School lunches

My kids decided early on that buying lunch at school was a waste of time.  Literally, it sucked up all the good eating time when you had to stand in line and wait to get your lunch.  Since we move a little slower around our house, and we also like to maximize the time we can spend eating, wasting 10 minutes in line for pizza was not worth it.  I am secretly happy that they take lunch instead of buy it because I can watch what they eat and what they do not.  I know school lunches are nutritionally sound, but they are not always as appealing as the fresh fruit or veggies I can throw in the lunches. 

 

I know that Bento boxes are all the rage, but frankly I did not have time to look for where to purchase these precious little boxes, and I was not sure they would be cheap enough for me to have 10 on hand at any time.  So, I bought these Ziploc divided containers, and they are cheap and dishwasher safe, and work well.  Ours have held up for a couple of years, and I am not aware of any leakage issues.  These fit great in the 31 insulated totes, too. 

 

In the big part I put a sandwich, and since I love a fresh sandwich, these are usually made the day of.  However, all other assembly is performed on the weekend, and stuck in the fridge to stay cool and untouched.  In the little parts, we put:  mixed nuts; trail mix; pretzels; yogurt covered pretzels; pickles; carrots cut into little sticks; cucumbers; pineapple; berries – strawberries or blueberries are a hit for us; jello; oranges segments; or cheese slices.  I also add in chips or crackers or something that we have either bought in individual packages or have divided into snack baggies. 

 

I must admit that while a lot of this is driven by my need to make mornings run smoothly, a lot is also driven by the fact that I live with a bunch of snackers, and if I do not pre-package some things, there is a good chance that Friday morning, I would pull out a bag of crackers with one single lonely cracker left in it, and there is no way I would be able to cobble together enough fruit or pickles to fill the little containers.