The countdown is on! School starts in exactly two weeks, and I’ve got three kids in three different schools this year, so I need to get organized.
One goal I have this year is to reduce the amount of decisions I have to make around lunch packing. After years of packing lunches, I decided to create a simple reference to keep on my refrigerator that I can use to plan groceries and pack lunches.
It’s not meant to include every item I could pack in my kids lunches. Instead, it’s a list of foods that actually work in their lunch boxes - things they like and hold up well.
The whole system is built around a simple formula I came up with to help me simplify the process:
Protein + something fresh + something sweet + something fun
When I’m packing lunches, this is the mental checklist I go through every single time. If I can check off those four categories, I know the lunch will be good enough to send to school.
If you want to know more about how I landed on this formula, and see a week’s worth of real-life examples, read this post.
While the formula made lunch packing easier, I was still spending too much time deciding what to buy each week. So I finally put together a list of the foods and brands we actually use. I thought it might be helpful for you too, so I'm sharing it today. Keep scrolling for the printable PDF.
If this is helpful for you, here is the pdf version to print:
How I plan to use this: I'm going to hang these charts on my refrigerator or bulletin board as a quick reminder of what we need to buy and pack for lunches. Each week, as I'm making my grocery list, I'll choose a few foods from each category so we always have something to pack.
I’m all about simplifying things and making it practical. Breaking the lunch into four categories helps me quickly pack a lunch that feels both nutritionally balanced and enjoyable for my kids.
Protein is my anchor. It helps keep my kids satisfied, balances energy, and gives me inspiration for the rest of the lunch.
Fresh is my next non-negotiable. Somedays it goes uneaten, but I’m trying to teach my kids that fruits and vegetables are normal at every meal.
Sweet treats are for enjoyment, and for teaching my kids how to include sugar into everyday life without going overboard.
Fun foods are for both texture and enjoyment. I usually think of the “fun” category as the crunchy stuff my kids love. I also sometimes view it as another opportunity to provide nutrient dense foods such as in the case of seaweed chips and dried fruit.
It’s not perfect, that’s for sure. But I’m happy where we’ve landed. Packing lunch is no longer a pain point in my life.
How do you feel about packing lunch? What do you do to make it easier? I’d love to get a discussion going so we can all benefit from each other’s tips.
Thanks for being here. See you again in two weeks!
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