I don’t know about you…but I’m SOOOOO ready for school to start!
The fighting and lack of a schedule has made me crazy (and horribly unproductive). I need a routine!
I started thinking about all the drama that comes with school and making lunches every day for 3 kids is quite a task. Here are some of my lunch box must haves as well as some Back to School tips from some of my friends!
Lunch Box Must Haves
1. A Plan – The most important thing I do to make our school mornings easier is to have a plan. Usually I have made the lunches the night before (or had the kids make them) so there’s no scrambling in the morning. If the kids are making them, I use this Do It Yourself Lunch Choices Printable to help them know what needs to go in their lunches. I sit with each kid to make a list of 3 options for each section of things they like to eat. Then they use this to make their own lunches!
2. Lunch Box Containers – We use these daily. They help to keep the lunch box clean-ish and cut down on the trash. I’ve learned – the hard way – if you give them things that must be thrown away along with things that should not be thrown away (silverware, drinks, reuseable baggies), then they’ll throw away everything in the box. So by using these containers, we cut down on losing household items. Be sure to buy enough to make it through at least 3 days for all your kids – just in case you run behind on dishes.
3. Water Bottle – We have gone through tons of water bottles. They leave them at school, drop them and break them, chew the straws off…or they just plain get nasty. We recently switched to these Contigo Trekker Kids Water Bottle and love them. They do have a bit of a learning curve – you have to push in on that front button while drinking, but they have lasted much longer than the average water bottle. Check out my post about Kidecal Waterproof Labels for these too.
4. Healthy Foods – And of course it’s important to stay on top of going to the store and having their favorite healthy snacks (click the links below for ideas of what to put in lunches). I’ve also found it really helpful to have a back up plan of having a few Go Picnic lunches on hand just in case I run out of time or supplies.
More Lunch Box Ideas:
What’s your biggest struggle with school lunches?
