A Guest Post by Danielle of Blossom Bunkhouse
Hi, my name is Danielle. I’m an outnumbered mom to three school-aged boys, wife to a great outdoors husband and the creative force behind Blossom Bunkhouse. I love childhood! The years are so short yet so formative. Every parent wants their children to have gorgeous childhood memories looking back and remembering waking up to awesomeness every day. With coffee running through my veins, I attempt to make that happen…most days!
Thank you, Jolyn, for the invitation to guest post on your blog. I am honored and delighted to share how I plan, prepare & organize our family’s school lunches.
The Problem:
I was finding that I was having too many rough mornings, flying by the seat of my pants, coming up short on my child’s school lunch. Either the loaf of bread was already gone by Tuesday morning or I ran out of fruit by Wednesday causing unnecessary morning stress (ugh!). I worried my child’s teacher was judging my parenting skills because I wasn’t sending fruit & veggies often enough. At the time I had a school aged child, pre-k child and a baby. I was just surviving. I didn’t get pleasure from making lunches. I wanted change. This is what I did!
I calculated how many school lunches I made (probably 150 back then). Currently, I have made roughly 1,600 (gasp!), and I only have 5,000 to go until my youngest graduates from high school!  Yikes! When lunches are quantified in these terms it makes sense to create a plan.
The Plan:
Provide nutritious variety to keep kids happy and mom sane while saving time & money.
School Lunch List:
Start by creating a School Lunch List, similar to the lists below, with foods your children enjoy & will eat. Tape it in your pantry and add to it as needed over the school year.
SANDWICHES: PB & J, PB & Honey, Turkey, Ham, Salami, Bologna, Inside Out Sandwich, Grilled cheese (wrapped in foil), Tuna Fish, Egg Salad, Reuben, Tomato, Corned Beef, BLT, Mayo Sandwich, Sub, Pita Roll-Up, Scrambled Eggs with Spinach in a Pita
WARM THERMOS: Vegetables, Chicken Nuggets, Popcorn Chicken, Chicken Lollipops, Fish Sticks, Mozzarella Sticks, Pizza Rolls/Bites, Soup, Chili, Walking Tacos, Mini Pierogies, Hot Dogs, Spaghetti-O’s, Spaghetti, Mac & Cheese, Ham Fried Rice, Bacon, Oatmeal, Pancake Cubes, Scrambled Eggs, Sausage, French Toast Sticks, Leftovers
COLD THERMOS: Smoothie, Fruit Salad, Pasta Salad, Cereal (add milk), Granola (add milk)
VEGETABLES: Cucumber, Pickles, Celery, Broccoli, Carrots, Peppers, Salad, Green Beans, Corn, Sweet Potato, Peas, Cauliflower
FRUITS: Apple, Banana, Grapes, Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Peach, Pear, Plum, Strawberries, Blueberries, Kiwi, Prunes, Orange (peeled & wrapped in wet paper towel), Pineapples, Tangerines, Nectarines, Raspberries, Watermelon, Cherries, Grapefruit, Fruit Kabobs.
DAIRY: Yogurt, Frozen yogurt, Cheese Sticks, Cheese Cubes, String Cheese, Cottage Cheese
DRINKS: Water, Juice Pouches, Apple Juice, Orange Juice, Lemonade, White Milk, Chocolate Milk, Gatorade, Kool-Aid, V8 V-Fusion
Menu Adjustments:
Most lunch times are short so menu plans may need to be adjusted accordingly. Eliminate items if children are not able to finish everything or reduce to a half sandwich. Sometimes growth spurts require bigger lunches. It is a good idea that they bring all food, partially eaten or not, home so parents can adjust amount/preferences accordingly. My son brought an unopened juice pouch home for days. He cites not enough time to drink it. Solution – I changed up his drink as he must have been tired of juice.
Grocery List/Shop:Â
Create your grocery list; shop. Sunday shopping works best for me.
Example of Pantry & Refrigerator Storage System Â
Pantry Storage System + Refrigerator Storage System
Prepare:
Prepare every food item in advance by dividing them into baggies or containers. (I don’t make sandwiches ahead of time, but you could.) I love Lock n Lock containers.
Organize:
Create a pantry storage system (dry goods) and a refrigerator storage system (fruit, veggies, dairy, etc.) exclusively for school lunches.
Store them in large containers, baskets, bins, boxes, drawers, etc. so they are organized & together.
Preparing this for the week eliminates others in the household from sneaking eating school snacks accidentally.
Simplicity:
Everyone gets the same lunch, or close to it, if possible. It’s easier to fill lunches in an assembly line. My kids used to pick their own snacks from the storage bins and that works well for some families; however, it created fairness issues among siblings for us. Find what works for your family’s needs.
If you choose not to pack the same lunches for all kids, then create a separate menu plan for each child. Still easy! You may even want to put the weekly menu plan inside their lunchbox so you can refer to it when packing each day.
Bonus:
Some children can pack their own lunches by using this system!
By merely implementing this system, I went from just surviving to thriving (most weeks)! My children are waking up to awesomeness (most days)! Sure, I have my off weeks. We all have hectic schedules and let’s face it, it’s a mundane task. I would love a household assistant to execute this plan for me but since I don’t have one I just try to get back on track as quickly as possible. There are times, especially around the holidays, that I secretly wish my kids would just buy hot lunch every day. Wrong, I know, but true.
Do you have a Lunchbox system?
Look for my follow-up guest post – Exclusively for the Lunchbox: Tips & Ideas!
please send examples of warm thermos’s…
does a thermos keep things like chicken nuggets and mac&cheese warm? I didn’t think that it would, but I’d love to pick up one for my daughter if it does.
For the thermos I’ve found that I need to heat the food up just prior to filling it for packing and to heat it quite hot in order for it to maintain heat through lunchtime. I’ve only experimented with the thermos that usually comes with the lunchboxes though so a better thermos might keep heat better – something to experiment with before using for sure.
Cari-
There are different sized thermos-type containers. I have larger ones for homemade soup and smaller ones for things like leftover casserole. To make them stay hot as long as possible, I start by pouring very hot water (boiling has generally been ok as mine are stainless steel) into the thermos and putting on the lid for a few minutes. While I’m doing that, I heat the food. When the food is hot, I dump the water, add the food, and seal. It stays hot for a few hours that way. My suggestion to you (since I don’t know the amount of time between when you’ll pack the lunch and when your daughter gets to eat it) is this, try a test run of the meal in the container before school starts. That way, you’ll get a general idea of whether it’s a good idea.
Connie (or anyone else) –
Can you tell me what brand thermos you use? There are so many out there and they’re so expensive. I don’t want to buy them to find they don’t work.
Thanks for posting this! My little one starts kindergarten and I’m trying to figure out what will work best for lunches. This really helps!!
In K I started having a shelf with “school snacks” on it. These were all items that did not need to be kept cold. Then the kids could pick what ever they wanted. I found when I did not let them pick they did not eat what ever it was I packed for them. They can also grab carrots, etc. from the fridge.
On Sunday’s I ask the kids what sandwich they want for lunch. I make the Mon-Wed (or Mon-Fri) sandwich for the week. Then mark the ziploc bag with the first letter of their name and stick it in the frezzer. Every morning they can pull out their sandwich for the day. The sandwichs are thawed by lunch time, and the mayo has been kept cold during the morning.
I love this!! I have my first “baby” going to school this year and have been freaking out about lunches for some reason!! This gives me direction for healthy ideas and great tips! it won’t be long before my other 3 join the lunch ranks, but now I have an idea of how to keep it together!! Thanks again!!