This another great lunchbox post from our guest blogger Amy. Amy blogs at Mom’s Toolbox, where she shares her daily devotions as well as general tips from her life.

Now that we have some ideas as to what to pack in the lunchboxes this school year, (Thanks for all your great ideas!!) I thought I’d throw out a few lunch packing tips I’ve learned through my experiences and from some teachers themselves.

Before you even begin packing, though, take a few moments to collect your favorite lunch food ideas. Make a master list of the things you might pack with all the variations. You could use a pen and sheet of paper or type it up in pretty fonts in a beautiful graph… the format doesn’t matter. But getting all your ideas in one spot will help considerably when you are menu planning for the week and making your grocery lists. (And then it will make the actual meal prep and pack a snap.) By having a go-to list with all your ideas, you won’t have to re-remember all your favorites. You’ll just have to pick which favorites go with which day.

Now that you have all the good ideas together, it’s time to get packing…

Just like us, children like to spend their lunch time visiting with their friends, which often cuts their actual eating time to 15-20 minutes at most schools. As a result, I’m told kids frequently ditch their meals and come home extremely tired and hungry. Help your kiddos get more to eat of that lovingly prepared lunch by being mindful in your packing.

Except for the tiniest of students, pack the food in containers your child can open. If you must pack something that he cannot open, keep in mind that the teachers will be managing other kids, too, so keep it as simple as possible. Rubbermaid’s TakeAlongs have tabs on the lids, which make them easier to open than most.

Teach your child how to pinch and pull open zip bags and use those for cheese sticks (among other things), rather than keeping them in the original package which can be challenging to open even for an adult.

Most schools cannot heat packed lunches. If you’d like your meal to be served warm, pack it in a thermos. Likewise, pack cooler packs to keep milk and other dairy products cool.

When packing canned or pre-packaged fruit, drain the juice/syrup and put the fruit in its own container. (You can also save money this way by buying larger containers and portioning it out yourself.)

Consider using divided containers so your child (or her teacher) has fewer lids to remove. Test them out first, though, if you plan on packing anything with liquid which might run.

Pack a fork or spoon, if needed.

Clearly label everything you would like to see return home, but expect that a few things will get lost.

Rather than buying prepackaged lunches with a toy or candy treat, consider using stickers to decorate plastic bags or containers, or put a silly or special photo in her lunch she can share. Once your child can read, pack special notes or jokes.

I hope this series has helped you prepare for back-to-school and has given you some new ideas to add to your old brown-bag staples. Exploring all these options has certainly opened my family’s eyes to some yummy new ones. Now I’m off to start my grocery list…

You can download a pdf of Amy’s master lunchbox list here.

Thanks Amy for these great lunch packing tips. Even if your child doesn’t attend a formal school you can use these ideas to pack lunches for field trips, outings, and picnics.

Are you interested in guest blogging at Happy to be at Home? We are always looking for guest bloggers to write about a variety of topics. Please email us at 3moms@happytobeathome.net if you would like to guest blog on our site.

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