Kid’s lunches are a struggle. Yes, that first week of school is amazing. You spent $565.69 on cute little “lunchables”, snacks and all of the foods they love. Then, reality sets in. You have officially ran out of ideas AND you are broke. Check out: Do It Yourself and SAVE Big: Kid’s Lunch Munchables for a super cute, easy AND budget friendly way of making “lunch munchables”.

Do It Yourself and SAVE Big: Kid’s Lunch Munchables

Do It Yourself and SAVE Big: Kid's Lunch MunchablesMy kids take their lunch to school every single day. After a couple of weeks, the “same ole, same ole” gets really old. Sure, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are great-but after 876 days of them, well, you get the point. We had to get a different game plan going. I have a 7 year old and a 17 year old and the struggle of trying to find healthy AND affordable options was beginning to be challenging. Sure, they LOVE the “lunchables” that you can buy in the store. This momma does NOT like the price. So, I came up with a do it yourself version that is healthier and CHEAPER!

Munchables: What you NeedDo It Yourself and SAVE Big: Kid's Lunch Munchables

You will need to following (of course, you can customize this and change things up):

  • Deli meats-ham, turkey, roast beef, the possibilities are endless; our favorite is honey ham or oven roasted turkey.
  • Cheese-We are cheese lovers, so we always have a HUGE variety of cheese. I like to purchase the deli style that is not individually wrapped. Our favorite is the Colby-Jack.
  • Crackers-We also mix this up a bit too. We love the round Ritz crackers and Club crackers, but my oldest LOVES sun-dried tomato crackers.
  • Extras: We do juice boxes, bottled water and of course a little “sweet something”. No lunch is complete without a little something sweet!

Make it Personal

Here is the fun part! Making it personal! You can purchase sandwich cutters or even use cookie cutters. You can also just cut them in squares or whatever shape you wish. The little one loves the sandwich cutter shapes. The older one, eh, not so much. I have been asked on numerous occasions to please stop using the sandwich cutter on his “munchables” that are for school. He doesn’t mind so much when we have them at home. So, we did compromise on that situation.

Do It Yourself and SAVE Big: Kid's Lunch MunchablesContainers

There are tons of options available here. All of your “dollar stores” have a large variety of containers that will work. Again,  we are Disney fanatics, so we look for Disney ones. The container is just an added bonus, because the kids LOVE having their favorite characters in their lunchboxes.

Do It Yourself and SAVE Big: Kid's Lunch MunchablesGet the Kids Involved

Yes, let your kids help! They won’t think this is a dreaded “chore”, because it’s actually FUN. My little one LOVES to help with this. He likes to cut the shapes and then plan which day he wants to gobble it up.

The SCRAPS

Waste not, want not. That is a statement we live by in our family. So, when you cut the cheese (yes, I have boys…I am sorry. HA!) and meat with the cutters, SAVE THOSE SCRAPS. You can use those for omelets the following week.

Cost

Do It Yourself and SAVE Big: Kid's Lunch MunchablesThe savings for us is HUGE! One “name brand lunchable” with the drink included is around $3.00. I can make my kids’ lunches for 2 weeks for the price of three “name brand lunchables”.

I hope you have enjoyed this little “do it yourself” recipe. We love to save money and are always looking for more ways to be frugal. My motto is: a penny saved is a penny towards another Disney trip!!

Note From Mandi

And she isn’t kidding about a penny saved is a penny towards another Disney trip! 🙂

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