School Lunches! Back to school Today!

 

School goes back today. The kids are very excited.. Iv already had Mr 7 & 9 wake up countless times each throughout the night. I half expect to see them awake and dressed by 5am at this rate! Let's hope not..

So each year I'm a bit of a sucker for new bags & lunch boxes. Quite possibly the kids could have recycled their old school bag this year, but when I saw the Mambo bags at Big W I decided I'd get them some new ones anyway. Mr 7 nearly took his old one though as he was rather miffed the new one didn't have any room for bag-tags! {oh the injustice of it all!}

I'm pretty happy with their lunchbox choice. Miss 11 got her lunchbox from Smiggle ($15), Mr 9's came from Big W as part of a larger 'Smash' back to school pack for $10 & Mr 7 found his comical bargain buy for only $7 at K-Mart. 3 different shops, but sometimes you JUST HAVE TO to find the perfect one.. {Mr 7 will tell you so everytime}

Their old bags I donate to Lifeline as they are still in good condition & I'd like to think that someone got use of them that needed them.

So now to filling them..

I usually pack 2 things for morning tea/first break a piece of fruit & something else such as an LCM, Cheese & Crackers, Corn chips & salsa, muffins, biscuits, lamingtons etc. as well as a juice/popper. For big lunch I will pack 3 things plus they have their water bottles. 4 years ago I found these handy containers with 3 compartments. So useful for putting big lunch into. I have used them for many combo's over the years but usually I stick to the pattern of entree, main & desert LOL. Which can be as simple as crackers, sandwich & lamington finger! Or as complex as you like too! Mr 7 is loving cheese & crackers at the moment so this is his lunchbox. In the morning I will add olives & cherry tomatoes also, but won't add them at night or the cheese tends to go soggy overnight. I usually try to make the lunches the night prior so I'm more organised in the morning.

I always try to be as creative and generous as possible where lunches are concerned because knowing how fussy & hungry they get when their at home I don't want them feeling empty or bored with their lunchbox choices at school. However, I don't think the lunchbox should be the place to experiment with new foods.. When teaching I saw far too many children throwing food away they claimed not to like.

A couple of hints Iv found that seem to work well. Pack 2 lunch boxes, 1 for first break & 1 for second break that way your child will be less likely to eat all their food on the one break. My eldest is terrible at this, Mr 12 will devour all of his lunch in one sitting then come home ravenous at afternoon tea time..

Make sure you wash the kids fruit before you pack it.

Wrap cutlery in a piece of paper towel or add a serviette to the lunchbox. Iv had far too many yoghurt explosions in Mr 7's lunchbox to realise they need it at school to clean themselves up :)

The kids also get Tuckshop once a week on 'Tuckshop Tuesday' which when they were younger and at home (or even now when they are on holidays) is 'Subway Tuesday' I don't remember where this started, but it stuck! Lol. Our school Tuckshop only does big lunch so on a Tuesday I am happy for them to order what they'd like. And on a Friday I send along 50c each for them to spend at the Tuckshop.

So that is school lunches in our home.. They take forever to make some nights and are devoured in seconds or bought home wasted, but I like to think while I'm making them they think of me {probably not} while they're eating them LOL.