Back to School Organization Part 3

School Lunches

Oh the bane of my existence! 

Ok maybe not really, but they are a pain! I get super creative for the first few weeks of school but that soon dies away; in part perhaps due to a lack of appreciation or so little time I'm not sure. 

I did set and pretty much met one food goal last year. That was to not send prepackaged desserts with the kids. I did ok except for Valentines week and a week in May when the items on the calendar merged together and it just wasn't possible.

To make that food goal happen, I started in August {one month before my kids head back}. I made double batches of several different kinds of cookies, muffins and bars to stock the freezer with. I found that I only had to bake about once a week {one double batch} to stay on top of this goal.

 This is my small start: {next to all my frozen shredded zucchini} 

My kids favorites have been chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin chip muffins, fudge cookies and oatmeal cookies. 

This year we are adding a few new varieties.

Glazed Doughnut Muffins

Swig Sugar Cookies {single handedly the reason I gained 5# this year}

And Zucchini Muffins

I adapted this recipe for Zucchini muffins from a bread recipe from my friend Julie. It makes amazing bread. Muffins however are easier to freeze and pop in a lunch.

Here's the basic recipe:

To make the muffins, fill your paper lined tin about 3/4 full and reduce the heat to 325. Bake them for 18-ish minutes, cool, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.

Oh yummy!

Now how about some lunch inspiration? I'm in need!

Mamabelly's has some no- peanut butter inspiration. This is awesome as my son's best friend has a major pb allergy.

Make your own "lunchables" with what my kids call a hodge podge. {A little bit of everything}

This little puppy lunch is cute {except you can't feed dogs grapes! ;) }Use a cookie cutter to make fun shapes. I love this but not sure how practical this is with 4 kids lunches to prepare.

I also love the idea of mixing things up. Like breakfast for lunch. You could put milk in a thermos {my daughter's friend also throws in little plastic frozen ice cubes to keep it cold} then at lunch time dump in a bag of cereal.

My good goal is to mix up the fruit. My kids always get either grapes, apple, or banana. How boring! Im thinking of trying something like "new fruit Friday" and send something they haven't tried before.

{I have major fruit allergies but the kids don't. I get stuck in the same rut of the same fruits.}

Do you have any great lunch ideas? I would love to hear what they are!




If you need more back to school inspiration check out these posts:

School paper organization

Back Pack Storage Ideas

I'm sharing this here:

Tatertots and Jello
Its Overflowing
Too much time
Skip to my Lou
Between naps on the porch