Do you find packing school lunches for your little ones to be a daily struggle?  I know I do, but when I follow my own LivLight tips, I find it to be much more manageable and not all that bad.  I actually even enjoy it (sometimes!).

Tips for Easy School Lunches

  1. Plan ahead-On Sunday, make a list of the five lunches you plan to pack for the week.  If your child is old enough to have input, let them help choose their lunches.
  2. Bulk up-Buy healthy items in bulk (i.e. organic squeeze packs, organic apple sauce, organic mini hummus packs, Lara Bars, Skinny Pop, string cheese, etc.).  Costco carries a lot of great organic and healthy products these days in large quantities.
  3. Stock up-Make sure to always have the basics on hand.  I always keep fresh bread (or bread in the freezer), turkey, cheese, peanut butter (or SunButter if your school or child is nut-free) and jelly, fruit, veggies, etc. in my kitchen.
  4. Make lunch during dinner-I generally try to pack my daughters’ lunches while I make their dinner the night before.  I figure I’m already in the kitchen and know it will be a huge timesaver in the morning.
  5. Use leftovers-If your child loved what they had for dinner last night, put whatever’s leftover in their lunch the next day.  I promise they won’t mind!

As my daughter has started after-school activities, I find that I need to pack even more in order to cover morning snack, lunch and afterschool snack.  Here is a recent pic from my Instagram @livlight_ (below right) where you can see what I sent for Elle’s 8:15am-4:15pm day!

Stay tuned for more of my LivLight kid lunch ideas and in the meantime, check out one of my favorite sites http://weelicious.com.  I learned about Sandwich Sushi (above left), one of my girls’ faves, from her great videos!