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Easy School Lunch Ideas – Healthy Options For Picky Eaters!

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Do you rack your brain trying to make lunches your kids will eat? These 15 cheap and easy school lunch ideas will save you lots of money and time while satisfying your picky eaters!

Do you rack your brain trying to make lunches your kids will eat? These 15 cheap and easy school lunch ideas will save you lots of money and time while satisfying your picky eaters!

Easy School Lunch Ideas

It’s that wonderful time of year that lightens your heart and fills your soul with peace & tranquility. No, I’m not talking about Christmas! I’m talking about school starting!! Yes! Yes! Yes! It’s a bitter-sweet time for most moms. Bitter because you’re back to hectic mornings, finding everyone’s books and papers and trying to get them out of the door on time… because you now have 180 lunches to make over the next nine months if you have one child and 720 if you have four — But hey, who’s counting?

It is sweet because the peaceful quiet that penetrates the house is like gentle music to your ears and you can take a lovely relaxing bubble bath without what sounds like the whole US army trying to break down the bathroom door. Well, now that I think about it, I haven’t known many moms that had the luxury of a bubble bath in the middle of the day but I can dream, can’t I?

I can’t help you find time for that bubble bath but maybe I can help you with those 720 lunches by sharing some healthy and easy school lunch ideas.

Here are some easy school lunch ideas and snack ideas that will satisfy all of your picky eaters:

School lunches don’t have to have exotic ingredients to be healthy, so don’t overthink it! A well balanced lunch including some protein, fruit and veggies and carbohydrates is healthy and kids need a lot of energy throughout the day.

  • To keep drinks cold in lunch boxes, pour a small amount in the bottom of the container (not glass) and then set the cap loosely on top. Put it in the freezer overnight. The next day fill with the rest of the drink. The ice should slowly melt all day long, keeping the beverage cool.
  • Have the kids pre-package chips and cookies in baggies on the weekends. Store in a basket. Grab one as needed for lunches. This is one of the school lunch ideas that will save you the most money.
  • Make a large batch of puddings and gelatins on the weekends. Pour into individual containers and refrigerate.
  • Save the ketchup and mustard packets and napkins you don’t use from the fast food restaurants. Use them in lunch boxes.
  • Puddings – sprinkle with marshmallows, coconut, nuts, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips (for chocolate pudding) or berries (in vanilla pudding)

Here is a recipe for easy homemade granola bars you can use to save money on an easy lunch filler!

You will also find more easy school lunch ideas below in this post and in our post 50 Breakfast and Snack Ideas for Picky Eaters.

This easy granola bars recipe makes homemade healthy granola bars everyone will love! They're perfect for breakfasts, snacks or packed lunches!

[tasty-recipe id=”46400″]

If you like these easy school lunch ideas, check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbooks, which are filled with quick and easy recipes to make your life easier!

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Save money on school lunches or any time the kids need to pack a lunch! Use these easy tips for preparing school lunches for the week in 30 minutes on the weekend.

Do you rack your brain trying to make lunches your kids will eat? These 15 cheap and easy school lunch ideas will save you lots of money and time while satisfying your picky eaters!

Save $600 on school lunches this year!

These days in America, it seems that everyone is so busy that preparing school lunches is liable to push a typical mom right over the edge. When you have to choose between making school lunches or spending that extra 15 minutes in bed, it seems like buying ready-made school lunches at the store is a no-brainer, but your budget doesn’t agree.

The average mom packs $3.00 worth of pre-packaged goodies into each school lunch she sends to school with her kids. (That works out to $1080 for 2 kids.) What mother hasn’t wondered if those lunches are even getting eaten and if there’s an easier way to save money on school lunches?

Try these easy school lunch ideas and tips for things you can do in 30 minutes or less on the weekend to save money on school lunches and make preparation a snap!

Easy School Lunch Ideas To Save Money!

  • Those snack bags of munchies cost a lot! Make your own by pre-packaging chips, pretzels, animal crackers and other snack items into sandwich bags on the weekends. (Have the kids help!) Store them in a big container or basket and just throw them in the lunch box in the morning.
  • Let the kids create their own Pizza lunch kits- Toast bread and cut out little circles with a biscuit cutter. Add small containers of pizza sauce, cheese, and other toppings.
  • Make fruit gelatin and pudding and put in small plastic containers for the week. Make a large batch of granola bars, cookies, pumpkin bread, banana bread or muffins. Divide them into zip top sandwich bags and freeze so that you can grab one or two when needed.
  • Brownie bites are simple to make. Bake brownie mix in mini-muffin pans and put three “brownie bites” in a sandwich bag for each child’s lunch. They freeze well too!
  • Fill thermos (not glass) half full with juice the night before and freeze. In the morning, remove from freezer and fill the rest of the way. The juice will be cold when the kids are ready to drink it and it keeps their food cold too.
  • Clean vegetables, slice into pieces and bag. Preparing a weeks worth of veggies at a time for lunches and snacks saves money and time.
  • Purchase cheese in blocks, cut into pieces and put in sandwich bags.

How To Save Money On Groceries

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It’s easy to learn how to save money on groceries! These easy tips show you painless ways to easily save hundreds of dollars a month on your food bill!

It's easy to learn how to save money on groceries. These easy tips show you painless ways to easily save hundreds of dollars a month on your food bill!

How To Save Money On Groceries

If I said I would give you $150 extra a month to help you pay off your credit cards, lose weight and help your family become healthier, would you accept it? Does it sound too good to be true? The average American family spends 1/4-1/3 of their monthly grocery bill on things to drink but can’t find any extra money to pay off their credit cards. It’s really not that hard to learn how to save money on groceries. In this post, we’ll look at just one way to do it, but there are lots more!

Do you buy sodas, coffee, tea, juice and milk, plus all the things that go into these drinks like creamer, flavorings and sugar? Do you grab a glass of soda, juice or milk instead of a cold glass of water? You may even argue that juice and milk are good for your children.

We all know that fertilizer (food for you grass) is good for your lawn, but too much fertilizer will kill it and if you don’t water it, it will die. I’m beginning to wonder if most of us are more concerned about making sure our yards are watered than our children. Of course they need some milk but like everything else do it in moderation.

Here are few tips to cut the costs of the drinks in your home, save money on groceries and find some extra money to pay off your credit cards:

  • Find out how much milk is actually needed for your child. The USDA recommends that children under 5 get three to four servings of dairy per day. That is 2 cups of milk OR one serving equals one slice of cheese OR ½ container of yogurt. Don’t forget milk added to cereal.
  • Juice is just sugar water. Eat the whole fruit instead and give one glass of juice as a treat for breakfast or snack.
  • Limit the number of glasses of milk or juice given a day. After the allotted amount they get nothing else but water. If they are used to drinking it for meals, either give them one glass (1/2 cup) and when it’s gone they drink water or have them drink water first and then milk after they finish their meal.
Save money on groceries like milk!
  • Use small juice glasses. They give the appearance of more.
  • Don’t fill their sippy cups with juice or milk. Give them water instead.
  • If you put some milk in a cup and they don’t drink it all, put it in the fridge until later.
  • Limit sodas to a treat once or twice a week.
  • Don’t dilute your juice with extra water. Not only does this not taste very good but by “stretching” the juice you teach your kids bad eating habits by giving into their demands for juice instead of giving them water.
  • Keep water in the fridge. After water has set, the chlorine evaporates and the water also tastes better cold.
  • Add a small amount of lemon juice to your water if you don’t like the taste.
  • Be careful to shop wisely. Sometimes buying name brand flavored or specialty coffees on sale costs less than making your own.
  • Use powdered milk instead of creamer in coffee or tea or try mixing your creamer half and half with dry milk.
  • After making coffee save the coffee filter and the coffee grounds in the maker. Add your coffee for the next day on top of the old grounds. This way you can use each filter 2 or 3 times. Buy a reusable coffee filter. They last for years.
  • If you run out of coffee filters, use a paper towel until you can get to the store to buy more.
  • You don’t always have to make a full pot of coffee. Just make one or 2 cups at time.
  • Save extra coffee in a thermos instead of making a new batch or buy a smaller coffee maker.
  • To make flavored tea, add a package of flavored drink mix to each pot of tea.
  • For leftover soda – Combine 2 cups of flat soda with 1 package of unflavored or same flavored gelatin to make a rich flavored gelatin. This is particularly good with root beer, orange and grape sodas.

Here are some easy recipes for drink treats to help you save money on groceries:

This easy Orange Julius recipe is a creamy orange smoothie just like the ones at the mall. Starting with orange juice and ice cream, it makes a perfectly refreshing cool treat for warm summer days!
This easy Cafe Vienna recipe is a delicious homemade specialty coffee. Creamy like a mocha but with a cinnamon orange flavor, it is sure to please the coffee lover in your family. 
Save money with this easy Swiss Mocha recipe! It’s a less expensive way to enjoy this tasty treat and works well as a jar mix that you can give as a gift!

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Are We Really Depriving Our Kids?

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Are we really depriving kids by not buying them enough stuff? Are you overwhelmed or do you struggle with guilt about whether you buy enough for them?

Are we really depriving kids by not buying them enough stuff? Are you overwhelmed or do you struggle with guilt about whether you buy enough for them?

Are We Really Depriving Our Kids?

By Jill Cooper

I often hear ladies complaining that they want to stay at home with their kids but that they “have to work since it is so expensive to raise kids these days”. One of the main questions I get asked about frugal living is “won’t I be depriving my children if I spend less?” Maybe I can answer that question with a few questions.

How am I depriving my children by having them drink water for every meal instead of juice and soda? Isn’t one thing doctors are always complaining about is we don’t drink enough water? Cutting out just one glass of soda per person per day for a family of four would save $547.50 a year and make them healthier.

How am I depriving my children by having them eat an apple or homemade granola bar for a snack instead of a bag of chips? Obesity is a major problem among children in the United States. If you cut out just one bag of chips a week you would save $104.00 a year and make them healthier.

How am I depriving my children by having them walk to school or to a friends house instead of my always driving them there? Lack of exercise is a big problem. You would save time and wear and tear on your car by having them walk and make them healthier at the same time.

How am I depriving my kids when I don’t buy them every toy they see and want? We wouldn’t dream of giving a baby on baby food all the chocolate that he wants because we know it would make him sick. His body can not tolerate that much chocolate even if he desires it.

In the same way, an older child can’t emotionally deal with the overload of toys. I as an adult become stressed just from trying to buy a bottle of shampoo. Have you ever noticed how many options you have? Trying to make a decision can be overwhelming. Do I get it for thin, fine, dry and damaged or colored and permed hair? The list goes on and on.

In the same way when a young child looks at piles of toys, he can become very stressed over choosing which one to play with. If you watch, you will notice that they tend to play with the same couple of toys over and over. If you didn’t give them all the toys they asked for and bought one less brand new toy at $10 a week, you would save $520.00 in one year and you would help relieve them of some stress.

It is no wonder our children stay confused. We insist that they should eat healthy yet we take them out to eat 3-5 times a week at McDonald’s. We give them a bag of carrot sticks in their lunch because it’s healthy and then give them a bag of chips when they get home from school to get them off our backs.

We want them to have strong character yet the moment they whine or cry for another toy or some candy at the store we give in out of guilt. We are afraid that if we don’t give them what they want, they won’t love us so to rid ourselves of uncomfortable feelings we say yes. How can we teach them to be strong in character when we are so weak?

How could our society and way of thinking have gotten so mixed up that we think a child is deprived if a mom chooses to stay home and not go to work? We have come to believe that moms should work outside the home so that children can have the most expensive clothes, education or material things. (Note I didn’t say best but rather most expensive since the most expensive doesn’t mean the best.) If a mom goes to work so a child can have all those things it’s not considered depriving the child of anything but it’s mom. Which do you think does a child more harm- being deprived expensive things or it’s mom?

For you stay at home moms: Before you become too puffed up with pride be aware that too many social, church and school activities can deprive your kids of you just as much as working. Do all things in moderation.

Better to give your kids your values you have than the valuables you can’t afford.

For lots of easy and practical ways to save money and get out of debt, check out our Dig out Of Debt e-book and learn more about how to keep more of your money.