Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Packing Lunches

Well. That was a long, unplanned silence. Summer is over and school has commenced. Hopefully I'll slide quietly back into blogging...

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School is back in session, and so is the job of packing a row of lunches. I think one of the biggest things I dreaded this year about the new schedule was facing that morning scramble of packing lunches. And making sure there are things to pack in those lunches.


Chris couldn't understand my anxiety and had a simple solution for the problem. "Make them fix their own lunches! There's no reason they can't fix their lunches instead of you doing it."

I say a simple solution.

Except to me, that solution is anything but simple. The idea of four children in the kitchen every morning, scrambling around, searching for food, bombarding me with questions, squabbling over who gets what, fills me with more dread than doing the job myself. I know a lot of families take that route. I know there are probably ways to streamline the process. But not this mother! I just don't think I could deal with it.

Still, as school time crept closer, I kept thinking there has to be a better way. What could I do to take some of the stress out of my school mornings? Other than getting up at some ungodly hour. This mother doesn't deal well with that, either.

First day of school!

And then, I hit on a creative idea. An idea that would make the children do some of the work without the bedlam I feared in the kitchen. An idea that just might be the perfect fix and an actual simple solution. Can you tell I'm kinda proud of myself?

I'm not good with sticking to schedules and elaborate plans, so we'll see how long this lasts. For now, I'm loving it. While it's working, I thought I'd go ahead and share in case any of you other moms are like me and need a lunch packing solution.

Every night after supper, the children each have a job to do -- put away leftovers, clear the table, empty the drainer, wash dishes. I decided evening lunch prep would be just the ticket. Since everyone was doing jobs anyway, it was easy to include in the routine.

The girls lunches almost always include something to warm up. Jasmine, who puts leftovers away, is responsible to make sure there are 3 containers filled and ready to go.

Or a stack of pizza
as the case may be

 Lillian and Jennifer rotate between washing the dishes and the new job -- filling bags with chips and containers with cookies for lunches.

We have a basket designated 
for these items. 

In the morning, I make a sandwich for Isaac and a sandwich for Chris. The rest of the lunch items can be grabbed from what was prepared the night before. Add an apple or a bowl of frozen fruit, spoons where needed, and we're good to go! Now if I'd just spend some time making up a stash of these for those days when there are absolutely no leftovers, packing lunches might be almost fun.

Almost.

4 comments:

  1. Evening prep is the bomb! I did it for years, the only way I survived the dreaded school lunch packing. 😊

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  2. Thanks a bunch!! We're Canadian and school starts next week! And making lunches is also something I don't look forward to. Thanks for all the tips. I need to have my own basket with prepackaged snacks etc too...simply love that idea! A drawer in the fridge would work for refrigerator snacks like pudding cups, yogurt and veggies/fruit etc.
    I also followed your link where you baked those pockets and it reminded me of one of our favorites; take frozen tart shells and fill with your favorite pizza toppings. First option is to bake the shells then fill and then the children only need to reheat. Second option is to bake everything together and then children reheat, but my children think that it's too well done by then; we prefer the first option. And in case you think me some wonder women; I buy my tart shells from a local bulk food store. :-)

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  3. Way to goooo! Glad you FOUND an answer and SHARED it. :)

    ReplyDelete

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