4 Tips on Preparing School Lunches

This school year my daughter Katie is now a Kindergartner. She started school at the end of August. It’s still hard to believe that she is now in Kindergarten. It seems like not long ago that she was a baby.

Here is Katie on her first day of Kindergarten. She has grown up so much – even in the past year.

Katie had the school lunch the first two days, so she could get the system down. She has packed a lunch every day since then. We’ve given her a choice if she wanted lunch at the school on certain days, but she still wanted to pack her lunch. I’m still learning what works the best for Katie, but I’ve mostly have it all down to a system.

Below are 4 tips on preparing school lunches.

4 Tips on Preparing School Lunches

1. Pick the right containers that will work for you. I bought two sets of sandwich containers and two-divided containers. I also bought a round container to put yogurt inside and small condiment containers.

2. Prepare the lunch right after dinner the night before so it’s done. Then you don’t have to worry about it before you go to bed or in the morning. On the nights I can’t make the lunch right away, I prepare it after I get my kids to bed.

3. Let your child help prepare the lunch. Katie loves to help me make the food and put it into her containers and her lunch box. She gets upset when she doesn’t get to help out.

4. Write out a plan for school lunches the weekend before. I alternate meals with meat one day and peanut butter the next. Pick one main meal item, one fruit or vegetable, one or two sides, and a juice or milk box. For example: this lunch is a peanut butter fruit wrap, carrots sticks, cheese circles, mix of goldfish, and a juice box. I at least plan out the main meals for the week. The rest of the lunch is easy to add to as I prepare the meal. I also alternate between fruit and vegetables.

What helps you when preparing lunches for school?

This post is part of a post series called Meals in the Kitchen, which is on the subject of food. I’ll talk about my love for food to sharing recipes that I love cooking to food tips.