Yet another strategy for saving money on food is to make it yourself. Whenever you purchase something pre-made at the store, you’re going to pay for someone else’s labor.
Earth-shattering revelation, no?
Never mind, don’t answer that. 
My boys are currently fond of the Lunchables brand of ummm, lunch thingies. I only buy them every once in a great while because 4 at a time gets pretty expensive. Now that we’re back on our school schedule I was looking for some fun ways to do the whole lunch thing and the boys asked for Lunchables.
I hesitated, then decided that I could try making a similar lunch myself. I stopped at the store for ham, cheese, tortillas, fruit juice, and cookies. When I tallied up the cost per lunch with my own ingredients, it came to $0.95. The regular Lunchables cost $2.79 per pack.
That means I save $1.84 per child. Multiply that times 4 children, and I have a per meal savings of $7.36. It took me about ten minutes to prepare the food. I like to play a game with myself that money I save on purchases is income. I’ve never sat down and calculated out an annual “income” for myself. Perhaps I should!
Now I’m not saying that it’s bad to purchase ready-made items. I do it if I’m crunched for time or if the price is really low. For example, there were cookies on sale this week buy 1 get 2 free. So for $2.50 I was getting 3 boxes of cookies. There’s a frozen cake that often goes on sale in the wintertime priced at 3 for $5. For a dollar and sixty seven cents, I can’t buy the ingredients to make my own cake so I usually buy one to have on hand in case of sudden need.
If you have the time to do plan ahead and do the work, why not see what kind of savings you can score? Then come back here and let us know about your victory!
by AmyL
Photo graciously provided by nickwheeleroz, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
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3 responses so far ↓
STL Mom // Sep 22, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I bought my daughter the Laptop Lunch lunchbox two years ago, and she is still using it. It has lots of little removable containers, so it looks a little bit like Lunchables but is washable, durable, and lead-free. We love it. Appearance really does count, especially for kids.
I make my own muffins, granola, and cookies, but my only attempt at making crackers was kind of a disaster.
Sandie Law // Sep 29, 2008 at 11:13 am
The key to this is planning ahead. You can get a whole week’s worth of lunches put together very quickly.
One bonus to the make it yourself option…you know exactly what you’re feeding them. There’s no question about whether or not the crackers in their lunch are trans fat free or if their juice is full of sugar. You buy the pieces and put them together, so you know exactly what they’re eating.
Packing lunch in re-usable containers is also a really great way to save money and be a little green in the process. Washable means you’re not throwing it away. Plus, as STL Mom notes, appearance is important and you’re more likely to get a positive response from the reusable lunch box with their favorite character on it than you would with the zip top baggies.
Nan // Oct 4, 2008 at 7:38 am
My boys go wild with glee when I make dip with sour cream, cheese or tuna and pack that with carrots or crackers. Oh, and meatballs, with a little container of ketchup for dipping? Love love love! We all get tired of sandwiches….
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