This post was originally published May 6th 2009, but it’s a topic worth revisiting! With just a few minutes planning, a lot of food cost can be saved. I don’t usually have time to make 8 sandwiches with all the fixings, but with a change in thought process a large family picnic can be made in record time.  I’ll show you how. 

Last Sunday Darren preached as a guest minister in Macon, Missouri–3 hours from our home.  Usually, the church there shuts down immediately after the service and we head home.  We have 2 choices for lunch: stop at a restaurant or bring our own food.  We are usually running late in the morning, but in the video below I will show you how I pack a picnic in record time and save expensive restaurant costs.  This plan works for long shopping days too!

Our day ended up going a lot different than planned.  On the way out of the church, Charles, whom we had never met before, offered to take us to lunch.  We were excited for the opportunity to get to know him better and he is an exceptional person.  When we stepped outside, Charles noticed that we had a flat tire!  I’m so grateful that it went flat during the service and not while I was driving.  The repair garage said it was bulged on the side and a blow out risk!  Charles not only took us to lunch, but invited us to his home to rest while he bought us new front tires for our van!  I almost cried.  We’ve needed tires for awhile but kept hoping that they would last until our situation was different.

So the eating you see in the movie was for supper not lunch. Even though our day was far different than we expected, our picnic sill came in handy.

Update:  I forgot to give you the price breakdown on lunch.  Keep in mind too that we had enough leftovers for another meal the next day.  Bread-free, strawberries-$1, carrots-$1, crackers-$1, Cheesesticks-$1, 3 sliced apples-$1, Peanut Butter and Honey–$.25–cost for 5 people (a couple of our kids were with Grandma) $5.25  For the same price we could have stopped and gotten everyone one double cheeseburger from McDonalds.  It wouldn’t have been as filling or nutritious.