By Nancy Adler
It’s that time of year again! Change is happening and new habits are forming. Packing lunch, either for school, or for work each day, can seem like a grind, and a thankless task. But if you adopt a couple of habits along with creating a “lunch packing station” within your kitchen, then the whole process of making these lunches can get streamlined, and much easier for all involved.
Additional advantages of using this method is that it allows more people to participate in packing lunches each day, so the burden doesn’t fall all on one person. It also allows for more options and choices, within reason, to those eating the lunches to there’s less complaining about what’s packed.
The first step in making the process of packing lunches easier each day is to plan ahead with a lunch meal plan, so you know what you’re going to pack for lunches each day for that coming week.You should strive for some variation, so no one gets too bored with what they’re provided for lunch, but you don’t need to think of something new every single day of the school year.
I suggest making a list of easily packable lunch foods that fit into various categories, such as various types of sandwiches, different fruits and veggies, drinks, desserts or treats, etc., that are easily packable and that your family likes, and then just rotate through the lists over and over.
That way you don’t get stuck in a rut, always buying and then packing the exact same things, but you’re not trying to reinvent the wheel either. Instead, you can look at these lists each week before going to the grocery, decide what you’ll serve for the week within each category, and make sure you stock up on what you need to have for packing the week’s lunches.
This provides the best of both worlds. It gives everyone some options for what they’ll eat that day, so they’ll actually enjoy their lunch as opposed to bringing it home uneaten, but it also limits the variety so there aren’t arguments or too much dallying while preparing lunch each morning, and it keeps it simple for planning and prepping ahead.
Anyone that knows me knows that I preach organization for success. I suggest you purchase the food for the week’s lunches you’ll also want to make time in your weekly schedule (such as on Sunday nights) to prep ahead certain components of these packed lunches.
This preparation ahead of time doesn’t have to be elaborate. In fact, so you’ll actually do it, regularly, I recommend you keep it simple.
The steps you take will help you save time later, during the packing process, by getting certain tasks done in batches instead of right before packing the lunches each day.
These prep ahead tasks could include washing or cutting produce, and/or dividing and bagging up certain treats or snacks, ahead of time, for example. Any steps you can do ahead of time to make the packing process easier will save you a lot of time and hassle later.
Once you’ve got the two habits established, of planning lunches ahead of time, and also prepping some of the components of the lunches ahead of time, you’re ready to create your lunch packing stations within your kitchen.
This requires that you designate a spot in both your refrigerator and pantry where all these items are gathered, so no one is searching for what they’ve got as choices for lunch each day.
You will need to have one to two bins in your pantry, and another one to two in your refrigerator that hold the items you’ve decided will be packed in lunches that week.
Inside the refrigerator your bins will hold things like ready made sandwiches, baggies of fresh fruit or veggies, cheese sticks, yogurts, or sliced luncheon meat and cheeses they can add to bread to make a sandwich themselves.
Inside your pantry bins you will add things like trail mix, nuts, chips, crackers, cookies, and other non-perishable additions or snacks for lunches.
You’ll also want to include a bin for drink options in the appropriate place, depending on whether the drinks need to be refrigerated, such as for water, milk or juice boxes.
The final step in the process of streamlining the packing of school or work lunches is to organize your lunch boxes and other lunch packing supplies into one area, so everyone knows where to grab the items they’ll need to help them pack their lunch for the day.
To do this designate a specific place to put food containers, thermoses, napkins, utensils, and lunch bags or boxes within the kitchen, and always put them back there after they’re brought home and cleaned, so they’re ready for the next use.
This school year can run smoothly and kids stay stay healthy all year long just by following a few simple tips in re-organization. Have a great school year this year!
Nancy Adler is a certified nutritionist and practitioner in Linwood. Her office is located in Cornerstone Commerce Center, 1201 New Rd. Learn about her practice at ww.nancyadlernutrition.com (609)653-4900
You may listen to Nancy every Sunday at 2 pm Nancy Adler Nutrition LIVE! NewsTalk 1400 WOND
