Favorite School Lunch Snacks

Now that school is back in session, I've made a list of items to put in the lunches for my four boys. Sometimes, I just cannot think of anything to put in their lunches!  It's just good to have it in a list to have some ideas.   I like to make the bulk of the lunches the day before to prevent the stress of getting ready for school in the morning.  About once or twice a week, I will do batch snack prep of bagging all the snacks for the week that I can ahead of time.  

• bagels, crackers (Cheez-its, saltines, graham crackers, ranch crackers), chocolate/plain popcorn, trail mix, chewy granola bars, chips, hard/soft pretzels
• jello, gummy bears/fruit snacks, frozen yogurt, pudding
• small bananas, orange/apple slices, applesauce, diced peaches/pears, carrot/celery sticks, mandarin oranges
• cinnamon apple muffins, banana bread, brownies/brownie bites, cookies/cookie bars

I love Ziploc bags, but just couldn't pay for it several years ago.  So, I've been using the fold-top sandwich bags ever since, the kind that my mom used to give us when we were little.  It is more cost effective for me to buy them vs the others.  Something else I'll do is pre-portion the jello, pudding, applesauce, peaches, pears, etc into snack size containers.

As time has progressed, I am making more & more of my own groceries versus buying them already made. It does take more time, but it is saving money, and better for me & my family.  Like, I've started making my own applesauce to cut down on costs in my food envelope, especially when I can get the apples for $.69/lb or less on sale at an ethnic grocery store. 

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