Lunchbox 101
The 2007 school year has started and already Hannah and the boys have brought home tuckshop and canteen menus.
Thankfully tuckshop at Hannah's school is only once a week, on a Monday. We allow our children to have tuckshop/canteen once a term. If they want more, they have to pay for it out of their pocket money. Even with a healthy, or healthier, menu the food on offer is over priced, costing an average of $5 per lunch per child.
I can make and put together much tastier, healthier lunches for my family for a lot less than $5.
Let's compare a normal Hannah Armstrong lunch order and a regular Armstrong family lunchbox and you'll see exactly how much money you can save.
Thankfully tuckshop at Hannah's school is only once a week, on a Monday. We allow our children to have tuckshop/canteen once a term. If they want more, they have to pay for it out of their pocket money. Even with a healthy, or healthier, menu the food on offer is over priced, costing an average of $5 per lunch per child.
I can make and put together much tastier, healthier lunches for my family for a lot less than $5.
Let's compare a normal Hannah Armstrong lunch order and a regular Armstrong family lunchbox and you'll see exactly how much money you can save.
Lunch Order |
Value |
Lunchbox |
Value |
Total saving: $4.17
Hannah's favourite cheese and veggie roll is $1.65. It's about the size of a regular sausage roll. I can make a dozen cheese and veggie rolls for $6.12 or just 51 cents each.
I buy large tins of fruit and decant portions into re-sealable plastic containers.
Desserts at the tuckshop are expensive too. A warm jam donut costs 90 cents. I can make two lunchbox cookies cost 8 cents. Lunchbox cookies are so quick and cheap to make. We always have a batch on the go.
Popping corn is cheap to buy and a packet makes a ton of popcorn. A cup of freshly popped popcorn costs less than 5 cents. Sealed in a plastic container it stays fresh and is a healthier alternative to the potato chips.
Orange juice in a poppa box costs $1 at the tuckshop. I can buy a pack of 6 from the supermarket for $3.20 or just 53 cents each or I can decant orange juice from a larger bottle into a re-useable drink bottle for just 25 cents per 250ml serve. Or I can be a mean mummy and give her water for the hefty price of free.
For a once off lunch, $5.40 doesn't seem so bad. For lunch every day of the school year it would cost $1080 a year for most Australians that's 2 weeks wages gone just on school lunches.
Making lunches interesting and attractive isn't hard or even time consuming. In fact the easiest way to make sure lunches from home are eaten is to let the kids pack their own each morning. If you provide the fixings, they will happily prepare their own lunchtime feast. Even children as young as 4 can put a lunch together if the makings are available to them.
Remember, lunchboxes don't have to be boring to be cheap. Some creativity and a little adapting and your children can have treats and 'special' foods in their lunchboxes too.
Here is my 'homemade v. shop bought' treat comparison. You can save a fortune simply by putting treats and snackfoods together yourself.
Hannah's favourite cheese and veggie roll is $1.65. It's about the size of a regular sausage roll. I can make a dozen cheese and veggie rolls for $6.12 or just 51 cents each.
I buy large tins of fruit and decant portions into re-sealable plastic containers.
Desserts at the tuckshop are expensive too. A warm jam donut costs 90 cents. I can make two lunchbox cookies cost 8 cents. Lunchbox cookies are so quick and cheap to make. We always have a batch on the go.
Popping corn is cheap to buy and a packet makes a ton of popcorn. A cup of freshly popped popcorn costs less than 5 cents. Sealed in a plastic container it stays fresh and is a healthier alternative to the potato chips.
Orange juice in a poppa box costs $1 at the tuckshop. I can buy a pack of 6 from the supermarket for $3.20 or just 53 cents each or I can decant orange juice from a larger bottle into a re-useable drink bottle for just 25 cents per 250ml serve. Or I can be a mean mummy and give her water for the hefty price of free.
For a once off lunch, $5.40 doesn't seem so bad. For lunch every day of the school year it would cost $1080 a year for most Australians that's 2 weeks wages gone just on school lunches.
Making lunches interesting and attractive isn't hard or even time consuming. In fact the easiest way to make sure lunches from home are eaten is to let the kids pack their own each morning. If you provide the fixings, they will happily prepare their own lunchtime feast. Even children as young as 4 can put a lunch together if the makings are available to them.
Remember, lunchboxes don't have to be boring to be cheap. Some creativity and a little adapting and your children can have treats and 'special' foods in their lunchboxes too.
Here is my 'homemade v. shop bought' treat comparison. You can save a fortune simply by putting treats and snackfoods together yourself.