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.