My two least favorite tasks? Unloading the dishwasher and making lunches. Both of which I usually end up doing while making my coffee in the morning. Hmm…maybe that has something to do with why I hate both of these chores? I haven’t had my coffee yet!
At any rate, Emma has decided that she really wants to take her lunch every day because the 3rd graders can eat outside on the patio if they bring their lunches. Coupled with the fact that I very easily fall into a rut (I think the girls got the same lunch for a week straight at the end of last year!), this could be the start of a very long year of making sandwiches.
Then I was inspired by Jen over at iheartorganizing and her very cool lunch packing organizational skills. So this weekend I did a whole bunch of prep work that will hopefully make the morning lunch making a little easier. I still won’t be making amazing lunches like Lisa, but having everything all ready made might at least give the girls a little variety and grant Mama a little sanity.
So I set up a tray in the snack drawer…
Granola bars, Grahamy Samys, Fruit Mash-ups, mandarin oranges and snack-size baggies of crackers, Pirate’s Booty and pretzels.
And I did the same in the fridge.
Hard-boiled eggs (the girls LOVE them!), yogurts, string cheese, more little containers of fruit – these are leftover berries mixed up as a little fruit salad.
And, one in the veggie drawer in the fridge…
Carrot sticks, cut-up celery, cherry tomatoes, little containers of hummus and ranch.
I’ve bought a few of the Ziploc brand bento box containers and I also got a set of these EasyLunchboxes from Amazon.
The girls would much rather have a Lunch-able type lunch than a sandwich. So I end up making cheese/crackers and lots of “dippables.” Thankfully they love hummus and yogurt which make good dips and these trays fit into their lunchboxes perfectly.
The only sandwich that they really do love are these Uncrustables that I made the mistake of buying last year. They are crazy convenient, you keep them in the freezer, throw them in the lunch and they unthaw by lunch time. BUT, they don’t have whole wheat ones, and they really aren’t that great on the nutritional scale.
So, I also made our own Uncrustables today.
I think we have settled on the Sara Lee 100% whole wheat bread. It is soft and doesn’t have any seeds or grains in it, so the girls are happy – it is made from 100% whole wheat and doesn’t have any HFCs, so I’m happy. I peanut-buttered both sides of the bread so the jelly wouldn’t seep through. I get to control the type of peanut butter and the jelly (BTW – this Smuckers Low Sugar Jelly? It is amazingly good and smells so grap-a-licious! Yum.) and then I even cut them like the uncrustables.
I decided to leave the crusts on, to help them freeze a little better, this way they can peel them off and have the cool cut-outs. And if the girls are really hungry, they’ll eat the crusts, too! So I bagged each sandwich up in a Ziploc separately and then stacked them all back into the bread wrapper for extra protection and put ‘em in the freezer.
It feels pretty good to have the entire week of lunches all ready to go!
—Updated—
Heavenly. This morning I made both lunches in under five minutes. They have a pb&j sammie, frozen yogurt tube (it is going to be hot today, so I figure both of them will still be cold by lunchtime), grapes, carrots and a smores “treat.” After I did this post last night I found a little mix of golden grahams cereal, mini choco chips, & mini marshmallows. A little bit of a sweet treat. So I made up a batch of that and a pile of of snack-sized bags ready to go.
I literally just grabbed two of everything popped them into their lunchboxes and zipped up.
AND…I sat down and had my coffee and something to eat with the girls. (No dishwasher to unload this morning – thanks to a lovely dinner with Jeff and JB last night.) The easy grab snacks are making me eat better as well because that is what I reach for when I am hungry. I’m telling you…this is life-changing!
great post. I just purchased the easy lunch boxes as well. I was surprised that the lid is so loose on them. ARe they on yours? Also…I haven’t tried the grammy sammies yet…are they good?
You are an AMAZING mom! Lunches have sure come a lo-o-o-ng way since I had to make then, LOVED the pics.
AWESOME! I’m going to do this for my kids so that I know they are eating a little better than I think they are eating now (Steve is the king of bologna for them. BLECH!)
Corey – I haven’t tried the lunch boxes yet – I’ve had the Ziploc ones but they don’t like they are going to withstand multiple washings each week – that is why I ordered the Easy Lunchboxes. They are being washed right now – they seem so much sturdier and a tiny bit smaller so they’ll fit in lunchboxes better. I’ll let you know about the lids. Emma loves the Grammy Sammies…Addie (surprisingly!) my sugar bear does not. I actually haven’t tried them, I just thought they are a nice change from granola bars and I like that they are organic. Em likes the choco-banana ones.
I am so inspired now. I usually make my lunch plus the kids in the morning and it seems like it takes forever!! Maybe I will go home and get organized this afternoon. I will have to try the Grammy Sammies and the mashups. We haven’t tried those yet. My kids love any kind of bar. That is their snack of choice usually.
totally gotta do this.
SO impressive. I used to get stuff like this preprepared when the BA was younger….now she is left to her own devices which means the health factor is suffering. You may have inspired me……
Carrie, Costco is carrying hummus in single serving packs and Sam’s Club has wholly guacomole (which I freeze) in a single serving pack too. My friend and I buy for each other (I have Sam’s, she has Costco) and trade. I don’t pack lunches anymore but with all the afterschool activities I need good healthy grab and go stuff for me and the kids all the time. My only other addition would be nuts and good quality trail mix. I use the same PB, but I never tried freezing them. Interesting. Here’s to a great school year!
Guacamole! The girls love that and as soon as our avocado tree starts giving us avocados, I can totally put that in as a dip, too. We don’t have a Sams, but we might have to join Costco again – I just end up spending so much more $$ when I go in that place!
I’ve always had nuts and trailmix in the cupboard for the girls to snack on – and occasionally I’ll just get a whole bunch of nuts and goodies from trader joe’s and make my own trail mix. The pb&js worked out really well this past week. No complaints and Addie even said “I just ate my crusts – they were good!” So I’m glad I left them on.
YES – Here is to a good school year. Good luck this week to you Michigan folks.
Love the organization! So far with just one off to school, lunch making is not too crazy. I usually make it the night before so I can grab and go the next morning. Unfortunately with Alexander’s peanut allergy our options of what we can pack are very limited ;-( I know you have a great avocado tree, but thought I would add that Target is now selling the single packs of wholly guacamole. I love them.