothes at a significant discount (Read how I do it here.) However, this year my son started a private school that requires uniforms. I was shocked at the prices because it has been so long since I had bought kids' clothes at regular prices!

I checked the school's website and learned that they offered a uniform exchange. One day in July I went down to the school basement with the school secretary who nicely offered to rummage through bags of uniforms with me. We find four pairs of used shorts, five short sleeve shirts and one long sleeve shirt in my son's size. Those were free to me.

Then, when JCPenney ran sales such as $10 off an order, I bought two long sleeve shirts and so did my mom. (I paid her back for these.) (I bought the shirts one size bigger than my son wears so he can also wear them next year.) I also bought 3 pairs of long pants when they were on sale and buy one get one half price (the 4th pair of pants was a black pair for my son's dance recital; he can't wear black pants to school).

Just last week I did have to buy the belt ($6.99) and the school gym uniforms ($54.65) from the uniform store for full price. (The gym clothes have the school's name and logo on them, so I couldn't buy them any where else.)

All told, I spent $144.60 to outfit my son in uniforms for the year. If I had just bought at full price from the uniform store, my cost would have been $329.94. That is a savings of 56%.

Now, in the next few weeks, I plan to watch for sales on uniforms as the school year begins. I will then stock up for next year. Hopefully I can get them even cheaper.

Back to School Supplies--The Last Report

Ah, I have finished my back to school shopping. Yeah. My only questionable purchase was the Ziplock bags. I could only find the produce type in gallon size, so I am not sure if these will work.

His school is very specific about the brand of some items on his school supply list. Here is the exact list:

Quantity - Description
1 Large Backpack
1 Crayola brand crayons – 24 count (No larger amounts please!)
6 7 oz glue sticks (Large glue sticks or twice as many small ones)
8 #2 pencils
1 Pink eraser
1 Box markers – Mr. Sketch or Crayola Classic brand (Broad Tip)
1 Box Addition and Subtraction flash cards for use at home
1 Fiskars brand scissors
2 Rolls of paper towels
1 Jumbo box of tissue
1 Container of wetHAND WIPES-Not Lysol or Bleach… used for cleaning hands
1 Gallon size box of Zip Lock bags
1 Plastic pencil box
1 Wallet size photo of student
1 Ream of copy paper – white
1 Package of either 7 oz cups, 5 oz cups or paper napkins

This past Sunday I bought the following at Meijer:
1 box gallon size Ziploc bags – 2.79
1 pkg. napkins--$1.62
1 container Wet Wipes—2.26
Total--$6.67

(When did napkins and Ziploc bags become part of the back to school supply list????)

In the previous weeks we bought:
Office Max--1 ream of paper (free after Max Perks rebate)
Meijer—24 ct. box of Crayola Crayons .25, 3 glue sticks .75
We started shopping today and ended up with the following:
CVS—large box of tissue—$0.06
Walgreens—Fiskars scissors--$0.99, 2 rolls of paper towel - -2.00, 8 pack of pencils--.09
Office Depot—Mr. Sketch Markers--$0.00 (cost 7.99 but will mail in for a 7.99 rebate)
Target—6 glue sticks--$1.20 (I will still need to buy more because I am 18 oz. short of what is requiredTotal--$5.34

Grand Total --$12.01, $2.99 under budget.

Code for 10% off Easy Lunch Box Systems

For those of you who entered the Easy Lunch Box System giveaway from EasyLunchBox.com but did not win, if you would like to order one of them, you can use the code GREENIT now through Labor Day to receive 10% off your order.

My family loves this system. You can read my full review here.

Back to School Challenge, 8/2/10

As I mentioned last week, I am trying to get all of the items for my son’s first grade school supply list under $15. Until school starts, I will be updating weekly on my success.

His school is very specific about the brand of some items on his school supply list. Here is the exact list:

Quantity - Description
1 Large Backpack
1 Crayola brand crayons – 24 count (No larger amounts please!)
6 7 oz glue sticks (Large glue sticks or twice as many small ones)
8 #2 pencils
1 Pink eraser
1 Box markers – Mr. Sketch or Crayola Classic brand (Broad Tip)
1 Box Addition and Subtraction flash cards for use at home
1 Fiskars brand scissors
2 Rolls of paper towels
1 Jumbo box of tissue
**1 Container of wetHAND WIPES-Not Lysol or Bleach… used for cleaning hands
**1 Gallon size box of Zip Lock bags
1 Plastic pencil box
1 Wallet size photo of student
1 Ream of copy paper – white
**1 Package of either 7 oz cups, 5 oz cups or paper napkins

This past Sunday I bought the following at Walgreens:
2 rolls of paper towel – 2.00
8 pack of pencils--.09
Total--$2.09

In the previous weeks we bought:
Office Max--1 ream of paper (free after Max Perks rebate)
Meijer—24 ct. box of Crayola Crayons .25, 3 glue sticks .75
We started shopping today and ended up with the following:
CVS—large box of tissue—$0.06
Walgreens—Fiskars scissors--$0.99
Office Depot—Mr. Sketch Markers--$0.00 (cost 7.99 but will mail in for a 7.99 rebate)
Target—6 glue sticks--$1.20 (I will still need to buy more because I am 18 oz. short of what is requiredTotal--$3.25

Our total cost thus far--$5.34

**Items denoted are what we still need to buy.

Guest Post - Alternative Sources for Back to School Clothing

You can tell it is back to school time when the Staples commercial that proclaims it’s the most wonderful time of the year where the kids are dreading going back to the classroom and the parents are ecstatic about having the kids back out of the house during the day is airing. Back to school shopping can be expensive, so the important thing is finding some items that complement that back to school shopping on a budget.

Some of the best places to find deals are under the radar, and one suggestion would be to go to consignment stores/shops. These stores offer a lot of stationary items, clothing for extremely cheap prices, children’s games/toys, as well as all sorts of great miscellaneous items like tennis and dress shoes.

If you are trying to find a local consignment shop you have a couple of options. You may use the traditional phone book to browse around, drive around the main streets in your town until you come across a store, or you can use the internet sites like Garage Sales Tracker which have a directory of consignment shops as well as garage sales on the web as well as well as turn by turn directions via their iPhone application.

If you are looking in the phone book for sales, you can either go to the shopping part of the phone book and then go to either the C’s for consignments or check out T’s for the Thrift Store directory as well. Some common places around the country such as Good-Will Stores and Salvation Army may have their own alphabetical listing.

If driving around to find shops is your preferred method, then check out the main streets in your town/neighborhood as often consignment shops will reside on the corners of strip malls.

If the internet is your chosen medium for finding a local store, then you can either Google consignment shops in (your city, your state) or utilize the search feature with Garage Sales Tracker where you can simply input your zip code and distance that you are willing to travel and then, voila, you will receive turn by turn driving directions and a map from Google.

No matter how you find your local consignment stores, the point is that it’s a different way to find, shop, and save tremendously right before the kids go back to school. These days clothes, shoes, notebooks, and accessories are getting more expensive, so I’m always glad to look down at my brand new Nikes knowing I only spent $25.00 on them thanks to a consignor!

This article was produced by Rich of Garage Sales Tracker who has been frugally bargain hunting since he was a kid attending flea markets, consignment/thrift shops, and yard sales and has helped turned the hobby into a website that allows people from all over the country to find all local sales in an easy to use manner born from the frustrations of not having a central resource for all of the places he loves to shop.

Back to School Challenge Update 7/26/10

As I mentioned last week, I am trying to get all of the items for my son’s first grade school supply list under $15. Until school starts, I will be updating weekly on my success.

His school is very specific about the brand of some items on his school supply list. Here is the exact list:

Quantity - Description
1 Large Backpack
1 Crayola brand crayons – 24 count (No larger amounts please!)
6 7 oz glue sticks (Large glue sticks or twice as many small ones)
*8 #2 pencils
1 Pink eraser
1 Box markers – Mr. Sketch or Crayola Classic brand (Broad Tip)
1 Box Addition and Subtraction flash cards for use at home
1 Fiskars brand scissors
*2 Rolls of paper towels
1 Jumbo box of tissue
*1 Container of wetHAND WIPES-Not Lysol or Bleach… used for cleaning hands
*1 Gallon size box of Zip Lock bags
1 Plastic pencil box
1 Wallet size photo of student
1 Ream of copy paper – white
*1 Package of either 7 oz cups, 5 oz cups or paper napkins

This past Sunday I bought the following at Office Max:
1 ream of paper (free after Max Perks rebate)

In the previous two weeks we bought:
Meijer—24 ct. box of Crayola Crayons .25, 3 glue sticks .75
CVS—large box of tissue—$0.06
Walgreens—Fiskars scissors--$0.99
Office Depot—Mr. Sketch Markers--$0.00 (cost 7.99 but will mail in for a 7.99 rebate)
Target—6 glue sticks--$1.20 (I will still need to buy more because I am 18 oz. short of what is requiredTotal--$3.25

Our total cost thus far--$3.25

*Items denoted are what we still need to buy.

Back To School Supply Challenge Update

As I mentioned last week, I am trying to get all of the items for my son’s first grade school supply list under $15. Until school starts, I will be updating weekly on my success.

His school is very specific about the brand of some items on his school supply list. Here is the exact list:

Quantity Description
1 Large Backpack
1 Crayola brand crayons – 24 count (No larger amounts please!)
6 7 oz glue sticks (Large glue sticks or twice as many small ones)
8 #2 pencils
1 Pink eraser
1 Box markers – Mr. Sketch or Crayola Classic brand (Broad Tip)
1 Box Addition and Subtraction flash cards for use at home
1 Fiskars brand scissors
2 Rolls of paper towels
1 Jumbo box of tissue
1 Container of wetHAND WIPES-Not Lysol or Bleach… used for cleaning hands
1 Gallon size box of Zip Lock bags
1 Plastic pencil box
1 Wallet size photo of student
1 Ream of copy paper – white
1 Package of either 7 oz cups, 5 oz cups or paper napkins

This past Saturday I bought the following at Meijer:
24 count box of Crayola Crayons--.25
3 glue sticks--.75
Total--$1.00

Last week we bought:
CVS—large box of tissue—$0.06
Walgreens—Fiskars scissors--$0.99
Office Depot—Mr. Sketch Markers--$0.00 (cost 7.99 but will mail in for a 7.99 rebate)
Target—6 glue sticks--$1.20 (I will still need to buy more because I am 18 oz. short of what is required
Total--$2.25

Our total cost thus far--$3.25

I am hoping to swing by CVS and Walgreen’s and pick up some more deals early in the week.

Back to School Supply Challenge

My little boy is starting 1st grade! I can hardly believe it. His preschool went through kindergarten, so this year he is starting at a new school. With this new school comes many expenses such as tuiton, uniforms (I’ll post about ways I saved money on those in the next few weeks) and his school supplies.

His school is very specific about the brand of some items on his school supply list. Here is the exact list:

Quantity/Description
1 Large Backpack
1 Crayola brand crayons – 24 count (No larger amounts please!)
6 7 oz glue sticks (Large glue sticks or twice as many small ones)
8 #2 pencils
1 Pink eraser
1 Box markers – Mr. Sketch or Crayola Classic brand (Broad Tip)
1 Box Addition and Subtraction flash cards for use at home
1 Fiskars brand scissors
2 Rolls of paper towels
1 Jumbo box of tissue
1 Container of wetHAND WIPES-Not Lysol or Bleach… used for cleaning hands
1 Gallon size box of Zip Lock bags
1 Plastic pencil box
1 Wallet size photo of student
1 Ream of copy paper – white
1 Package of either 7 oz cups, 5 oz cups or paper napkins

I have made it my challenge to not spend more than $15 (not including tax) on all of these supplies. I have several weeks’ worth of ads coming up before he needs all of the supplies, so I am confident I can do it.

We started shopping today and ended up with the following:
CVS—large box of tissue—$0.06
Walgreens—Fiskars scissors--$0.99
Office Depot—Mr. Sketch Markers--$0.00 (cost 7.99 but will mail in for a 7.99 rebate)
Target—6 glue sticks--$1.20 (I will still need to buy more because I am 18 oz. short of what is required

Our total cost thus far--$2.25
He does already have the plastic pencil box and erasers, so I won’t have to buy those.

I’ll report back next week and let you know how we are doing.