What's for lunch?

Last year I saw one of the greatest ideas on my favorite food blog, Mel's Kitchen Cafe. She shared how she kept a list of her boy's favorite lunch items so when it was time to pack school lunches it took the brain work out of the task. At the time the girls were only in MDO once a week so I could pack the same lunch every Thursday and they wouldn't care but I knew the idea would come in handy this year. So before school started last month I hung a dry erase/ magnetic board in my pantry. I divided her lunch into four categories, main, fruit, veggie, and snack. Most of the things on the list I keep on hand so all I have to do is take a peak at the list for ideas.

There is also room on the board to hang the school lunch menu. Ashlyn doesn't seem too interested in the cafeteria lunch, which is fine, a home packed lunch is much cheaper. But, if she starts wanting to buy lunch every once in a while I can hang the menu on the board.  


I picked up a couple of these Rubbermaid lunch containers at Target and they are great. Ziploc also makes a divided lunch container but they are bigger and harder to pack if you add a thermos and another plastic container.

I like to use cupcake liners to divide foods that would otherwise smush all together. The foil lined ones are great because they don't get soggy and start to break down. Walmart has them in both the foil/zip top bag isle and the baking isle.

I also bought two different thermos'.
One like this for her drink. Much cheaper than a juice box or Capri Sun. Also, I water down their juice a ton (we're talking flavored water ratio) so I like to be able to control her juice intake.

And this one I can use for hot foods. I sent left over chicken and dumplings two weeks ago and she fussed that it was too hot. So, it really does keep the food hot!

I was pretty picky about Ashlyn's lunch box. The one she carried to MDO was a little hard to stuff everything in so I knew I didn't want one that small again since she would be carrying a bigger thermos and Rubbermaid lunch container. I ended up getting one from Lands End that is the perfect size. Plus they have their "Guaranteed to Last" policy! And it was only about $8 more than I would have paid for one from walmart or target.

I have also found that packing lunches in the evening works best for us. I make the girls a hot breakfast each morning plus Phillip takes a breakfast on the go with coffee and a packed lunch, so all those things add up to a bit of time. If all I have to do is grab the prepped lunches and put them in their lunch bags it makes the morning craziness run smoother.

So far, this is what works for us. Do you have any lunch tips to share? Any fun food ideas to keep lunch from getting boring?