Packing School Lunches

We are into the school routine and packing lunches x4 every single day.  I'm not sure that I'll ever get used to that 5:30am alarm, but we are finding our routines this year.

The kids tell me often that their lunches are a bright spot in their day.  That gives me all the motivation I need to grocery shop every weekend, pack lunches every evening and make sure they get a big HUG FROM HOME in the form of a yummy lunch in the middle of their school day.

I pack similar things in each lunch box and then personalize the protein or the chips or the dessert.  One kid wants double sandwiches, another wants extra cheese cubes and the other prefers no protein.  We love the Yumbox originals and have been using them exclusively for school lunches for 8 years.  I pack every lunch right after dinner.  That's when the kitchen is already messy from dinner and I'm still in the swing of things of food prepping.

These food items are always a big hit:

Cold pasta

Hard boiled eggs

Crunchy veggies

Cheese cubes/turkey pepperoni/turkey sausage/meat sticks

Fruit

Small chips

Z Bar granola bars

Hawaiian Roll sandwiches

PBJs

And a little candy treat - seasonal candy, gummy bears, sweat tarts, Nerd clusters, truffles, fun size candy bars and homemade cookies.

I hope you found a new lunch idea or two for your own kids :)

Winter School Lunch Ideas

I pack lunches for my elementary school kids every single school day.  They love it and I love packing food that they will enjoy.  They make requests for their lunch boxes and I try to do a healthy mix of lots of different things.  I pack their lunches the night before as I'm cleaning up dinner.  That way I can close down the kitchen for the night and not leave this task until late at night.  Leo keeps telling me - When I go to school, you pack my lunches!  I'll take that as a compliment that he's excited to get mom lunches.

For reference, these lunches are for my 2nd and 5th grader and they still seem to be the perfect size in the Yumbox Original.  They do eat a snack midday.

Here are some favorite lunches from November.

About once a week I like to add in a homemade treat - Monster Cookies & Pumpkin Pie this week.  We also love these Wheat Crackers, DOTS pretzels and Pretzel chips.

Half a favorite sandwich and favorite chex - cheese for one kid and bold and spicy for the other kid.  Christmas candy is a hit, too.  I also try to include their favorite fruits - Granny smith apples for one kid and Honey Crisp for the other.  Winter fruit isn't delicious, but apples seem to be a good option year round.

M&M Cookies and Halloween candy with a mix of pineapple and grapes this time of year.  Carrots and cucumbers are also a lunch box staple in the winter.

Favorite chips - Salt and Vinegar, Halloween candy and apple slices.

Peanut butter and crackers, raspberries or any berries when I can find them, pistachios and all their other favorites.

Snap peas are a hit if I split them in a half.  Along with Nutragrain bars and Butterfingers.  I've been doing a mix of salty snacks or sometimes two different salty snacks to keep their lunches extra interesting.

I know that the kids love a lunch from home and that it feels like a big HUG FROM HOME in the middle of their school days.  Most of the time their lunch boxes come home empty.  I try to only include one new food or one surprise food so that the majority of items are things that I know they will enjoy.

What are you kid's favorite lunch box foods?

School Lunch & Snack Ideas

We're off to a good start with a new school year and we're already finding new favorite foods to take to school.  My kids need a nut free snack for their classroom and then are allowed any kinds of nuts with their school lunches every day.  We're still using and loving our Yumboxes going on 7 years now.  I found a snack container that works really well for them.  I'll link our favorite things at the bottom of this post.

I like to think of their snacks and school lunches as a big HUG FROM HOME in the middle of their school days.  That means I grocery shop regularly and plan to have a rainbow of food options on hand all of the time for lunches.  This mindset helps me to pack lunches with a good attitude and not think of it as a chore.  I really am so thankful to have a crew of kids to pack lunches for.

I pack lunches right after I get dinner cleaned up.  I'm already in the kitchen and then I can kind of close down the kitchen for the night.  If I wait until the kids go to bed or in the morning to pack lunches, I feel grumpy or rushed.  It's so nice to have them ready to go the night before.

 

Now I'm going to go through and list some of our favorite foods to include in lunch boxes.

Gummy worms

fresh fruit

half a sandwich

turkey sausage links and turkey pepperoni

Fun size candy bars

berries

extra sharp white cheddar cheese cubes

Pretzel chips

Doritos

frozen peas

A mix of two different salty chips - Fritos and pretzel chips

baked goods

acai chocolate balls

Match stick carrots

cold pasta

pitted fresh cherries

pumpkin cookies

MIke and Ikes

bite size apples

cold  pasta

Chocolate zucchini bread

a little fruit salad

peanut M&Ms

I picked up these Sistema to go snack containers at Meijer before school started.  They are easy to open and I love that they have two big sections.  They don't seem to be leak proof so if you send something juicy, you might want to add in a paper towel on that side.  The kids - 2nd and 5th grade - both like them.

The apple slices were a little juicy so I would put a paper towel in with them next time.

It's been a yummy start to the school year.

Here are my Amazon links to our favorite lunch box supplies for

Yumbox Originals

Thin ice packs

Funtainer Thermos water bottles

and Sistema snack containers.

Napkin Notes

If you've been around here for any length of time, you know that I feel strongly about packing delicious lunches for my family.  That mostly consists of school lunches these days, but it's really important to me.  I plan for, shop for and budget time for packing lunches every week.  It's a big HUG FROM HOME from me to my kids every day.

Napkin notes are something that I include with almost every lunch I pack.  I don't always write the notes on a napkin, but you get the idea.  It's a little note from me to them to read as they enjoy their lunch.

I grew up on napkin notes.  My parents both wrote me lunch box notes and I still have a little stash of those notes from the 80s as a keepsake.  They kept the notes short and sweet.  They put encouraging words, reminders and sweet messages.  I try my best to do the same.

1980s Napkin Notes:

I love these notes so much!  You'll notice a theme - I've always loved cats, loved a handwritten note, appreciated encouragement and apparently have always been sneezy.  Thank heavens for allergy meds.  And country blue was all the rage in the 80s.  It's a good mix of notes from mom, notes from dad and one from my siblings.

2020 Napkin Notes:

 

I try to include specifics about their days - enjoy PE today!  Or good luck on your math test!  I can't wait to have lasagna with you for dinner tonight!  Movie night: Minions tonight after dinner!  Or include some encouraging works - be kind, be a good friend, you are really special to me or I can't wait to see you after school!  I also like to look up kid jokes on Pinterest for some funny jokes.  I usually read Fletcher's note to him in the morning so that he knows what it says since he's an early reader.  Olive reads her own note.

Take turns being the author.  I write most of the notes, but I rotate through Kevin, Leo and the cats when I need some fresh note content.  They love getting a post it note full of scribbles from Leo or a cat note from the cats- hurry home and pet me!  I miss you meowy much.  You get the idea :)

Any kind of paper will do - a napkin, a note pad, an index card, a post it or little note cards meant for lunch boxes.  Your kids won't care!  Post its are the easiest so do whatever works best for you.  I use a variety of all of those for my lunch box notes.  The kids love reading them each day and be sure to give me grief if I forget their note :)

My lunch box note inspiration:

Caption bubble napkins from Meijer.

Toddler notes:

Stick the post it notes to the counter and let your toddler write :)

Sometimes I trace Leo's hand on notes and then he colors them.

Post it note + a fun napkin (save all of your party napkins for school lunches!  Remember when the boys had a donut party back in the spring??)

I really love these boxes oof lunch box notes from Aldi.  They were so affordable and are surprisingly sweet!

The Dollar Tree sells these cute shaped note cards.  They're marketed to teachers in the teacher section, but they are perfect for school lunch boxes.

 

If you need a little more inspiration for your own napkin notes, I'd recommend reading this book: Napkin Notes: Make Lunch Meaningful, Life will Follow by W. Garth Callaghan.  I grabbed a copy at the library this month and I really enjoyed it.  Callaghan faced many challenges that inspired him to write Napkin Notes for his daughter.  His stories were compelling, interesting and inspiring.  

You can find it on amazon through my link here along with some cute note card options:

 

Who could you write a Napkin Note or a note of encouragement to today??

Hug From Home

What's the biggest challenge for you with packing school lunches??

I'm a couple of weeks into packing school lunches and we are hitting our stride.  I almost always pack lunches right after a get dinner cleaned up.  I'm still in cooking mode and don't leave it to do right before I go to bed.  I pop them in the fridge so they're ready to add to lunch boxes in the morning.  I write notes and lay out everything I need the night before.  It makes my mornings go easier.

I pack 10 lunches every week.  I try really hard to meal prep, grocery shop regularly and keep the fridge and pantry stocked with healthy food options for my crew.  I really love taking care of them this way. 

We have added some new favorite foods to the kid's lunch menu this year.  My goal each day is to fill their lunch box with food that they love so that it feels like a giant HUG FROM HOME in the middle of their school day.  I'm also working on adding hot lunch options to their school lunch.  I haven't perfected the hot lunch Thermos method yet so stay tuned for a post once I get things just right. 

I hope you find a new food or two that you think your kids would enjoy!

Yumbox lunch favorites:

Grilled chicken leftover from dinner the night before.

Pub Style Pretzels from Aldi

HARIBO Gummy Bears

Nectarine Slices

Mini Naan Dippers from Sams

Honey BBQ Fritos

Homemade cookies

DOTS pretzels

Watermelon sour candies

Snaps pretzels

Hershey Kisses

Cheese cubes - usually extra sharp white cheddar

A slice of homemade bread

Protein bites/balls - search my blog for a couple different recipes.

Do several different bites of fruits and veggies in each slot.

Fritos & fun shaped pretzels

Gummy Nerds

Turkey Pepperoni & Turkey sausage links

Rainbow Goldfish

I save fun napkins from holidays, parties and add them to the kid's school lunches.  These were from shark week last year and the kids loved them.

I am excited to use these cute lunch box note card sets from Aldi.  They're in store now.  180 note cards for $4.99.  My store had two different packs so I got one of each.

I love to include a note in their lunch.  I've been switching up who does the note writing - mom, dad,  kid to kid notes, baby brother colors them a note and sometimes the cats even write their notes.  Post-it notes work great for this.

If you want to make protein bites for snacks/lunches - make a big batch and keep them in the fridge for the week.  The kids love the cinnamon (left) and I love the chocolate chip.

These are our favorite lunch packing supplies - Yumbox Originals, Funtainer Thermos and Pogo water bottles.  Each kid takes a big and small water bottle to school along with their yumbox.  You can head over to this blog post for links to all of our Back to School Favorites.

 

Happy lunch packing!!  Let me know if you have any questions.