How do you start back to school after a Summer like that? You throw yourself into it! Routine is good for the soul. A little bit of order never hurt anyone. Book the appointments you've been avoiding, get your kids cool "first day of school outfits" and if you're like me, you start cooking!
I'm not sure why I feel like preparedness is directly related to how many delicious meals I have prepped in my freezer, but I do. My mom always made wonderfully, delicious food for myself and my siblings while I was growing up. I like to do the same for my kids.
If you think this blog is going to be about school lunches, you're absolutely right! I hate making lunches!!! I secretly think all moms do.
I tend to batch cook and force my kids to pack their own lunches. I'm not a fan of sandwich meat but my kids love sandwiches. My solution...cooked chicken breasts. I season with salt, pepper, oregano and roast them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 F.
After they cool, I slice them and pack into small sandwich bags. I store the prepared chicken in the freezer and thaw for sandwiches, as needed.
As my kids pack their own lunches, I find providing them with lots of healthy options and allowing them the ability to choose makes for fewer fights. It also teaches them about healthy living and good choices. On that note, my kids love treats in their lunches because they are human. They love to snack on muffins, which I encourage as opposed to over the counter "lunchbox treats." Their favourite muffins are banana, I've added a link to my recipe below.
A close second favourite would be blueberry muffins. I had hoped to find time to throw together blueberry muffins before school started. Especially, after I found organic blueberries on sale...I didn't find the time, so I washed them, dried them...
and packed them into 1 cup servings, which I placed in the freezer.
I'll bake muffins at another point. It's totally worth it to purchase fruits and veggies at the height of their season and freeze. These fruits and veggies are going to be as nutritionally rich as possible and typically more affordable, than in the winter. Freezing them allows you to access the wonderful benefits of this fruit, at a later date.
Finally, my kids love tiny casseroles in their lunches and they couldn't be easier to produce! I always double or triple batch my pasta sauce. Leftover bolognese never goes astray in my household. One of the absolute favourite lunch casseroles in my house is lazy lasagne!!
I let the kids choose their favourite noodle, grate some mozzarella and parmesan and mix with leftover sauce. These casseroles are baked in mammoth muffin tins, and smothered in melty cheese. They are baked at 350F for 15-20 minutes.
Once they are removed from the oven, you allow them to completely cool and then freeze in the muffin tins. Once frozen they are easily removed from the pan.
I store them in a ziplock bag, in the freezer until we're ready to pack lunches.
It couldn't be easier to defrost in the fridge overnight and quickly re-heat in the morning, before school. My kids pack these yummy lunches into a thermos in the morning and gobble them up at lunch! Imagine, all of that was accomplished on a Sunday afternoon. Then school started and it took almost until October to post!!! Ahhh...back to school! Hope you're all surviving!
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or concerns, or you just liked this Big Idea, feel free to comment below!
