I may need to post this in the grocery forum, but I thought I would start here. School lunches have gone up to $2.75 here for middle & elem school. As a cost saving measure, we are all brown bagging it a bit more. What are your best lunch box strategies? I buy the big bag of chips and break them up into individual size bags for the kids to pick from. I have tried making my own lunchables (healthier versions), and we are trying to shop smart. I just don't want them to be totally bored day in and day out. Milk is 60 cents a pop- amazing. I did find single serve milk at GFS for half that price.

We're brown bagging it here too. I like hearing/seeing lunch ideas.
What is GFS?

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My oldest (high school) takes her lunch. She says the line is too long and she'd rather take her lunch so she can eat versus stand in line so long. Youngest (middle school) eats hot lunch at school. Both schools are $2.00 for lunch.

We keeps salmon & tuna packets. I think they're .92 each at WalMart and very healthy, needs no refrigeration. I buy the 24 packs of single serve lite fruit at Sams, we keep single serve chips. I used to buy the bags and let them put it into baggies, but their serving sizes gradually got too big, so I go ahead and buy the single serve chips. We keep Little Debbie snacks - if it's a twin pack, they have to open it and just take one and wrap the other for tomorrow. They don't need 2 treats. Oldest takes cheese & crackers a lot or a pb sandwich. I also keep boxes of granola bars and those snack crackers - pb, cheese, etc.

Whenever I try to offer other ideas, so doesn't want to mess with it. Very rarely we'll have something leftover from dinner that appeals to her, but she doesn't like to bring stuff back home. She likes to brown bag & throw it away. So, I've started saving plastic tubs that I normally wouldn't re-use - ie: frosting tubs, margarine tubs - and if she wants something like that she can use one of those tubs and pitch it at school.

Lisa

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My kids brown bag it (well lunch box it) 3 out of 5 days a week or more (our lunch including milk are $1.75 each)

I bought 6 Alladin small thermoses on Amazon for $4.99 each plus got 2 free with promo end of school year. We love those. They don't leak and fit in the lunch boxes.

The kids get a sandwich, soup or easy mac as their "main course". I buy the big bags of chips and break them down. They get an applesauce cup or fruit cup (purchased either in bulk or on sale). That is usually all they have time to eat. They get milk or chai to drink or a juice box (bought in bulk) or on a cold day, hot cocoa. My kids are just simple. I could pack the same lunch every day and they would be fine. They don't like me to try to get creative. I will throw a dessert in there once a week...maybe twice. I bought some tough plastic sliverware at 75% off at Target a couple of years back and they take that to school if needed and bring it home to wash.

Ask them what they would want. I thought my kids would be bored but they were very happy with the same lunch. My kids also like dried fruit, fresh veggies with dip and salad. Sometimes my DD just wants cheese and crackers

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They raised our lunches to $2.60 this year and with my youngest going full day, $5.20 a day for lunches is too much! So they are going to be packing most of the time.

I'm curious, does the mac & cheese and soup stay warm enough in the thermos? Kelsey is only 6 and she would not be able to heat anything at school.

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I can count on my hands the number of times that my oldest DS, now a college student, ate school lunch. He preferred Mom's lunch bag to the cafeteria offerings. He also found that if he had to wait in line, he didn't end up with enogh time to eat at the pace that he wanted.

DS2 has a couple of school lunch items that he loves, so he used to eat school lunch 2-3 times a month. The cost at our public schools is $2.75. He started high school (private) this week and I have no idea how much it is DS1 never bought at the HS but said it was very expensive. DS2 ate school lunch yesterday (provided) and said he wouldn't be eating there very often because he didn't think it was very healthy.

As far as what to pack, both of my guys were fine with sandwiches. I think I was the one that got bored making the smae thing for their lunches... They both like tuna fish, and that was always their favorite, but I mixed it up with various lunch meats and differnt breads/rolls and occasionally PB&J. We tried wide-mouth thermos lunches, but they always came back to sandwiches. I buy individually wrapped snacks because we eat too much if we have a big open bag. Every lunch includes fresh fruit, a fruit cup, or applesauce. They don't get a dessert item every day.


cj/

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What is GFS?[/color][/quote]

GFS- Gordon Food Service Welcome to the World of Gordon Food Service

They are new here in Tennessee, but I like what I have bought so far. It is sort of like a Sam's aimed at food service. No membership fees, great program for school fundraising, etc. Some things are a better price than others, but the quality is overall, pretty good.

Lunches here went up to $2.60 and an extra milk is .60. Too much for us. Plus my girls won't eat much of what they serve at school.
We do sandwiches, PB(no jelly), turkey, ham, roast beef. My girsl also like lunch meat on tortillas for a change.
My oldest loves salads. I send the croutons and bacon bits in separate baggies so they don't get soggy. My dd likes the bac-os or whatever they are...I call them fake bacon bits, LOL. They're crunchy and tend to get soggy if left on the salad. I put the dressing in a small container for her to put on herself. I also buy the tuna that's in a small can and has a pack of mayo and relish and a pack of crackers. She loves those. She likes mayo but not relish so she makes it herself and loves that. I think those are a little under $2 for a 2 pack.
We also have the thermos(stainless steel type, not the plastic ones)for spaghetti O's, soups and things like that. I boil water and put in the thermos in the mornings, heat the food up, dump out the hot water and put in the hot food. Their lunches are still steaming at lunch time.
I buy the individual bags of chips. I know they're more expensive than 1 large bag broken down but like Lisa mentioned, the portions are controlled, no baggies to buy and more variety. For my kids that's important so that's what we go with.
They also like pepperoni and cheese or salami and cheese.
I also send veggies with ranch dressing, granola bars, popcorn, fruit snacks, small pieces of candy occasionally(like a couple of starburst). OF course, not all of this at once, LOL!
For my kids, they like variety. They get tired of sandwiches so I try to mix it up some.
I will say that I probably spend close to the same amount on their lunches as I would if they bought at school. But the lunches they take from home are more nutritious and they actually eat them because they like them. My oldest dd seems to end up sick almost everytime she eats lunch at school. And both usually come home very hungry when they buy at school and not so much when they take their lunches. My youngest does eat at 10:30 so she's still in need of a snack when she gets in but she's not ravenous like she is when she buys!!

Oh okay. We do have CostCo and Smart and Final here and it sounds similar. Thanks bobswife!

WHOA! Seriously? It's still hot?
I'm going to have to try that!

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What I do is fill the thermos with hot water before filling them with soup or mac. Let them heat up for 5-10 min then dump the water and put in the hot stuff. I put together the lunches around 8 AM and they eat between 11 and 12. They say it's still oht but maybe it's the thermos I use?

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Thanks, I am going to have to try that

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Our lunches here are $2.75 at the elementary school because it is charter. My daughter buys maybe 1 or 2 times a month. She takes everything from Pb&J(unless she wants to sit with one of her friends who is allergic), pita sandwiches stuffed with veggies(she is 7 and obsessed with healthy foods--rarely ever asks for treats) or just turkey rolled around string cheese and skewered with pretty plastic toothpicks. She takes enough in her lunch so that she has something left for snack time(she hates Teacher snack). She usually always takes carrots or celery. We have done the individual fruit cups, cottage cheese(which she loves), a yogurt every day(yoplait light not the kid stuff) and a Juicy juice. I have been getting the juice boxes for close to free and the little chiquita snack packs of apples or carrots have been free with my coupons. Occasionally she will ask for a cereal bar or a fiber one bar. Now my son was and still is a different story. He bought his lunch only 1 time in his 6 years of elementary school. He hit Jr high this year and buys daily(because he said it isn't cool to take your lunch in Jr high). He eats crap!!!! I am just thankful he has PE everyday and works out with his Dad every other day and I make sure he eats good breakfast and dinners.

DS will not take home lunch, I wish he would, but he thinks only the dorks bring lunch. Gotta love those teenage years, huh??? Also, they sell Chik fil A at school.

How about ritz with some peanut butter on them, pop corn, carrot sticks.

The sandwiches are more difficult because if you make lunch meat or anything with mayo on it, you need to keep it cold.

- cheese and tomatoe with a little mayo on rye
- a cold BLT
- jelly and cream cheese (it's actually pretty good)

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Our school lunches are not as expensive as some of yours (thank goodness), we're $1.90 for 1 main & 2 sides, one of which can be milk, otherwise it's extra.

My DD hates sandwiches so we have those storage containers with four divided compartments (little square cups). She usually takes 1 protein (usually cheese or kosher salami), 1 fruit (apple slices, grapes, etc), 1 vegetable (usually carrot sticks) and 1 carb (crackers, goldfish, cubes of raisin bread), plus a juice box.

My DS takes PB sandwiches with fresh sliced grapes or strawberries on them (he hates jelly), we buy large packages of crackers (like Cheezits or Ritz Bits) and put them in the small tupperware containers and then he takes chocolate milk singles. We've been buying the Horizon milk singles, they're organic, and shelf-stable (don't have to be refrigerated) with really long expiration dates (I have some now that don't expire until next year). However, they are horribly expensive (about .90 each). I wish I could find something similar for less.

Renee

you can pack a hot dog or two in hot water in a thermos, and pack a bun and individual mustard separate. the thermos idea is a good one, plus you wont be throwing away a container every day

It really is. I've been up there to eat lunch with my kids and I see the steam come out when they take the lid off. I've always bought the Thermos brand, they're wide mouth, kind of short. This year I bought one at Target, their brand I think.....it's pretty good but probably will not last as long as the Thermos brand. The Thermos brand is around $15 but lasts normally 3 years.

My kids pack nearly everyday. We have a couple of those funtainers for hot foods. Ds loved taking his lunch because he got to choose what he ate. Some of things he took in his thermos was:
Left over taco meat. I would make sure it was good and hot, then we would pack a couple tortillas, a container filled with sour cream and one with shredded cheese. This way he could make his own tacos. If he didn't feel like tacos, we would pack tortilla chips and he would mix everything together and dip his chips in for a nacho type thing.
Left over sloppy joes. We would pack a couple of hamburger buns(he HAD to have 2 sandwiches..lol) and a couple slices of cheese. He would put his sandwiches together at lunch time.
Different kinds of soup. This way he had a variety.
Ramen, this didn't work too well. He said it got kind of gooey by lunch time.
Left over roast with the potatoes and carrots.
Most days his friends who bought their lunch was trying to get him to trade lunches with them*lol*. Now that he's in jr high, he buys his lunch everyday.
Dd still packs but she's so picky we end up packing the same thing nearly everyday.

Also, a great way to help keep food cold is to put go-gurts in the freezer the night before. By the time lunch rolls around they are thawed enough to eat but still nice and cold.

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MyCoupons Is #1 for Holiday Shopping

you can freeze capri suns too

Are the lunch prices daily or weekly? Last year our prices were 3.75 for the week.

DD is in junior high and brings her lunch because she says the line is too long and she doesn't want to wait, plus you don't get much time to eat after you wait in line. Most days she hates the food anyway. She brings stuff like:

Turkey & cheese sandwiches (I put a freezer pack in when it's something that needs to be kept cold) (the turkey is very close to free with coupons)
yogurt (individual servings free with coupons)
grapes or applesauce
peanut butter sandwiches (peanut butter free with coupons)
cheetos or pretzels ( $1.28 for large bag at Walmart)
peanut butter crackers
spaghettios
beefaroni
tomato soup & crackers
beef stew
water or Capri Sun to drink

Those are the staples, then just anything else I get free or cheap with coupons. Like right now I am getting the Easy Mac individuals free with coupons, so those will be going in the thermos for lunches soon, also getting lots of plain pasta for free with coupons, so I can see lots of pasta type dishes (in the form of leftovers) becoming lunches. Like tonight we had spaghetti for dinner, that is DD's favorite, so the leftover will go in her thermos for lunch tomorrow. I already have a bunch of items I got free/cheap before school started like Rice Krispie Treats, Yogo Fruit rollers, cookies, Pop Tarts, things I do not normally buy, but if they are close to free then I will get them as a treat, plus it gives a little variety. I know the lunches are not totally healthy, but my worst lunches are probably better than the school lunches.

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Both of my kids take there lunch but they both have microwaves at there schools so leftovers are no problems but my DS takes the same thing each day. PB and honey, cheetos and a gatorade. He is not a big eater (not picky) so I know he will eat that so that is what I send.

I think our lunches went up to $2 this year. I let my kids buy one day a week-they would love to buy every day, but it's just too pricey. I do keep a lot of convenience foods on hand just to make it easy on myself so I can just throw the lunches together quick. They usually get a sandwich, a bag of chips, one yogurt, fruit or veggie, one snack, and a juice box or water bottle. For my son in h.s., he usually grabs a water bottle and a few snacks on his way out the door and then eats like a horse when he comes home around 2pm.

Thanks so much for your firsthand account. Also, I appreciate your tip regarding the Thermos brand metal thermos. I'll get out this weekend and see if I can pick up a couple (hope they are cheaper though. )
You've been so helpful. Thanks!!!

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The tip about warming up the thermos with hot water before adding the hot food is a very good tip.
When I'm in the cafeteria I notice lots of kids that either bring or buy a bottle of Gatorade. Could someone please explain why? I've seen this since DD was in 5th grade. If the kids were in athletics PE, I might understand. But to drink Gatorade like it was water, I just don't understand. The amount of sugar and sodium in Gatorade is too much IMHO to drink it as a casual drink.
My kids fill a water bottle half full, freeze it and top it off the next morning.

Go to Target April. They have them there and have all sorts of thermoses.

I hate sending the typical sandwich and chips to school, and my kids don't like wraps.

I like to send warm taco meat in a thermos w/ grated cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips on the side.

I like making pizza rolls and sending those.
Pancakes and syrup.
Popcorn instead of chips.
Their latest favorite are the cookies my mom used to make for me when I was little - graham crackers spread w/ leftover cake frosting and made into mini sandwiches.
My son likes canned chicken shredded & mixed w/ ranch dressing and crackers to spread it on.
I send in hot dogs w/ the buns in a separate bag for them to put together.
Sometimes I'll send in a bento box too.
They LOOOOVE salads and baked potatoes in their lunch. I use their bento thermoses to keep them warm.

They LOVE having such "cool" lunches and I (yes, I'm conceited) love hearing about how their friends get jealous, lol.

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That will be my first stop.

Droooooling. That sounds so good.

I'm getting jealous too! Excellent ideas and suggestions. You rock. Thank you!

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You have all posted great suggestions. With three kids, our school lunches were adding up to $40 a week. I know I can do better than that AND provide nutritious meals they will actually eat. I am going to get thermoses for hot foods once the weather gets cooler.

A side not - the milk that I purchased at Gordon Food Service turned out to be the actual half-pint cartons like they had been getting in school (for half the price). I think the case was around $12. Of course, everything expires on Sept 8 so I ended up freezing half of them (skim milk freezes great). I was really looking for the ones like Horizon, but all I can find is chocolate. I have spent so many years training my kids to drink white milk so they can avoid the sugar that chocolate milk really doesn't appeal to them.

Here is another one my teenager taught me this summer. Jello makes a great alternative to pixie sticks. The kids on swim team were bringing boxes to meets and dipping their fingers like "fun dip". I didn't really get a chance to see how the sugar measures up and we haven't tried the sugar free that way.

Where can I get a bento box?

We do all the above but also wanted to add we freeze juice boxes and/or capri sun to keep cold things cold. DD loves egg salad which I didn't see mentioned and is very cheap. We usually throw in a thing of Trader Joes yogurt or fuit bars, they don't have a lot of the additives other brands have. We also buy sunchips for a treat. They are healthier than regular chips.

For my littlest DD we make cold grilled cheese sandwiches or quesedillas. They sound gross but the melted cheese sticks it all together. She is little and sandwiches are hard for her because they tend to fall apart.

The also love cold pasta with butter and parmesan cheese and whatever veggies I have around or I toss in some blaack olives. Oh I almost forgot our favorite pasta salad ... left over pasta, olive oil, a touch of lemon, and what ever dried herbs strike me ( basil, marjoram,thyme, oregano etc). This is great with left over grilled chicken and left over veggies or tomatoes. For us left over veggies that would get thrown into a soup during the winer get thrown into pasta salad during the summer.

Daily here....$2.60

I didn't read all the replies , so forgive me if I repeat.

We got a letter the other day stating lunches were going to 2.80 and breakfast to 1.75 , Sorry but for a slice of cheese toast , milk and 1/2 fruit thats a lil too high for my taste for breakfast.

My kids if and when they want to brown bag it this is what I do.

Breakfast:
cereal ( Sometimes, not much as milk is too high for this every morning x4 kids)
Sam's sell pop tarts in the bulk so I'll buy them when I can
cheese toast (thanks to the kraft coupons b3 get cheese free )
Sam's also sells the apple juice in 2 packs for just under 5.00
Sam's sells the already cooked biscuits in 24 ct for under 4.00
apple sauce
grapes(when on sale)

Snacks
I buy ANYTHING that comes in bulk the kids like then break it down.
Goldfish crackers ( Sam's) under 7.00
Pretzels with peanut butter ( Sam's) under 4.00
Lance crackers ( Sam's) under 4.00 30 ct on this

Lunches
1st and far most, Go to target or wal mart and buy these !They are a GOD SENT.
Walmart.com: Thermos - Foogo Food Jar, Pink, BPA Free: Travel Solutions
Walmart.com: Thermos - Foogo Straw Bottle, Pink, BPA Free: Feeding

Little pricey, but well worth the money.
You can send soups, milk, any kind of left over dinner ( hamburger helper for example )It will keep foods hot and cold for HOURS !.
Buy ham. turkey,roast beef in Bulk or logs
Ok, Know this will sound odd to some people, But, its the safest way to send anything needing Mayo. Sam's sells the box of prepackage mayo in single serve.
When the kids want a sandwich this is what I send with them. I also buy the mustard and if I can get it ketchup packages. the bread doesn't get soggy Nor does the mayo go bad.
I try to send left over meals ( Hamburger helped, Spagi, soups chicken N dumplings)in the thermos.If not then it's back to a sandwich and chips/cracker/fruit
with a drink. Mostly water, But I do have pink lemonade for the kids to take.
But any hoot, this is what I do and you'll be surprised at how cheap it is to pack for 4 kids when you buy in bulk and break it down.

Peanut butter pancake sandwich or french toast sticks (dipped in syrup if wished)
cheese potato perogies (cold are great)
taco dip (cream cheese, salsa, cheese + whatever other taco items to layer on) & tortillas chips to dip.
cold pizza of various sources, including pizza rolls,
toasted cheese bread with marinara sauce (called Italian dippers at school)
cold chicken fillet sandwich
Schwan's toasted grilled cheese -- (Homemade would be grilled cheese pocket, made with a sandwich maker)
cereal (get milk at school)
lettuce salad
bagel with cream cheese
cheese rollup (melted cheese on a tortilla, rolled up)
wrap sandwich (a nice change from a sandwich)
hard boiled egg
corn dog
spaghetti O's and meatballs
My older daughter has requested I provide lettuce wraps this year; an asian chicken mixture that she would roll up in a lettuce leaf.
These are the main items I would pick. Of course, it's basically room temperature by the time they eat it whether it starts out hot or cold. I've tried the thermos thing and heating up the thermos first, but kids always say that the food was lukewarm anyway. Then I try to add a fruit or veggie with the item. They get a bottle of water as the juice is pure sugar IMO and I quit putting that in unless I find it on a great sale. My big kids prefer bag lunches so everything has to be disposable. During the school year I pack a lunch for all five of us. I'm always looking for more ideas for lunches to give everyone a variety.

Our school lunches are 1.50. They went up a quarter. What i don't get is how some people abuse the system. I have neighbors that live in over a 200k house and they get reduced lunches. ... and when my kids lunches go up and the reduced stays the same price, I know that what my extra 25 cents is going to cover the abuse.

My ds takes lunch almost daily, heck its $3.10 here, and they usually run out of food or she doesn't like it.
We pack everything from wraps with a cream cheese/ garlic spread, to sandwiches, chips and juice. I also buy pudding and make my own and send it in little continers ,I can get 3 boxes of pudding for under at dollar and she loves it and its saving us money..
Great suggestions, Im going to have to use a few of them

Don't forget you can use them for cold stuff too, like cole slaw, potato salad, salad, etc. I've even read on flickr about people hard freezing ice cream and sending that in!!!

I get all mine on ebay. You can find them everywhere though. I found some cute green Hello Kitty ones in Ross and Dollar Tree. Here's some links to bento-ing (and even if you don't want to bento, the ideas are AMAZING):


Flickr: The bento boxes Pool
Flickr: The Kid Eats Pool
Lunch in a Box: Building a Better Bento (seriously, I've NEVER seen a child eat foods like hers. Jus' saying)
Cooking Cute: a bento site
American Bento (she doesn't update anymore, but I always go here when I need ideas)

BentoTV (I don't know what the HELL is wrong w/ her hair, but her ideas are great and seeing her make stuff makes it easier for me)

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So what's so special about Bento boxes? Is it just the way they look? Is it better than Tupperware or products like Gladware?


That seems like a lot of work and preparation. Is it?

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Her hair is ok.... for a kid, adults kinda look silly with pig tails hehehe

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Bento boxes are cute, and should be more appealing to kids than ziploc bags, or plain plasticware. I kind of, ah, just bought five. I work nights, I try to avoid fast food, but I'm not sure that justifies it, especially since I already have a few. Buy Lunch Box, Bento Supplies, Bento Set at Ichiban Kan is good for prices, though shipping's a bit, and items are frequently out of stock My order came to about $33, but included a lot of accessories; sauce bottles, dividers, belts, insulated cases, that sort of thing. You don't have to make them as perfect as a lot of sites have them, and the portion control is good.

Nope. You can use any box type container, but kids like ones w/ pictures. It's not once you get used to doing it. There are some like the luckysundae on the flickr for kids one who takes HOURS to make her kids lunches. But in Japan, that's not unusual. I'm not going to do all that though. I like to lay it out in a nice order, use the egg shapers for boiled eggs, use cookie cutters for veggies, fruits, sandwiches, etc.

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"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

It's way more work than I'm going to do for a high school kid, but I can see why the novelty and fun of the boxes would be great for encouraging elementary age kids to eat healthier food.

My kids get their choice of their preferred lunch meat (one likes roast beef, one chicken) and they get that on a sandwich or wrap along with a bag of Sun Chips and a bag of cookies. I buy the pre-bagged chips and cookies from Sam's Club for ease. It's not the healthiest meal in the world, but at least they'll eat it. I know apples, bananas, carrots, etc. all end up coming home or half-eaten or in the trash.

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Reading is Fundamental.

Exactly... I've been in that lunch room and I've seen what goes in the trash. Sadly, it's not the cookies and/or chips.

Wow, first off I can't believe lunch is $2.50!! Our lunch is only 90 cents.....but there are days that DS doesn't want hot lunch for school. One of his favorites is hot dogs....I boil water and put it in the thermos add cold hot dogs...the hot dogs warm up by the time he has lunch. He just pulls them out, with tongs and puts them on the hot dog buns I sent.

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For those that have really inexpensive lunch prices, I would imagine the district is subsidizing the cost. There's no way the school nutrition dept could charge so little without being in the red. I know that some of the food products the schools get are government subsidized but there's still no way to charge so little. At 90¢, I can't see a need for free/reduced lunches.

Ahhhhh, that's an excellent point. Having my kids eat healthy is of top concern for me, so I can totally see making the lunches fun to encourage that.

90¢??? Wow!

Oh ok, I see. I imagine the longer you do it and if you have a method for setting up the lunches, the easier it is.

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Re: food in the garbage.
If kids voluntarily eat fruit at home, I never thought they'd be throwing them away at school. Is that a peer pressure thing? I'll have to ask them about this....I never thougth that they would throw their apples, bananas, and oranges away....heck, they go through bananas by the bunch at home...

I know my little one trades, but he's more likely to trade away cookies for a tuna sandwich...he's weird that way.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

At my school lunch is priced based on a form all the parents fill out. We have 100% FREE lunch. I liked this thread because it gave me some great ideas of new things I can pack in my lunch.

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Our school lunches went up from $1.00 to $1.25 per day. Yes, ours are subsidized by the district. The lunches are pre-packaged and I don't see how they meet the nutritional requirements. Some of the stuff looks so disgusting. Neither of my kids have ever bought school lunches. I wish I had seen all the fantastic ideas you all have posted back when I was packing daily lunches. My kids would have been the envy of all their friends! You moms rock!!

yes, plus a lot can be done at night.

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"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

Occasionally my kids take a Gatorade because they like them. It's not often though but for something different they will. Really, only my youngest does this. My oldest ONLY drinks water when she takes her lunch and milk when she buys. I agree with you about the sugar in Gatorade, it's awful...worse than a Coke, maybe??

Our lunches are $1.75 for elementary & intermediate school (main item + up to 2 sides + milk) . $2 for middle & hs (main item + up to 3 sides + milk). HS also has "super lunch" (whatever that is - extra food?) for $2.50. For middle & hs they always offer a chicken, turkey or ham salad as an option for their main item. I've never seen the older lunches so I don't know what they're like.

I find that they will eat more (at least DD does) if it's a lunch from home. The lunches at school are a main item, 2 sides and milk but DD hardly ever got or ate the sides, unless it was potatoes of some sort. If it was pizza, they would let her get 2 slices in lieu of sides. So, I prefer to send lunches. Of course, with money so incredibly tight, it's their only option.
I have seen some great ideas on here that I think my kids would like in addition to their usual sandwich & chips.

peapie

Wow, some of those school lunch prices are crazy! I remember when I was in school in the 80's elementary school lunches were 80 cents and jr/sr high lunches were 95 cents. There was the hot lunch and in addition there were sandwiches and soup available every day. You could get soup and a sandwich for the hot lunch price. All meals included milk.
There was also a junk food line with things like cookies and ice cream, prices on that stuff varied but I can remember getting an ice cream sandwich, pack of cookies and a milk for less than $1(my favorite lunch on days the other options were all gross). My mom gave me $5 at the beginning of the week and I was set. This was in high school, not grade school.

I don't have to make school lunches but I have picked up some great ideas here for packing my own lunch for work. We have fridges and microwaves so brown bagging it isn't too hard but leftovers get boring and there are only so many types of sandwiches.

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Elementary lunches are $2.00 Junior high and High school lunches are $2.20 - $2.80

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