There's a lot of chatter about school lunches. I've even written about lunchbox ideas quite a few times myself (click here to see those posts). But you know what threw me for a loop this year as my daughters started Kindergarten? Snacks. Nobody warned me that in addition to packing lunches every day I was going to need to pack snacks as well! After getting over my initial bewilderment I've come up with some standard go-to's that work for me- here are my favorite snack ideas to send to school.
There are a few reasons why snacks took me by surprise at the beginning of the school year: 1) I quickly learned that snacks have to be eaten quickly and independently- no time for fussy wrappers or foods that take a long time to eat, 2) after working out a nicely-balanced healthy lunch, adding in the snack factor just throws everything off, 3) of course the snacks still have to be peanut-free for my daughters' school (and, it seems, most other schools in the US), and 4) kids get HUNGRY at school- I'm amazed at how filling the snacks need to be for my kids to not come home ravenous!
Of course I don't have time to pack a second lunch every morning for every child. It needs to be quick and easy for me to throw together. So with all of those factors in mind, here are some of my go-to snacks to pack for my Kindergartners.
1. Fruit
Apple slices, tangerines (pre-peeled), bananas, and raisins are easy to pack, quick to eat, and give my daughters the energy they need to make it through the afternoon.
2. Bagels
I'm always surprised at how much my daughters like this one: half a slice of bagel with some cream cheese sandwiched in the middle is a quick and filling snack they both love!
3. Crackers/ Chips/ Salty Snacks
I often save those salty carbs- chips, goldfish crackers, popcorn, pretzels- for their snack. They're easy to throw in a bag and my daughters are always excited to eat those.
4. Juice
I will often throw in a small juice box, especially if their other snack is one of the salty snacks mentioned above. They get in a lot more fluids during the day this way, and there are quite a few healthier juice options out there these days!
5. Nuts/ Seeds
I am lucky enough to have the option of sending nuts to school- my daughters' school doesn't allow peanuts but does allow other nuts. Besides walnuts, pecans, and almonds, coconut flakes are another great option (which would also work for nut-free schools), and pumpkin and sunflower seeds (pre-shelled) have been great options as well!
Those are some of my favorite snack ideas. What are yours? I'd love to get some more ideas from all of you veteran moms out there, because it has been surprisingly difficult for me to come up with snack ideas to send to school! Leave a comment below if you have some favorites :)
A couple of weeks ago I asked you all to send me your questions, and I got lots of great responses! Today I'm going to be answering the questions related to life at home, and I'll be answering the questions related to teaching and planning in future posts as well. For each question, I've put together a video answer to go along with the written one (to accommodate multiple learning styles, of course!). If you have more questions for me, I'd love for you to leave a comment- I enjoyed hearing from so many of you and would love to do more posts like these in the future!
1. I'd like to know how you organize/plan meals. Do you have a master list of supper ideas to choose from?
Meal planning has absolutely changed my life- I have no plans to go back to the weekly/daily "what are we going to eat?" moment of panic. My meal planner for dinners is set up so that I have a master list that I can quickly choose from each week, and it has worked great for me for the last 4 years! Here's my post that explains each of my meal planning systems (yes, there are multiple), including instructions for how to make the same meal planner I use for dinners (it's super easy!):
As far as the exact recipes I use, those have evolved over the years. Back when I started meal planning when I first went back to work with twin 18-month-olds, I had a pretty strict rule of no more than 15 minutes prep total! Nowadays I can handle up to about 30 minutes of cooking, which means I have a lot more non-crockpot options ;) If you want to see some of my favorite dinner recipes, here are two of my Pinterest boards to check out:
2. What do you pack for your own lunch for school?
Until this year, my lunch was almost always an afterthought (and, honestly, it was a neverthought pretty regularly- I had to scramble to find food to eat after realizing I had forgotten to bring lunch again so many times!). Usually I had leftovers, and I also tried to keep some grab-and-go things in the freezer, like these wraps, and these patties, in case I didn't have anything on hand.
This year, though, I finally caved and bought myself a lunchbox. It's just like my daughters' but slightly bigger, with bigger and fewer compartments. I don't know why it took me so long to do this but I am so glad I did! I now remember to pack my lunch, because I pack it with my daughters', my lunches are healthier because I pack mostly the same foods as I do for them, and because of the way my lunchbox is designed, I can still pack leftovers along with some of the same fruits and veggies as my daughters if I have something from my fridge to take. It's seriously the best of all the worlds.
I share my daughters' lunchboxes usually once a week on my Instagram account, and I occasionally show my own lunch in there too (although 3 lunchboxes can be a little hard to photograph well sometimes!). Here's one of those pictures so you can see what I'm talking about:
If you want to read more about what and how I pack healthy lunches for my daughters (and now for myself too!), here are some posts on the topic (and you may want to follow me on Instagram to see weekly lunchbox ideas!):
3. I would love to have my preschooler and kindergartner help out in the kitchen, but I'm terrified that little fingers will get cut! What utensils do you allow your twins to use?
OK, so this is something that has been a work in progress for the last 3 years or so! ;) The main thing to remember is that they'll never learn until they get to practice. As scary as it is, at some point you have to- with lots of supervision and baby steps- let them try.
So about those baby steps.
1. When the girls first started "cooking" when they were about 3, I did all of the cutting/ chopping. I encouraged them to choose meals that didn't require too much chopping, like sandwiches, burgers, and fruit that can be pulled apart with your hands (bananas, oranges...).
2. When they got a little older and had more experience in the kitchen, I started letting them use a butter knife to cut very soft things like bread, melon (with the rind removed), hard boiled eggs, and bananas. They LOVED the responsibility and it was a great way to practice without worrying about little fingers.
3. Once they got the hang of the butter knife, I started letting them use a sharper, but still small, paring knife to cut things like hot dogs, cucumbers, and even apples (this is when they were around 4.5-5 years old). When they first started we did it hand-over-hand, then gradually I moved back a little, still with my hands basically hovering just out of their line of sight ;) One of the keys at this stage, I found, was to get them to understand that they had to pierce through the initial skin before trying to cut straight through.
My biggest tip for teaching knife skills: make sure whatever they're cutting has a flat surface so that the item is stable. I will cut the apple in half first, for example, and lay the flat side down for them to cut into slices. Cucumbers they can manage now, but when they first started I would cut those lengthwise too and lay the flat side down for them to slice. It makes the hand that's holding the food less important so they can keep it out of the way.
My plan for a next step, now that they're getting pretty handy with the little knife, is to get them a knife like this to use:
True story: my daughters' preschool teacher had a brother-in-law who was a chef, and he taught his preschooler son to chop with this exact knife.
If you want to read more about how and why I have been getting my daughters in the kitchen since they were preschoolers, here are some posts on the topic:
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Now that school is in full swing, I thought this would be a good time to share a few of the lunches I have been packing for my preschool-age daughters over the past few weeks. Anyone who has experience packing lunches for young children knows that it can be really hard sometimes to come up with good lunch ideas, so hopefully you will find some inspiration to make your life a little easier, and your lunchboxes a little healthier and more exciting!
*this post contains affiliate links*
In my daughters' school, I have several guidelines to keep in mind when I'm packing lunches:
1. No nuts
2. No pretzels, popcorn, or candy
3. Hot dogs and grapes must be cut length-wise
4. Nothing that needs to be heated up for more than a minute or so
In addition to the school's guidelines, I am trying to pack lunches that:
1. Are filling
2. Contain lots of fruits and veggies plus some protein, since most of their snacks at school are crackers and other carbs/grains
3. Are enticing enough for the girls to actually eat (which, in my case, means they need to be colorful, and non-repetitive)
4. Can be prepared/packed quickly
I know most parents in the United States are working with similar guidelines, and it can be tricky to come up with new ideas for lunches (because we all know how young children feel about eating the same lunch that they just had, like, last week!). Here are some of the lunches I've been packing so far (please excuse the poor lighting- I pack the lunches in the wee hours of the morning when it's still dark outside!);
Amongst all of them, though, my favorite trick is the "rainbow lunch":
This is not the only menu with which you can do the rainbow colors, obviously. I usually don't plan these things out in advance to be rainbow, but occasionally when I start pulling things out for lunch I realize that I have all of the colors and a rainbow lunch is born ;)
Of course one of the factors that makes packing these types of lunches easier is the lunchbox itself. You really need lots of different compartments or containers for young kids' lunches- we all know how atrocious it is for most kids if different foods touch each other (gasp!). I use these lunchboxes, which I love, but you could use any bento-style lunchbox, or even different tupperware containers or baggies, and get the same effect.
The other thing that makes it easier for me to pack the lunches is my menu board. I put together a list of foods that I can easily pack and separated them up into categories. Each week when I make my grocery shopping list, I check off a few items from each category to add to my list, avoiding the things I bought the week before. You can download a free copy of my menu board (in 2 different designs) to print for yourself here.
I actually took all of these lunchbox photos straight from my Instagram account. If you want to get more lunch inspiration, head over there to follow me! I've been posting my lunchbox creations once or twice a week (along with plenty of other photos from random snippets of my life).
What are your favorite simple and healthy lunchbox meals? Share your ideas below so we can all get some fresh inspiration! Want more? Subscribe here to the Organized Chaos newsletter and get ideas and resources for home and school sent straight to your inbox.
I've actually been quite enjoying putting together my 3-year-old girls' lunchboxes since they started school about a month ago. It has been fun figuring out new combinations to create a balanced meal that the girls will be excited to eat! I know I've enjoyed seeing what other people pack in their kids' lunches, so I thought I would share pictures of some of the girls' lunches from the last couple of weeks.
The girls' school (like most in the US, I think) is nut-free, and of course I want the girls' lunches to be healthy. As a single mom with twin preschoolers, though, I also don't have a lot of time. I hope these pictures will give you some inspiration for new ideas of things to pack! I've listed the foods included below each photo. If you're interested, I also have a lumchbox planning cheat sheet available as a free download, and I created a lunch menu planning board for myself- I'll link both of those posts at the end of this one.
**Sorry the lighting is not great- remember I'm packing lunches at 5:30am while the girls are still sleeping, and I'm rushing to get ready for work, so.... yeah. ;) **
Crackers, cheese stick, baby carrots, pineapple, avocado, and hummus
Crackers, red bell pepper, baby carrots, pineapple, pickles, and tuna salad (tuna, mayo, shredded cheese, bacon bits, and parsley)
Cheese slices, pretzels, black beans, apples, peas, and sweet potato
Cinnamon rice crackers, blueberries, apple sauce, edamame, hummus, and green bell pepper
Hummus, pretzels, kiwi, chicken, BBQ sauce, and green bell pepper
Banana, Ritz crackers, spinach, raspberry salad dressing, egg salad (hard-boiled eggs, mayo, shredded cheese, bacon bits, and parsley), and strawberries
Biscuit, green bell pepper, hard-boiled egg, hummus, pineapple, and sweet potato
Spinach, pretzels, kiwi, raspberry salad dressing, chicken, and butternut squash (cooked with cinnamon and brown sugar)
I hope you enjoyed taking a peek inside my girls' lunchboxes :)
You can see the lunch menu planning board I made, with instructions on how to make one, in this post.
Download a free printable lunchbox menu planning cheat sheet in this post.
Well, the girls have been in preschool for about 2 weeks now, and I am calling it a success! One of my girls announced the other day that she would like to go to school every day. Instead of counting down to the weekend, they are counting down to Mondays! So yeah, I feel a little bit like chopped liver, but that's OK :)
Although I was pretty anxious about making lunches for all of us every day, so far things have been going pretty smoothly. My lunchbox menu planning board is working well for me so far, and the girls are enjoying all of their food as well. And having the bento-style lunchboxes with separate compartments is awesome. I'm seriously thinking about getting one for myself. Today's post is short and sweet, but (I hope) helpful for busy moms like me: I made a visual of things I pack in the girls' lunchboxes to make it easier to create a balanced and yummy lunch quickly each morning.
The image above is a high-quality (300dpi) image, so you should be able to save to your computer and print from home or send it to a printing service and have a nice print for your kitchen. This is basically the same idea as my lunchbox menu planning board but simplified. If you are using lunchboxes with different compartments like I am and don't want to think about where/how to pack everything each day, check out the post on my menu planning board.
With this visual, though, you could easily laminate it and hang it on your fridge or somewhere else in your kitchen to use as a reference.
If you like to plan out your meals and grocery shop once a week like me, you could use this to plan out your shopping list as well. I tend to pick about 4 veggies and fruits, 3 grains and proteins, and 2-3 dips for each week and then mix and match each day. If you laminate this list, you can use a dry erase marker to mark the items from each category and add those to your shopping list.
I hope this helps make your mornings a little bit easier! If you decide to download and use the visual, I'd love to hear from you! Leave me some love in the comments :) I'm also thinking about taking pictures of the girls' lunches each day for a week to help give you some inspiration- let me know if that's something you are interested in seeing. Have a great week!!
*update* If you're looking to break out of the sandwich rut, I've posted some pictures of the girls' lunches in this post:
As a teacher, back-to-school season has always been an important time in my life. But this year I'm participating as a mom as well, and it is freaking me out!! My girls are 3 and will be starting full-time preschool in just 2 weeks. I know I know, it's *just* preschool, but just the fact that they now need backpacks alone is mind-blowing! I am excited for them in many ways, but there are going to be a lot of additional organizational challenges for me, with 2 kids going to school for the first time in 2 different classrooms. My biggest worry is the food. For the last 2 years, a wonderful lady watched the girls in her home during the day, and she fed them both breakfast and lunch. Although the school does offer both meals as well, they are... shall we say... not the food I would choose to feed my children on a regular basis. Plus breakfast would be too late for them- they are used to eating much earlier than when they serve breakfast at preschool. So, in an attempt to relieve my anxiety, I came up with a plan to stay organized with the girls' packed lunches!
When I first started thinking about what I needed to have in order to pack 2 lunches as quickly as possible each morning, there were 4 things I knew I needed: 1) lunch boxes with separate compartments, because my girls are in a phase where no foods must touch other foods, 2) a way to plan out what I needed for lunches a week at a time so I could continue to grocery shop once a week, 3) a way to try to make sure I have a balanced meal each day, and 4) a way to figure out where everything would go in the lunch box, so I don't have to complete a jigsaw puzzle each morning.
The first thing I did was buy my lunch boxes (and some cupcake liners for smaller foods in bigger slots and, let's be honest, to add some fun color):
I love these lunchboxes because they are colorful, they don't leak between compartments no matter how you turn them, they are dishwasher safe, and they are pretty easy for the girls to open and close themselves. Also, they're not too expensive. I got them here (and the cupcake liners here).
After considering several different options, I landed on my latest favorite organization method: magnet boards! I picked up some 88c cookie sheets at Walmart and got to work.
I cut out shapes from the scrapbook paper to look like the 5 compartments in the lunchbox. I traced around a small cup for the circle, and just eye-balled the rest. Then I taped the shapes down with double-sided tape, and ended up with this:
The next step was to make magnets with different foods that the girls would eat. I wanted to have a list of vegetables, fruit, protein, carb/snack, and dips. I asked the girls to tell me what they liked and we made a huge list together. Then I wrote each one on a piece of regular white paper that I stuck to these self-adhesive magnet sheets. I used a different color pen for each category.
Then I just cut out each word. I have plenty of space leftover to add more foods as we think of them, or to use with other projects. It was after I cut all of the magnets out that I realized that there were a lot of them, and they were going to take up a lot of space on the magnet board! Originally I had wanted to have the whole thing on one cookie sheet, with the extra magnets off to the side and the shapes for the lunchbox compartments on the other. There was no way they would all fit, so I just used another cookie sheet, made column for each food group with more scrapbook paper to match the colors I used for the words, and ended up with this second board:
I used some command strips to hang them up on the wall right in between the cabinet where I keep the lunchbox supplies and my command center where I plan out my week and our dinners.
Woohoo! My plan is to use them to plan out lunches for a week at a time. I'm planning to pick out 3-4 items from each category and re-use some of them a few times during the week (as well as using the veggies and fruits for other meals). The reason I want to have the compartments as a visual is because I can't assign a category to a particular compartment, because some things are too big or too small for each area. So if I have a banana in the big section, I can put some meatballs in one of the smaller ones. My plan is to put all of the items for each area on the board, then move them off to the side as I use them. That way I can avoid repeating foods too much (we all know how 3-year-olds feel about eating the same food 2 days in a row!! unless it's ice cream...).
I'm sure this system will evolve (and potentially be completely replaced) as I find my rhythm, but for now I am happy to know I have a system and a plan to follow, so hopefully I won't be running around on a Thursday morning trying to figure out what to pack for lunch!
Those of you with more experience than I with packing lunches every morning: do you have a system for planning out lunches? What do you use? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!
