It’s that time of the year again… back to school! One thing that means in our house is getting back into the habit of packing lunches. I don’t know about you, but packing a healthy lunch that I know my kid will eat is so important to me. Just as breakfast plays an important start to the day, lunch will help your child through the afternoon. I want to fill my kids lunches with healthy, delicious, REAL food. I want to be sure to pack healthy lunches that I know my kids will love.
I have a few lunch packing tips & tricks that work for my family, and that I’d love to share with you!
You can also check out my segment on Good Morning Washington
Basic Lunch Necessities
Stick to packing the necessities each time, and you will never go wrong. I always include:
- a starch + protein
- a fruit
- a veggie
- a treat
- a drink
When sticking to these categories, you cover the main food groups, and you know your child is getting a nutritious lunch!
Lunch Accessory Must Haves
I always make sure I am stocked up on the best lunch accessories every couple of years. These help make lunchtime fun for kids, as well as keep us moms organized. I love labeling my kids items. You can get personalized school packs of labels here.
A few of my must haves accessories are:
- Silicone cupcake liners
- Cookie Cutters, or Sandwich Cutters
- Reusable ToothPicks
- Reusable Snack bags
- Bento Style Lunch Box
- Reusable Water Bottle
- Personalised Labels, we love Mabel’s Labels!
Non Sandwich Ideas
Even as parents making the lunches, we all know sandwiches can get boring. Create DIY lunchables and small bite style lunches your kids are sure to gobble up. This also makes the lunches easier to portion out. Other fun and quick ways to assemble lunches are with Butterfly Snack Bags. These are an easy way to pack a snack. A few great ways to enjoy now sandwich lunches are:
- Meat & Cheese Kabob
- Fruit Kabob
- Meatball & Pepper Kabob
- Muffins
- Granola & Yogurt
- Deconstructed nachos
DIY Ice Pack
You spent time making your child lunch so delicious, don’t let it spoil. Keep cold items really cold with a reusable DIY ice pack using a frozen sponge. Saturate a clean sponge in cold water, place in a ziplock bag, seal tight, and freeze. Place in the lunch box in the am and there you have it! No dripping and reusable.
Prep & Plan in Advance
Stay on top and organized! The more advanced that I can prep, the more organized and ready I feel in the morning. It also saves me from throwing junk in my kids’ lunches. I almost always make my lunches the night before. It saves a few minutes in the morning that you could use to make that healthy breakfast. Consider doing a lunch prep session on the weekend. A friend of mine cuts all of her fruit and veggies for the week on Sunday night so they are ready to toss in a lunch box. Make a master list of lunches and set certain food for certain days, or rotate through as you’d like. That way you are never wondering what you should pack, and your kids can look forward to their favorites! I also like to prep and store snack stations for the week so you are ready to grab and go. You can do one for each child to make it even easier!
Lunch Box Notes
Last but not least, I always try to leave my child a sweet lunch box note or joke. They always look forward to these. I like to have fun with seasonal ones as well as personalized ones if something is happening that day, like a big test or a field trip. You can even do these on the go with post-it notes and stickers if you’d like. I also have a set of lunch box notes I made, and am happy to share with you!