Article - Save $ on School Lunches This Year

From Living on a Dime Newsletter - One of the August 2009 editions.
To join the free newsletter, follow this link http://www.livingonadime.com/ .

I love reading this newsletter.  She has great tips for lowering the food budget.  After my first year on a gluten free diet, I had to cut back on spending on the food budget.  I had to look outside of the box and start making things that were either naturally gluten free or tweek the recipe and make it inexpensively gluten free.  I started looking at frugal sites.  I came across this one.  We can still apply this to a gluten free diet by tweeking things a bit.  I will make GF and CF notes in red. 

Save $400 on school lunches this year!

These days in America, it seems that everyone is so busy that preparing school lunches is liable to push a typical mom right over the edge. When you have to choose between making school lunches or spending that extra 15 minutes in bed, it seems like buying ready made lunches at the store is a no-brainer, but your budget doesn't agree.

The average mom packs $2.00 worth of pre-packaged goodies into each lunch she sends to school with her kids. (That works out to $720 for 2 kids.) What mother hasn't wondered if those lunches are even getting eaten?

Try these tips for things you can do in 30 minutes or less on the weekend to make those school lunches a snap!

Those snack bags of munchies cost a lot! Make your own by pre-packaging chips, pretzels, animal crackers and other snack items into sandwich bags on the weekends. (Have the kids help!) Store them in a big container or basket and just throw them in the lunch box in the morning.  Things that are naturally GF - Tortilla Chips, Corn Chips, Rice crackers, Nuts, cerials like Rice CHEX and other cerials made from corn or rice, Raisins, Dried Fruit, Fruit Roll Ups, ect....  There are great gluten free brands out there that make pretzels, crackers, cerials, cookies, etc...   Even better, make snacks at home - cookies, Graham Crackers, crackers, cup cakes, brownies, trail mix, granola, etc..... .  My mom use to store cookies in the freezer.

Let the kids create their own Pizza lunch kits. Toast bread and cut out little circles with a biscuit cutter. Add small containers of pizza sauce, cheese, and other toppings.  I think this is a great idea and can use GF bread (I would try toasing it).  I would also make them into squares so that I am not waisting any of that costly bread.  I have used rice crackers for pizza too.  You could even make the pizza crust in small sizes, bake them and freeze them.

Make fruit gelatin and pudding and put in small plastic containers for the week. Make a large batch of granola bars, cookies, pumpkin bread, banana bread or muffins. Divide them into zip top sandwich bags and freeze so that you can grab one or two when needed.  Try making muffin size cakes.  I use to use the small muffin size when the kids were younger. 

Brownie bites are simple to make. Bake brownie mix in mini-muffin pans and put three "brownie bites" in a sandwich bag for each child's lunch. They freeze well too!  Any GF mix will do or make it from scratch.  I know that if you are using a mix, Trader Joes has a GF mix that is a great price. 

Fill thermos (not glass) half full with juice the night before and freeze. In the morning, remove from freezer and fill the rest of the way. The juice will be cold when the kids are ready to drink it and it keeps their food cold too.

Clean vegetables, slice into pieces and bag. Preparing a week's worth of veggies at a time for lunches and snacks saves money and time.

Purchase cheese in blocks, cut into pieces and put in sandwich bags.  I haven't honestly found a good substitute for tasty cheese by itself.  Sorry, I am no help.  Maybe someone else can add some helpful comments. 

Save napkins, catsup and mustard packets you get from take-out. Use in lunches.  Have your gluten eating friends save these for you.

Recipe Links for Kids and Adults

A great link of recipes for kids
http://csaceliacs.org/CelKidsRecipes.php
http://www.csaceliacs.org/CelKidsSchool.php

Kids Educational Links

My body
http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/body/mybody.html

Songs for kids about how food is properly digested. My kids love this song. They would listen to it over and over.
Song Overview
I'm Your Produce Man
It's All About Love
http://www.intestinalhealth.org/Music/

Quiz about food allergies. Includes Gluten allergies
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/FAST/quiz.html

Allergy Match - Includes Gluten Allergies
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/FAST/matching.html

Great Diagram showing the damage from Gluten in the intestine
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0277_image.htm

The Virtual Body - a section on digestion
http://www.medtropolis.com/VBody.asp

Song - That's What Digestion Is All About
http://www.songsforteaching.com/jennyfixmanedutunes/digestion.htm

Fill in the blanks worksheet about the digestion system
http://www.teacherplanet.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://www.lessontutor.com/jm_digestive.html

The Human Anatomy
http://www.teacherplanet.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html

The Human Digestive System for younger children
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/anatomy/digestive/index.shtml

Digestion interactive - elementary
http://kitses.com/animation/swfs/digestion.swf

Fun quiz about digestion
http://www.zerobio.com/target_practice_quiz/target_practice_quiz_digestion.htm

Your Digestion System
http://yucky.discovery.com/noflash/body/pg000126.html

Your Digestive System and How It Works
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/yrdd/index.htm




Disclaimer: Please note that the information contained in these links may or may not be accurate. These links are here to help you help your child.

Books For Kids

A list of books http://www.alamoceliac.org/acbookskids.html

Bagels, Buddy and Me by Melanie Krumrey http://www.bagelsbuddyandme.com/

Gluten-Free Friends – An Activity Book for KidsNancy Patin Falini http://www.savorypalate.com/gff.aspx

FUN Kid Links

FUN LINKS FOR KIDS

CSA's Cel kids Network. Has puzzles, activities, recipes and more
http://www.csaceliacs.org/CelKidsNetwork.php

Be a Gluten Detective
http://www.thatkidscompany.com/

Celiac Sprue - Kid page
http://www.csaceliacs.org/CelKidsSchool.php

CelKids Ok Kid Page
http://www.okceliac.com/kidspage.php

Famous people who have allergies or act as having food allergies
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/FAST/celebrity.html

Wanted! Bessie Kowpye
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/FAST/wantedsign.html

Is that Gluten Free food good? Taste test results
http://www.clubceliac.com/GF_Food_Taste_test.htm

Kathrine's Corner - Gross foods and stories. I'm so glad I can't eat that.
http://www.clubceliac.com/Katherines_Corner.htm

Game Word Bomber
http://www.clanthompson.com/game_games.php3

FAAN Food Allergy Kid Pages
http://www.fankids.org/

GF Finger Paint

GF Finger Paint

Potato Starch
Water
GF food coloring or paint (Discount School Supply)

Start off with a little water. Add food coloring or paint. Stir in Potato Starch until you have the right consistency.

Flubber

Flubber (Grade - Good/Great)

In Large Bowl mix all thoroughly and set aside
1 cup of white glue (one 8 oz bottle is just right)
3/4 cup very warm water
food coloring or gf paint (Discount School Supplies)
In Small Bowl dissolve the borax completely in the water.
5/6 cup of very warm water
1 1/2 tsp of borax
Now, pour the contents of the small bowl, slowly into the large bowl. Lift and turn the mixture until it starts to "flubberize". Let sit about a minute. You can also add glitter to your flubber.

Silly Putty

Silly Putty - (Grade - Great/Good)

Not edible and not recommended for children that are still putting things in their mouths. Adult supervision is strongly recommended.
1 cup water
6 Tbsp Mule Team Borax
1/2 cup (4 oz bottle) white school glue
optional: food coloring

1.) Pour 1/2 cup water into a small bowl. Add the Borax and stir until dissolved. Set aside.
2.) Pour the other 1/2 cup of water in a medium-sized glass or metal bowl. Add the glue and stir until combined. Optional: add food coloring and stir to achieve the desired color.
3.) Pour the Borax mixture into the glue mixture. Knead with hands until most of the water is absorbed and the putty can form a ball in your hands. Lift the putty from the bowl and discard the remaining water mixture. Return the putty to the bowl and allow to sit, uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until fairly firm. (I left out uncovered in bowl for a couple of hours to get rid of stickiness)
4.) Store any unused silly putty in an airtight container. Stores for weeks.

Classic Slime / Silly Putty

Classic Slime - or in our case Silly Putty (Grade - Great)

1. In paper cup mix to make a 50/50 glue
1 Tblsp water
1Tblsp Elmer's glue
Food Coloring
2. In another cup make up a saturated borax solution
1/4 cup water
Borox Mule Team
3. Stir in 1 tsp of Borax at a time. Keep adding tsp until Borox won't dissolve in the water.
4. Stir 2 tsp of the saturated borax solution into the 50/50 glue paper cup. Keep stirring.
5. When the slime has mostly formed, reach in and take it out of the cup
6. Knead the slime to make it a consistent texture.
7. If the slime is too sticky, you can add a little more borax solution. It it is way too slippery you can add more 50/50 glue.
8. Store your slime in a zip lock bag or other airtight container.

Play Dough

Play Dough (Graded - Great)

3/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup of corn starch
1/4 cup of salt
1 tsp of Alum or Cream of Tartar
Food coloring, gf paint (Discount School Supply) or Kool-Aid
1 Tblsp of cooking oil
1 cup hot water

Heat all dry ingredients in a saucepan slowly over Med heat, while stirring until a ball forms. Knead until smooth. Store in an airtight container.

Explanation of the cooking chemistry: Flour and water make a paste. Wheat flour releases gluten from the proteins as it is stirred which makes it sticky. Salt strengthens the gluten bonds. Rice flour has protein that also forms bonds.
You can find Alum or Cream of Tartar at any grocery store.