Jlogged

I have two children in school. Both have been eating “hot lunch” at school for going on four years, and the other going on three years. In reading the school lunch section that Amy Dacyczyn writes about in her book The Tight Wad Gazette I realized, “duh, this is a significant money suck!” Amy came up with a chart that shows what each meal option costs (circa 1994.) School lunch is the second most expensive option. Sending a lunch full of prepackaged convenience foods is the most expensive option. Ah, but sending a simple, yet nutritious meal of left overs, or pb&j with veggies cost pennies in comparison.

So, how much do I spend on feeding my kids at school you ask? Well, it is 1.40 per child per day five days a week. That ads up to 14.00 per week, 56.00 per month, and 504.00 per year. Nearly the cost of a family membership to a nice heath club here. That’s quite a lot of savings in the long run.

I also send Aaron’s lunch. Myself and the remaining child at home usually munch on left overs or a sandwich. We are the least picky eaters in the family, so that works out well for us. Not so well for the others sometimes. This morning we had a lunch mix up. Aaron just informed me that he will be having a sippy cup of organic milk, pb&j on ww bread, a handful of carrots and five kettle chips for lunch. Poor Lucas is stuck with an apple, tuna on wheat, and low-fat yogurt with berries.

On an aside note, I love to get fresh ideas from other bloggers like veganlunchbox.com (even thought we are not vegheads, I used to be, and yummy, is yummy, is yummy right? Jessica Seinfeld was on Oprah promoting her new book Deceptively Delicious , and I must say that this is one book I’m putting on my Christmas list. Great ideas, and yummy recipes galore! And my girl Rachel Ray had lunch box make overs on her show yesterday. Hello “Fun”-due…mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!

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