Brown Bag Lunches Help Save Dough
(NAPSI)-Brown bags are poised to become the hottest must-have accessory, with adult consumers carrying more than 8.5 billion brown bag lunches this year, according to the NPD Group.
To encourage even more parents to pack a healthy, affordable and satisfying lunch for themselves and their families, the Grain Foods Foundation has teamed up with Kate Gosselin of TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus Eight."
"Managing expenses is a priority not just in my family but with many others across the country right now," said Gosselin. "Making sandwiches and packing healthy lunches is a relatively easy way to save money and manage your diet."
Brown bagging can save hundreds--even thousands--of dollars per year, a top concern for many families. In fact, women with school-age children at home are more likely (71 percent) than those without children (59 percent) to pack a lunch, according to a recent Harris Interactive survey conducted on behalf of the Grain Foods Foundation.
While many parents look to the brown bag lunch to trim their families' expenses, they may also see the added benefit of slimmer waistlines. In general, brown bag lunches tend to be smaller in portion size and lower in calories. Nearly 40 percent of U.S. women cited nutrition as a reason for packing a lunch. As for what's going into those brown bags--sandwiches are the No. 1 choice across the board.
"Grains are an ideal choice at lunch since they provide much-needed energy and sustenance to make it through the day," explained Judi Adams, MS, RD and president of the Grain Foods Foundation. "Plus grain foods such as sandwiches, pretzels, crackers and granola bars are convenient, delicious and portable, making them brown-bag friendly."
To demonstrate just what kind of effect parents might see on their wallets and their waistlines, the Grain Foods Foundation has created an online savings tool for consumers to track the financial and caloric savings of packing a lunch. By visiting grainpower.org, consumers can calculate their savings, download coupons, get delicious sandwich recipes and register to win a year's worth of free groceries.
___________________________________________________________________
Kate Gosselin gives back with help from PUR Water April 4th 2008
A few of you remembered when Kate was talking about giving back by clipping coupons to help those in Africa get PUR packets to clean their water. I finally found the clip you can see here:
5 comments:
This new campaign for brown bag lunches is interesting to me. All season of J&K Plus 8 we have seen Kate pack the twins' lunches in silver insulated lunch boxes. I wonder how credible this campaign will be. Perhaps, she will pack the twins' lunches in bags for 2nd grade. I have 3 children who I pack lunches for each day. I always add a small ice pack to keep sandwiches and yogurts cool.
The campaign material also suggests using insulated bags which is what I've seen K use for the twins lunches. I take the term "brown bag it" to mean packing your lunch rather than buying. I don't take it to mean that one has to use a brown bag.
"Brown bag" if just slang for a packed lunch. It's much more eco-friendly to take your lunch in a reuseable lunch box, and pack the items in washable conatiners rather than ziploc bags and individual pre-packed servings. Anything to cut down on leftover trash.
As far as the statement that packing your kids' lunch saves money, I would have to disagree. If it's junk food, I guess you could save a few pennies, but if you're buying healthful items, it can many times cost more. Lunches at my daughter's school are $8.75 a week, and I would estimate by packing her lunch, it comes to maybe $10-$12 a week.
One thing that definately helps (and so few people do) is buy the larger container of yogurt, juice, etc., and separate it into a small travel container. You pay about the same amount or less than if you bought individual cups or juice boxes, but you get twice as much.
In reality, lunch cost depends on where you live, what you buy, what you pack, and how much you pack. For example, I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada. a 2 litre jug of milk is $3.74 Cdn. Average size regular drinking glass and lunch drinking container holds 375ml. This works out to around 70 cents a glass. Typical lunch sized 375ml milk carton (small) costs about around $1.50 - $2.00.
Can't remember the equivalent American imperial measurement in oz, but we use the same size of drinking glasses and containers.
Point is, regardless of rising food costs, it really is cheaper to make and pack your own lunch. I'd have to pay at least the equivalent of $12 - $15 cdn (before taxes) every day if I was to eat the equivalent meal my wife packs for me every day if I was to eat at a resturaunt. Say $12, that's an additional $60 per week or $240 per month on top of my grocery bill. I can buy waaay more meals out of that money compared to just getting 1 meal per work day each month.
I buy my lunch every day from school. I'm in high school and I'm not about to carry a lunch box around and it won't fit in my bag because of all my books. They do offer healthier, inexpensive choices at my school, though. The entire lunch, which includes the healthy foods, entree, and milk, is only $2.65. They don't allow any drink with sugar inside the school during the school day and they only occasionally offer normal potato chips (they have baked ones on the other days instead). I'm sure in some places it's cheaper and healthier to pack lunch, but in my high school it's actually better to buy.
Post a Comment