How to Survive Life in the Suburbs

Back To School Lunch Hacks!

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Back to school, back to routines…and back by popular demand, this post from a couple of years ago outlining how to survive those back to school lunches!  The only way to get through all those HUNDREDS of lunches, make it easier for yourself!  Here’s my fave trick, my biggest lunch hack for surviving school lunches.

In our house we do lunches the night before. It’s just one less thing to do battle about in the morning. My girls are pretty good about making their own lunches (as long as I remember to stock the fridge!) The problems in our house are more of the;

Which girl forgot to make their lunch?

How does she think THAT remotely qualifies as a healthy lunch?

I don’t know what to put in my lunch Mom!

I don’t have time to make my lunch, and

Why are we even discussing this again? …variety.

This year, to help resolve all of this and make our mornings just a little bit easier I’ve committed to one hour every Sunday to preparing some ready to go grab bags and snack containers. A weeks worth of “Make Ahead Lunch Accompaniments” to help streamline lunch making and ensure my girls lunches are a bit more balanced.
How do I do this? I have two Tupperware LUNCH containers, one ultimately destined for the fridge, the other for my pantry. As I live in a houseful of snackers, I made a point to clearly label these containers LUNCH, to keep little hands and my Husband’s out of my prepared lunches! I filled my fridge bin with a variety of goodies I know my daughters would love to eat. An example of this might include a Tupperware like this, stuffed with some of these faves:

LunchFridgeBin_thumb

 

The bin in the fridge is stuffed full of:
*cubed watermelon in reusable Tupperware
*Granola with Yogurt
*Applesauce
*Babybell Cheese
*Grapes –washed and ready to go
*Carrot Sticks
*Yogurt Tubes
*Sliced Cucumbers
*Small washed apples
*Pepper strips and ranch dip

 

 

 

 

My Pantry Bin received similar treatment, I stuffed it full with snacks for the week:
LunchPantryBin_thumb
*Pretzels
*Granola Bars
*Crackers (Goldfish today!)
*Muffins (still in the oven)
*Nut free Brownies
*Mott’s Fruit Chews

Now when it’s time for my girls to make their lunches all they have to do is pick a couple of items from each bin, re-fill their bottle of water or grab a juice and add in their “main” lunch item. More often than not my girls gravitate to a bagel with cream cheese, tortilla rolled with turkey and cheese, or the coveted leftover in a thermos re-heated.
One hour spent each Sunday simply stocking my containers has made a huge difference in our school mornings in the past, hoping it works it magic again this year. Maybe it will help you too!

Hope everyone had a great first week back to school, and don’t worry, there’s only about four months until Christmas!

    • Comments

    1. This is also a great idea for summer,healthier snacks keeps them full longer!

    2. When my kids were young i was always organized for lunches and snacks because i found when the were available the kids made healthier choices.

    3. wow you’ve got some great lunch snacks especially the cheese & crackers because they were always a favorite when I was a kid

    4. What a neat way to get fully organised for a weeks lunches avoiding the hectic of a normal school morning, brilliant in fact 🙂

    8. I have done this idea before, my fridge container looked awesome full of snacks all prepped for the kids. Then as the school weeks went on, the container became more & more bare & mommy never refilled it! haha. I became lazy & didn’t keep it up. Maybe this year I’ll do better with it!

    9. Wonderful idea – I know I am more likely to snack on fresh veggies if they are already cut up in the fridge verses having to do the ‘work’ at the moment I am looking to munch!