One of the best ways to save money is to pack your lunch, instead of eating out. Eating lunch out when your working can cost $5 and up a day! And cafeteria lunches for kids are getting expensive too!
These days it’s easy to pack lunches. There are insulated lunches to keep things cold, nifty containers to keep sandwiches from getting squashed, and (not the most frugal option) lunchbox sized foods to make packing lunches easy!
Jenn and I will be sharing more about packing lunches on Frugal Coast2Coast tonight at 8:30 EST/5:30 PST. Be sure to tune in! And if you can’t catch the show tonight, you can also listen to the archive on Blog Talk Radio or download it from iTunes.
Lunchbox Builder
To get kids (and their parents!) excited about packing lunches this school year, Motts, Smuckers, and Pepperidge Farms have launched the Lunchbox Builder, a fun tool, where you can design your own lunchbox, add it to the lunchbox gallery, and rate other people’s lunchboxes.
An added bonus to the site is that you can download coupons for Mott’s Applesauce, Smuckers Uncrustables, and Pepperidge Farms Goldfish. As a super-bonus, if your lunchbox is one of the highest rated lunchboxes, you will win a Lunchbox Care Package (like the one I’m giving away) directly from the Lunchbox Builder site. (Click on the terms of use on the site for more information).
I’ll admit to never having tried Smuckers Uncrustables, but Motts Applesauce have been a staple in my kids’ lunchboxes for years, and Pepperidge Farms Goldfish are a favorite afterschool snack.
The Giveaway
As part of the Motts, Smuckers, and Pepperidge Farms Lunchbox campaign, they sent me a lunchbox care package to try, and they’re letting me give one away to a fortunate reader!
Let me tell you, this prize package is awesome! It’s worth approximately $150, and it includes:
- An iPod Shuffle
- An insulated lunchbox
- Sharpie pens in multiple colors
- Colored Pencils
- A Smuckers Uncrustables Container
- An Optical Mouse
- A Smuckers Belt Pack
- A Motts Reusable Shopping Bag
- A Smuckers Strawberry
- Pencils
- Coupons
- A Walmart Gift Card
- A Pedometer
In addition, the winner will be receiving 5 Labels for Education, worth 10,000 points each, which can be used by your child’s school!
How to Enter
To enter, just leave a comment on this post and tell me what you like to pack in your child’s lunch.
For an extra entry, subscribe to the Frugal Coast2Coast Newsletter on the Frugal Coast2Coast website. Right now it’s just an email reminder of our show, but we’re planning to expand it in the near future. It will include content not available here or on Frugal Upstate. And it might include giveaways from time to time, too! Your email address will not be used for anything else, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
If you subscribe to the newsletter, make sure you use the same email address you use when you leave a comment, so I can validate your extra entry. And in your comment, let me know you subscribed, so I know you have an extra entry.
I will close comments and select a winner using a random number generator at noon PST on August 28, 2009.
The Other Legal Stuff
Contest is open to residents of the United States. Members of my family are not eligible to win. I will notify the winner by email, and the winner will have three days to contact me with a mailing address, or I will draw another winner.
The winner’s name and address will be passed along to the sponsor, and the sponsor will ship the prize.
So, what do you pack in your child’s lunch? Or your own lunch, if you don’t pack a lunch for your child. Or if you don’t pack a lunch, just tell me what you like to eat for lunch!
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I like to pack easy, convenient and healthy foods for my children for lunch.
I try to make use of our leftovers and you can usually find some yogurt in there too. And of course, a little surprise treat is fun too.
Since my daughter is 12 she packs her own lunch most days. I don’t know how she does it, but she makes a bologne and cheese sandwich for herself EVERY day. She varies the fruit and chip portion, but never on the sandwich. I try to get her to change it up some (e.g. PB&J or ham), but she is happy with the same thing every day. And if she is happy…Dad is happy!
My kids like to eat wraps for their lunch. It is an easy way to pack a healthy lunch.
I like to pack some cheese and crackers or a sandwich, some fruit (usually grapes or a sliced apple), sliced veggies and an oatmeal raisin cookie.
Great giveaway!
We put a sandwich, fruit, veg sticks, yogurt, pretzels and drink. I try to add a quick note for my boys to read while they eat their lunch. This is their favorite part of the lunch.
We rarely send lunches with our kids, since they get the free lunches at school, but when they have brought them it’s been sandwiches, or lunchables, with crackers, cheese and meat, and I put an apple or grapes with it. Thanks for the giveaway.
I like to pack her fruit, soy chocolate milk, a sandwich or organic spaghetti o’s and a sweet treat of graham crackers or rice cookies. She is starting Kindergarten in a couple of weeks, she would love a new lunch box.
I always pack my Madison’s lunch with a drink, sandwich, chips/cracker, fruit/veggie and, a sweet treat. The sweet treat never gets eaten and then when I leave it out she wants to know where it was?
All time favorite lunches would have to include pizza or tostadas, baby carrots and ranch, apples, and of course in their minds, chips.
I only wish I could still pack my college age son a lunch but he lives away from home. I do however save lots of $$ by packing my own lunch. One of my favorites is Laughing Cow Cheese and crackers with some grapes. The tangy and sweet go together perfectly.
I like to make it easy but quick and healthy. Usually green peppers & ranch, yogurt, a snack and a sandwich.
I pack p&j, fruit, a drink, whatever I have on hand. I must get more organized!!!!!
When I packed my kids lunch a favorite was a snack bag with chocolate bits, walnuts and raisins.
Since my son is the pickiest eater and only eats a few things. I pack whole grain bread with nothing on it because he doesn’t eat mixed food. I will also pack some grates and an apple and some yogos or fruit snacks.
PB&J, string cheese, pretzals, water and little candy bar of chocolate. Simple and tasty.
It’s best to pack things that don’t need to be warm or cold. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches get better as they soak into the bread. Baby carrots are wonderful, and some easy piece of fruit that isn’t messy: a banana or apple.
oat nut bread with mustard, pepperjack cheese and ham, sliced red pepper with hummas, grapes and a cookie.
We homeschool – but we are packing snacks and lunches daily to save time during the day, plus we go to a different house to school, though it’s a short walk. It also makes it easy to leave the house on short notice or take lunch outside on a nice day.
We pack veggie sticks and dip, cheese, trail mix, a bread type snack (granola bar, muffin, begal..), pretzals, fruit, pudding or yogurt or jello, and something for lunch – leftovers, a sandwich, chicken, whatever – try to change it daily.
I pack fresh fruit.
Variety. I send salads, muffins, pizza, leftover chicken, fresh fruit, natural snacks, unsweetened applesauce, bagels, pb&j, burritos, and on and on. With four small children I was always up to the challenge of what to pack for lunch, I took the challenge. My children know how to choose a balanced meal and a small dessert. There really are no rules for lunch, just feed them well.
I try to pack a healthy, well-rounded lunch for my son. It’s usually a sandwich, some fruit, some veggies, & water. Some times I’ll include chips or another treat if we happen to have them on hand.
I like to use cookie cutters to cut sandwiches into puzzle pieces. Fruit and veggies are a must when we pack lunch.
My boys love apples, carrots and chocolate chips cookies :)
The old standby — peanut butter and jelly.
I subscribed.
One of my son’s favorites is dried apple chips. Very healthy, and feels like a treat!
I like to randomly surprise my kids with a “love note” in their lunches – often enough to make an impression, but not so much that they aren’t a fun surprise.
My 5 year old daughter has got to have PB&J, a cheese stick, an apple, and a bottle of water. It’s healthy, but I can’t believe she doesn’t get tired of it!
I also subscribed to frugalcoasttocoast and can’s wait to listen next week.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches always, seedless grapes, strawberries, apple slices, applesauce sometimes. Maybe I’ll throw in vanilla wafers, pretzels, Goldfish crackers, or a granola bar. We’ve got a picky eater.
I subscribed.
Sunbutter with mini marshmallows on a homemade uncrustable, using a drinking glass we cut and seal the edge of the whole wheat bread. Fruit and veggies that are on sale/in season that week. Our challenge is snack. In our school the kids are allowed to bring an unsweetened snack to eat at 9:30 each day. The repeat of fruit for snack and then lunch does not go over well repeatedly. We are always looking for new ideas.
Thanks for the opportunity to win the great prize and gain some helpful ideas.
My boys love a ham and cheese wrap on tortilla, because unlike bead, it does not get soggy. I usually pack some grapes and carrots and a cookie for dessert. Their favorite thing though, is applesauce! Sometimes, they ask for 2! Thanks for the giveaway! I really hope I win! My son is dreaming of a shuffle!
My favorite thing to pack is a peanut butter and banana sandwich on wheat bread. It is so good!
We homeschool so it makes it easier to provide a hot, nutritious, cost-conscious meal. I like to cook big pots of homemade vegetable soup or chili and freeze them in individual containers. I put them in the fridge the day before we plan on eating them so they will thaw a little. The next day during our lunch break I’ll put them in the microwave for a couple of minutes.
Old standbys: PB&J, yogurt sticks, snack packs or chips, fruit pieces, carrot sticks, string cheese sticks, juice boxes
New innovations: peanut butter pretzels, flavored water pouches, healthy PB rice crispy treats, honey sesame sticks, turkey wraps, edamame, cheese squares of Old Dubliner cheddar, organic chocolate soymilk, crackers and hummus
Depending on my energy level and what food is in the house, some days are the “old standbys” while other days are the “new innovations”.
My son does not really care for bread so I use a slice of cheese for the bread a wrap it around turkey or ham. He really likes these roll ups. I also freeze his juice boxes so they keep everything cold and we don’t loose the freezer packs any more. The other thing I do is bag up all the cookies, veggies and fruits on sunday night so I can just grab them in the morning. I love your show and please enter me in your contest. Thank you!!
My kids like spaghettios or something hot in a thermos. When we’re in a rush it’s pb&j!! We always pack a fruit cup and some other treat (like a granola bar). In fact, I’d better get a start on tomorrow’s lunch!
Thanks for the chance to win!
I like to pack leftovers in my kids lunches along with some fresh fruit. I have been reading about some new ways to pack exciting lunches and am getting ready to try those as well.
I subscribed
No PB allowed so lunchmeat and mustard, fruit, cheese, fruit snacks are mandatory -vegetarian child takes cottage cheese, yogurt, hummus or leftovers.
My daughter loves Uncrustables – we usually send grape since that is what our Costco stocks. We also send in freeze dried apples, yogurt covered raisins and a cheese stick. Add a juice box and my daughter loves it!
some good snacks to include are : fresh fruit (apples, pears, peaches, etc), carrot sticks with hummus, falafel wraps or pitas, and some kind of whole grains like homemade granola bars!
oh, i also subscribed to the newsletter (currently waiting on the verification email). thank you for the giveaway!
My son will be starting kindergarten in just over a week, so we are new to lunch packing. He has requested wraps as that is what I like to take in my lunch. We’ve already discussed that he and I will work together after dinner each night to pack our lunches for the next day. This will help keep me accountable bringing my lunch as well.
In my OWN lunch, I like to pack leftovers, egg salad sandwiches, or just a baked potato!
My kids are going to start taking lunches Sept. 1. They bought in the cafeteria since Aug. 3. But they really don’t like the food…I really don’t like the PRICE!
Pack lunchces!
I like to make use of any leftovers we may have if possible. I also like to make sure they have fresh fruit / veggies which are great finger foods too. We try to make packing lunches a family discussion over breakfast.
My boys love PB&J and juce or water and string cheese
My boys love PJ&J either juice or water and string cheese.
My kids are old enough to pack their own lunches, but I always make sure we have lots of good stuff. They prefer homemade bread and rolls so I try to make sure we have some on hand. I also keep lots of lean meats on hand for sandwiches. They also like fruit, yogurt, cheese, and veggies and dip.
I subscribe to the newsletter!
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