This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of Sistema ®; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Maintaining momentum for healthy school lunches can be tough. We often start the year with the right intentions and soon get overwhelmed by all the action. There are ways to make healthy back to school lunches sustainable, and its all in the planning and organization. I’m preparing for the new school year and aim to create wholesome delicious meals all year around… we have to believe it for it to happen, right?!
Elsie is heading for third grade and is quite the lunch connoisseur. She can be picky but she also likes variety. She also enjoys discussing nutrition and is always curious about what food is good for her. This makes for a challenge, and although I don’t like to feel like a slave to school lunches I do want to provide a healthy balance.
I quite like making the lunches themselves but do not enjoy worrying about the contents of the fridge and what I can cobble together. So, I’ve come up with a plan to make my life easier…
3 Ways to Make Healthy Back to School Lunches Easier
- Create a loose menu you can keep on rotation. ie Pasta Monday, Sandwich Tuesday, Protein/veg salad Wednesday etc. You can switch around the content but keep the category the same, meaning you can get into a routine of buying the right ingredients at the grocery store.
- Find the right food storage containers that make variety easy. You know what your kid likes… some are happy with a big single container of pasta or a sandwich. Others, prefer to nibble at a variety of things. Elsie, like many kids, enjoys the novelty of dipping and loves anything she can assemble herself. Whether it’s a salad that she can mix and dress herself or a taco she can construct, a compartmented container makes all the difference to create healthy back to school lunches.
- Brainstorm ideas with your kids. There is little point making a beautiful nutritious salad if your kid is going to pick around it and simply eat the crackers on the side. Although I try to sneak in new healthy extras, they are rarely eaten unless we have discussed them and tried them in advance. I find it more successful to sit down and discuss which healthy items Elsie does like… for example she has randomly come around to celery recently. She used to hate it but suddenly it’s back on the menu, hooray!
Why Sistema® Containers Help with the Back to School Chaos
I’m already preparing for the back-to-school chaos… we start so early here in Arizona! The Twins are now are daycare and with Elsie going back to school I feel like I have a whole new routine on my hands. I really want to achieve a sense of efficiency, something I totally lack at the moment, ha! Our Sistema® containers are just one way I feel more prepared to tackle the new school year.
Sistema® offers a number of different containers, from simple sandwich boxes to clever folding, compartmentalized boxes like the one above which Elsie renamed ‘The Treasure Chest’. This Lunch Cube Max and Trio Bottle pack is discounted on Amazon until Aug 19th for Sistema®’s back-to-school promotion so you can get organized and make a saving!
My personal favorite is the Sistema® To Go Salad Container – It comes with cutlery which clips below the top layer and a salad dressing container which fits into the center of the box, very clever indeed!
I also recommend Sistema®‘s KLIP IT Collection, including a set of three simple sandwich boxes and their split storage containers which are perfect for snacks or toddler entrees. The Twins are on a gluten-free diet at the moment and although their daycare provides food, I have been taking in their gluten-free entrees in the split boxes… perfect!
Sistema®’s back-to-school promotions on Amazon also includes their KLIP IT sandwich boxes, Snack Attack containers and handy split containers. They are all discounted right now until Aug 19th!
Healthy Back to School Lunches Don’t Have to be Complicated…
Although the perfect salad and hand-carved fruit shape may be the vision, remember that kids love simplicity too. There is nothing wrong with a PB&J and an apple on the side… allow yourself to get creative some days and keep it simple other days. Finding time for yourself and your sanity is just as important as we settle into the back-to-school chaos!
This is great advice, it’s nice to have variety, but sometimes simple is okay too! We eat packed lunches a lot and have Sistema boxes – I really love them!
I feel like that applies to all meals. Some days I love to destroy the kitchen with a complicated recipe and other days I just want to warm something up from the freezer! Gotta take a break sometimes!
This is just in time! Cannot believe school is over! Thanks for more than a sandwich!
These look like amazing lunchboxes! I’d love to use them for my kid!
I have a daughter aged the same as Elsie, but she had the entire kitchen wrapped around her finger. She sits down with me, and we decide what she would like in her lunchbox every day. Sometimes, I become flexible, sometimes she must give in. But you said it right. Rotation is important. If only my son would understand this. He only wants pancakes every time.