PonderEthereal

We are taking lunches this year! The thing is, we have two kids who’s behavior depends upon having healthy lunches and they both like and dislike different things. This is a new endeavor for me and as always, I need a way to make it more painless - and cheap. So… last time I went grocery shopping, I picked up some ‘disposable’ Glad bowls the size of fruit cups and (surprise surprise) a big can of lite fruit cocktail in water (NOT in heavy syrup) as well as a big jar of unsweetened apple sauce. I also got the prepackaged flavored water as it’s lower sugar, a block of cheddar, dill pickles, lots of lunch meat (I get it when it’s on sale) and a gi-normous block of American cheese from Smart N Final (I divide it up and freeze it for later.. it’s so much cheaper).

Once a Week
Divvy up the apple sauce or the fruit cocktail into cups
Slice up a block of cheddar cheese and put about 6 sticks per ziplock baggie
Put one pickle in a ziplock bag - about 4 of them.
Dump the prepackaged drinks into the bottom drawer of the fridge
Add the fruit cocktail, pickles and cheese baggies to the bottom drawer. This is officially ‘the lunch drawer’

Every night, they make a sandwich (they can pick PB&J or meat and cheese) and pick a drink and two other things from the lunch drawer in the fridge or the snack box under the counter. The snack box has non perishable snacks like peanut butter crackers and Cheesits. They put it in the fridge over night and they bring the ‘disposable’ cups back home. Rinse and repeat.

Other prepackaged ideas :
Mixed nuts - divvy them up into baggies
granola (Kashi has a high-protein, low sugar kind that Target puts on sale a lot) - divvy it up into baggies
Raisins - my kids hate them but I liked them
Vienna sausages - I hated them but my kids love them

It took me 15 minutes to do the prep time for the week. It’s easy enough that they do the rest themselves. They like having choices, I like not having to do it. We meet in the middle.