By: Amanda Schroeder

Though it seems to have just begun, summer is officially coming to a close and, for many of us, this means settling into a school-time routine. Even if you are child-free and/or not in school, this time of year also signifies earlier mornings to accompany the reemergence of school zone speed limits, school buses, and overall heavier morning traffic. Waking up with the roosters can be quite the challenge and, let’s face it: sometimes that snooze button feels like an absolute necessity! Despite the busy mornings and potentially grumpy children (or adults!), eating well can still be convenient and manageable!
Packing a lunch from home is not only cheaper (that dollar menu adds up over time!) but also gives you control over the quality of foods that you and your family ingest. Fast food or restaurant options are tempting when you feel short on time, but they are typically much higher in sodium, calories, and fat. And schools are sometimes equipped with a larger variety of junk food than you probably have in your home! Fight the temptation! Just a small amount of prep time once or twice a week can ensure that you and your family are eating healthfully and staying within your budget. Here are 6 tips for creating convenient, healthy, brown bag lunches that won’t break the bank.

1. Have a plan. The best way to make sure you’re using your money and time efficiently is to decide what your lunches will look like before the week begins. You can make the most of your budget by looking at your local grocery ads and taking advantage of weekly sales. Plus, the ads can serve as inspiration! Sometimes, my brain is so fried from my other responsibilities that I get stumped before I even start planning. The ads help to narrow my choices, in a sense, and give direction to my menu planning. Oh, grapes are on sale this week. I love grapes! I want to put those in my lunches this week! Quickly jot down a couple of food items you’d like to include, and take it from there!
2. Don’t forget about leftovers. Who says that you have to eat a sandwich or salad for lunch every day? Both are delicious, but some of us need more variety, and that’s okay. Meals are supposed to fuel you, not bore you! Just plan to make a little bit extra during dinnertime and your lunch is taken care of! You can even get creative with your leftovers to make them feel new. I love packing a few big lettuce leaves and making lettuce wraps with whatever it is that I’ve brought. Surprisingly, this works with so many different dishes! Leftover rice dish? Scoop it into some lettuce cups! Taco fillings? Casserole? Cooked veggies? The possibilities are truly endless. Making good use of your leftovers allows you to both save time in the kitchen and break up the monotony of typical “lunch” foods.
3. Soup! It might not feel this way, but cooler temperatures are right around the corner! As the temperatures drop, you might start craving more coziness in your life and, as far as comforting winter foods go, soup is high on my list of favorites. I vividly remember the moment that I learned how simple and fool-proof it is to make soup, and I’ve been a soup addict ever since! A quick Google search will lead you to hundreds of recipes online, and it is very likely that you will find something that suits your tastes. (Try Hearty Southwest Chicken Soup or Hearty Two Bean Minestrone Soup!) Not only is soup simple to make, but it can include many different types of food, like beans, veggies, grains, and animal proteins. In this way, you can tailor it to you or your family’s specific tastes and have a completely balanced meal in one bowl! Soups also save well. When I make soup for the week, I freeze half right away. Doing so gives me more flexibility because I don’t have to be worried about a giant pot of soup going bad. Just move the soup from the freezer into the fridge a day or two before you want to eat it. (The exact time will depend on the size of your leftovers.) If you’re sending soup with your kids or if you don’t have access to a microwave at work, simply heat it up in the morning and pour it into a thermos for later. Throw in some bread and a snack, and there’s lunch! Easy, peasy!
4. Do the dirty work early. If there’s one thing that I don’t need in the morning, it’s another thing to do! (I’m sure you can relate.) This is where the menu planning comes in handy! Let’s say I’ve decided to make lettuce wraps out of last night’s veggie burgers to eat with yogurt and an orange. The night before, I would wrap up the veggie burger, all of my toppings, and all of the big lettuce leaves and put them in my lunch bag with the yogurt and orange and leave it in the refrigerator. Grab and go is the name of the game, my friends! That way, there’s no excuse, even if your alarm didn’t go off or you have to spend your morning cleaning up a grape juice spill (Oops!); you’re covered!
5. Include your kids! The goal of being a parent is to teach your kids how to be fully-functioning adults, including teaching them how to feed themselves well! If you’re putting string cheese in your daughter’s lunch every day because you want her to get enough calcium, but she’s trading it for potato chips because she doesn’t like it, your efforts are wasted. Include your kids in the planning process, and they are much more likely to eat the food you pack for them. For younger children, it might be more helpful to make a small “lunch tub” filled with various nonperishable and healthy snack items, like pretzels, dried fruit, peanut butter and crackers, etc. (Individually wrapped items like this can be very expensive, so just make your own! Buy a larger portion and separate the individual servings into zip lock bags before storing them in the lunch tub.) The night before, let your children assist you in lunch making by picking out whichever item they’d most like to put in their lunch. You can do the same thing with fruit and veggies! Fill snack bags with things like carrots, grapes, celery, or cherry tomatoes, and keep them in a section of your fridge that your kids can reach. They’ll love feeling as if they’re doing it by themselves!
6. Keep it safe. Though it’s sometimes referred to as a “brown bag lunch,” a brown bag isn’t usually the best option. You have to repurchase them constantly, as you use one every day, and there is no temperature regulation. Many of the items you might want to include will need to be kept cold to avoid dangerous bacterial growth! Ditch the brown bag in favor of an insulated lunch bag with room to insert an icepack. Granting yourself the luxury of refrigeration allows you to include a much wider variety of foods and makes sure you and your family stay healthy and happy. (And that’s the whole point, right?) For more information about lunchbox food safety and a handy infographic from www.foodsafety.gov, click here!