Back to school

I've been getting ready for back-to-school this weekend. One of the things that I've been doing for years now is get lunch foods ready ahead of time so that the kids only need grab something and go in the morning. When they were younger, I had a chart broken into categories - Main (a sandwich, mini pizzas, cheese/crackers/meat slices,), Fruit (apple, orange, plum), Vegetable (carrots and dip, celery and cream cheese, salad and dressing) and Other (cookies, a muffin, fruit leather) - and they had to choose one thing from each category to make up their lunch meals. This way I knew they were getting a balanced lunch and getting variety throughout the week and each week the choices varied to keep it interesting. But it meant a LOT of work ahead of time.

I eventually got into a pretty good routine: I began to make/package extra of something when I made it. For example, when I made mini-pizzas (little pizzas on english muffins) I'd make a large batch, enough for the coming week as well as another week down the road. This worked pretty well with anything that would keep ok in the freezer or stuff like cookies that could be packaged into servings and keep on the shelf. Fruit didn't need prep and only needed to be washed ahead of time. I packaged up muffins or cookies as I made them through out the week. I had designated "bins" in the freezer, fridge and cupboards and to make their lunches the kids just reached in and selected a choice for each category from the bins. Basically, I had a "running inventory" available and just topped it up when it was needed, rather than have to make a whole weeks worth of lunch supplies all at one time.

Anyways, it's a pretty good system for me, but it does mean that I have to get a large amount done at back-to-school time because I'm basically starting from scratch again.

So this weekend I made:

• a batch of oatmeal and a batch of peanut butter cookies
• a double batch of blueberry muffins
• a bin full of carrot and celery sticks
• a batch of homemade "lunchables" (cheese, crackers, sliced ham)
• a batch of mini "submarine" sandwiches (this is what they will be taking tomorrow)
• a batch of bagels spread with cream cheese (these don't freeze well but keep ok for a week in the fridge)
• a dozen boiled eggs
• some dill pickles packaged into serving sizes
• plus there's lots of fruit and mini cucumbers in the fridge

I must tell you though, by the end of the school year I am MIGHTY weary of thinking up lunch time options and look forward to the break in the summer. You might wonder, if my kids are capable of fixing their own lunches during the summer, why don't they get their own during the school year? All I can say is it's something I still want to do for my not-so-little kids and it helps every body get out the door in the morning a little sooner. Plus, they help with the prep - they're certainly old enough and capable enough!