Back to School means back to making lunches for 3 kids 5 days a week. While I start of with a bang, by May I can’t wait for a break. {Whoever invented the catered summer day camp definitely had parents in mind, thank you!} Thought I’d share some of my tricks and tips with you to help carry you through 180 days of lunchbox diaries in your home.
The Gear
Laptop Lunches (come with plastic inserts and lids)
Notes/Jokes/Stickers/Pens
Napkins
Utensils
I keep a little lunch making central station in my kitchen. One drawer is for the boxes, lids and thermoses. One drawer is for the add-ons like napkins, notes and jokes that keep mealtime neat and fun!
My kids aren’t big on sandwiches so I’ve had to get creative. We do use a lot of leftovers in their lunches as they prefer hot items to your run of the mill sandwich. In order to help make the morning run more smoothly from my end, I pull our all the breakfast ingredients and put miss en place on my counter in one spot and lunch ingredients on another. Once breakfast gets underway, I start on lunches. Each lunch box is laid out empty. I grab the needed containers and lids for the meal and dish out one, two, three of them. Obviously not each of my kids likes all the exact same things, (why would they ever make things that easy on me?) But I do try and keep things as simple as possible. For example, everyone gets yogurt, but i know my son won’t eat our homemade granola or if i’m prepping fruit I leave out the blueberries from one box but include in the others. I do not succumb to the short order cook idea here, but leaving things out is just as easy as putting them in so that I’ll do.
Rule of thumb:
one protein
one fruit
one veggie
one crunchy or baked good
an occasional treat like a couple jelly beans
always water
In case you’d like to read more posts on lunches boxes and ideas. What are you tricks for a smooth morning making lunches? I’d love to hear!
