Are you looking for some inspiration for your kids school lunches. This is one of the questions I get asked about most when I am at school with my kids. I have found that some of these new lunch containers help inspire me a bit with packing lunches. I just find it easier when I can visually see what I have the for kids, plus I love not having to have sandwich baggies, etc. on hand all the time. I use these reusable containers, and the kids come home from school and put them in the dishwasher so they are ready for the next day (I actually buy an extra one for each kid, in case it does not get washed that night). Here are some ideas on tools that might help you with this years lunch packing!
A couple of years back I discovered these Klip – It Lunch Cubes by Sisterma, and just love them. They are on sale for $4.99 right now on Amazon. For some reason it has made it so much easier for me to pack healthier lunches for the kids. I know that the shape of a lunch box should not determine what goes in it, but for some reason having the separate compartments to pack food in encourages me to include fewer prepackaged foods! We love ours!
I also find it to be a nice money saver, as I can skip the sandwich bags by packing everything in one of the compartments. I found that with the cost of packaging lunch food, we quickly paid for the cost of container by not having to purchase nearly as many sandwich and snack baggies!
Not only does it help me pack healthier food options for my kids, but I was inspired by the Bento Lunch ideas to pack them in a fun way, that makes it more likely that they will eat it! In fact, my family has enjoyed using this so much more then the sandwich bags we were using, that we went ahead and grabbed one for my husband too, and just put it in his cooler daily, packed with good food!
A more affordable option might be these lunchboxes. Get a pack of 4 for $13.95 – so just 3.49 ea (these are reusable, not like the disposable ones you buy in the grocery store).
Note, none of these are spill proof so it does require a little training to get your kids to carry them upright to school rather then tossing them in the backpack. I find putting them with a cooler pack in a lunch sack helps alot with this.
Plus you can grab this pack of 12 silicone cupcake holders to put inside and divide up the foods you pack for just $3.99 right now!
Here is a cooler you could carry an ice pack and lunch box in for $7.95.
Pack of slim Ice Packs (set of 4) for $7.99 or Ice Cube Mat for $1.49 (its an Add On Item, so you will need to add it to a bigger order)
Plus check out these cute bug lunch chiller packs for just $9.66 (select more buying options and then the $3.80 + $5.86 for shipping option) . I bought this set a few years back and its still going. One did have some leakage this last year, so we had to toss it, but we are two years into using them for two kids, so I thought that was great. The nice thing about this size is that they fit into the actual lunchbox, if you dont get the cooler to pack it in too.
Cute Easter Lunch BoxIdeas found on Lisa Storms blog!
I found some large cookie cutters at the dollar store and Walmart and use those to cut shapes into sandwiches for my kids. They LOVE it! You can also buy a specialty sandwich cutter on Amazon starting at around $5 per cutter. The Hello Kitty one above is $5.85.
Or Butterfly cutters (2 pack) for $6.95 ($3.47 a piece)!
Stainless Steel Vegetable Cutters for $5.95
You can also grab this book for inspiration: Kids Lunch Boxes: 101 Tasty, Fresh, Fun and Healthy School Lunch Box Ideas and Recipes Your Kids Will Love To Eat! [Kindle Edition] for $3.97.
There is also this Salad To Go container for $8, if you like to eat Salads for packed lunches regularly (comes with dressing container, utensils, etc).
It may cost a little more up front to buy a few of these pieces, but for my family it has saved us over time. I can reuse from year to year, and don’t have to buy all of the one time use baggies and wraps, etc.
*Remember that Amazon prices are subject to change at any time. Make sure the price is current before you purchase the item.
Find more Amazon deals on Thrifty NW Mom. And don’t forget that when you search the web using Swagbucks, you can earn Amazon gift cards for further savings at Amazon. Read more about using Swagbucks as your search engine to earn gift cards as you search the web.
Lunch Box Cubes – Easy To Pack School Lunches + Fun Lunch Box Ideas! is a post from: Thrifty NW Mom
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