With kids back in
school, I got to thinking about bagged lunches. I pack my husband's
lunch and recently started packing for our teacher/daughter. Kids'
lunches might be different than adults, but I've learned a few things
that help, no matter whom you're feeding.
1. When making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, spread pb on BOTH pieces of the bread so the jelly is stuck in the middle and doesn’t sog up the bread.
1. When making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, spread pb on BOTH pieces of the bread so the jelly is stuck in the middle and doesn’t sog up the bread.
2. You have to have “chips” of some kind, even if it’s pretzels or croutons.
3. Celery sticks, never eaten at home, are suddenly a lunch bag favorite: “They’re crunchy.”
4. Warm grapes aren’t very good.
5. Frozen brownies thaw by noon and are always a favorite.
6. Canned pears in a small plastic bowl hold up better than loose, fresh ones. Fresh pears roll around and bump into the sandwich case and get bruised by lunch time.
7. Aluminum foil is better than plastic wrap because when you unfold it, you have a little plate with stand-up edges.
8. When packing a meatloaf sandwich, wrap the bread separately and include some little ketchup packets from McDonalds.
9. Be sure to put celery in the chicken salad.
9. Be sure to put celery in the chicken salad.
10. Bananas come out of the bag darker than when you put them in.
11. Egg salad stinks up the whole bag.
12. Carrots are nice, but they’re not celery.
13. Soft tortillas with grated cheese and any kind of leftover can be rolled up and viewed as something "new." A well-dried leaf of Romaine lettuce placed on the tortilla first will keep the tortilla from getting soggy.
14. Oranges, sliced in rings and then sliced again in half moons will get eaten over a whole, unpeeled orange.
15. Chocolate raisins are going to partially melt together and come out of their little plastic tub looking like a mound of rabbit poop, so put them in a baggie so they roll around more and have less contact.
Who knew.
I'm in the process of expanding my Bagging It page. Click on the far right tab at the top of the blog to see 30 lunches for 30 days. If you need more ideas, check out this Pinterest page and the many links there:
13. Soft tortillas with grated cheese and any kind of leftover can be rolled up and viewed as something "new." A well-dried leaf of Romaine lettuce placed on the tortilla first will keep the tortilla from getting soggy.
14. Oranges, sliced in rings and then sliced again in half moons will get eaten over a whole, unpeeled orange.
15. Chocolate raisins are going to partially melt together and come out of their little plastic tub looking like a mound of rabbit poop, so put them in a baggie so they roll around more and have less contact.
Who knew.
I'm in the process of expanding my Bagging It page. Click on the far right tab at the top of the blog to see 30 lunches for 30 days. If you need more ideas, check out this Pinterest page and the many links there:
Lunch Box Ideas
Happy packing!
15 comments:
I don't pack lunches for my kids anymore, but I do for my hubby and myself. I'll have to check out those Pinterest ideas!
I hate packing lunches, even tho I only have to do it for Hubby and me. Those are some great tips - especially the aluminum foil!
I have seldom had to pack a lunch, but these all sound like good ideas. And some of them I remember from the times I did pack a lunch--LOL! ;)
Great tips I still have a kiddo at home who takes lunches but she got so picky on what I was packing that I have her pack her own now so the only one she can complain too is HER, I just make sure there is lunch stuff in the pantry and she is has to show what she has before we leave. I just got a great tip on celery in lunches or snacks instead of ants on a log with peanut butter and raisins on celery use strawberry cream cheese and fresh blueberries YUM!!!
Great post! I was just searching for lunch-packing tips today, and many of these will be perfect for my son's lunch box. :)
This may well be the single-most important blog I have encountered (written without irony). I've been battling with the kids about their packed lunches, and suddenly everything is making sense. And how did I NOT know to put PB on both sides?? It's so obvious! I had no idea. Great post.
I'm definitely going to check out that board. Wouldn't be surprised if I already have it. I dislike packing a lunch because it's along the lines of having to figure out what's for dinner. However, it cheaper and healthier than the school lunches. But I know Christopher would like a variety. He's going on two weeks now with the same thing. LOL! A tip for anyone who has a child that doesn't eat the whole sandwich, cut it in half. I only pack half and he will eat the other half as the beginning of his after school snacks. I'm going to try a wrap next week, they smaller than the bread. I think that would be an exciting change up. Thanks for the lettuce tip.
LOVE the idea of kids making their own lunch. They might decide to appreciate mom's effort a little more. I'm glad to read that moms are packing lunches, despite the headache. I think homemade, no matter what you send, has to be a step up from the school menu. Good job, moms!
Now you have made some really great suggestions here, when my girls got to high school they would no longer take their lunch........at the moment I am packing Leo's day care food three days a week since his mum reckons she doesn't know what to pack which is just silly.........she will have to do it next year
Thanks for the tips and the pinterest link.
Great tips. We don't have bag lunch opportunities any more. But I felt like packing one after your post.:-)
Those are great tips, Mare! I take a bagged lunch every day and these tips are helpful. I'll share them with my husband since he packs my lunch for me!
Great tips! I wish I knew these back in the day of packing lunches. :) Hope all is going well for you. :)
i love these tips--esp. the meatloaf one and so right about the celery thing :)
carrots over celery here. Your pb & j trick I use all the time; it's a good one. I like the thought about the foil; might try it in my own lunch. Thanks for the tips.
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