BACK TO SCHOOL LUNCHES AND DINNERS

How We Make Lunch and Dinner Easy During School

     During school time it gets really hectic around here. With the kids in two different schools, myself in school and Mike working our family seems to be on so many different schedules. I have tried to make that easier by stream lining meals during the school week here. 

     First breakfast! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day but that does not mean things need to be complicated. I help make breakfast time easy by setting out what can be set out the night before. If something needs to stay refrigerated or frozen I gather the items together for easy grab and go mornings. We need to be up and out of the door no later than 6:50 in the mornings here so quick is key. I spend a few hours about once a month cooking and freezing things like pancakes, waffles, breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches, english muffin bread etc. Pre-making all of these items lets the kids make their own breakfasts in the morning while I get ready. 

     What caused the most problems in our mornings was packing lunches. This problem caused delays and fights every morning. This lasted until we decided to have the kids make their own lunches. Now they have to make their main dish and pack what they can the night before. They mainly pack left overs and sandwiches or salads. Left overs are packed in a Thermos and kept warm. These are the containers we use. Salads and sandwiches are packed in the containers that came with their lunch boxes. We have these we bought from Costco.  A good lunch bag and containers are key to a good lunch that your kids will eat. If the food gets yucky before lunch they will just throw it away. 

     To make packing lunch easier I spend 30 minutes to an hour on Sunday evening pre-packing snacks like fruit, veggies, crackers, chips, anything that isn't individually packed in snack sized zip top bags. This allows for easy grab and go snacks and it keeps the kids from taking way more than they can eat. I also look to see what we have in the fridge that needs to be used up. I make a list and post it on the fridge for the kids to see. This lets them know what is available to use. Once an item is gone they simply scratch it off the list. There are also rules to packing a lunch. They are allowed one treat and as many other healthy sides as they want. I have found by letting them pack their own lunches they have stopped over packing and started actually eating their lunches. The lunches are not gourmet and are far simpler than I would have made for them. But they eat it and look forward to lunch because they packed what they wanted. 

     Dinner is a crazy time around here like I am sure it is at your house. When I get home after all the activities the last thing I want to do is cook anything.  But we must eat right?! So I decided to make dinner easy during the weeknights. I do this by doing a few things that streamline dinner. The one main thing I do is meal plan. I cannot stress enough how meal planning saves us time and money. I also spend time on Sunday while I am pre-packaging lunch items to do any chopping or prepping for the week ahead meal wise. It usually only takes about an hour and it saves me during the week so much! The meals that are planned for the week are meals from our freezer that are defrost, heat, and serve meals or slow cooker meals. A few of the dinners will be quick 30 minutes or less one pot/pan meals. Being able to come home to most of the work being done for dinner is so refreshing.

     If there is one thing I have learned the past few years is that planning ahead makes things so much easier.

BACK TO SCHOOL IS HERE

BACK TO SCHOOL IS HERE!!!

Back to school time is possibly one of my favorite times of the year! I love school supply shopping and all of the fun things that come with a new school year. I love the anticipation of new teachers and classes. But with all the excitement I also know it is important to set myself and the kids up for success. That means having a plan in place for those hectic mornings. 

Our plan this is year is to get the kids involved more than years past. The kids will be responsible for waking themselves up with an alarm like normal. They will make their own breakfasts and pack their lunches. Also in the mornings they are responsible for feeding and walking the dogs. To make this happen smoothly we will start preparing the night before. After baths and before bed the kids will pack and make their lunches, set their backpacks up and put them by the front door, charge their chromebooks for class, and lay out their uniforms for the next morning. I will do the same for all of my school supplies and lunch/dinner. So when we all get up in the mornings most things are done and there is no running around looking for a missing paper I needed to sign or the forever missing left shoe. I also went a step further this year and pre-made and froze about 2 months worth of breakfasts for easy quick meals in the morning.(Another post on school morning breakfasts and lunches). 

Mornings are not perfect around here by any-means. But they are a lot easier when we start the night before. Let me know what your plans are to make your mornings a success this year!