"Life Changing" Lunches

45 hours.

That's a conservative estimate of how much time I spent making my children's lunches each school year.  I used 15 minutes a day for my estimate, because I am not at my best in the early morning.  I spent a lot of time staring at the lunch boxes, trying to remember what was still needed -- fruit group? dairy?  protein?

After seeing my friend Stacey's Facebook post last week, where she said she had "finished making lunches for the next two weeks," I read further to see that she had made and frozen sandwiches.  I remembered my mother doing the same thing when I was a kid.   Mine were turkey and cheese on wheat, and they always were thawed and tasted great at lunch.

I had an epiphany.  I'm a big proponent of teaching kids independence and responsibility, so why was I still packing my kids' lunches?  I think it was because I feared the choices a few of my kids would make if given free reign, and I wanted to make sure that they were getting the nutrients they needed to be healthy.  So, I came up with a solution:  "Sunshine's Lunch Packing Instructions," which my children could use to pack their own lunches -- the night before or even several days at a time.

The timing was perfect for my new discovery.  I was going to be out of town for -- gasp -- three school lunches!  I went over the instructions and watched -- giddily -- as my sons, ages 7 & 10, packed three lunches each.  Ta - da!  Done!

I am sharing my Instructions with the caveat that my kids often are packing all that they will eat between 7:30 am and 4:00 pm, so it is definitely lunch plus snacks before sports, etc.  You may need to edit according to your child's schedule.

I had to organize my refrigerator and pantry a bit, but it was well worth the time.  I put all of the dairy items in one area on the lowest shelf, and I made a lunch fruit and veggie drawer out of one of the produce drawers.  I put apples and other loose fruits in there, but also bagged up some baby carrots and grapes.  I also made a "chip/extra" bin in the pantry with chips, granola bars, etc. and a "treat" plastic drawer with some pre-bagged cookies, fruit roll-ups, and other sweet items.

When I shared the story of my lunch-packing epiphany with my friend Julie, she said I had "changed her life."  I like that kind of positive reinforcement, so I was encouraged to share more!  So, here, for all of your enjoyment (and hopefully use!) are Sunshine's Lunch Packing Instructions.

Let me know if you have any fun ideas of good lunch items, or any suggestions for improvement.   And, I'd love to hear what you plan to do with those extra 45 hours.

Sunshine's Lunch Packing Instructions