Money Saving Tip Post

I am a real stinge so when it comes to saving money I think about it a lot.  Although, now, with 3 young kids I am also in the predicament of wanting to save time as well, and often the 2 things don’t go hand in hand.

But one thing it can work out for school/kindy lunches.  If you get ahead of the game you can save time without spending lots of money on packet snack foods from the supermarket.

One thing I haven’t managed to progress to is packing the lunches the night before, that would make the mornings a lot easier…but on the nights that I remember to think about that, I just feel too tired and really cant be bothered leaving the couch.

5 things I do to make packing lunches easier

1.         Firstly I make a list of options, so I don’t have to think so hard each morning.  This is my list:  Feel free to cut and paste and change it as is useful to you

Tuck Small/handful snacks in muffin cases e.g.  orange/ handful of raisins  - 1 sandwich / 1 muffin  - 1 yoghurt - fruit roll up  - chocolate biscuit always water bottle, sometimes a little juice packet or something

IN LUNCH BOX

- 2 fruit

-2 bread/starchy

-1 dairy

- 1 healthy treat/snack

-1 treat

Drink/water bottle

FRUIT

•Fresh or canned fruit – fruit kebabs, chopped fruit in a tub or fruit salad, easy peel mandarins, vegetable soup in a flask,

 •Dips/Hummus with vegetable sticks like celery, carrot, cucumber

 •Celery sticks with a thin spread of peanut butter topped with sultanas.

 •Jelly and fruit

* Cherry Tomatoes

* Cucumber pieces (with a little salt?)

STARCHY/BREAD

•Slice of Raisin toast or bread, pikelets, pancakes or scones with a little margarine or fruit spread

 •Lightly spread muffins and crumpets

 •Rice cakes topped reduced-fat cream cheese, vegemite or sliced banana

 •Small pita bread or wraps (spread thinly with cheese spread or peanut butter, grated carrot, sprouts and roll up to serve).

 •Wholemeal crackers with a slice of low fat cheese

 •Mini Wheats breakfast cereal

 •Handful of home made pita chips (cut pita bread into triangles, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake 180ºC for 15 minutes until crisp).

*Left over rice/pasta dishes

*Sushi

*Corn thins

*Muffins

*Cold Noodles?

HEALTHY SNACK

 •Popcorn with a few dried apricots or sultanas

DAIRY/Protein

 •Slice of low fat cheese with carrot and celery sticks.

 •Low fat cheese cubes or sticks.

+Cheese toasties

+ Franks/small sausages (cut octopus legs and little eyes)

+ Yoghurt with a handful of muesli on top

SNACKS

*Pretzels/Popcorn/Pikelets/Crumpets

2. I buy a loaf of bread per child, sometimes more… then I spread the whole lot with spreads of their choice e.g. My son likes honey, jam, peanutbutter and mixtures of the lot, but my daughter only likes marmite (sometimes marmite and cheese)  So I make up a whole loaf slitting the spreads between the lot then putting the sandwhiches back in the bread bags labelled for each kid

If you wrap your sandwiches in glad wrap, you could do that now too, otherwise it pays to put something in between each sandwich to stop them from sticking together, e.g. Small pieces of baking paper.  You can reuse baking paper over and over again.

Then in the morning I just grab a sandwich from the bag and throw it into the lunch box.

3. In the holidays or at some other “fun” time I will make pikelets or scones or another form of baking snack, we will have a few for out lunch or morning tea fresh and then the rest will be frozen in bags ready for lunches.  Make sure the items are not going to stick together when you freeze them so that you can just pull out 1 or 2 or how ever many you need each day. 
4. I am lucky enough to have a dehydrator so I will often buy the bulk lot of bruised apples or other fruit and spend a day, peeling, slicing and dehydrating apple pieces, grated apple, or purred apple into fruit roll ups.  (This is also good when I need some fruit for a slow cooker meal or a dessert base)

So now that I have shared all these ideas and thoughts on making easy, healthy and most importantly cheap lunches for the kids…I should really get off the computer and go and make some!!