School Lunches: Feeding the Little Bellies

This year my first born starts kindergarten. For the past three years she's been attending a half-day preschool (if you can call 2.5 hours a half-day). So this first week has been a total adjustment, waking up at 6:30am to get her ready, lunches packed and be out the door by 7:20. We were late the whole first week! Oh, how I'm reminiscing about those 9am start date mornings! At least then I could catch a few more Z's and had time to pack her lunch then. For all of you working moms, how do you do it?!

I gathered a few tidbits of advice from experienced moms on how to survive these hectic mornings. One is to pack as much of the lunches as you can the night before. Second is to always keep the pantry and fridge stocked with a variety of fruits, vegetables, spreads and breads. Finally, a functional lunch bag with lunch accessories is a must. I probably spent over an hour in the Target lunchbox aisle trying to figure out the perfect lunch bag. They come in all different shapes and sizes now with all sorts of gimmicky characters. Ultimately I settled on the Embark lunchbag. They work for me because uno, they stand upright so there's no spillage. Dos, there's a zipper compartment up top in case you need to separate items. Finally, they're easy to clean. Just wipe them down with a Lysol wipe and let it dry.

The second essential for packing lunches was to buy the containers to go with the lunch bag. I chose this Rubbermaid Lunchblox Sandwich Kit because I could pack a sandwich, yogurt, fruit and vegetable all without it touching one another. An added bonus is that it comes with a blue ice pack to keep the yogurt cool until lunchtime. I've only used them for about a week now and I already love them.

The last essential is a good water bottle. There's no telling how many water bottles I've gone through with the kids. Most of them are just so hard to clean and mold forms in the hard to clean areas. I was super excited when I found these Thermos FUNtainer bottles. They have been super easy to clean so far and I like the added benefit of keeping drinks cold up to 12 hours. I normally put the thermos bottles in the separate zipper compartment of the Embark lunch bag. I have to admit that the water bottle does weigh the lunch bag down. So if it's too heavy for your child to carry, then the water bottle can still be carried separately.

With these essentials, I hope to consistently pack a healthy,well-balanced lunch packed with plenty of protein, grains and wholesome goodness. So follow along with me as I pack a to go meal for the kiddos. I can't guarantee pictures every day, but I will surely try my best. Today's lunch was a pb and jelly wrap, sliced kiwi/apples and a handful of plain Sun Chips. Yay for us! We've survived this first week!