Friday Fav #18-Ziploc Lunch Boxes

I am a mean mom!  I DEPRIVE my children of delicious delicacies like cafeteria food and Lunchables.

I won’t let Preston buy his lunch from school unless I am completely desperate…as in I have no bread, no fruit, no meat.  We have those days, and that’s when he gets to buy the lovely cafeteria meal.

Last week Lilly Katherine told me she wanted one of those lunches like all her friends.  I asked what she was talking about, and she said, “You know.  That lunch that comes in the little box with the turkey and cheese.”  She wants a Lunchable, of course.  I know they are so convenient, and I don’t fault anyone for using them.  I just simply can’t buy them.  It seems that the quality of the ingredients has gone way below the point of edible.  The cheese is like rubber and the meat is slimy and nasty.  I would rather make my maniacs a lunchable.  It’s really not hard, and I can select ingredients with much less “fake, nasty stuff” in it.  (I hope you’re enjoying my extensive vocabulary this morning.)

I try to pack my kids a decent lunch every day.  I’m not one of those amazingly creative moms that spends hours cutting things into shapes, although I have been known to bust out a cookie cutter on special occasions. :)

I have mentioned this more times that I probably should, but I HATE mornings.

I  H-A-T-E mornings!

If i pack lunches the night before, my kids are 400 times more likely to have some creativity thrown in there.  If I pack them in the morning (as I did this week), they are just lucky if they have a spoon for their yogurt or a drink.

I have found that these little containers make my life SO much easier and faster in the mornings.  These little Ziploc containers are my Friday Fav #18.  There are 3 little sections, which helps my brain to figure out how much food to give my kids on those mornings when I’m having a hard time holding my eyes open.

They’re VERY inexpensive.  A package of 2 is less than $3.  (You can buy them at the Wal-Marts)

I haven’t had any trouble with them leaking, and I put yogurt, ranch dip, fruit, and other “runny” stuff in their lunches.  FYI, It will leak if your CHILD doesn’t eat all of his/her lunch and then puts the top on incorrectly.

These lunches aren’t anything fancy.  I just took pics a few times this week so you could see how great these little lunchboxes are…not because I think you will ooh and ah over my lunch-making skills.

I stack the 2 sides of the sandwich, so there is actually a whole sandwich in Preston’s.  LK prefers a wrap.

Tuesday’s lunches:

• Whole turkey sandwich for P (with crust cut off, of course) and a turkey wrap for LK
• Goldfish in a silicone muffin cup
• Homemade Pumpkin Cranberry Granola Bars for P (recipe to come next week!)
• Whole plum, sliced
• Pickled okra (their new fav) ???
• Small dessert (lemon drops for P, kiss for LK)

In Thursday’s lunches:

• Whole turkey Sandwich
• Goldfish in a silicone muffin cup
• Pecans for P (LK is allergic to tree nuts)
• 1/2 of a large nectarine in each lunch
• Vanilla yogurt
• The little container above the yogurt is a medicine cup with granola in it for their yogurt
• Small dessert

Don’t forget the spoon…as I often do!

Friday’s lunch for P.  This week was pretty boring, and he had similar lunches every day.  Most weeks I change it up a little more.  Friday’s lunch consisted of

• Peanut butter and Homemade Jelly sandwich
• Plum
• Okra
• Goldfish
• Our fav mixture of nuts, dried bananas, craisins.  I try to keep this mix on hand, because P and I love it.
• Starburst for dessert

It’s that simple!

A few tricks I’ve learned…

• Use muffin cups to hold your ingredients separate.
• Small medicine cups (that come on top of children’s Tylenol and such) will hold ranch dressing or granola or any little topping in place.  Often I put veggies in the middle sized hole with a little cup of ranch for dipping…or apples and peanut butter.
• The containers fit perfectly in all my kids’ lunchboxes.  In LK’s I have to tilt it on it’s side, and the Ziploc container doesn’t leak.
• They are dishwasher safe…even on bottom rack.

There’s no need to buy the fancy, expensive lunch boxes when these Ziploc containers are so perfect and SO inexpensive.

For amazing lunch ideas from my creative friends:

Visit this site for INCREDIBLY creative and fun ideas (minus the very first post) :)

Visit this site for creative and healthy ideas

They take MUCH more time to fix their kids great lunches and are MUCH more innovative than I will EVER be in the morning!  I’m just trying to survive til my coffee kicks in.  :)

Have a wonderful FRIDAY, blog buddies!!!

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