School Lunch List Ideas

My friend Jane created this list a couple of years ago, and I think it is brilliant!

Sometimes I will refer to this list for "new ideas" when I pack my hubby's lunch for work.

Watch for sales and begin stocking up now for school lunches, go to nabiscoworld.com to get a $55.00 booklet of savings through the mail. $15.00 in coupons for Kraft favorites like Nabisco, Planters, Capri Suns, Ritz Bitz, and Easy Cheese Along with 2 $20.00 rebates. If you are going to be buying the food anyways....you might has well save money doing it!

What to pack in a school lunch? (print it out in table form click here!)
by Jane R.

Breads/starches
Bagel with cream cheese
Bread sticks
Chips
Crackers
English muffins
Fortune cookies
Fruit newtons
Graham crackers
Granola bars
Hawaiian bread
Macaroni salad
Mini-bagels
Mini-muffins
Muffins
Pasta/pasta salad
Pita bread
pizza
Plain sliced bread
Popcorn
Pretzels (to dip in PB)
Rice cakes
Rolls
Salsa and chips
Silly pasta salads
Sourdough
Tortilla chips with salsa
Tortilla wraps
Whole grain crackers
Whole grain rolls
Whole wheat bread

Proteins
Bologna
Cheese slices or cubes
Chicken nuggets
Cold cuts w/ toothpick
Cubes of ham or turkey
Hard boiled egg
Hot dogs and ketchup
Meat and cheese kabobs
Nuts
Peanut butter and jelly
Pudding
Shredded mozzarella
String cheese
Sunflower kernels
Trail mix
Tuna fish
Turkey
Yogurt (frozen in a bag)

Fruits/Vegetables
Applesauce (w/ straw)
Broccoli trees
Carrots
Celery sticks & PB
Cereal/fruit bar
Cucumber
Dried fruit
Fresh fruit (w/ yogurt dip)
Fruit cocktail
Fruit kabobs
Fruit leather
Green beans
Kiwi
Lettuce
Melon
Orange
Pear
Pickles
Pineapple
Salad
Seedless grapes
Sliced apple
Vegetable sticks and dip

Dippers
Salsa, ranch dressing, barbecue sauce, ketchup, honey mustard, or pizza sauce.

Variety
Send a sandwich cut out with a cookie cutter.
Create "wraps" with regular bread. Roll up the bread tightly. Cut wraps pinwheel style.

Internet Coupons - tips to use them

I have used Internet coupons the last few months and most the time I do not have a problem using them. Occasionally I will get a cashier that doesn't think the store accepts them. Wal-mart, Albertson's, King Soopers and Safeway all have accepted Internet coupons.

If you have a cashier that won't accept the coupons follow these tips:

Stay Calm , ask questions nicely. "I have used coupons here before, why won't you accept this?"

Ask if they will check with the someone (Supervisor, Manager, etc.) (if you have used Internet coupons before at the store, tell the cashier this.)

You may want to tell the cashier were you got the coupons (if you print from this blog, coupons.com is the source.)

If the cashier/store still won't take the coupons you have to decide if you want the items still or if you are willing to come back to try a different cashier. Don't be embarrassed to say "Well I don't want A, B, and C then" after all it is your money!

At Wal-mart the cashiers generally tell me if it scans I can take it, but if it won't scan I can't accept it. Usually all my coupons will scan at Wal-mart. Last week I had four Internet coupons and 3 of the 4 scanned, and she wouldn't take the 4th one. I printed them all from coupons.com, I should have asked her to check with a supervisor since I printed them all from the same website, but I had my kids with me (yes, I know I am supposed to shop with out them,) and it was a wild trip and it was just time to go.

New Price Point Sheet

Check out the Price Points on the menu bar. If you use this sheet as a guideline for grocery shopping you will save money. If you are a coupon clipper (like me) use this sheet and the coupon list to come up with the best deals using your local ads.

Do not feed the mice!

If you work hard to find great deals on food and buy in bulk, don't let it turn into mouse food!

Last November we got our first mouse in the basement. Unfortunately, I did not have a lot of my food stored properly. The mouse had a great feast of eating into my 10 lb bag of pancake mix, my Costco size bag chocolate chips, and some hot chocolate mixes (it must have been a girl mouse.) I was mad that I had to throw away all the food just because a mouse nibbled on some of it. Before we lost any more food to mice we went and bought these storage containers to protect our food.The buckets below store my flour, sugars, rice, and a misc. one that I put an unopened bag of pancake mix, hot cocoa mix, etc.. . A good friend taught me to store my chocolate chips in the freezer, they will last longer and give the cookie dough a little chill before you cook them. (The "chill" helps the flour absorb into the dough.)
We recently caught another mouse in the basement and I am happy to report the only food he got into was the food left on the trap!

Diapers, Huggies Jumbo Pack

Where to buy Diapers this week?

Albertson's (Colorado) or Walgreen's

Jumbo Pack, Regular, Gentle Care, Natural Fit
Huggies Size 1: 56 diapers, 44 diapers, natural fit?
Huggies Size 2: 48 diapers, 40 diapers, natural fit?
Huggies Size 3: 40 diapers, gentle care, 35 diapers
Huggies Size 4: regular?, gentle care?, 30 diapers
Huggies Size 5: regular?, gentle care?, 26 diapers

Hopefully this helps, but I will have to fill in the holes next time I go to the store.

I think there are two good options. For either one, first go to coupons.com and print two $5.00 coupons for Huggies Gentle Care and two $3.00 off coupons for Huggies Natural Fit. After printing one of each coupon, push the back button and reprint to get two of each coupon.

Albertson's have their Jumbo Huggies on sale this week for $6.99. Which makes the Gentle Care $1.99 a package or the Natural fit $3.99 a package. If they are out, ask for a rain check and come back next week (or before the coupons expire) to get this great deal. Most Grocery Stores have shipments come in on Tuesdays and Fridays. If you prefer the rain check go in Monday, that is when the store will most likely be out of stock, (but no guarantees.)

Walgreen's this is a good option if you wanting to buy Diet Coke (or whatever Coca-Cola you like.) They were out of Gentle Care Huggies when I went Monday, so I would go Friday morning if you want this deal.

Huggies Diapers are $10.00 a Jumbo Pack and you have to buy 3 to get the $10.00 Register Rewards.

Diapers $30.00
Subtract coupons $5.00, $5.00 and $3.00 = $13.00
Diaper Total $17.00 for 3 packages, plus your $10.00 register rewards that I used to buy Diet Coke in separate transaction.

The diet coke is 4/$13.00 if you use your $10.00 register rewards from the diapers, you pay $3.00 and you also get a $3.00 register rewards when you buy 4.

FINAL PRICE (before tax) for 3 packages of diapers and 4 - 12 packs of soda: $20.00 + $3.00 in Register Rewards

Menu Planning

I plan meals for two weeks at a time. For my family (2 adults+3 kids) this means, I plan out ten dinners. I don't assign days to these dinners, but I will first make the dinners that have perishables that go with it. I plan using food we already have at home and then plan with what is on sale at the grocery store. I have made a separate spreadsheet with dinners we like, where to find the recipe, and ingredients list to help me in the process. To see my dinner sheet click here.

For the current dinner menu for my family see the black print below.

I will grocery shop for the 10 meals at the beginning of the 2 weeks. This leaves me with some money to shop the second week for fresh produce, milk, and any good or great deals. I am planning to have the French Dip dinner this Sunday, so since the Roast wasn't a good price last week I held off on buying it. It worked! Albertson's have them on sale this week, which I plan to buy 2 so I can freeze one.

2 week Dinner Menu
1. Bean Soup (and homemade bread)
2. Thai Noodles
3. Burritos (Burrito filling frozen from previous dinner)
4. Hawaii Coconut Chicken (already have coconut and almonds in freezer)
5. Mexican Chicken (We eat it with avocados, tomatoes, and lettuce and so we already ate this.)
6. Sesame Chicken (already have all ingredients)
7. Manicotti (already have noodles and frozen filling from last month)
8. Creamy Turkey Soup (I already have frozen leftover turkey.)
9. French Dip
10. Fish (I already have frozen Salmon from Costco.)

I will also serve a vegetable (fresh, frozen, or can) and sometimes fruit to go along with dinner.

When I freeze leftovers, I love to use Reynolds Handi-Vac. This handy tool allows you to suck the air out of the bag, to help prevent freezer burn. Since using this tool, we have actually eaten the frozen leftovers for dinner instead of chucking them in the annual freezer clean out.

Lunch
We do eat leftovers and my husband will often take leftovers for lunch. For his lunch I include a main entree, vegetables, fruit, and a yogurt. For my kids lunch we have a main entree like PBJ sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, Mac & Cheese, or egg rolls (egg, ham, cheese fried in an egg roll wrapper.) I also have a fruit and/or vegetable and a good bribe (Cheetos) to eat their lunch.

Breakfast
Cereal, oatmeal, or waffles (Krusteaz mix from Costco).

Snacks
Fruit, yogurt, crackers, popcorn, Pop-tarts etc... I like to save the fruit snacks and granola bars for a snack away from home.

Desserts
We are a cookie home. I always have ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies. I generally have a dessert for Sunday and Monday nights. This week it is apple crisp and ice cream. We also love popcorn and brownies.

Shopping at specialty stores

If you have a favorite authentic Chinese or Mexican dish, consider making a shopping trip to a specialty Chinese or Mexican market. The cost of specific ingredients used only in the authentic recipes are usually less than the grocery store.

Also, consider buying produce and meat at a natural food stores. In Colorado we have Sproutz, Sunflower, and Vitamin Cottage. Watch the ads for meat, cheese and produce. The meat and cheese go on sale occasionally cheaper than the grocery store. The stores seem to always have some produce that is significantly less than the grocery store and it is beautiful, delicious produce.

Always consider the amount of food you are buying verses time, gas, etc...before you go. These stores will have higher prices for other goods (milk, bread, cereal, etc...,) so plan on just shopping the ads if you go.

My family has loved the produce we got from Sproutz this last week. I may be making a monthly trip there to stock up on produce. Of course I will have to weigh in the gas and time factor, but it is something to consider.

Shopping Tips

Go to the store with out kids

I try not to take my kids to the grocery store, when I do I know I put extra things in my cart. When we get home they ask for one of everything I just bought. I like to go to the grocery store by myself because I am able to stick to my "list" and when I get home I can put the groceries away before opening any of them. Also, the food stays longer in the house. For example the Pop-tarts and Cheetos I bought above, I put one of each in the pantry and the rest in my food storage (in my case the basement.) If I had put everything in the pantry, we probably would have (and have in the past) just consumed all the Pop-Tarts and most the chips in less than a week. Defeating the purpose of stocking up when an item is at a good or great price.

Shopping Tips

Buying chicken at a good deal

I love using the fresh chicken breasts from Albertson's for dinner. When they are on sale for $1.99 or less a pound, I will buy extra for my freezer. I ask the butcher to put one chicken breast per bag and then wrap in freezer paper. This usually is about a pound of meat. Sometimes it is less and I will use those packages for soups. Sometimes, like today it is more like 1 1/2 pounds of chicken per package, those I will use when we have family and friends over to share a meal, or use in a favorite dish that I can freeze leftovers for another day.

Shopping Tips and Tricks

1. Grocery ads generally run Wednesday-Tuesday.
3. If the store is out of a sale item ask for a rain check
4. Know what your willing to pay for items by units.
5. Protect what you store. You won't be saving money if it just ends up as mouse food.
6. Buy in bulk, use your freezer.
7. Save money on meat. If you go to the grocer on a Tuesday night the butcher may be willing to reduce meat prices further to get rid of the meat before it goes bad. Sam's Club puts meat out at a reduced price first thing in the morning.