Between everyone’s busy school schedules, sports, and homework, there are always tasks that have to be done each day and packing the kids’ snacks and lunches is one many of us dread.
Here are 8 tips to make lunch packing painless and healthy!
- Pack lunches at a time of day when you are less stressed and it won’t feel like as much of a burden.
- When you are waiting for dinner to cook (put it in the oven, turn on the news, and start packing!)
- At night after the children go to bed (it’s quieter and there are no interruptions).
- Right after everyone has eaten dinner (this works well because you can wash both dinner dishes and any dishes you use to prepare lunches).
- When you serve dinner, put smaller portions in containers for lunch the next day (e.g. wholesome soup in a thermos, baked macaroni and cheese, salad, etc.).
- For the days when you aren’t sending leftovers for lunch, always keep a few tried-and-true items in the house that you know the kids will eat (yogurt, carrots sticks, cheese sticks, pita bread and hummus, etc.).
- Create a healthy snack drawer that is loaded with pre-packaged single serving snacks or fruits and veggies in containers. You can use these to pack lunches and a healthy place for kids to grab and go.
- If you have lunch-eaters who enjoy bringing trail mix for lunch or as a snack, make a big bag once or twice a week and portion it into small ziplock bags or containers. (See our “Healthy Snacks for Kids Sports” post for ideas on what to use for your trail mix).
- Lots of families have their kids pack their own lunches. Have a tote in the fridge with approved choices and let them pick what goes in the lunch box the night before!
- Keep your lunch-making containers in one convenient place. It’s frustrating to have every single piece of Tupperware fall out when you are trying to find that one container you know your preschooler can open on his own. Keep lunch containers in their own space!
- If it makes sense for your family, pick one day of the week for the kids to buy lunch. If you have a particularly busy evening, let the kids buy lunch the next day to take one thing off your list for your already crazy evening.
Do you have some tips that will help our readers make lunch packing less painful? Share them in the comments below.