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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Oct 27 2010 at 3:16pm | IP Logged
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I'm feeling very uninspired about lunches..
either pb&j or mac and cheese
and everything else I can think of seems to be higher in cost and I know there HAS to be other options 
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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*Lindsey*
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| Posted: Oct 27 2010 at 3:22pm | IP Logged
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bean burritos
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Lindsey
Mama to DS (11), DD(9), twin dds(7), DD (5), DS (4), DS (3), and 5 angels in heaven.
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Mackfam
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I'm uninspired as well...and watching closely! Thanks for asking, Jodie!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Grace&Chaos
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Our lunch menus are pretty much PB&J (#1 meal), hot dogs, tuna sandwiches, quesadillas, chicken tenders or fish sticks, turkey with cheese sandwich, and occasionally will order pizza (usually on someones bday  ).
Sides include fruit, yogurt, crackers (graham or ritz), cheese sticks, sliced cucumbers/carrots, or applesauce.
With so many littles our lunches are pretty simple and need to be cost effective (something the older ones can help put together too). The combination usually depends on what was on sale or in season  .
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Jenny
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Oct 27 2010 at 4:02pm | IP Logged
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I'm thinking I really need to do some cost analysis on lunches.. is pb&j really cheap? or just easy? and is bean burritos really a good bit more because of the cost of the tortillas.. or just perception because one component seems expensive?
Like I found out that toaster waffles can be cheaper than cold cereal  I grew up "knowing" that toaster waffles were expensive and a treat.. but we ate cold cereal all the time.. talk about feeling turned on your head
hmm wonder how much peanut butter and jam we actually use on each sandwich...
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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sewcrazy
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We have baked potatoes and a salad at least once a week.
Fruit and yogurt parfait with a muffin
Most weeks I make a big pot of soup on Sundays and we eat that for lunch much of the week. This week I made 3 bean chili for us to eat.
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LeeAnn
Wife of David, mom to Ben, Dennis, Alex, Laura, Philip and our little souls in heaven we have yet to meet
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DominaCaeli
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JodieLyn wrote:
| I'm thinking I really need to do some cost analysis on lunches.. |
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I know what you mean, Jodie--lots of times, a meal that I have perceived to be "expensive" turned out not to be so when I did the math. I do think that PB&J is cheap because peanut butter and bread are both so inexpensive per calorie (which is how I usually compare costs here). That was our daily lunch menu too...which is one of the reasons we were sad to discover our daughter's peanut allergy earlier this year. 
For the number you're cooking for, I'd say:
:: homemade soups
:: homemade cornbread
:: fresh bread with various spreads (hummus can be made very cheaply, for example, or a white bean spread)
:: pot of beans or meatless chili
:: baked potatoes
:: breakfast for lunch? (pancakes or oatmeal)
:: homemade macaroni and cheese
:: pasta primavera
:: bananas or apples (cheap as far as fruit goes) with peanut butter
I'd probably just rely on non-meat proteins and cheap carbs that are nutrient dense and filling.
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Celeste
Joyous Lessons
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Oct 27 2010 at 4:59pm | IP Logged
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oh baked potatoes are a good idea
and we made "cheese bread" (pizza crust with just cheese on it) instead of quesadillas the other day.. same or less amount of cheese and homemade pizza crust is much cheaper than tortillas.
I need to find soups my kids will eat.. a pot of beans usually works well.. and something like 6/8's will eat potato soup iwth part wanting cheese in it and part not.
Of course I love more complex soups.. wonder if I start trying out soups with fewer ingredients if I can find others that work.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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Erin
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Jodie
I have been uninspired about lunches for so long; changing to our new diet has made me become organised, I really think for me the key is planning ahead of time.
So weekly plan is;
Vegie Slice
Chicken Wings & Salad,
Cold Meat & Salad x2 (When baking a roast on Sundays I bake a Corned Silverside at the same time)*Most people don't bake silverside they boil it, I'm strange.
Frittatas,
Zucchini Fritters
Stew
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Erin
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sewcrazy
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Jodie, I make pretty plain soups for lunch. I make huge pots of stock about once a month. My stock pots are 3.5 gallons.
Then I will make a pot of soup that is simply stock, starch and veggie. This coming week's soup is chicken stock, white beans, and a bag of frozen mixed veggies. Total cost for 2 gallons is about $2. We are having baked chicken for Sunday nights dinner, so any meat left will get tossed in the pot.
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LeeAnn
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MWeber
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My kids love ham, but it can get expensive. Some stores carry turkey ham in a loaf (Jenny-O brand). I chop it into cubes and serve it with cheese and crackers. Or slice it for sandwiches.
If your kids like chicken, you can always boil a whole chicken, shred it, and either serve it plain, with noodles/rice, or in a chicken salad sandwich. Or stir fry leftover rice in a bit of oil with some peas/carrots/onion, soy sauce, and chicken. I sometimes freeze the rice + veggies + chicken in baggies, and toss it in the heated oil right before we eat. Add soy sauce and a couple of scrambled eggs.
Which leads to egg sandwiches! Or egg burritos. A nice alternative to grilled cheese, and you can't get cheaper than eggs.
We also like cheese toast, PB sandwiches, oatmeal (I cook it in milk and add PB for added protein), etc.
You can always go really cheap and serve Ramen noodles - yum!  Add some peas and carrots and call it healthy. Hehe.
Or pizza bagels. Place some pasta sauce on the bagel, top it with cheese, and pop it in the oven.
Also, I buy 5 lb bags of organic baby carrots at Costco (~$1 a pound), and serve those with whatever fruit is in season.
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Michele
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guitarnan
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We love pizza bagels. I make my own pasta sauce (using canned tomato puree) and I make a big batch about once a week. I use leftovers for pizza bagels, pasta at lunchtime, etc.
We eat a lot of the same things for lunch each week - mac and cheese, soup, grilled cheese, pizza bagels, etc. Sometimes we eat breakfast for lunch (omelets, waffles). Where I can do so easily, I try to cook from scratch and cook in bulk (bread, sauces, soup, etc.) or work in leftovers (pasta, rice) that I've cooked for a previous dinner. Winter is more cost-effective than summer (I bake more, I cook more on the stove and I take fewer prepackaged shortcuts - also, the leftovers are better because I can make casseroles that everyone likes to reheat).
I do need to learn to make good fried rice. Everyone in my family loves it and it is a good way to use up bits of things.
If you have a slow cooker, you can make some things in bulk - lentil soup (and many other soups, yum), baked potatoes, pasta sauce. Use leftovers during the week in various dishes (potato soup, baked ziti, etc.).
Inexpensive sausage (kielbasa, for example), sliced, adds meat flavor to many economical dishes. Kielbasa is great in lentil soup or baked into a mac and cheese casserole. Browned Italian sausage (crumbled out of the casing) adds a lot of zip to that leftover pasta sauce. (Simmer browned sausage in leftover tomato pasta sauce, and add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil for real Italian flavor!)
I cook my own beans, too - soak overnight, change out the water, simmer on the stove during the day, freeze in soup-pot portions...again, I do more of this in winter, but I cooked several pounds of beans over the summer and used them in all kinds of recipes.
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Willa
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Pasta
Leftovers from night before -- or a big pot of something that keeps on going, like chili.
Quesadillas (tortillas, cheese, beans)
(You could make your own tortillas maybe?-- around here they are not really more expensive than bread)
Grilled or toasted cheese sandwiches
Scrambled eggs or fried egg sandwiches -- eggs are somewhat expensive but excellent protein
Or I make a big breakfast (quick breads or muffins) and then a very light informal lunch.
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Willa
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mamasue
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we love quesadillas for lunch
Friday dinner is pizza so I always make double the pizza dough for lung on Mondays
we also love baked potatoes!
My favorite tip my awesome sister in law shared with me is to make a "lunchables" type tray the night before, cover with foil and stick it in the fridge. when it's lunch time take the foil off, add non refrigerated items and serve! Or you could prepare non refridgerated items and leave on the counter. What does a lunchables tray consist of?
Anything!!! She started off using crackers, lunchmeat and cheese but then she started adding...
olives
pickles
any fruit! Apples, pears, grapes, Bananas, peaches, etc...
Veggies: carrots, tomatoes, brocolli, celery, peppers, etc
carbs: fresh sliced bread, pretzels, breadsticks, chips
peanut butter to put on the bread, dip the apples or celery in...
Leftover meat: chicken, ham, turkey, pot roast
it's a great way to use up leftovers, any stray can in the pantry AND it's easy, convenient and fun! I dont do it every day, only once a week.
God bless
Suzette
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MWeber
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I love the lunchable idea!
Nancy - Here is the OAMC fried rice recipe I use.
I also see this one.
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Michele
Mom to ds (2006), dd (^2007^), dd (2009), & dd (Dec 2010)
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Angi
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My children have many food allergies, so inexpensive does not occur here, but I wanted to share what I dot make lunch interesting (one child is so limited that her lunch rarely changes). I serve each food item in a silicone baking cup. It makes the foes fun and colorful. I also use them in our "to go" lunches so that foods do not touch.
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KackyK
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Okay I'm just going to be watching this thread because I am in awe, pathetic right?
I've NEVER made a special lunch, something that all eat. Our lunches have always been a free for all, everyone fixes their own lunch, except for the 5 and 2 yr olds. So I have "fixin"s - bread, deli ham, deli turkey, cheese slices, tortillas, pb, diff. jellies, etc. Some kids make their own quesadilla, some do a sandwich (or 2!), some have left overs from the night before, someone might have a yogurt (like me!). We all eat at the same time, just not the same.
I'm betting the same meal would be cheaper.....learning here!!!!!
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KackyK
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SuzanneG
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And, there is always RICE!
Cheap, easy. Nutritious? Not so much ...unless of course it's brown rice, which they aren't as crazy about.
But, my kids LOVE IT when I make a big pot of RICE!!!! A couple slices of cheese, fruit/veggie, whatever else is in the fridge.....they are in HEAVEN!
And, we do the lunchable thing A LOT too. I just keep the fridge and pantry stocked with regular things....put them on a big tray and set it on the table.
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Suzanne in ID
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greengables
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MWeber wrote:
If your kids like chicken, you can always boil a whole chicken, shred it, and either serve it plain, with noodles/rice, or in a chicken salad sandwich. Or stir fry leftover rice in a bit of oil with some peas/carrots/onion, soy sauce, and chicken. I sometimes freeze the rice + veggies + chicken in baggies, and toss it in the heated oil right before we eat. Add soy sauce and a couple of scrambled eggs.
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Us too, MWeber! We like eggs also and fortunately gather them every morning!
My latest is boiling a chicken each week. We love soups and chicken salad! I have found storing the stock in a gallon pitcher is helpful for me and it encourages me to use it right away. Last night though my husband thought it was lemonade and asked for some so I had to tell him it was the chicken stock. I am GLAD he ASKED!
We are really into chicken salad which brings me to this question! Does anyone make their own mayonnaise? I have a recipe from a friend and I have been wanting to try it for years! I think I will. There are 9 children in their family and any of their older girls can make it. Anyone?? Share your recipe and how well your family likes it!
Deus tibi benedicas,
Jill
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JaysFamily
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Beans and cornbread are very cheap. You have to know how to properly cook a pot of pinto beans.
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In Christ,
Jaysfamily
wife to Jay
mother to DS(5)
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: What are your CHEAP lunches?
