Making lunches and healthy snacks can be a chore in itself. With three kids we have tried several ways to make this task less daunting. Here are two that really works for us.:
- Make a snack box. We take out all snacks, cereal/granola bars out of the prepackaged boxes and put them in a container that we store in the pantry. It takes up less space and keeps all snacks together in a mobile fashion. Now when making lunches I just grab the box and decide what needs to go in each lunchbox. During snack time the kids know right were to go for their snacks and I know it is a healthy option because I stocked it with healthy snacks!
- Prepare foods ahead of time. On Sundays, we slice veggies that the kids might eat for lunch and store them in a container in the refrigerator. We also make ham and cheese rolls for the week, which is simply a cheese stick rolled up in a piece of ham then cut in half. This seems to be the only way the kids will eat any meat for lunch!
With everything prepped and ready, lunches can be made in a snap, just grab and go!
RSS
Do you do anything special to keep the veggies fresh? I find the cut edges of most things (cucumbers, peppers) tend to get kind of gross if they’re in the fridge more than a day or two so I usually end up doing all the cutting-up on the night before or day-of lunch packing.
As far as protein goes – one recipe I love is to hard boil an egg, peel it, and roll it around in some reduced soy sauce (reduce on stove in smallest saucepan you have). The salty taste penetrates the outer layer of the egg white, so there’s no need to pack any salt to eat with the egg. Plus, it looks cool when you cut it in half, with the yellow middle, white part, and brownish outside. Maybe they would like to try that and you can have some variety? I guess it depends if your kids like eggs and/or soy sauce.
We usually cut up carrots and celery and store them in water, in a container and refrigerate. Those hold up for the entire week but other things have to be eaten sooner.
I like the egg idea. I will have to try that with the kids!