As summer winds down, the looming transition back to school routines can bring an extra challenge: the grocery bill. Finding smart ways to stretch your food budget is one way for families to regain financial breathing room. Even if you’re already maximizing benefits like SNAP/FNS, getting more out of your wallet takes strategy.

Below is an adapted list from Take Charge America to help you plan and prepare school lunches that are both nutritious for the kids and beneficial for your bank account.

Reusable Lunch Bags

Instead of constantly spending money to replace brown paper bags or plastic zipper bags, invest in reusable lunch bags that your family can use multiple times in different situations, including school. If you replace disposable sandwich bags with re-usable food containers, you can take this item off your grocery list. This will help you save long term, and it helps you avoid too much waste.

This does take an upfront investment so consider buying one at a time or finding great deals on bundles with various sizes.

Involve the Kids

Asking your kids what they would prefer to eat can go a long way in both planning their lunches and teaching them about the decision-making process. For older kids, this can also become a good introduction to budgeting. Allow them to choose food items they enjoy within reason, making sure their lunch is still nutritious.

This could be a simple as asking them to choose a fruit or two for the week or asking them to design a sandwich for you to pack.

Buy in Bulk

Spending a little bit more upfront can reduce the cost per serving. Bulk purchases can help your SNAP benefits go further and reduce how much of your own money you will need to spend. Family size or larger portions of products such as trail mix, dried fruits, yogurt, or applesauce will cover more lunches. Just be sure that you can use the quantity before it becomes stale.

Again, this is another upfront cost that can be spread out over a couple month with a bulk purchase or two each month to stagger the cost.

Leftovers

When cooking meals for your family, a good strategy is to prepare enough to create lunches from leftovers for the next day or two. Since there might not be a way to heat up leftovers in school, focus on leftovers that can be served both cold and hot such as pasta or chicken dishes. A cooked whole chicken can be deboned and used for chicken salads, sandwiches, or pasta dishes.

Smaller Portions

Keeping track of your child’s food habits at home can also help you when preparing their lunch. If they only eat half a sandwich at home, instead of sending them to school with a full sandwich, give them half and complete their lunchbox with a snack item to round out the meal. Start with smaller portions and increase as needed.

Flexibility

Do a price comparison between how much you would spend every week when sending packed lunchboxes to school versus how much it would cost to buy lunch at school. Many Chatham County schools were part of a program that provided universial free meals to all students at eligible schools in the 2025-2026 school year. This is a great way to save!

SNAP Benefits

As mentioned previously, one of the easiest ways for low-income families to save on their food budget is by applying for the SNAP program.

SNAP stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and was formerly known as “food stamps.” In North Carolina, it is also called Food and Nutrition Services or FNS.

SNAP is available for low-income families across the state and you if you want to learn more about it, contact the More In my Basket team at NC State University. They offer free SNAP application completion assistance in English, Spanish and Portuguese Monday through Friday, 8 am until 5 pm.

Contact the More In My Basket team toll free at 1-855-240-1451 or visit their website at morefood.org.

Navigating a tight budget is a journey. With a few smart adjustments, you can feed your family well, maximize your resources, and keep kitchen stress to a minimum as we head into the new season.

Source: https://www.takechargeamerica.org/how-to-save-money-on-kids-school-lunches/