The price of school lunches can get crazy expensive throughout the school year. And don’t get me started on what they feed kids at school – it is not always the greatest food and sometimes food groups are completely missing from the plates (I have witnessed this with my own eyes – scroll down for one of my girls’ school lunches). Making homemade pizza lunchables is a frugal lunch idea that my girls love! It call came down to solving the sauce problem. Once one of my friends posted a picture of her child’s lunch on Facebook I saw the answer….Zipzicle.
Homemade Pizza Lunchables
I know you have questions. Here are the questions and answers. If I forgot anything please ask!
What is the sauce in?
The pizza sauce is in Zipzicle containers. Little Sister is in first grade and she could not open the container at school (it’s like a super zip). She has a pair of safety scissors in her lunch box, so she cut the top off. I found these Ice Candy Bags 100-Piece and I will consider using them in the future for sure since they are cheaper.
How did you make pizza dough?
Every Friday night it is pizza and a movie night at our house. I use Fleischmann’s Pizza Crust Yeast to make pizza for my family, so I made smaller pizza crusts last Friday. The directions are on the yeast packet, but all you need is flour, yeast, salt, water, oil, and sugar (although I never put in the sugar). You do not have to wait for this pizza dough to rise and it’s ready very quickly. I use the Kitchen-aid mixer with dough hook that we got as a wedding present to mix the dough in. I froze the small pizza doughs and we pulled them out of the freezer when packing lunch. Both the pizza dough and sauce were thawed by the time it was lunch time.
There are alternatives to homemade pizza dough. Use english muffins or tortillas instead!
What kind of container is that?
We use EasyLunchboxes, and have for years! My husband used to use Ziplock bags for everything. It was wasteful and got expensive. Our family packs 13 lunches per week (5 for my husband, 4 for each girl) and our lives are so much simpler with EasyLunchboxes. They go through the dishwasher and everything. They are not leak proof. That translates to this: Kids are able to open these containers without holding their hands up for 8 of the 30 minutes of their lunch time waiting for someone to come help them open the package.
Where can I find that lunch note?
So glad you asked, we have a bunch of printable lunch box jokes for you to use! Those particular jokes are the Thanksgiving Lunch Box Jokes.
A few weeks ago I ate lunch with my girls at school. I only saw Big Sister for a few minutes since I was volunteering in Little Sister’s class at the start of her lunch. When I saw the lunch that Big Sister had I was shocked. My first thought was that I was failing as a parent. We teach our girls to eat healthy and to eat something from all food groups. Surely Big Sister didn’t choose the protein option or the veggies? Where was a lunch monitor to make sure the kids were making healthy choices. Then, Little Sister came out of the lunch line with the exact same lunch as her big sister. THAT WAS LUNCH. That day each of my girls lunch consisted of: Trix yogurt, a chocolate muffin, colby jack string cheese, and a whole apple. That was it. There were 10 grams of protein between the cheese stick and yogurt. That was it. I am still not cool with that lunch and it furthered my resolve to send healthy lunches that I know my girls will eat four out of five days a week. That fifth day is a day when the girls get to make decisions and practice what we are teaching them without us being around. They may not always make the best decisions, but that’s a part of learning. I just wish the school served healthier food!
Have you seen what your school serves for lunch? Is my school the only one like this?
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Leandrea is a married mom of two girls, ages 13 and 12, living in Atlanta, GA. She is passionate about helping people save money one coupon at a time. Read more
I’m actually pleasantly surprised with our school lunches. For the first 6-7 months of Lily’s kindergarten year, I sent home lunches exclusively. I started experimenting and reviewing the menu after that. They have good options and someone also monitors to make sure the kids grab a fruit, vegetable and main course item. I think last week was the first week in a year that Lily had school lunches 5 days in a row! Today she opted for some homemade salmon chowder instead 🙂