"I’ve been a parent for 12 years. Using very rough math, that means my husband or I have made our two kids over 10,000 meals (three meals x 365 days x 12 years). And that doesn’t count the immeasurable quantity of snacks procured at their behest.
I know I’m not alone in the daily meal planning struggle. Managing one kid’s picky eater preferences and figuring out what to make for dinner every single night is a challenge. But since my kids started school, I figured out one mealtime hack to at least make school lunches easier. I make my kids the same school lunch every day. Here’s what I pack for school lunches and why it works for our family.
Why I Started Simplifying School Lunches
In my early days of parenting, I cared more about the appearance of things. I cut sandwiches into cute shapes, and my kindergartener had the latest “it” kids’ lunch box. It even included a compartment for hot food items like soup or pasta.
Every morning I asked my daughter what she wanted me to pack her for lunch. So as I struggled to get her ready for school and her toddler sister ready for daycare, I was also custom prepping multiple meals. Then once my youngest entered kindergarten, I asked two children what they wanted to eat each day.
At some point, I stopped the madness. And I laugh now looking back at how often we were running through the parking lot at school drop-off to make it before the doors locked. Of course, it helps that my kids can now dress themselves and brush their teeth without me prompting them 10 times. But removing the school lunch stress over the past few years has definitely helped our morning routine. Just last week we were so early to school that my daughters and I decided to stop and get a little Starbucks treat for ourselves (love a girlhood moment).
My Simple School Lunch Formula
Now I have a formula for making my kids the same school lunch every day. And it takes one mental load task off my brain. Plus, my husband knows the formula, too. So whoever is making school lunches that morning knows exactly what to reach for (although I’m usually the one who notices when our lunch supplies are dwindling).
Both my daughters have bento-box-style school lunch boxes from Bentgo. This makes it easy to meal plan their lunches based on each space. Here’s the school lunch formula we use:
- A protein
- A carb
- A fruit or vegetable
- A treat
My youngest is pretty picky, so it helps that she knows what she likes and doesn’t like. It also limits the menu pretty significantly. Here’s what I make for school lunch nearly every day.
Protein and Carbs
- Kid 1: A SunButter and jelly sandwich
- Kid 2: A lunch meat/cheese roll-up + Goldfish, crackers, or Veggie Straws (she hates bread unless it’s a Jimmy John’s sub)
Fruit or Vegetable
- Baby carrots
- Grapes
- Snap peas
- Cucumber slices
- Apple slices
- Cherry tomatoes
Small Treat
- Oreos or Trader Joe’s cookies
- Gluten-free bites from The GFB
- Few chocolate chips
- Few marshmallows
Why It Works for Us
OK, I know we’re supposed to offer our kids a variety of healthy foods. But when it comes to packing school lunches, I’m more concerned about whether they eat enough to fuel a day of learning. We still experiment with weeknight dinner recipes, and they buy hot lunch at school at least once a week (hot lunch is my second favorite school lunch parenting hack).
I also had a close friend who worked in the cafeteria who caught my bread-hating kid throwing her ENTIRE SANDWICH in the garbage one lunch period. My husband and I had been pushing her to try a simple turkey sandwich, but it didn’t work. Then it felt like we were blatantly wasting food and effort.
I appreciated my friend’s eyes in the lunchroom, and it gave me one more reason not to fight for variety in my picky eater’s lunch. Both my kids are growing and healthy. If I can take one mental load task off my list, I consider it a win. Especially because “What’s for dinner?” is always waiting for me.
Kathy Sisson, Senior Editor
As a mom of two, Kathy is passionately committed to sharing the honest, helpful—and often humorous—stories of motherhood, as she navigates her own everyday adventures of work, marriage, and parenting. She honed her creative and strategic skills at advertising agencies in Detroit and Chicago, before pivoting from marketing to editorial. Now instead of telling brand stories, she’s sharing her own, with articles published across popular parenting sites—including hundreds of stories on The Everymom.