It’s hard to believe, but in just a few short weeks, many kids will be headed back to school. Whether your kids are in full-day school every day or part of homeschool co-ops where they need to pack a lunch a few times a week, it can very quickly start to get overwhelming. And with food prices the way they currently are, we definitely don’t want to be wasting money on food! As we approach the beginning of the school year, this week we’ll be doing a short series on school lunches to rejuvenate your efforts to save money while keeping it simple.

Today we’ll be talking about saving money on school lunches, and then we’ll move into our favorite products, extra tips and hacks, and even some printables to help you plan school lunches your kids will eat!

Saving Money on School Lunches

You may not find it helpful to use all of these tips—you have to figure out which ones work for your family and your lifestyle. Maybe it’s worth it to you to have a few more convenience foods.

Avoid pre-packaged foods

Instead of buying boxes or packages of chips, crackers, or yogurt, package them yourself with reusable bags or disposable ones. This also lets you better control portions and opens up the possibilities of what you can include in their lunch!

To give you a savings example:

Cheez-It Snack Packs, 12 ct., 1 oz bags – $3.99 (reg. $7.99)
vs.
Cheez-It Crackers, 12.4 oz box – $2.24 (reg. $4.49)

It’s the same amount of Cheez-It crackers, but you are paying $1.75 extra for the individual bags.  You could buy quite a lot of sandwich bags for that price!

Buy pre-packaged foods with coupons

There’s no judgment if you find it easier to buy those big packages of individually wrapped chips. Just make sure you use coupons to get the best deals!  Use the item search to find sales you need.

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