“I love packing school lunches!” said no mom ever!
School is starting again soon and I am already dreading the chore of packing school lunches. Just being honest here!
How are busy mom’s supposed to get this done when they have to be healthy but still things the kids will eat and won’t get boring? They have to be quick and easy to pack but don’t require short-term refrigeration or heating up. They have to be easily transportable without getting soggy or dried out. If you’re not a pinterest lunch making mom, then these requirements can be a little frustrating!
And isn’t it true that the easiest things to pack are often the least healthy for the kids? If you pack those, you’ll probably get “bad mom” judgement or even have the teachers send a note home about it.
Here are a few things I’ve learned to make packing healthy kid-approved lunches easy and fast:
- Main Items: For sandwiches or wraps, switch white bread or regular wraps with the whole grain (whole grain is more nutritious than multi-grain) version. If your child refuses to eat whole grain (ours did at first but gradually accepted it when it was the only thing available haha), there are many whole grain breads that look just like white bread. Check out “Daves Killer Bread” for a few great options! You can also use thinner sliced bread or smaller wraps and add more veggies and meat for a more filling meal. My kids loooove pinwheels – whole wheat wrap topped with low fat cream cheese and low sodium turkey slices. Sometimes my kid love to eat lunch meat with no bread at all. That’s super easy and fast too! If your kiddo is a chicken nugget fan, look for the healthier versions that look like real chicken instead of ground up mystery meat. Nitrate free options are always a good choice too.
- Sides: Switch sweetened apple sauce with the unsweetened kind. You don’t even notice the difference in the cinnamon flavors. Throw in low fat cheese sticks and avoid sugary flavored yogurts (also avoid the fake sugar ones!). Instead, if you’re feeling ambitious, you can grab some plain 0% yogurt and mix in some strawberries or other fruit on your own the night before. When it sits in the fridge overnight, the fruit juices sweeten the plain yogurt naturally – this is one of my personal favorite snacks for myself too. Whole grain crackers like Triscuits and Sun Chips are a better choice than greasy crackers or potato chips. Look for “low sodium” too. If your child enjoys veggies, those are an easy and nutritious option, as well as fruit – bananas, grapes and blueberries are my favorite because they require almost no prep other than rinsing.
- Treats: Graham Cracker snacks and animal crackers are a better option than regular cookies and will still make your kiddos happy! If you bake at home, there are a few recipes for making healthier desserts on my post “4 Recipes with no Sugar” that you can make with your kids.
- Drinks: Water is best, of course. If your child doesn’t like drinking water, try adding fruit to it. If they are juice drinkers, look for the all natural, no sugar added versions. Hint: fill a water bottle half way with juice and the rest water to further reduce the sugar content without them even noticing a difference! Soda is a tough habit to break as an adult. If your child drinks it now, perhaps considering breaking the habit early would be a good idea. Whether the sugar free or sugar full kind, there is nothing good about drinking soda for children or adults.
Lunches: This is TOUGH because she would prefer to eat boxed mac & cheese and chicken nuggets with fries every day if she could. I’ve found she enjoys pinwheels – whole grain wraps with a layer of cream cheese (she loves cream cheese obvi) and deli meat like low sodium turkey. Homemade lunchables are usually a hit too. For those, I use deli meat, cheese slices, whole grain crackers, and a small treat like animal crackers or one cookie.
Want to start getting in shape but not sure how? The vast number of options to choose from can be both awesome and overwhelming. Often it can be hard to choose what will be best for you. Here are a few of my thoughts on gyms vs home workouts vs private training.
–> Home Fitness: Working out in your living room can be a very convenient option and offers a different level of privacy. You’re able to workout whenever you choose without worrying about travel time and the only people who see you are those who live with you. It’s great for people with really busy schedules and also those who prefer not to workout in a crowd. You can even get your kiddos in on it for extra fun! Often this is the less expensive option and there are more fitness style options available. It’s helpful to have support such as a workout buddy or group to cheer each other on. Otherwise, its only you that knows if you workout at home or not, which makes it easier to skip. Another advantage of home workouts though is that you always get the best spot in the class, you can pause it as needed, and the class schedule is completely up to you. You can choose your own music and shower in your own shower. There’s never anyone else’s sweat on your barbells either which is one of my personal favorite benefits! 😉
“I want to get healthier but I don’t want to give up my coffee with cream and sugar.” Does that sound like you? It definitely was me a few years ago and I work with many clients who tell me the exact same thing. Good News: You don’t have to give up coffee to be healthier! Not as good news: Adding lots of cream and sugar is definitely going to slow down your progress.
Hectic mornings herding children around rushing to get them ready for school and you ready for work.
Create Visual Charts for Children’s Behavior and Responsibilities. This has been a HUGE help in our house. Our children have a 3 tier chart system. The first is a daily behavior/responsibility chart. For my oldest, it includes everything from getting ready in the morning without me asking her to do things all the way to choosing a healthy after school snack without asking me for an unhealthy one. For my youngest, it’s simpler. It is broken down into morning, afternoon, and night. If she gets through each section of the day without throwing a fit, she gets a star. The second level is a daily responsibility list that includes the exact items they need to do in order to get ready in the morning – get dressed, eat breakfast, brush hair, get backpack ready, etc and the same for afternoon and bedtime. The third level is a calendar of the month that lists things happening for them during the upcoming month including big things like trips and little things like bath nights. They are able to look at these three charts and track what to do each day and what is coming up. They earn rewards based on how many stars they get for the level one chart such as 30 min of tv/computer time, park playdates, special time with me, etc. They mark their own stars down and they take it very seriously. It has worked wonders in lessening my youngest’s tantrums and even helped my oldest with anxiety issues.
Found this on the teambeachbody.com website, tried it and LOVED it!
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Thin Mint Shakeology
1 scoop Vanilla Shakeology
Get fit driven with Rachel! 