The Mom In Me Monday ~ Sack Lunches

This year everything is all new again, just like any day in Mom world I had to re-invent myself again this year.  I am a full time working mom now!  Surprise!   I am not so sure I like it so much but it might just take some getting used to.   Being a full time working Mom this year I had to find a day care/ preschool for my son.  That is a feat in its self-let me tell you.   But I did find one that I think will work. 

One of the new things for us to get used to is sack lunches.   The new preschool/ daycare only provides snacks and my son has to bring a sack lunch.  This was THE COOLEST THING!  (At least he thought so.)  I think it is an extra pain some days. We did go to the store and get him his own super cool cartoon hero thermo-lunch bag which is like the coolest thing EVER!  And to ensure that he will eat his lunch I let him pack it.  Choosing different items from what we have at home makes him happy.  He usually packs too much but I tell him to make sure he eats his main course item first.  The extras he eats usually in the car on the way home from anyhow.  String cheese and Cheetos now that is a cool afterschool snack!  LOL

I do let him take part in the lunch packing process.  I make my sack lunch and he makes his every night after dinner now.  We do it after dinner for several reasons.   One, I have a microwave at work and his school will heat any item I send in his lunch for him also.  I can put our dinner leftovers in small little containers and put them right into our lunch boxes for the next day.  We keep a baggie full of plastic forks and spoons in the same drawer as the baggies and all the little containers for our food.  Any time I get a plastic container from some place that will work also for packing a snack or a cup for ranch dressing we hand wash and save those too.  I also bring home some of my baggies that are not too icky.

I also do this after dinner because I want that to be one less thing I have to think about doing the next morning.  That is also one less thing on my mind before I go to bed and that helps me draw a nice blank in my head and get a good night’s sleep. 

In the middle of the morning rush to get out the door it is nice to grab a frozen water bottle or an ice pack out of the freezer toss it in our lunch boxes that are already packed and in the fridge.  Then we just have to go. 

I buy some items that are in single packs for lunch like juice boxes or chocolate milk bottles and he likes those little apple sauces in a pouch that he can squeeze and eat.  I am really careful to read the label though because tons of items that are marketed just for children had junk in their ingredient s that my kids don’t need to eat.  No artificial flavors or colors and no high fructose corn syrup if I can help it.  I try to avoid artificial sweeteners too. They doctors told me not to eat them when I was pregnant because there was not any long term studies done on what it could do so why would I want it fed to my child?

The basics are the ones he loves anyhow, like P&J and bologna and cheese.  He loves fruits and nuts also.  Those are really good foods for a growing boy today just as they were when you were a kid.  I like to get fresh fruits when in season and freeze them or can them for my family.  So they can have foods that I know are good.  I try to make extra when I make dinner so I can freeze enough for another meal or lunch too.  This really saves money, time and gives your family good for you food.  

You can buy in bulk and freeze what you don’t need to save money too.  If your family loves crackers, and lunch meat or fruits and veggies for their lunch boxes, on the weekend chop and pack for a few minutes and then put in containers or baggies for the week.  Then you can grab and go.  It will save you so much more money and the food will be of a better quality than the pre-boxed stuff.  Five minutes after dinner saves a big mad panic dash in them morning so lay it out the night before.  


What is your secret to sack lunch?