school lunches

Summer is over, kids are back at school and once again it’s back to a more structured and sometimes hectic schedule. Part of that routine is the scramble to make the kids lunches every morning. After the unscheduled, hanging out in pjs until 11:30 routine, it can be really tough to get back into the swing of things. Here’s how I make life easy for myself:

Prep veggies and fruits in advance. Every weekend I take the time to wash and cut up vegetables and fruits and put each into their own container. While this might sound like a lot of work, it saves me LOTS of time during the week. It takes me about 30 minutes to clean and prep my fruits and veggies and I probably save 15 minutes a day during the week doing prep work. SOOOOOO worth it!

Grate your cheese for the week. Do NOT buy pre shredded cheese! (Check out my post here to find out why.) Buy cheese in blocks and shred what you need for the week.

Make hard boiled eggs! My 8 year old LOVES eggs so I frequently put hard boiled eggs in his lunch. They are an awesome source of protein and make a convenient snack. They are also great to slice up and put on salads.

Make homemade salad dressings and dips. My kids like Clean Eating Hummus as well as Simple Balsamic Vinaigrette

Cook and slice up some chicken breasts. I use these for Chicken Sandwiches and Eat Clean Chicken Salad.

Do your kids love macaroni and cheese as much as my kids? Check out this lower calorie recipe for mac and cheese here

I realize this looks like a lot of work but trust me, you will be pleasantly surprised how much quicker the lunch making assembly line will go when you prep food beforehand. Plus, you will have the satisfaction and peace of mind knowing that your kids will be eating a healthy and delicious homemade lunch!