School is out here…. YAY the end of endless zoom calls and buffering Netflix thanks to 4 kids on virtual school + 2 work at home parents!
I am hoping that by September we’ll have a vaccine for my youngest and ALL my kids can head off to school. I’ll have 4 kids in 3 schools (including my oldest heading off to college)
If you pack your children’s lunches you may want to use these next weeks of summer vacation to continue to buy those lunch box friendly items.
Since the kids will be home for the summer so the need for juice boxes and sandwich bags will be reduced. They can eat off napkins and out of reusable cups- but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep our eyes out for deals for packing those lunches!
One benefit of stocking up for lunches all summer is that when school does start- you’ll have a wider selection of items to chose from! Plus your budget will appreciate not being hit with $70 spent on fruit snacks, pudding cups and peanut butter when you’ve already had to pay out for new shoes and shorts…and backpacks and pencils…
Here are my tips for a summer of stocking up :
- I put a large box in my storage area so I can put those “For School” items in it.
If they are visible in the pantry- they will get eaten before the school buses start their engines in September. So keep a cabinet or other out of the way location to store the lunch box items and as always check expiration dates. You don’t want to open that cabinet the first day of school to find that everything expired in August!
- Watch expiration dates and be sure to put the ones needing to be used faster at the front of that stockpile.
- Stock up on items other than food too- from reusable food containers to sandwich bags, plastic cutlery and napkins- we know school will be coming back so use the summer to stock a lunch box pantry that any kid would want!
- Don’t go crazy on new flavors or products. Stick to staples: peanut butter, jelly, snacks, fruit cups, etc.
- Utilize your freezer. GoGurts and cheese sticks freeze GREAT and will thaw perfectly by lunch time!
Towards the end of summer I’ll pick up 5-6 loaves of bread (or more) and make DIY Uncrustables and put in the freezer.
Don’t let the summer deals pass you by – keep future events in mind when the deals come around!
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