You all will notice, after my big hubub about posting the lunchbox report yesterday, that today I am buying both my kiddos lunch.
Hey, it’s Pizza Day!
I remember being in school, and pizza day was a big, big deal.
So we buy lunch on days when it’s pizza (once a week) and when they have tacos once a month (almost impossible to send in and one of Princess’s favorite meals-next to sushi. I’m not kidding). I also occasionally have them buy lunch when I’m just too frazzled to put one together. Any time I go out of town Yankee Bill just buys them lunch instead of trying to mess with packing one.
What? I buy lunch? Miss Frugal?
As you all know (or at least the long time readers) I feel that frugality is a series of choices we make based on our goals and our priorities. Overall, I feel that making my children’s school lunch is a healthier choice, as well as being a more frugal choice*. There are times however when I feel that expediency (such as a morning where we all just get totally behind, or when I’m out of town) is more important.
I also acknowledge that some things are important to the kiddos, such as getting pizza. There are some times when I put my foot down on a topic due to frugality. In this case, since we can afford it, it makes them happy, and is a once a week treat, we have decided that it is worthwhile for our family to spend the $1.75 (well, X2).
After all, I rarely hear them complain about bringing lunch in 90% of the time. As a matter of fact they even occasionally mention that their lunches are better than what the other kids have to eat. I don’t want them to feel that bringing in a lunch is somehow a negative thing, so I stress the healthy nature of what I send and how tasty it is, and they seem fine with it.
Still, you should see how happy they are when it is “Pizza Day!”. They are thrilled and do see it as a treat. How many of the other kids in their class do you think are as appreciative as they are of the meal?
*Note: If your school lunch is full of store bought individually packaged foods, then you probably aren’t saving any money unless you had some rockin coupon/sale combinations.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I was going to question the frugality of packing the kids’ lunches until you said it costs $1.75 to buy lunch. What?! I remember when it was only $0.85. We received $1.00 a day and if we saved our $0.15, we could get a snack or dessert a couple times a week.
Heather in Oneida
Kat will be buying her lunch most of the time this year. I was going to explain why, but my comment was getting very long, so I think I’ll save it for blog post.
The main point was that there are valid reasons for sending lunch from home and for buying it at school. Whatever works best and is affordable is all that matters.
Our pizza day at school is on Fridays. Sydney isn’t interested, but I think Connor is — cheese pizza is an all-time fave. We’ll see if school pizza will make the grade!
Both of our kids bring their lunch every day, with no exceptions – because they prefer it.
Love the lunchbox report, btw. SIL and I disagree on what should go in the lunches. She will send them 80% junk/unhealthy food. Your site has given me some good ideas to change that up a bit. Thanks!