Summer is upon us and office-bound workers everywhere are looking for an excuse to get outdoors. Since lunch is often the only opportunity to enjoy the sunshine, restaurants and fast-food chains will likely enjoy an uptick in midday patronage.

This is good news for those in the restaurant industry, but bad news for the waistlines and personal budgets of those who sit for a living. According to a study reported by Delish.com earlier this year, 66 percent of Americans buy their lunch nearly every day, spending close to $160 every month. Put that money to better use and try these eight ways to brown bag it for savings.

1. Get Creative

The latest trend in healthy, on-the-go eating is "salad in a jar." This creative concept keeps salads fresh for up to three days, though proper stacking etiquette is required. Select your favorite dressing -- or better yet, make it yourself -- and add it to a mason jar followed by salad fixin's like onion, carrots, mushrooms and bell pepper. Add the greens last to keep them from getting soggy.

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Everyone loves a great deal and loves to eat, so what could be better than finding bargain meals?  The November 2011 issue of ShopSmart magazine, from the publisher of Consumer Reports, has uncovered the best websites to find restaurant deals so that you can enjoy a meal out without breaking your budget.

“We know how expensive eating out can get, so we scoured the Web for sites that make it easy to save,” said Lisa Lee Freeman, editor-in-chief of ShopSmart.  “These websites even have mobile apps and offer social connectivity with Facebook and Twitter, making it even easier to keep up to date with deals and save big.”

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School is out and summer is finally here, which means more time outdoors with the family! Although popular outdoor summertime activities are wonderful family-bonding experiences, they also come with risks we need to be aware of. One of the biggest risks is lightning.  The National Weather Service (NWS) is sharing some lightning safety tips to help keep you and your family safe this summer.

Some facts about lightning:

• Most lightning victims are close to safe shelter but wait too long to get there.
• About 34% are outside, far from safe shelter, engaging in activities like bicycling, hiking, camping, and fishing, common family activities for the summer months.
• Over 60% of lightning fatalities happen when people are engaged in leisure activities.
• Lightning injuries often leave victims with serious life-long disabilities, depression, job loss and family breakups.
• 80% of lightning victims are male.  Men will make better choices if they believe their actions will have an impact on their families.  Social science shows that women are influential in getting the men in their lives to make smart choices when it comes to health and safety.

Lightning casualties are preventable IF we understand lightning safety rules and take responsibility to follow them. Together, we can help spread this information. To find out more, please visit www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov and don't forget to Like the National Weather Service on Facebook and follow them on Twitter!

Instances of child abuse increase during the summer, with some shelters and child advocacy centers actually doubling their caseloads, according to anecdotal reports.

While these tragedies include everything from neglect to beatings, child advocate  Michelle Bellon, author of The Complexity of a Soldier (www.MichelleBellon.com), says parents and caregivers should be especially alert to one of the most easily hidden and underreported crimes: child sexual abuse. Her novel centers on this epidemic, and aims to raise awareness about it.

"Children may be less supervised during the summer, or they may be in the care of extended family members so their parents can save money on child care," she says. "Both situations put children at risk; the former for obvious reasons and the latter because 90 percent of child sexual abuse victims know the offender."

Child predators are terrorists, Bellon says. Like the terrorists we deploy armies to battle overseas, they prey on innocents and subject them to physical and emotional torture. The consequences can be devastating and lifelong, including post-traumatic stress disorder and separation anxiety, according to the American Psychological Association reports.

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Going grocery shopping these days can be quite an experience!  There are so many different tastes and flavors right at your fingertips to choose from that often it can be difficult to decide which product is the best.  Most of the time, consumers base their decisions solely on the contents of the package, but have you ever stopped to think about the packaging itself?

Believe it or not, the packaging that companies choose to use for their products can have a huge impact on the quality and freshness of the food inside as well as on the environment.  Evergreen Packaging is on a mission to educate consumers as to why they should choose products packaged in paper cartons over those that use plastic bottles or cellophane wrappers.  Keep reading to learn more!

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