School Lunches

Back to school means getting that so cool lunch box and the the accessories (lunch boxes no longer come with a thermos). And to be eco-friendly, the plastic sandwich bags are no longer PC so that means more plastic wear in that cabinet that you open with a prayer. All of that could send a mom for her checkbook and just let the kiddos buy their lunch, but then if you got a picky eater that would mean a waste of $1.75 a day and a ravenous kid to feed when you get home. So how does a mom make lunch at school a little more fun? Well, first go ahead and let the kids pick out their lunch box and some of the accessories like the color of the sandwich keeper or a water bottle to match the lunchbox.
Then it is time for mom to swing into action. Lunch making at 6 in the am is not fun-Why mom hasn't even had her first cup of coffee and she is thinking chips or crackers? Yuck! So think menu planning instead. If you plan dinner menus for the week, just add lunch to the list (consider adding breakfast, too). If you have the list of ideas and have shopped for the menu ahead of time, then putting the lunches together is easy and not nauseating at the wee hours of the morning. Once you get a couple of weeks of menus planned, then you can simply rotate them throughout the year. When putting the menus together, consider the eaters. Do you have a kid that hates lunch meat but eats only peanut butter? Do you have a kid that really loves grapes or some other fruit? Will they eat leftovers or something besides sandwiches? Plan the menus to tailor the eaters. Simple enough- we do it at home each day, but there is something about doing this early in the morning and packing it to go that makes lunch making the challenge that it is.
Consider that this is also an added morning routine. How can this routine be more simplified? What about creating a lunch bin. Use a plastic storage container - a little larger than a plastic shoebox or use a basket- whatever works best for you. Put the bread, peanut butter, chips, cookies, sandwich keepers, napkins, all the nonperishable items together in the container and store in the pantry. In the morning or even the night before, pull it out and get started.
If you can make the sandwiches the night before, fill the cups with the fruit, have the veggies washed and cut and perhaps packaged before you go to bed, even better. But really? Another meal prep after battling all the excuses not to go to bed? This mom doesn't think so.
You know, I sure do wish I had my Hobbie Holly lunch box! What cool lunch box did you have as a kid?