I love a good challenge, so when Walmart Canada handed my family a $100 gift card and a challenge to stock up the pantry with all the back to school lunch essentials, it was game on!
Shopping Tip #1 – leave the kids at home! They are a sure way to blow your budget, especially with three little boys asking for everything they want, but don’t really need!
This year my youngest starts his educational journey and begins Junior Kindergarten (sniff,,,sniff) so while we have three boys who will be taking lunches, we only needed two new lunch bags. Our school has what they call a “balanced day” lunch program, meaning they have two “nutritional breaks” instead of one long lunch hour. This can be a little tricky for packing lunches and making sure there is enough healthy food for both breaks and two drinks. The extra drinks and snacks can take up a lot of room in the lunch bag. We found the perfect bag at Walmart! The Arctic Zone expandable lunch pack is not covered in cute characters but it’s large and has the ability to expand for extra space! This is perfect for those days when they brings a thermos for a hot lunch or apples, which fill a lot of that lunch bag real estate! Score!
Okay, now for the good stuff! Our goal was to find some affordable lunchbox snacks for three kids! We loaded up the cart with apples, watermelon, yogurt tubes, fruit cups, drinking boxes, applesauce, real fruit minis, Cars cookies, and even grabbed a jar of Soynut butter to try out! The boys love, love, love peanut butter so finding an alternative to take in sandwiches and wraps would be a big bonus! Crossing fingers that they like it!
Next, I wanted to look for a few things that will make their lunches interesting and fun! I bake A LOT during the school year for lunches and afternoon snacks and muffins are a favourite. I found some fun and funky Wilton cupcake liners that were perfect, a 3 piece cookie cutter set of a plane, racecar and train that will be great for cutting sandwiches and a melon baller, because sometimes watermelon triangles can get boring! lol
Okay, so the final tally!
Shopping Tip #2: Bring someone with you who has uber math skillz!
3lb bag of Granny Smith Apples $3.97
Yogurt Tubes $2 x2 – $4.oo
CARS Graham Cookies – $2.00
Real Fruit Minis – $2.87
Peach Cups $2 x2 – $4.00
Dole mandarine bowl – $2.97
Applesauce cups $2 x2 $4.00
Fruit to go Bars 24 pk – $8.97
Motts real fruit freezie $4.00 (after school snack)
Watermelon $3.97
Soybutter $3.97
Minute Maid drinking boxes $2.47 x4 $9.88
Melon Baller $3.00
Cookie Cutters $3.97
Muffin Liners $2.47 x2 $4.94
Lunch Bag $14.97
Lunch Bag $12.97
Add in some taxes and the grand total came to – $99.22
Back to School lunches are the hardest part of sending the kids to school, it’s something I absolutely dread every. single. day and with 15 lunches to pack a week, that’s not to be taken lightly! This year, I’m starting off the school year right thanks to Walmart! I don’t feel nearly as overwhelmed and I’ve gotten myself organized by having our pantry stocked and the kids helped me make a list of all their favourite school lunches. This way, when those crazy school mornings start, I’ll be able to browse the list quickly to find inspiration before the big yellow bus arrives! Let the new school year begin!
You sure stocked up the pantry – your boys will be set for quite a while with all those snacks!
You’ll have to let me know if they like the peanut butter alternative!
I was pretty impressed with how my girls were involved in our challenge too – they surprised me 🙂
Wow! That’s alot of stuff for $99! Great shopping deals, Mama!
Good job. This year will be my oldest first year of going full days. I am terrified of having to pack food for him all day and hope it’s enough, healthy and doesn’t break the bank.
exactly, I still don’t have it mastered
Is this your way of telling me there is no hope for me this year lol
Wow, good for you for sticking within the budget!!! Those are all great snack ideas. I need to do the same thing this week – that “no nuts” rule always leaves me reading labels and looking for better ideas for snacks. Thanks for sharing!
wow hun yo;u got a lot of great stuff! love love love the water melon balls that is super unique and cute, will be trying that out this year.
sometimes just changing the shape of something makes it new and exciting again!
That’s awesome! I usually have a hard time figuring out which snacks to send since I have a super picky eater. I guess picky isn’t the best word since she has an oral aversion to some textures, but I’m glad to see how much you got from Walmart to stock your pantry!
I have both of those too, plain picky and sensitive to textures/gagging, it’s hard!
Looks like you are off to a great start – lunches are one part I am dreading once DS starts school
they are such a pain aren’t they?
Although I congratulate you on your ability to shop for “so much”
This is what’s wrong with our society today – this is not an attack on you, just pure annoyance…
Three of the items purchased in everything bought are healthy… All the rest are snacks of convenience, jam packed with preservatives, sugar and more sugar… Big box stores are continually catching the busy moms eye with great deals and low prices on the items our kids “love” because of their fake taste and sugar content that their little bodies eventually crave…
This is not good, and the more of us that play into this the more we are all going to wonder why our children are bigger, and more unhealthy…
Sales should be celebrated when it involves, natural, from the earth food…. Not when it comes in a box, can or “premade”
I’m not going to disagree with you on that Shannon.
I am in awe…..I have 3 boys as well. I have 1 in his 2 yr university, 1 in high school and 1 in his last year of elementary school. That is awesome that you were able get all that stuff under $100. I will take the challenge as well so will see if I can do the same.
Our biggest challenge is that my boys will then come home and eat all the parts of their lunches for the next day. So while this was 99.00ish it may only last 3-4days after they have been running around the school yard. Also remember some schools will rush kids though lunch and snacks faster, so be prepared to get some of these things coming home.
i love wallmart alot and its big helpper