I’ve gotten away with school lunch the last 3 years, but Elle’s taste buds have finally had it. She officially declared that she will no longer eat school lunch. The days of sending her with a check for the month (and thinking nothing more of it until she comes home with a stamp on her hand) are over. Elle is demanding a home-made lunch this year.
I gotta admit the thought of packing a lunch for every day is overwhelming me.
What am I going to pack in her lunches day in and day out? How can I make the lunches healthy? When will I find the time to make it? The morning is always a rush as it is. And should I go the green/environmentally friendly route or the disposable route? Does a lunch box really ever make it home? How long can ham sit in a bag before it is dangerous?
I have so many questions and am not sure what I will do.
The only thing I know for sure is that I will put a little love in her lunch as often as possible.
So I asked my friend, Kelsie, over at Love, Kelsie Rae to make me (us) up some free printable lunch box notes. I think they turned out pretty cute. You can download the pdf, print out different sheets, cut out the notes, and then have a variety of notes on hand for a quick love note to throw in the home lunch.
Some notes offer advice, some express love and some are writing prompts so we can personalize the note. My favorite is the “Remember when…” note. I wanted to remind my kids of fun moments we’ve had together.
So Elle might be eating a bacteria infested ham sandwich in a plastic sack, but at least she will get a little love at lunch.
(I better get researching some home lunch tips and food options unless you guys can give me any ideas. Help!)
![I spoke in church today and said the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest act of Charity. I read Moroni 7:45-47 to make my point. But wherever there was the word ‘Charity’ I substituted it out for ‘the Atonement of Jesus Christ.’ See if these scripture verses now have new meaning for you:
“And the Atonement of Jesus Christ suffererth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth in the truth,
[The Atonement of Jesus Christ] beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not the Atonement of Jesus Christ, ye are nothing, for the Atonement of Jesus Christ never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail-
But the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.”
So Easter really reminds us of love. The first and greatest commandment.](https://www.raisinglemons.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
I totally understand the stress of one more thing to do in the morning. My boys make their own lunches. They start out making some sort of sandwich and then I have bins in the pantry and fridge with different lunch approved items. One bin for treats/dessert items, one bin for fruit/applesauce cups, one bin for gogurt/yogurt cups, one bin for capri sun/juice boxes etc. They know that they take one thing from each bin for their lunches. I try to offer a bit of variety and items that come in large bags or for veggies and fruit I split up into snack sized baggies. I also bought little ice packs for them that fit nicely in their lunch boxes to hopefully keep cool items cool. This year I want to invest in a thermos so that they can take some soup or leftovers.
I have two lunch boxes for each of them for the days when they forget their lunch boxes. I know I should make them deal with the natural consequences of forgetting, but oh well!
Wow, that was long-winded… please post any new ideas you come across!
Forgot to say that I love the little notes. Can’t wait to sneak a few into their lunch boxes before they leave for school!
I would definitely get the tiny ice packs–avoid that bacteria ham :-). I make sack lunches every morning as my daughter is not a fan of school lunch, and I pack for myself too (I teach). If I weren’t anal about freshly assembled sandwiches, I’d pack at night. And sometimes I do pack everything except the sandwich. Be prepared for Elle to turn her nose up at sandwiches on the weekends–my kiddo gets really sick of them because she has them daily!
if you freeze sandwiches and drink boxes they will thaw by lunch and keep things cool.
Kylee loves school lunch and Nick hates it. I started the year off by sending notes with him until he came home and told me that my notes embarrassed him! Oh well, at least I tried, right?
With six kids in school, I figured out that we save well over $1,000 per year by sending our kids to school with a lunch. Ours are pretty basic. I have a set of small drawers on the counter that hold chips, fruit, and a treat. My husband makes the sandwiches every morning. Water to drink. My favorite part is the lunchbox notes which are favorite quotes I’ve selected. I used to do personal notes, but with 6 it is too hard to keep it up. One of my kids hates the notes and ignores them. The others love them and their friends even start to look forward to them each day.
I love this post! My Mom always did that for us. Every day on my napkin she would write 1 love you or something similar. I still have a bunch of them and love them. Now when I come back and stay with my Dad I always make sure to leave ‘I love you’s’ in his lunchbox. Usually I tuck one of his favorite treats in there too.
I do something similar, but with jokes. I google /copy / paste (takes a while because I’m super picky) then print them out. My girls love it, and it encourages their inner stand up comic. Btw – I am new to your blog … thanks for sharing all this good stuff!