Well, it’s Back to School time folks – are you ready?
- Pre-wash and chop veggies when you get home from doing grocery shopping so that you simply pull them out of a large container and put them into a lunch container – easy peasy!
- Think food groups – that way you’ve got everything covered: dairy, fruits/veggies, grains
- If you are at home when your child comes home, fill your sink with warm soapy water and get those lunch containers washed up right away so that you don’t have to worry about doing it later, drying them and then making the lunches! They can dry while you eat dinner.
- Make a list for each child of the types of items they enjoy in their lunch and put it up on your fridge. That way if you get lunch block, you can refer to the list as can someone else if you are unavailable to make the lunches.
- If your child is going to school for the first time, pack a lunch and walk them through how to open (AND CLOSE) containers etc. What they should eat first etc. while you are at home. Although this seems like a simple, common sense idea for us, those little ones can get very overwhelmed and distracted at school. Also talk about what things can go in the garbage/recycling at school so it doesn’t come back home.
- When you bake muffins or banana bread etc. put a few aside in a large plastic container and place it in the freezer. Then you can grab a “freshly” baked good to put in your child’s lunches.
Here are some FUN IDEAS for school lunches to change it up a bit sometimes:
- Write little fun notes as a surprise in their lunch. Even if they can’t read, there might be a helper there that can read them OR even draw a picture.
- Include a special treat like a Kinder Egg Surprise once in a while! This is something your child will appreciate and remember for a very long time.
- Include some Lunchbox Love – these are cute, little notes that are perfect for the super busy parent (faster than writing your own notes!)
- Cut sandwiches, cheese, fruit etc. into fun shapes using cookie cutters.
- Use fun silicone muffin liners to separate lunch items within one container (various veggies, cheese etc.) – these are great to keep more wet items apart from dry items (e.g. cheese and crackers)
I know…Mine started last week, i had one start 1st and the other 4th…at least i still have one at home 🙂
I love Kinder Eggs. I use to eat them all the time when I lived in Germany for 7 years…oh so long ago. My son just had his first when we went to Spain this summer. He loves them! 😉 I am following you now.
When my kids were in school, we would make lunches together after homework was done. (believe it or not, they enjoyed it lol)
They loved the creativity aspect of making their own food!
They also loved baking (cookies, squares etc) to pack in their lunches…..they were pretty proud of themselves!
ty
Love this article thanks for posting I find making lunch quite a challenge at times, especially with picky eaters, I love the silicone cup idea to seperate wet items from dry ones.
Thanks for posting!
Great tips for lunches! Getting the containers washed at the end of the day is always a problem around here. I don’t mind packing lunch though .. it’s part of the ‘quiet’ time I get after dinner when I’m cleaning up.
Where do I find Kinder Surprise Eggs? The link just reroutes me back to my home Facebook page.
Kelly – I don’t know why – maybe b/c you need to be logged into FB first? The link works for me…is there anyone else it doesn’t work for?
Kelly – you don’t have an email address attached to your blogger page so I couldn’t email you!
I would love to be more creative with school lunches but my son is the one that wants the same few things on rotation – boring!
Great tips for lunches! Thanks!
my daughter is super picky and if it’s not chicken and/or pasta, it will likely come back 🙁 my son on the other hand will eat anything we send him 🙂