For most of us school will be starting soon if it hasn’t already! That means we’re getting all our i’s dotted and t’s crossed to make the process go smoothly. For us that means getting our school lunches ready and ideas listed. This year I have two that will be at school for lunch so we’re going to try something a little different. I’ll have the school lunch menu printed and we’ll circle the lunches they want to eat there. This way we know which days we need to make lunch before they head out the door.

Then for the days they pack their lunch, they’ll get to pick select number of items from each box. This way, it’s a quick grab and go lunch! Each bin will have a number on it to let them know how many items they need to pick. It will also let me know what items and how many I need in each bucket (depending on the number of days that week they’ll be eating home lunch). Here’s the break down we’ll be using and the ideas of what will be in each bucket.

Main Meal – 1
Sandwich (PB&J, Meat & Cheese)
Chicken Salad with Crackers
Hot Dogs
Chicken Nuggets
Homemade Lunchable (meat and cheese slices)
Meat & Cheese Wraps
Bagel with Cream Cheese
Salad
Waffles or Pancakes
Hot Pockets
Pizza Bits
Frozen Smoothie (de-thaws by lunchtime)

Fruit/Veggies – 2
Carrot Sticks
Celery
Cherry Tomatoes
Grapes
Apple Slices
Apple Sauce
Peaches
Pears
Banana
Cucumbers
Kiwi
Mandarin Oranges
Orange Slices
(there will also be little containers filled with peanut butter and ranch for dipping)

Snacks – 1
Boiled Egg
Go-Gurt/Yogurt
Cheese Stick
Granola Bar
Muffins
Fruit Snack
Pretzels
Popcorn
Rice Cake
Energy bit
Nuts

Treat – 1
Brownie
Cookies
Rice Krispie Treat
Small Piece of Candy

Drink – 1
Water
Milk/Chocolate Milk
Juice Pouch

Don’t forget, to save money, a lot of these things can be made from scratch. Bake a lot of muffins and freeze them. Divide out a pack of cookies instead of buying individual packages (or bake them yourself). Anytime you can divide out the items yourself, you’ll save money!