Make Packing Healthy Lunches Easier, Cheaper, and Faster

Packing healthy lunches needs to be fast. You know what's faster than packing lunches? Giving your kids lunch money and letting them buy the subpar food at school. Or, throwing an Uncrustables, a banana, a bag of chips and a Carpi Sun into a lunchbox and being done with it. That's just not how I roll. Chances are, if you're reading this, that's not what you want to do, either. Plus, you probably don't want to spend all night on it.

After my kids are in bed, I head to the kitchen and get two lunches made, for both the girl and the hubby, the dinner dishes done and the counters cleaned. Most nights, depending on how messy I was cooking dinner, I'm out of the kitchen in 30 minutes. It seems kind of long, but lunches are always the fastest part of the process. Some nights I'm not so quick.  I might take the time to do a little prep work...or stare at the pantry with a blank stare hoping for some inspiration. It happens to the best of us. Here's what I do to streamline the process a bit and make it even faster.

The Supplies

There are a ton of choices out there for packing a lunch, especially with bento-style rising in popularity. I chose the ever popular EasyLunchBoxes. They are reusable, inexpensive, sturdy and the perfect size. They do have one downfall; they are not leakproof. But, because I'm awesome like this, I can tell you how to make that a non-issue. They are 13.95 for 4 of them, but sadly, she's sold out until late September. Like I said, crazy popular.  There are other options like the Ziploc Divided Container, which is leak proof and also...sold out. Packing lunches in these things really is faster and more convenient than plastic bags ever were. How awesome am I? I write blogs with cool things that you can't buy because they're sold out. I rule. Here's a picture of the set:

EasyLunchBoxes set. Minus the blue one.
He was too cool for pictures and ran off to the dishwasher instead. 

Maybe the Goodbyn Bynto Lunchbox would be a good option if you wanted something sooner rather than waiting for the others to be restocked. It's cute and I was kind of drooling over it. 

 I haven't started posting pictures of what I pack for my husband's lunches each day, but believe me, I'm totally going to! We save so much money by him taking his lunch each day instead of hitting up a fast food place. Plus, health is important in our family and he would rather eat healthier fare from home. It holds a lot of food, and since my guy does stuff like wake up and run seven miles, he needs it! The smaller containers are leak proof and have measurements on the side for portion control. You can find the Fit & Fresh Lunch on the Go here.

How it all goes together. 

 However, most products have a downfall and I'd feel bad leaving them out. Although this comes with an ice pack, a selling point for me originally, it doesn't work as planned if you have to rely on the ice pack to keep it cold. If your husband has a fridge at work, this is great. Mine doesn't and the icepack eventually sweats on the sandwich. Soggy sandwich. Sad, hungry husband. No good. Here's how you fix it:

I still love this thing. It's like this perfect cube that holds a ton of food! Sometimes I like to look at how pretty it is with all that yumminess inside before I put it in the fridge at night. He keeps it his lunch box with a giant ice pack and he's good to go at lunchtime. 

Drinks:

My orginal plan for my daughters lunch was to send her to school with these bottles with water or diluted juice. 

Target. $1 Bin. So cute. 

Sadly, they don't fit in the tiny lunchbox I chose (I'm getting to that part in a minute). They are too cute to not share and I will be using them eventually.

My husband takes a reusable water bottle and sips on it all day. Great way to stay hydrated and avoid the soda machine. He brews coffee in his office and opts for the energy drinks that only cost a dollar if it's too hot for coffee. Another way we save money big time.

Packing it all up:

Getting back to my daughters lunches, here is how it all goes inside her lunchbox:

The containers fit nicely into your standard size lunchbox you can pick up almost anywhere. There is not much room for anything other than a juice box, dessert, silverware, napkin and a flat ice pack. That little non-leakproof problem I mentioned before? It's so simple. Use a little Glad Press'n Seal! 

Keeps everything right where it should be! Just leave it a little loose so the lid can still snap on. 

I thought this was so brilliant, but it's not fail-proof. Consider yourself warned. I learned this lesson the hard way. In the first week of school, I packed some cottage cheese, sealed up tight, and gave myself a pat on the back. Fast forward to the end of the day and my daughter came home with only a few bites of cottage cheese eaten and the Press'n Seal bunched up in the corner. The mess was pretty gross. After a few mishaps, her lunchbox now looks like this:

That dark pink bottom should be light pink. Hurray for spilled food.
Ewwwwwwwwww. 

Gross, right?! It's getting replaced sooner rather than later.  Lucky for you, you can learn from my mistakes. If you put something runny into these containers, be sure it is something they will eat up! I'm going to purchase the EasyLunchboxes Insulated Lunch Box Cooler Bag and finally have room for the previously mentioned water bottles and a thermos of soup once cold weather hits. I'd happily pay $7.95 for the extra space! Also, the container is carried flat, rather than vertically, like in her lunch box now, which will reduce spills as well. Problem solved.

The Process: 

Alright, I've rambled enough about what I use to pack lunches. Let's get down to business and talk about how I do it quickly. Organization and prep-work are key. When I get started, I go through my kitchen and grab everything I want to use. I've already asked opinions and suggestions from the eaters and know mostly what I'm going to do already. Not like asking is very helpful to the deciding process, my usual answers are, "Whatever is fine, hon." and "Cake!! Fruit Snacks!! Bacon!!" Want to guess who says what? 

Anyway, I was saying...I grab everything I need, which is a piece of cake to do because I've organized it. Behold, my fridge: 

The Sandwich Box

  I love my sandwich box! I got the idea here. Her blog is amazing. She's pretty much my hero as far as organizing goes. Everything I need to make a sandwich or roll-ups is right there. Peanut butter and jelly are next to it. The drawer right above my sandwich box is looking a little empty right now, but that's where I keep snacking-type foods. My family knows to look there for yogurt cups, hummus, string cheese, or any other snacks I pick up. It's also right next to everything else I use to pack, and quick for me to grab from there. Personally, I feel that digging for things, looking for things, and rearranging so you can reach things is a huge time waster in any situation. I try to avoid it as much as possible. (Not to mention, I get super pissy-pants when I have to look for something!)

Fresh fruits and veggies ready and waiting

When I get a free minute during the day, I take the time to get veggies washed, chopped and ready to go. Apples get sliced up and are mixed with lemon juice to prevent browning. Throwing this pre-prepped goodness into lunches is mindless and fast. Doing this in advance saves me so much time and I can move on to more important things (like being with my husband...browsing online...having a glass of wine...important stuff).  Other things you can prep in advance would be to boil and peel eggs, make tuna or chicken salad, make a trail mix, or bake muffins or other goodies to freeze and have on hand.

I like to keep fun little things like these within reaching distance when I'm making lunches. I pick these things up as I find them. The silicone cupcake molds are great for separating items you don't want to touch. Perfect if your kid doesn't like their food touching other foods or making homemade Lunchables! I've recently discovered the cake decorating aisle is perfect for making cute lunches! Cupcake liners, fondant cutters, and cute toothpicks make it fun with little effort on your part. I found the little cubes at a Dollar General for $2 for 8 of them! They don't fit in the containers with the lid on, but I've got Press'n Seal for that. I use them to send items to dip in like ranch dressing or peanut butter. You could also get some 2 oz. cups with lids.

After everything is put together, you need to add utensils and napkins. I always have left over party supplies and that's what I use. I had so many plastic bags of utensils falling everywhere, I needed a quick, cheap solution.

Look how easy it is to tell that I'm almost out of forks! 

It's not super pretty, but it works. I'm in the opinion that if it goes mostly unseen, I'm not wasting my time making it pretty. This sits in my pantry next to the napkins and above where I keep the lunchboxes. Out of frustration one day, I grabbed an oatmeal container, took the label off, slapped some chalkboard contact paper on it, cut up some cardboard to make dividers and called it a day. Organization at it's best; free.

I'm not big on buying things you use once and throw away. I happen to have plastic utensils on hand from other occasions, so they get used. At home, we use cloth napkins. So, I don't buy paper ones regularly. Instead, I use leftovers from parties and my girly gets cute napkins in her lunchbox.

I happened to notice while taking these pictures I was out of forks, and I wanted non-disposable solution. I headed to the store and scored some cute forks and spoons for 98 cents per set.

I'll never be out of forks again and we've thrown enough parties in our life
to keep her  supplied napkins for the school year. It works. 

Alright. I've seriously rambled. This will probably be my longest blog post ever. I titled it about making lunches easier, cheaper and faster and now I'm going to break it down for you as quickly as possible.

Easier:

• A good container system makes it easy. You throw stuff into it, and close the lid. Done. Baggies slow you down, stuff gets smashed and you have to consistently buy them. 
• You have three compartments. Three foods to fill those up are pretty easy to come up with. If you want more, grab a silicone cupcake liner. 

Cheaper:

• By eliminating disposables, you might spend slightly more upfront, but over time it will more than make up for it. You will also never run out of lunch supplies and have to make an extra trip to the store. 
• Don't buy prepackaged snack-size anything. Advertisers love to market "easy" to you. Compare the cost of mini bags of animal crackers to the giant ones, for example. When you have a good container system, you don't feel the need to buy these things, anyway.
• Watch for sales and stock up when you find a good one. 
• Be in the habit of buying plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. Having them around to pack in lunches is normal to me. I don't buy the things I do so I can  pack them in lunches. I pack them because I buy them already. 

Faster:

• By finding simple organizing solutions, you will reduce your time in the kitchen. Digging through the fridge and pantry is a frustrating time waster. 
• Grab everything before you get started, make an assembly line and go. You'll be done before you know it. Put it all away in the same way. I'm talking Rachael Ray style kitchen grab here. 
• Prep as much as you can before hand. If you happen to be making a salad, go ahead and slice up ALL your veggies at once, then store what you want for later. You'll save yourself dishes and time. 
• If you can make it ahead of time, do it. There are moms out there who make lunches once a week. Find what style works for you. 
• When you grocery shop, plan a general idea what you want to pack and what you'll need to prep ahead of time. It's easier to be creative when you've already done all the planning ahead of time. 

Whew. Taking a deep breath now. That was a lot. Hope I didn't lose you. This will for sure be my longest post ever!! I hope you find it helpful! 

What do you use to pack a lunch? What ways have you found to make it easier, faster or cheaper?

Efficient & Easy Hugs,
       Cindy