lunch Archives - Authentic Simplicity

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As a teacher, I saw a LOT of lunchboxes through the years… and their contents, which occasionally amazed and astounded me. And not necessarily in a good way. To be perfectly frank and honest, the initial thought that popped into my head when observing my students’ lunchbox contents was often, “What were his/her parents thinking?!?!?!” Sometimes I came to the conclusion that they weren’t. Other students impressed me, though, with the contents of their lunchboxes, and those parents I mentally congratulated. I understand it’s difficult to provide a well-balanced, easily portable, easily eaten, well-liked, not-likely-to-be-traded lunch for a picky pupil every. single. weekday. Throw in that most parents barely have time to think about such a lunch, let alone actually create it, and one can easily understand how a child ended up with a lunchbox full of random odds and ends mostly full of sugar, bad fats, and far-from-complex carbs.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you’ve already conquered the Lunchbox War, congratulations to you: Well Done! If you’ve been defeated though, or hardly begun to fight, I’ve come up with a few tips to save you Time, Effort, Money… and most importantly, your child’s HEALTH.

Today we’ll start with Time and Effort, probably the biggest obstacles in the fight for the healthy lunchbox. Most parents know what should ideally go in the lunchbox, but many are too discouraged by the amount of time and effort it would take to make it happen. Maybe these ideas will help you surmount those obstacles and lead you to a better lunchbox this school year.

Quick & Easy Lunches

Create a flexible but reliable menu.

Develop a basic framework you can use every day that will save you from having to think too much. For example, plan on variations of the following in each lunch:

-Main Dish (sandwich, soup, leftovers, etc.)
-Drink (water’s always good!)
-Yogurt or Cheese
-2 Fruits or Veggies
-Small Dessert or Snack

This is a proven formula that will give them enough to eat every day, but is easily varied by including different main dishes, fruits, vegetables, and snacks.

Adapt this formula for your own child, one that is easy for you and enjoyed by him or her. It’s easy to change up, but the basic formula stays the same so you don’t have to think too much about what goes in the lunchbox.

Involve your child(ren).

This is easier and saves more time than you might think, especially if you have a formula like I described above. Even a kindergartener can help out with his/her lunch if they know what goes in it. In fact, I would say that from first grade up, if mom or dad takes care of the main meal (and kids can even help with this, depending on age and what it is), the child can take care of the rest. Post a checklist on the fridge, pictorial if necessary, that clearly shows what items should go in the lunchbox every day. Place those items at an accessible level, and make it your child’s responsibility to put all those items in their lunchbox every day. If you’re not comfortable leaving it entirely up to them, all you have to do is instruct them to leave it open until you check it for accuracy. Inspect each lunchbox quickly, correct where necessary, zip it up and off they go!

Fill the lunchbox the night before.

You’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating. Make lunch the night before, and then your morning routine will be slightly less hectic. Every night after dinner, when we clean up the dining room and kitchen, we make lunches for the next day. The lunches go into the fridge with all the leftovers and are ready for to grab the next morning. If you don’t have enough room to store their actual lunch boxes in the fridge overnight, place a large plastic box of some kind on one of the shelves, and put all the lunch contents in it every night. In the morning, just grab the contents and transfer them to the individual lunch boxes. This will still save plenty of coveted morning prep time.

Corral lunchbox items in the fridge and pantry.

This goes hand in hand with the previous tip. Collect all the yogurt cups, cheese sticks, and other refrigerated lunchbox items in one big plastic container on a shelf in the fridge, or designate one of the meat/produce drawers as “lunchbox drawer”. In the pantry, place all the shelf-stable items, such as snacks (healthy ones of course!), juice boxes, fruit cups and other lunch munchies in a designated, clearly labeled, easily accessible container.

Invest in some inexpensive, time-saving tools, like an apple slicer or an orange peeler.

The apple slicer is an incredible invention that will allow you to slice up an apple for your child(ren) in seconds and is a lot easier than pulling out a paring knife and cutting board. It will make the apple easier for your children to eat, especially if they are younger. Apples will brown when exposed to air, so you can either dowse them in a bit of lemon juice and water or just pack them in an airtight container to reduce the browning.

The orange peeler is especially useful for elementary-aged children as it can safely be packed with their lunch and allow them to peel their own oranges, clementines or tangerines by themselves at school. If you’re not comfortable with packing the peeler, simply use it to slice through the peel before putting the citrus in the lunchbox, so at least they have a starting point and they can peel easily from there.

What about that main dish?

It’s easy enough to figure out the side items: yogurt cups, cheese sticks, fresh fruit or fruit cups, etc. But what about the main dish? This is usually the biggest quandary when it comes to lunch-packing time. A little forethought and preparation goes a long way to help.

If your child has access to a microwave, make use of it!

Of course, not every school or classroom has the capability of reheating a child’s lunch, which is a bummer. Also, many people prefer to avoid overuse of a microwave. If that’s the case, refer to the next tip:

Invest in a thermos or other insulated container.

Even though both schools where I have worked had ready access to microwaves for all the student lunches, some parents still opted to use a Thermos or similar container instead. And it worked great! If the food goes in hot, it keeps its temperature long enough to be deliciously warm at lunch time. This opens up SO many time- and effort-saving options for filling up those lunchboxes. Read on to see how!

Cook a double batch for dinner and send the leftovers for lunch.

I do this all. the. time. In fact, we eat leftovers for lunch more often than anything else. Usually, the lunch version is simplified, in other words, doesn’t necessarily include all of the sides, sauces, etc. Also, for small children, the food needs to be easily eaten, which means some foods will have to be cut up for them in advance. Plan your dinners ahead of time, determine which ones will easily translate into lunch, and voila! Your lunch the next day is instantly ready at the same time as dinner!

Make big batches and freeze the extra.

Whenever you cook up basic staples like noodles and rice, cook extra and freeze the extra. You can even pour spaghetti sauce over them before freezing for an instant meal, in which case you should freeze them in individual containers. The noodles and rice can be used for dinners OR even for quick lunches when you don’t have leftovers or sandwich options available. Also, extra shredded chicken, beef and pork can be used as sandwich fillers or noodles/rice/potato toppers for delicious lunches.

Make use of the crock pot.

Cook Chicken Noodle Soup (this is where some pre-cooked noodles will come in handy!), Homemade Spaghetti-os (this only gives you 7 hrs max, so it’s perfect if you’re late to bed, early to rise), or Chili in the crock pot overnight and your main dish is ready in the morning! This concept is limited only by your imagination and the contents of your fridge and pantry: cook just about anything (cooking times vary, so keep that in mind) overnight, place it in an insulated container (or re-heat at lunch) for a delicious, fresh, hot lunch!

Always keep sandwich items available.

This is an area where I frequently fail. The idea is to keep some kind of bread, as well as sandwich filler items (lunch meat, tuna, eggs for egg salad, etc.) available at all times, so that when lunchbox-filling-time comes and there are no leftovers or other hot food available, you still have easy options without resorting to cans or packages of processed food.

Currently, I pretty much exclusively make sourdough bread, but one thing that has really helped in the past to have fresh bread available almost all the time is the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day method, and its companion, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. With this method, you can keep bread dough in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or longer in the freezer. Pull it out and bake it whenever you need fresh bread. Loaf or sandwich bread requires a 60-90 minute resting time, but flat breads, like pita for example, require no little-to-no resting time and are baked up in half an hour or less. The only prep is mixing the ingredients and storing them in the fridge once every two weeks (depending on how often you bake up the dough). No kneading, punching down, or extra risings necessary.

I hope this gives you some great ideas for lunchboxes this school year! I’d love to hear any ideas you have or things you like to do when it comes to lunchbox time.

Next Post: Saving Money

This post was originally published in 2010.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Authentic Simplicity!

In the last post of the What’s in YOUR Lunchbox? series, we talked about tips for making quick and easy lunches. Today, we’re moving on to a topic even more dear to my heart… saving money! I suppose there are people who can purchase food at will without consideration of cost or budget, but I’ve never met them. All the people I know are very concerned about the exorbitant cost of food and do what they can to get around it. Lunchboxes can add even more expense to the food bill - that is, unless you have a few tricks up your sleeve.

Here are my tricks for saving money on lunches.

Saving Money on Lunches

**The number one rule of saving money for lunchboxes is: Don’t ever buy individually packaged foods.**

The cost by weight is considerably more than if you buy large bulk packages of the food in question. This goes for pretty much every kind of food, including juice and other drinks. All you have to do is take a few minutes after shopping to divide it up yourself into individual portions. As a plus, this helps with portion control as well!Here are a few items you may not have considered purchasing in larger portions:

Yogurt - buy a quart of yogurt instead of the individual yogurt cups. Or scroll down further for an even cheaper yogurt option.
Cheese sticks - Sure, cheese sticks are a fun, relatively healthy, kid-friendly option, as are their cousins Laughing Cow and Babybel. But WOW, are they expensive. You can buy them cheaper at a warehouse store like Costco, OR you can just buy a large block of cheese and spend a few minutes chopping it up into cubes.
Juice boxes/pouches - You save a lot more money if you buy large bottles or cartons of juice and pour it into individual re-usable drink containers. Or just invest in good stainless steel water bottles and forget the other drinks altogether.

Purchase re-usable containers.

Try these stainless steel boxes by Lunchbot and you don’t have to worry about plastic at all. They are dishwasher safe just like their counterparts.The downside is that they cannot be used for liquids or liquid-y foods (like pudding or applesauce) and they cannot be used to reheat foods. They are perfect, though, for sandwiches or other dry foods.

My personal favorite type of lunchbox container is glassware. It’s sturdy, safe, can go in the freezer, oven or microwave, and can be used for anything.

For sandwiches and the like, try these super cute re-usable SnackTaxi sandwich bags. They can be machine washed or simply wiped dry for less messy foods. You can find similar items at Target or even on Etsy!

Of course, it goes without saying that if you haven’t already, you need to replace that brown paper bag with a nice sturdy lunchbox. Using products like these will save you tons of money on packaging - have you ever realized how much money goes down the drain on plastic sandwich bags and zippered bags? Plug the money drain and make a one-time purchase that will last for years (with good care!).

Don’t forget about the silverware either! Forget the pricey plastic stuff: You can buy cheap silverware at thrift stores and garage sales so you don’t have to worry about it getting lost.

Make it yourself.

There are very few exceptions to this rule: making it yourself almost always saves money. Your ability to do this, of course, depends somewhat on the amount of time you have. If you think you don’t have time to make anything for your lunchboxes from scratch, think again! Here are a few quick ideas:

Bar cookies - Instead of buying Oreos or Chips Ahoy (horrors!), make a batch (or double batch) of brownies or blonde brownies once a week. These, and similar recipes, go together in less than an hour and most of that is baking time, so you can definitely afford the time investment. Your wallet and your child’s health will thank you!
Sandwiches - Excuse my brutality, but I think it’s pathetic that companies actually make and sell pre-made sandwiches. Does it really take that much time? If someone is that busy, perhaps some self-evaluation is in order. Everyone should have time to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The benefit to making it yourself is that you can control what goes in it - pesticides, sugars, GMOS, and trans-fats OUT, whole grains and healthy sweeteners IN.
“Lunchable” kits - Anyone can put together a kit with (whole grain) crackers, (nitrate-free) lunch meat, and sliced cheese - and it doesn’t cost a fortune either! Add some grapes and yogurt and you have an even better lunch for half the cost. Use the same “kit” idea for any number of foods: sandwiches, salads, wraps, etc. Place the items in individual containers so the child can assemble them himself.
Soups and the like - I touched on this in my most recent post, but it fits here, too. Soup doesn’t have to come from a can - it can come from your slow cooker! Or even from a pot on your stove; it doesn’t matter. The point is, soup is easy to make at home, and much cheaper.
Breads - Use a bread machine or the 5 minute a day method to make all kinds of bread cheaply and relatively quickly. The possibilities are endless: sandwich bread, rolls, wraps, pitas, English muffins, bagels.
Yogurt -A simple yogurt machine can cost as little as $25, and the savings are incredible. You can take one yogurt cup (or some already-made homemade yogurt) and 3-4 cups of milk and turn it into 6 yogurt cups! Find the instructions here. Alternatively, you can purchase yogurt starter at a health or organic foods store and potentially save even more money. The cost of milk is a lot less than the cost of yogurt, so at any rate, it’s a great savings!

Skip the convenience foods.

Instead, enlist your kids to help you prep. Those pre-packaged containers of sliced carrots and dip, or sliced apples, really cost SO much more than simply purchasing whole carrots and whole apples.

Pack leftovers.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. Make extra for dinner and pack the rest for lunch the next day. This saves a LOT of money on sandwich goods or other prepared foods. And it’s almost always a healthier option (depending, of course, on what you had dinner!)