Tag Archives: lunch

Responsibility

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I’m pretty lucky. The Boy generally does what I ask him to do. Unless, of course, he is in the middle of something. And generally, if I set a timer for five minutes or so, he will usually do it then.

Last Sunday, I decided that he should help me prep his lunched for the week. Pretty simple tasks involved, like counting 12 crackers and 12 pepperonis to put into snack bags. The cheese is a bit more complicated, involving a knife and cutting, but I figured he could help me with the bulk of it. I gave him five minutes, and he came to help, doing what I asked. My goal is to get him to the point where he can do this himself every Sunday, because why not?


It took awhile, mostly because he is so careful when he does tasks like this. It would have been much easier for me to do it myself, but then, I won’t always be there, will I?

Every time we do something like this, I give myself an internal high five, and The Man and I look at each other and say, “He needs to do more of this.”

I’m off to brainstorm more ways he can “help,” so we can add them bit by bit…

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Why I Make “Homemade” Lunchables

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I’ve been making homemade lunchables for awhile now.  At first, I hesitated to do it myself because many times, as those of you with kiddos on the spectrum well know, even slight changes to foods can make them “inedible.” This can include packaging, and many times The Boy notices things about food that I do not, so there could be textures that are slightly different between a store-bought and homemade lunchable.  I don’t rightly know, because I’m not a big lunchmeat fan, myself.  But luckily, The Boy didn’t seem to care that what I put together myself came in a green plastic (re-usable) box, rather than a bright yellow cardboard box.

Here’s why I decided to try it.  Lunchables run $2.74 right now at my local grocery store.  $2.74 times 5 days per week equals $14.62 including tax (in our state).

Purchasing the parts myself, and putting in a little prep breaks down like this:

Ingredient Costs include:

Hormel Pepperoni, 84 slices, $2.98 (enough for 14 lunchables = $0.21 per lunchable)

Generic Mozarella Cheese Slices, 12 slices, $2.74 (enough for 12 lunchables = $0.23 per lunchable)

Ritz Crackers, 120 crackers, $2.50 (enough for 20 lunchables = $0.13 per lunchable)

Capri Suns, 10 puches, $2.98 (enough for 10 lunchables = $0.30 per lunchable) *note: I upgrade to the 100% juice version*

This adds up to $0.87 per lunchable, times 5 days equals $4.64 including tax.

I save about 10 bucks a week.

I don’t contribute quite as much trash as a lunchable (I encourage The Boy to return the baggies and re-use them).

I don’t send in any candy or sweet treat, which is always included in the lunchable.

We have also done turkey and american cheese, which breaks down like this:

Ingredient Costs include:

Turkey, 16 slices, $2.78 (enough for 16 lunchables = $0.17 per lunchable)

Generic American Cheese Slices, 16 slices, $2.88 (enough for 16 lunchables = $0.18 per lunchable)

Ritz Crackers, 120 crackers, $2.50 (enough for 20 lunchables = $0.13 per lunchable)

Capri Suns, 10 puches, $2.98 (enough for 10 lunchables = $0.30 per lunchable) *note: I upgrade to the 100% juice version*

This adds up to $0.78 per lunchable, times 5 days equals $4.16 including tax.

Maybe there are people out there who want to spend an extra 10 bucks so that they don’t have to pack a lunch, but I think I’ll put in the effort.  And here’s some other cool stuff about doing it this way:

  • You can get a week’s or a month’s done all in one shot and refrigerate/freeze them
  • You can freeze the ingredients in between packings, so that they don’t go bad
  • It takes me about 10 minutes to pack a week’s worth of lunches all in one shot
  • If you get your kiddo to help you, they are learning skills for independence

To me, it’s a no-brainer, and worth a shot if you have’t done something like this.  We have recently upgraded to 8 cracker/pepperoni/cheese square combos per lunch, because The Boy is growing after all.  I also include a fruit cup, which Lunchables conveniently leave out.  But I think it’s a pretty healthy lunch for less than a dollar a day.

Lunch and the Picky Eater: Update

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Two Ritz Crackers

Two Ritz Crackers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We are heading into the 5th week of school, and we have been fairly successful replacing the lunchables in The Boy’s lunch.  We have tried various types of bread products for the pizza “crust” — whole grain English muffins (healthy by not so tasty), regular plain bagel halves (tasty but not so healthy), and finally whole wheat deli thins (healthy and tasty).  The only downside so far, is that he has pizza pretty much every day.  I have tried to throw in some turkey, cheese, and crackers, and even went so far as to cut the turkey into pacman shapes with cookie cutters.  This usually ends up being a 2-day lunch — he doesn’t eat it all (or any of it), so I send it in the next day for a re-do.  We tried various types of crackers for this lunch, as well, finally settling on whole wheat Ritz, which The Boy will even eat plain.

I was worried about his not eating all (or any) of his lunch when we started this, because there were days when his lunchbag would come home looking untouched.  Lo and behold, at Back to School night, his teacher explained that this happens because he is too busy talking and socializing with his buddies… What??… Fantastic!!

Next, I will try to get some different toppings in that pizza lunch (ham?), and I’m going to attempt nacho chips and cheese sauce (homemade), with some crumbled bacon for some extra protein.  We’ll try that in the test-kitchen (at home) first.

What goes into your little ones’ lunches?