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First Tip: Don’t tell the kids that your making frugal school lunches for them. That’s the first rule in getting your children to enjoy their packed lunch every day whilst on a budget. If they know that it didn’t cost much they will assume that it won’t taste good, but how wrong they will be.
The battle to ensure that your kids are eating well everyday seems to be getting harder and harder for parents these days.
Especially now that fast food takeaways seem to be on every street corner and charging such a cheap price for their version of food. Its no wonder children find it so easy to get their chip and grease fix everyday.
But as we all know, child obesity levels are at an all time high and studies have proven that children who do not eat well have lower concentration levels and find it harder in the classroom.
Gone are the days when we can rely on the school canteen to provide a nutritious meal every day. So how do we make frugal school lunches not only nutritious and cheap on the pocket but also something we know our kids will enjoy?
Frugal living is for the whole family and the benefits are not only financial but also can be beneficial to your family’s health.
Kids and adults have different ideas about what tastes good. It will be a complete waste of time and money if you pack lunches for your kids that they end up throwing away once they reach school. Instead do a little recognisance before you plan yourgrocery list.
In many situations parents may find that their children have a very limited range of foods they like to eat when asked. However this is normally because they have not tried many items and even ones that they say they don’t like can be dressed up and disguised in interesting and colourful ways.
Hot meals - Using leftovers from the nights before meal is a great and healthy way to provide your child with a hot meal the next day. Make sure you buy a good thermos that will keep the food hot until lunchtime and comes with a wide top. The lids are great for use as either a cup for stews and soups or as a bowl. Some ideas of hot frugal school lunches are:
Salads – A salad need not look boring and can contain many different cheap ingredients. A few suggestions for salad frugal school lunches are:
Cold Pasta salad (use interesting pasta shapes for variety and colour)
Sandwiches and wraps – keep sandwiches simple and not sloppy. By overfilling them with different things they will go soft and soggy by lunchtime. Another good trick is to cut the sandwich up into small bite size squares, much easier to eat and more visually appealing.
Snacks – by providing your kids with something that they can nibble on between meals is a good way to stop them spending more money on sweets during the day. The less they spend the easier it is on your frugal budget.
Be creative with the children’s suggestions and present the frugal school lunches in such a way that will appeal to a child visually. Plain old sandwiches can look very boring after a while.
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