My Favorite School Lunches

This post could also be titled, "What I learned from packing a year's worth of school lunches... for a picky eater... who went gluten free mid-year....at a school with a zero waste lunch policy... at a dairy-only Jewish day school, so no meat... and no leftovers.... and and and and...."

But that might not fit in your reader, right?

So here's my top 5 things I've learned:

1. Only have 1 lunchbox. I know that seems simple, but but son switched between two and it drove me insane, one box out, one box home. That's the new policy.

2. Pre-pack a week's worth of lunches at once. If you need to, you can always freeze Wednesday-Friday's sandwiches, and move them to the fridge Tuesday night. But believe me, you might grumble Sunday night or Monday morning, but by Friday, you will be singing your own praises:)

3. Don't feel like you need to change it up every.single.day. Nope. If your kid is happy, they can eat a yogurt every day for the entire year. Of course, then they won't eat yogurt again for 7 more years (that was me growing up), so be careful what you choose.

4. The "one time exception" will become the rule. So DO NOT pack treats, candy, a "special something", because every other day that they get pb&j, a pear and trail mix will feel like a let down. The caveat to this are notes. You can put one in on the first day, birthday, and last day. Maybe Valentine's Day, but that's it. Growing up my parents would pack lunch with notes, and a decorated brown paper bag (I know, how did we not know we were killing the earth with those things!?!). I don't even try to replicate that.

5. Ask you child what they want. Does a friend have something that looks good? In my daughter's class there was a lot of avocado, gluten-free bread, cheese sticks, tofu hot dogs, and pretzels. None of those were appealing, so i had to wing it.

Check out my favorite back-to-school lunch ideas from last year: Just click on the photo to get to the post.

How to pack a zero waste lunch.

Jessica