Great tips Kimmy!! When I get home from grocery shopping the fun begins. I wash all the fruits and veggies. While the veggies are drying I boil 18 eggs and peel them. The next step is preparing the vegetables and fruit by cutting them up, taking grapes off the stem etc. I open up family size cans of tinned fruit, potato chips, crackers, slice up cheese. Then, as a family we Package up everything into single serving size. I use a combination of small plastic containers, snack size ziplock bags and for things like cheese, chips and boiled eggs I use a food sealer. Perishables are put in the fridge in baskets. This whole process takes between an hour and an hour and a half--so worth it. We usually play some sort of game while we do this. The kids love it and I save a load of time and money. I do not buy any prepackaged food of any kind. I reduced my food budget over 1/3 and that includes taking into consideration the cost of food bags, containers, and foods sealer supplies.
I also cook two kinds of roasts on Sunday so that I have sandwich/salad meat for lunches during the week as well as one or two fast dinners. I usually cook one red meat (pork, ham or beef) and one poultry (chicken or turkey). Lunch meat is so expensive where I live so it is much more economical to use roasted meat. I then have bones to make soups and stocks for freezer meals.
+Mylittlebearcub Savage organization came from necessity. Groceries are so expensive here that I had to find ways to cut our food costs without sacrificing proper nutrition. Teenagers can really pack away the food. Their bodies are like Mary Poppins' carpet bag....never full.
Thanks for these! A further tip for the Foogos thermoses is to be sure you fill them up with hot water (I just use my keurig) while you prepare the rest of the lunches... Then dump and add your hot food! The cool steel will absorb the heat from the water and not from your food, helping it stay as hot as possible :)
When you put those water bottles in the freezer half (or 3/4ths) filled overnight, put them in the freezer at a 45° angle(!!), making sure that air is touching the top opening. Then when you fill it the rest of the way with water the next day, the ice melts at a good rate, so that you always have some cold water to drink and you don’t have to wait for it to melt to drink more!! (Laying the bottle at a 45° angle makes more water surface touch more ice surface (cubic millimeters of space) so more of the water is touching more of the ice, but it melts at a better rate to drink it.
I love how you have everything organized! One thing we do is keep the fruit/veggie party trays that are available at the grocery and reuse them by filling with our veggies and fruit - it makes home snacking and packing bento style lunches so fast and easy. Absolutely love homemade lunchables too - we do those all the time!
MD My brother was like that too. I remember when I first moved out really having to talk myself down from eating everything I bought right away, "There's no one going to eat it before you. When you go back it will still be there." haha. My brother is 6 foot six. Not greed, he was always skinny, he was just growing.
My son graduated in the spring but being a football player he was on a special diet. I made him chicken wraps. Baked chicken breast, shredded it, put it in a tortilla with lettuce, cheese and buffalo and ranch sauce. By the end of football season I had to send extras for other players. HUGE HIT!!! He leaves for college football training Tuesday, he's my only child. I'm so sad I won't have the chance to add those special touches anymore. Hugs 💜💜💜
Gosh.....you are so organised. I could have done with your videos when my children were young (they are now in their late 30s and early 40s) your ideas are a great help.
I loved my Bento box when I was working and still love to eat that way sometimes. It has been a lot of years since I had to pack a school lunch. My oldest loved taking leftovers and was often envied by his friends for what he brought.
I wish my parents were this cool, although I'm going to high school, and they haven't packed my lunch since elementary school. You are the type of Mom that I aspire to be 😁😁😁
Kimmie, I used the thermoses when my kids were little,too. The trick is to warm them with hot water for a few minutes before putting the hot food in. It keeps the food warmer longer (and vice versa). Hope it works for you!
Wouldn't that make the bread soggy? I toast my bread and leave it out wraped in kitchen paper. It crubbles a little cause it's toast but i butter toast over my sink... So.
My son loves hummus and bagel chips along with grapes and veggies. Peanut butter isn't an option since several kids in his class have severe nut allergies so it really helps to get options like you've suggested! I also send him with Greek yogurt and granola with fresh berries or a sandwich roll up to get break from the traditional sandwich.
great to see a new zealand product in the states! Sistema is amazing and their new ranges just keep getting better and better. In New Zealand you can buy bulk boxes of the sandwich and lunch box contains which is really reasonably priced
We just started KG and Preschool and school lunch is $3.65/$3.45! So far my KG has requested PB no jelly, hard-boiled eggs, and tuna sandwiches. I use cookie cutters to make fun sandwich shapes. I use silicone muffin cups to separate items. And since I have an early shift I prep everything for the hubby and I take pictures of what the snack/lunch should look like so he can refer to it. On one of our beginning days he sent the child to school without the actual lunch box! He asked me later does he have a lunch box??? Uh yeah I've only been collecting lunch boxes/bags the whole summer ^rolling my eyes^. Yes it can get crazy in the mornings so prep the hubbies for success! I also lay out their uniforms and footwear the night before.
Here in New Zealand our kids can't buy lunches AT school. My son's 6 and his school does bought lunches once a week on Thursdays so we do that once a month. But I make my son's and husband's lunches every night. My husband is diabetic so it's a good way to make my son's lunch a bit healthier haha! I do yoghurt, jelly and fruit cups, fruits cups, crackers and cheese, sandwiches or quiches, baking, muesli bars, chips, vegetables and fruit. I do 6 things each day, sandwich, a fruit, a vegetable, a yoghurt or fruit cup then 2 treats. I get exhausted and always try to find new ways to be prepared but i guess i work best with chaos hahaha! Love love love your videos 😊 i sit down every morning after my sons at school with my coffee and watch your videos haha!
I love frozen grapes & cherries. Plus they can be used as an ice pack. They do seem to take a long time to completely thaw so they may not be completely thawed by lunch time.
Great video! 2 of my 3 kids prefer leftovers for lunches instead of sandwiches. So when I'm putting away dinner leftovers at night, I put it in the individual containers in stead of one bigger container. Then in the morning I can just toss it into their lunch boxes.
Wow lunches in Australia are so different. We can't use any disposable plastics, it all has to be environmentally friendly. Also all nuts are banned due to allergies, so no peanut butter for any students.
Nuts are fine in some Australian schools, but banned in most. Most schools don't specify how you package anything, so your school (or maybe all public schools in your own state) may be unusually strict.
Jo Mc i go to a school in australia that has senior school and primary school. in the primary school nuts and bananas are banned but in the senior school nothing is banned because they are mature enough
I'm so glad you showed that you have little reusable containers for snacks. Please consider getting rid of the environmentally unfriendly zip lock and other plastic bags and instead go for something just as easy, but better for the environment like the small containers that you use, wash and reuse. The suggestions for the fruit cups and apple sauce are a great step in the right direction :)
I love it all and I'm in college. :) I use the cute thermos 10oz for hot soup and oatmeal on the go. I found some at riteaid and Walmart. No print just colored then put my name with label maker sticker God bless
Great ideas! Before freezing sandwiches (ham and cheese) I butter the bread and that helps keep the bread from getting soggy and dried out. :-) I bake all my husband's lunch/snack treats. I have a chocolate chip cookie, brownie and other goodies on rotation.
Silly question but you butter the inside or the outside? I think I am still in shock that I can freeze ham sandwiches. Wonder if I can do it with Bologna.
+robin b (Njlamom) Hi, no question is silly. :-) I butter inside sides of the bread, add the meat/cheese and freeze in tightly sealed containers. I find the butter adds a bit of taste and helps to keep the meat from making the bread soggy. Another trick I've done when I was teaching, is if I had frozen bread and wanted to make a sandwich in the morning for latter, I butter the still frozen bread, add meat cheese, lettuce etc and pack for lunch. the bread is thawed by I eat it and the butter kept the bread from getting soggy. I'm not a picky eater, some people might still think the bread tastes funny but it didn't bother me. hope that helps. :-)
I love this video. I am thankful that my children's school provides free breakfast and lunch to everyone no matter the income. I believe they received some kind of grant. But if I had to pay those prices I would definitely use all of your tips to pack their lunch.
were are all about prep in my house. no children but my husband and I both take lunch to work. one of my favorite tips is to boil eggs for hard boiled eggs once a week I do 1 dozen and peel them so they are all prep for the week. I just keep them in a Tupperware and pull what we need each day!
Liz McGonagle yes they will stay fresh for roughly a week :) we eat 1 or 2 every morning for a quick breakfast. I do store them if a few tablespoons of water.
+Amber G Thanks so much for answering me Amber G! I need to get 'boiling'. We use them for a quick breakfast or at the side of a salad for lunch, even just to keep me going while making dinner. xx
+Ashley Murphy I'm 25 so I'm sure mine were around the same price too but I forget! High school was more expensive though but elementary school lunches have gotten ridiculously expensive ! Bringing is so much cheaper
I was shocked when she said $12/day for two kids as well. I don't think it's that expensive everywhere. I'm a teacher and school lunch is only $2.35ish or so at most schools in my area.
just found this, great hacks. I also found that melting the PB for like 20 seconds makes them so mush easier to make! No ripping the bread. One of my friends actually put wax paper on a cookie sheet and layers a sandwich amt of peanut butter, let's it freeze just enough to be able to cut it, then she cuts the PB into sandwich size frozen "patties". stores them in between wax paper and takes a frozen party out and tosses it on the bread, adds jelly or bananas, etc. It softens by lunch, but does not make the bread soggy!
I suggest to have a dry run lunch to be sure the frozen food stays cold and the hot stays hot until the kiddos lunch period, the younger kids can actually eat lunch before 11:00am and its good to know how long the food will be at its best and find out if the containers are leak proof too ;-) Great ideas, have a super school year !!
I homeschool my 3 kids so they get a good breakfast that I do not rush with and they get a hot lunch. But I love the idea of freezing sandwiches and making my own fruit cups. Sometimes if I have things already made, they can just go into our fridge and create their own lunch. Then they sometimes will even make mommy lunch too :) I love your ideas.
I home school and still like to prepack lunches. I generally try to do it on Saturday for the whole week so I don't have to worry about it day to day. It makes it so I don't have to do kitchen clean up three times a day, I just have the kids grab what they want and we eat either out in the backyard (picnic table :)) or in the dining room. I started doing this when I had three kiddos and my husband was deployed so we could go on outings without having to worry about packing a lunch, now Im expecting my 6th and still find it a lifesaver. I, also, do freezer meals once every two weeks for the weekdays (Mon-Fri) so dinners are just defrost and cook. This has saved dinner many times. All I have to worry about cooking on a daily basis is breakfasts.
+kelij06 I love the tips on UA-cam but when they come from an American they tell you how to organise your 'craft room' or your 'closet' or your 'laundry room' most average uk people are lucky if they have a dining room let alone a craft room.
+Sarah I know I'm lucky enough to have a dining room next to my living room but even then still haven't got enough rooms! does my airing cupboard count 😂
+kelij06 same here I have a dining room as well but that's only because the kitchen was divided up so now it's a tiny dining room and even tinier kitchen. I'm lucky that 2 of the bedrooms have cupboards but the box room has a cupboard with stair box and it just makes it impossible to put a standard size single in there, and the other rooms cupboard is taken up by a combo boiler 🤔 makes you wonder who designed these uk houses?, makes me even madder that there's half a meter stretch of wasted grass at the side of my house of absolutely no use that they could have just built the house on, half a meter on the side of my house would have made a huge difference, but if I extended it would cost me a small fortune. The stupid thing is that in the papers today they say that the new builds in the uk are even smaller and the smallest in the whole of Europe. I dream of a big house with loads of floor space so my kids can jump about.
I never thought about freezing the sandwitches! You just solved a huge problem for me. We eat halal but the closest deli is a 45-50 min drive. I can just go once a month for the deli meat, make the sandwiches. I only have 1 child so I can gey away with only about 10 sandwiches and mix it up with other kinds of lunches. Now I can add meat sanwitches to the mix.
i am in high school and i personally love having salad containers and multi-compartment tupperware. i think that it is so conventional and great for saving space. i would recommend getting grapes and freezing them for a nice treat at lunch or you could pack things like fruit salads which are so tasty. it does take some extra time in the morning but it is definitely yummy and healthy :)
We freeze leftover slices of pizza, sloppy Joe's, pulled pork and hamburgers for school lunches. Our junior high student can heat these in the microwave or eat it cold. Muffins also freeze well. Homemade granola bars are a yummy treat. If you slices the top off of a kiwi, place it back on and wrap it with plastic wrap, it can be eaten out of the peeling with a spoon.
Thanks for the tips! This year I'm determined to stick it out with home lunches! 2 of my 3 kids live on hummus and I found some amazing 2 compartment containers at Wal-Mart (I believe they are for yogurt and granola) that are perfect for it. I can make hummus for a week for the price of one school lunch. I was cracking up at "sure not"... my 9 year old said that 500 times a day during his terrible twos phase!
I use the 48 oz. Sistema Cube for my work lunch. Those small white boxes also fit in the Cube(larger of the 2 divided open sections) and hold a serving of trail mix/nuts and the like. I'll swing by Target to snag a Salad container. Great tips for us adults, too. Thanks!
I make my own fruit cups too, and applesauce. I don't put the juice in there......i save 200 a month by doing this!!!!! I make and do my own things to save money.....i love it......then for snacks I put them in portion control snack baggies and get ONE serving of the carb things, etc. I make my own lunchables with crackers, meat, and blocks of cheese. It serisouly saves me so much $....I am able to save 350.00 a month by doing all of these hacks. THREE HUNDERED DOLLARS A MONTH!!!! THAT'S HUGE!!!!! WHen I was buying uncrustables, fruit cups, applesauce bags and cups, lunchables, little bags of crackers, chips, etc, i was spending way too much money and i was frustrated and when i figured all of this out and it was more of not being lazy about it lol....i learned how much i could save and now i have extra money for family time than just food.
Love this! I do all you do already. (just get lazy as the year goes on) minus the second fridge. My tip is : Pampered Chef makes a tool that makes the uncrustable sandwhiches. I freeze those also. I make them with Nutella and sometimes honey, too.
Where are you living that you are allowed to send the kids to school with PB&J sandwiches? My area (Ontario, Canada) has had schools strictly peanut free for at least 10 years.
Susan Schulz We could bring peanut butter sandwiches but we had a peanut free table far more away. But, if you eat one you have to wash your hands after. Also the school lunches are peanut free so if you have a school lunch, you can sit at the peanut free table next to someone like your friend if they ask.
if you buy juice like Capri Suns or juice that's in a plastic jugs / bottles put them in the freezer and on a hot days it will keep the lunches nice and cool and will stay fresh by lunchtime you will have a nice refreshing cold drink as well
My son loves to bring tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch during the winter here in Framingham. I use a thermos bottle for the soup and to keep the sandwich hot, I wrap it in foil and put in a wide mouth thermos jar. Works great!
in my school everyday lunch is rich amd chicken rice and eggs are 25cents rice,chicken, eggs, and cucumber are only 50sents, a drink is 25 cents and a special drink is 50cents, usualy my mum just give me $1 each day
Same with me school lunch was pretty cheap but i also bought i a lot of snacks for me and sometimes for my friends if they want some so it was like 7.00 or more dollars LMAO
Queen of Sparkle in my secondary school in england its £2.05 for a meal or 0.89p for a sandwich and there are stuff like toast, bacon toast, pizza, panini etc. For cheap
Love your organisation in the fridge/freezer. Another way to store sandwiches in the freezer rather than stack them is to make them, wrap them in cling and then repackage them in the bag that the bread came in and then slide that right into the freezer. Saves a ton of space!
wow...I've watched a TON of school lunch videos for my kids, and this is by far my favorite. I love the organization, and I love the idea of everything being prepped so not only do I not have to do it in the morning, but my kids will feel like they have options when it comes to their lunch. thank you!!!
Mx. Foster she clearly said she was prepping the veggies and that she kept them upstairs. She also never said anything about potato chips. She had some cheese-it's and veggies straws. What little kid doesn't eat those sometimes? My kids are goldfish and cheese it fiends
That's awesome that you have your own fridge to store it all in and they can do it themselves. We homeschool, but I pack lunches because we are out of the house a lot. I still try to film what we are having every week and share. I really enjoyed your series this week, especially this one!
I'm sure you know but for everyone else. pouring boiling water into the thermos for a few minutes before you add the hot food keeps it warmer. also if you freeze the bottles on their sides it cools down better
thank you, thank you for the pb&j & ham & cheese idea. Have always been worried to make and freeze them for fear the bread would become soggy. Now I can make them at home with organic ingredients and the flavors we like. Almond butter, Nutella, honey and the list is pretty long of what can be used in place of the store bought frozen pb&j sandwiches. Thank you again and keep your inspiration alive. 😉
Great tips, Kimmy! I used to make the freezer smoothies in bulk (30 every Sunday), but eventually they freezer jars cracked or warped and then I couldn't find them anymore. Did you purchase yours recently?
+She's In Her Apron you have the best techniques!! I am in love with your channel and can't wait til my 2 yr old little girl goes to school! OH WAIT !! YES I CAN WAIT. I DON'T WANT HER TO GET ANY BIGGER , SHE'S GROWING SOOOOOO FAST! LOL 😂
Does food stamps work at Costco? I love your video and I'm new to this channel I have a little boy who is turning 2 next month and it's always a hassle finding new ways to make things. I'm glad I got your channel in my recommend thanks
FlaminDonut Costco, BJ's and sams club are all basically the same thing but they all tend to carry some different things (brand wise), if u can split membership with someone or if u can afford it having more than one club membership is definitely worth it
Tip for the sistema salad containers... If you take out the top bit, the container itself fits two sandwiches perfectly. My fiancé eats a lot of sandwiches! 😂
love these ideas!!! The school lunches are unpredictable and most of the time they get wasted. Not to mention, expensive!!! I love for my kids to have something for lunch that they like and you can control what's in it. It's safe and healthy. Thank you for the tips
I'll have to keep these tips in mind for when I need to start packing lunches for my littles! My son just started PreK and he gets free lunch while there (the entire school does).
Love the way you have arranged the snacks and the way you encourage your kids to put together their own lunches. I am actually envious of your kids - my mom banned anything that came in a package for lunch. Our family didn't believe in buying snacks that came in packets or tiny boxes. So we always got something homemade, but mom never had time with how much she was cooking EVERY SINGLE DAY. | love how you have organizxed this!
I like to use the containers that lunch meat comes in for lunch boxes. They are basically glad containers, but work great! They are gonna get lost, broken, stained etc anyway right?
Tracy Z Well, to be honest, I feel like it's much healthier than the actual school lunches. They are also healthier than some lunches that some parents make. I've seen a lunch everyday at school with Donuts, Chips, everything unhealthy. I must say though, my parents do make me healthier lunches, but at least Kimmy really does care about what her kids eat. Not trying to be rude, just helping! 😊
I am soooooo going to do this! Packing lunch is the bane of my existence. I usually do a homemade lunch able every day since my girls refuse to eat sandwiches, but I'm totally going to implement this "pick your own sides" system, thanks!
My son loved tomatoes with ranch dressing. I'd cut tomatoes up & add the ranch, fridge overnight so it's cold & he was a happy boy. New sub, love your channel 🎈
Oh... I like the idea of turning that second fridge into a on the go lunch and snack fridge. I organize everything with dollar tree items. How could I neglect my second fridge! Thanks for the tips!
Yes! We have a fridge in the garage where we keep drinks so they don't clog up the kitchen fridge. It never occurred to me to put the kids lunch items out there. My mind is blown. 😃
Thank you for sharing all of your great ideas....you are so organized :) My kids have been home schooled up until this year (they will be starting public school) and I'm really excited to try to make it special to them. One thing that I plan on doing for their school lunch is leaving a little note everyday. Anything from a joke, to an I love you to something like clues leading up to a special surprise on the weekend. Thanks again for all of the tips :)
Sistema (sis-teh-mah) is a New Zealand brand, and was actually started by a guy who originally just made coat hangers. His business partner, who came up with the container idea about 20 years ago is a family friend and I grew up across the road from him.... so always had awesome lunch containers. I still use the brand. They also have soup containers that you can put in the microwave.
Great tips Kimmy!! When I get home from grocery shopping the fun begins. I wash all the fruits and veggies. While the veggies are drying I boil 18 eggs and peel them. The next step is preparing the vegetables and fruit by cutting them up, taking grapes off the stem etc. I open up family size cans of tinned fruit, potato chips, crackers, slice up cheese. Then, as a family we Package up everything into single serving size. I use a combination of small plastic containers, snack size ziplock bags and for things like cheese, chips and boiled eggs I use a food sealer. Perishables are put in the fridge in baskets. This whole process takes between an hour and an hour and a half--so worth it. We usually play some sort of game while we do this. The kids love it and I save a load of time and money. I do not buy any prepackaged food of any kind. I reduced my food budget over 1/3 and that includes taking into consideration the cost of food bags, containers, and foods sealer supplies.
I also cook two kinds of roasts on Sunday so that I have sandwich/salad meat for lunches during the week as well as one or two fast dinners. I usually cook one red meat (pork, ham or beef) and one poultry (chicken or turkey). Lunch meat is so expensive where I live so it is much more economical to use roasted meat. I then have bones to make soups and stocks for freezer meals.
+Squirl wow you are so organised,thank you for sharing 😊
+Mylittlebearcub Savage organization came from necessity. Groceries are so expensive here that I had to find ways to cut our food costs without sacrificing proper nutrition. Teenagers can really pack away the food. Their bodies are like Mary Poppins' carpet bag....never full.
+Squirl Love your ideas. tfs! Your Mary Poppins visual made me laugh. :-)
awesome ideas thank you
Thanks for these! A further tip for the Foogos thermoses is to be sure you fill them up with hot water (I just use my keurig) while you prepare the rest of the lunches... Then dump and add your hot food! The cool steel will absorb the heat from the water and not from your food, helping it stay as hot as possible :)
That is what we do also.
I've tried these before and was not successful, do your kids say the food is still warm?
Robin Lepage nice
Robin Lepage i
am I the only one here that don't have kids and look lunches hacks for themselves? lol
Meralys Viruet meeeee
Meralys Viruet me
lmao me
I don't even do this cuz I eat at school! I just find this instersting
meeee
When you put those water bottles in the freezer half (or 3/4ths) filled overnight, put them in the freezer at a 45° angle(!!), making sure that air is touching the top opening.
Then when you fill it the rest of the way with water the next day, the ice melts at a good rate, so that you always have some cold water to drink and you don’t have to wait for it to melt to drink more!!
(Laying the bottle at a 45° angle makes more water surface touch more ice surface (cubic millimeters of space) so more of the water is touching more of the ice, but it melts at a better rate to drink it.
I love how you have everything organized! One thing we do is keep the fruit/veggie party trays that are available at the grocery and reuse them by filling with our veggies and fruit - it makes home snacking and packing bento style lunches so fast and easy. Absolutely love homemade lunchables too - we do those all the time!
My mom would make little cards with different lunch options cover it in clear tape then
And then I would circle what I'd want for lunch
Good idea.
Ryan Fleur my husband does that for my kids, kinda like a fun restaurant st home. They are 8,6,4,2,2 mo. They get a big kick out of it.
If my parents did this, all of the food in that fridge downstairs or the school lunch fridge would be gone overnight because of my older brother
MD omg my brother is so freaking greedy 😂
MD My brother was like that too. I remember when I first moved out really having to talk myself down from eating everything I bought right away, "There's no one going to eat it before you. When you go back it will still be there." haha. My brother is 6 foot six. Not greed, he was always skinny, he was just growing.
SAME
MD omg same but I would be the one to eat it except for the PBand J bc I'm allergic to penuts
MD same except my sister eats them we have to hide them in a really weird spot
I love the old videos! You and the kids have changed and grown so much.
You could add milk to the thermos and put some cereal in a baggie or container and they could have cereal if they wanted.
JHelynG thanks for that tip!
Not very nutritious since most cereal is full of sugar.
Thanks for the tip..
My son graduated in the spring but being a football player he was on a special diet. I made him chicken wraps. Baked chicken breast, shredded it, put it in a tortilla with lettuce, cheese and buffalo and ranch sauce. By the end of football season I had to send extras for other players. HUGE HIT!!! He leaves for college football training Tuesday, he's my only child. I'm so sad I won't have the chance to add those special touches anymore.
Hugs 💜💜💜
Gosh.....you are so organised. I could have done with your videos when my children were young (they are now in their late 30s and early 40s) your ideas are a great help.
Did life exist before UA-cam hacks?
YOU can help with making these for the grandkids??
so you gotta be like 80 by now damn
+Whorely Quinn no. Like late 50s to early 60s
+Whorely Quinn My brother is 50 and my mother is only 71. I highly doubt she's 80.
I loved my Bento box when I was working and still love to eat that way sometimes. It has been a lot of years since I had to pack a school lunch. My oldest loved taking leftovers and was often envied by his friends for what he brought.
I wish my parents were this cool, although I'm going to high school, and they haven't packed my lunch since elementary school. You are the type of Mom that I aspire to be 😁😁😁
Kimmie, I used the thermoses when my kids were little,too. The trick is to warm them with hot water for a few minutes before putting the hot food in. It keeps the food warmer longer (and vice versa). Hope it works for you!
$12 a day!!!!!!
I’m old as heck! My elementary school lunch was 55 cents from 1974 to 1980. It was made from scratch and good!
Freeze the bread before making the peanut butter and jelly sandwich it makes it easier to spread evenly and the end result is perfection.
Jamie Schweitzer
THANK. YOU.
Wouldn't that make the bread soggy? I toast my bread and leave it out wraped in kitchen paper. It crubbles a little cause it's toast but i butter toast over my sink... So.
@@wilmaworst9302 nope. Still good
@@wilmaworst9302 I freeze my daughters lunch box sandwiches for the full week and once they have defrosted you cant even tell they where frozen
My son loves hummus and bagel chips along with grapes and veggies. Peanut butter isn't an option since several kids in his class have severe nut allergies so it really helps to get options like you've suggested! I also send him with Greek yogurt and granola with fresh berries or a sandwich roll up to get break from the traditional sandwich.
she looks like the adult version of that babysitter from the incredibles.
Nicole Faustino what babysitter?
Madeleine McQuaig from the cartoon “the incredibles”
I moved the lunch containers to the cabinets right above where I prepare lunches. No more walking around to get containers! LOVE it!
Watching this in 2019! I needed these ideas for my kids! Thank you ❤️❤️❤️
The fridge for school lunches and letting the kids pack their own lunch, that is ammmmmazing. So smart!
great to see a new zealand product in the states! Sistema is amazing and their new ranges just keep getting better and better. In New Zealand you can buy bulk boxes of the sandwich and lunch box contains which is really reasonably priced
how is it pronounced there? I speak English and Spanish and I've always pronounced it sort of like "system" like "sis-tem-uh" not sisteema
We just started KG and Preschool and school lunch is $3.65/$3.45! So far my KG has requested PB no jelly, hard-boiled eggs, and tuna sandwiches. I use cookie cutters to make fun sandwich shapes. I use silicone muffin cups to separate items. And since I have an early shift I prep everything for the hubby and I take pictures of what the snack/lunch should look like so he can refer to it. On one of our beginning days he sent the child to school without the actual lunch box! He asked me later does he have a lunch box??? Uh yeah I've only been collecting lunch boxes/bags the whole summer ^rolling my eyes^. Yes it can get crazy in the mornings so prep the hubbies for success! I also lay out their uniforms and footwear the night before.
Therelyn Agbayani ll
That is completely ridiculous.
Here in New Zealand our kids can't buy lunches AT school. My son's 6 and his school does bought lunches once a week on Thursdays so we do that once a month. But I make my son's and husband's lunches every night. My husband is diabetic so it's a good way to make my son's lunch a bit healthier haha! I do yoghurt, jelly and fruit cups, fruits cups, crackers and cheese, sandwiches or quiches, baking, muesli bars, chips, vegetables and fruit. I do 6 things each day, sandwich, a fruit, a vegetable, a yoghurt or fruit cup then 2 treats.
I get exhausted and always try to find new ways to be prepared but i guess i work best with chaos hahaha!
Love love love your videos 😊 i sit down every morning after my sons at school with my coffee and watch your videos haha!
I love frozen grapes & cherries. Plus they can be used as an ice pack. They do seem to take a long time to completely thaw so they may not be completely thawed by lunch time.
This video came at the perfect timing! My son starts kindergarten in a few weeks and I need ideas for his lunch!!! Thanks Kimmy! Xoxo
Great video! 2 of my 3 kids prefer leftovers for lunches instead of sandwiches. So when I'm putting away dinner leftovers at night, I put it in the individual containers in stead of one bigger container. Then in the morning I can just toss it into their lunch boxes.
Wow lunches in Australia are so different. We can't use any disposable plastics, it all has to be environmentally friendly. Also all nuts are banned due to allergies, so no peanut butter for any students.
I use glass and stainless containers, and cotton lunch sacks. I'm not a fan of plastic where food is concerned, especially with developing children.
Nuts are fine in some Australian schools, but banned in most. Most schools don't specify how you package anything, so your school (or maybe all public schools in your own state) may be unusually strict.
Jo Mc I was about to say the same thing about nuts. No nuts allowed here either. We don't have a waste free school though which is helpful for me
Jo Mc i go to a school in australia that has senior school and primary school. in the primary school nuts and bananas are banned but in the senior school nothing is banned because they are mature enough
In New York it's same. The school encourages and prefers reusable snack bags, reusable utensils.
I'm so glad you showed that you have little reusable containers for snacks. Please consider getting rid of the environmentally unfriendly zip lock and other plastic bags and instead go for something just as easy, but better for the environment like the small containers that you use, wash and reuse. The suggestions for the fruit cups and apple sauce are a great step in the right direction :)
I love it all and I'm in college. :)
I use the cute thermos 10oz for hot soup and oatmeal on the go.
I found some at riteaid and Walmart. No print just colored then put my name with label maker sticker
God bless
Great ideas! Before freezing sandwiches (ham and cheese) I butter the bread and that helps keep the bread from getting soggy and dried out. :-) I bake all my husband's lunch/snack treats. I have a chocolate chip cookie, brownie and other goodies on rotation.
Silly question but you butter the inside or the outside? I think I am still in shock that I can freeze ham sandwiches. Wonder if I can do it with Bologna.
+robin b (Njlamom) Hi, no question is silly. :-) I butter inside sides of the bread, add the meat/cheese and freeze in tightly sealed containers. I find the butter adds a bit of taste and helps to keep the meat from making the bread soggy. Another trick I've done when I was teaching, is if I had frozen bread and wanted to make a sandwich in the morning for latter, I butter the still frozen bread, add meat cheese, lettuce etc and pack for lunch. the bread is thawed by I eat it and the butter kept the bread from getting soggy. I'm not a picky eater, some people might still think the bread tastes funny but it didn't bother me. hope that helps. :-)
+simplegiftsandtruths oh fantastic! Thank you so very very much!
I love this video. I am thankful that my children's school provides free breakfast and lunch to everyone no matter the income. I believe they received some kind of grant. But if I had to pay those prices I would definitely use all of your tips to pack their lunch.
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were are all about prep in my house. no children but my husband and I both take lunch to work. one of my favorite tips is to boil eggs for hard boiled eggs once a week I do 1 dozen and peel them so they are all prep for the week. I just keep them in a Tupperware and pull what we need each day!
I didn't realise that hard boiled eggs kept fresh for so long. I have been wasting them by putting them out after two days!!! x
Liz McGonagle yes they will stay fresh for roughly a week :) we eat 1 or 2 every morning for a quick breakfast. I do store them if a few tablespoons of water.
+Amber G Thanks so much for answering me Amber G! I need to get 'boiling'. We use them for a quick breakfast or at the side of a salad for lunch, even just to keep me going while making dinner. xx
Great ideas
A McFreen ???
I cannot believe how expensive school lunches are these days!! That's insane
I was shocked too ! Here they're only $1.50 a day at most !! That's how much they were in my day too ! (I'm 23)
+Ashley Murphy I'm 25 so I'm sure mine were around the same price too but I forget! High school was more expensive though but elementary school lunches have gotten ridiculously expensive ! Bringing is so much cheaper
I'm in high school and I started online but when I went to the actual high school the meals were 2.50 each
I was shocked when she said $12/day for two kids as well. I don't think it's that expensive everywhere. I'm a teacher and school lunch is only $2.35ish or so at most schools in my area.
+Melissa Pickard sorry I didn't make it very clear in the video but it's $12 a day for my 4 kids. Bad editing on my part.
just found this, great hacks. I also found that melting the PB for like 20 seconds makes them so mush easier to make! No ripping the bread. One of my friends actually put wax paper on a cookie sheet and layers a sandwich amt of peanut butter, let's it freeze just enough to be able to cut it, then she cuts the PB into sandwich size frozen "patties". stores them in between wax paper and takes a frozen party out and tosses it on the bread, adds jelly or bananas, etc. It softens by lunch, but does not make the bread soggy!
Eeek good old Sistema is a New Zealand brand. So glad the rest of the world now gets to use these great products!
I suggest to have a dry run lunch to be sure the frozen food stays cold and the hot stays hot until the kiddos lunch period, the younger kids can actually eat lunch before 11:00am and its good to know how long the food will be at its best and find out if the containers are leak proof too ;-) Great ideas, have a super school year !!
These are great tips! Thanks for sharing!
I homeschool my 3 kids so they get a good breakfast that I do not rush with and they get a hot lunch. But I love the idea of freezing sandwiches and making my own fruit cups. Sometimes if I have things already made, they can just go into our fridge and create their own lunch. Then they sometimes will even make mommy lunch too :) I love your ideas.
they also have reusable sandwich and snack baggies on amazon.
I home school and still like to prepack lunches. I generally try to do it on Saturday for the whole week so I don't have to worry about it day to day. It makes it so I don't have to do kitchen clean up three times a day, I just have the kids grab what they want and we eat either out in the backyard (picnic table :)) or in the dining room. I started doing this when I had three kiddos and my husband was deployed so we could go on outings without having to worry about packing a lunch, now Im expecting my 6th and still find it a lifesaver. I, also, do freezer meals once every two weeks for the weekdays (Mon-Fri) so dinners are just defrost and cook. This has saved dinner many times. All I have to worry about cooking on a daily basis is breakfasts.
It's even faster if you get your kids to pack their lunches before they go to bed
I am a grown woman and even I would be excited to pack my lunch at your house...your organization skills are admirable 😊
Great tips but I'm from England and our houses are about the size of your lunch fridge, so I literally wouldn't have the space for all that food.
AND she has 2 fridges lol
same here
+kelij06 I love the tips on UA-cam but when they come from an American they tell you how to organise your 'craft room' or your 'closet' or your 'laundry room' most average uk people are lucky if they have a dining room let alone a craft room.
+Sarah I know I'm lucky enough to have a dining room next to my living room but even then still haven't got enough rooms! does my airing cupboard count 😂
+kelij06 same here I have a dining room as well but that's only because the kitchen was divided up so now it's a tiny dining room and even tinier kitchen. I'm lucky that 2 of the bedrooms have cupboards but the box room has a cupboard with stair box and it just makes it impossible to put a standard size single in there, and the other rooms cupboard is taken up by a combo boiler 🤔 makes you wonder who designed these uk houses?, makes me even madder that there's half a meter stretch of wasted grass at the side of my house of absolutely no use that they could have just built the house on, half a meter on the side of my house would have made a huge difference, but if I extended it would cost me a small fortune. The stupid thing is that in the papers today they say that the new builds in the uk are even smaller and the smallest in the whole of Europe. I dream of a big house with loads of floor space so my kids can jump about.
I never thought about freezing the sandwitches! You just solved a huge problem for me. We eat halal but the closest deli is a 45-50 min drive. I can just go once a month for the deli meat, make the sandwiches. I only have 1 child so I can gey away with only about 10 sandwiches and mix it up with other kinds of lunches. Now I can add meat sanwitches to the mix.
I'm trying to lose weight so I thought pack my own lunches. Thanks for this video!!!
i am in high school and i personally love having salad containers and multi-compartment tupperware. i think that it is so conventional and great for saving space. i would recommend getting grapes and freezing them for a nice treat at lunch or you could pack things like fruit salads which are so tasty. it does take some extra time in the morning but it is definitely yummy and healthy :)
Hello from Australia :) Just found your channel whilst I was eating lunch and now I've subscribed.
Hello! Welcome!
From Brissy, where are you?
you talk more than you work
😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😠😠😠😠😞😞😞😞😞😠😠😠😠😒😒😒😒😒😒
I'm in Australia too not joking
We freeze leftover slices of pizza, sloppy Joe's, pulled pork and hamburgers for school lunches. Our junior high student can heat these in the microwave or eat it cold. Muffins also freeze well. Homemade granola bars are a yummy treat. If you slices the top off of a kiwi, place it back on and wrap it with plastic wrap, it can be eaten out of the peeling with a spoon.
also i didnt know old navy sold anything but clothes, learn something new everyday
Yeah. When you are in line they have rows of stuff like water bottles, containers and CANDY!! etc. It's pretty cool.
i will have to check it out next time, thanks
gz
Thanks for the tips! This year I'm determined to stick it out with home lunches! 2 of my 3 kids live on hummus and I found some amazing 2 compartment containers at Wal-Mart (I believe they are for yogurt and granola) that are perfect for it. I can make hummus for a week for the price of one school lunch. I was cracking up at "sure not"... my 9 year old said that 500 times a day during his terrible twos phase!
please show us your kids lunches for a week!
Sure will!!
I use the 48 oz. Sistema Cube for my work lunch. Those small white boxes also fit in the Cube(larger of the 2 divided open sections) and hold a serving of trail mix/nuts and the like. I'll swing by Target to snag a Salad container. Great tips for us adults, too. Thanks!
I make my own fruit cups too, and applesauce. I don't put the juice in there......i save 200 a month by doing this!!!!! I make and do my own things to save money.....i love it......then for snacks I put them in portion control snack baggies and get ONE serving of the carb things, etc. I make my own lunchables with crackers, meat, and blocks of cheese. It serisouly saves me so much $....I am able to save 350.00 a month by doing all of these hacks. THREE HUNDERED DOLLARS A MONTH!!!! THAT'S HUGE!!!!! WHen I was buying uncrustables, fruit cups, applesauce bags and cups, lunchables, little bags of crackers, chips, etc, i was spending way too much money and i was frustrated and when i figured all of this out and it was more of not being lazy about it lol....i learned how much i could save and now i have extra money for family time than just food.
Lisa Willett I
you can also spread each slice of bread with a thin layer of butter or margarine before freezing to prevent sogginess. Tastes good too.
do people actually use those brown bags?
Lizzie Cook yup
Lizzie Cook hell yeh
Lizzie Cook no I use a lunch bag.
Love this! I do all you do already. (just get lazy as the year goes on) minus the second fridge.
My tip is : Pampered Chef makes a tool that makes the uncrustable sandwhiches. I freeze those also. I make them with Nutella and sometimes honey, too.
Where are you living that you are allowed to send the kids to school with PB&J sandwiches? My area (Ontario, Canada) has had schools strictly peanut free for at least 10 years.
Susan Schulz ours too, in BC. No nuts, period.
Susan Schulz
We could bring peanut butter sandwiches but we had a peanut free table far more away. But, if you eat one you have to wash your hands after. Also the school lunches are peanut free so if you have a school lunch, you can sit at the peanut free table next to someone like your friend if they ask.
Susan Schulz some people are allergic to peanuts
I'm in my school you can have peanut butter and all kids sit together.
Susan Schulz at my school they have a couple tables for the peanut free kids and the classes with allergies don't allow peanut snacks
if you buy juice like Capri Suns or juice that's in a plastic jugs / bottles put them in the freezer and on a hot days it will keep the lunches nice and cool and will stay fresh by lunchtime you will have a nice refreshing cold drink as well
Coolest mom ever!
My son loves to bring tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch during the winter here in Framingham. I use a thermos bottle for the soup and to keep the sandwich hot, I wrap it in foil and put in a wide mouth thermos jar. Works great!
That's a great idea! My kids love that lunch. So trying it!
Jee that's a lot of money for a month!! I thought my school was expensive for lunch it's £1:60 I live n the UK
I live in the uk and mine is £2.80!
That was for all 4 of her kids combined
in my school everyday lunch is rich amd chicken
rice and eggs are 25cents rice,chicken, eggs, and cucumber are only 50sents, a drink is 25 cents and a special drink is 50cents, usualy my mum just give me $1 each day
Same with me school lunch was pretty cheap but i also bought i a lot of snacks for me and sometimes for my friends if they want some so it was like 7.00 or more dollars LMAO
Queen of Sparkle in my secondary school in england its £2.05 for a meal or 0.89p for a sandwich and there are stuff like toast, bacon toast, pizza, panini etc. For cheap
Love your organisation in the fridge/freezer. Another way to store sandwiches in the freezer rather than stack them is to make them, wrap them in cling and then repackage them in the bag that the bread came in and then slide that right into the freezer. Saves a ton of space!
YOU ARE SO PRETTY!!!
I love that salad container you could easily put a sandwich in the bottom with veggies and dip on the top! I'm going to have to look for one!
Hi from Sweden
Hello!!
Laura I from Norway but live in Sweden and go to visit family in norway
Laura I'am from sweden were are u at sweden fam!!!!!
Laura
wow...I've watched a TON of school lunch videos for my kids, and this is by far my favorite. I love the organization, and I love the idea of everything being prepped so not only do I not have to do it in the morning, but my kids will feel like they have options when it comes to their lunch. thank you!!!
Do your children eat any veggies?
Mx. Foster, yeah I noticed this too, my children eat a balanced diet which means vegetables!
Mx. Foster she clearly said she was prepping the veggies and that she kept them upstairs. She also never said anything about potato chips. She had some cheese-it's and veggies straws. What little kid doesn't eat those sometimes? My kids are goldfish and cheese it fiends
Ashley Stevens she does talk about potato chips at 13:50, actually
That's awesome that you have your own fridge to store it all in and they can do it themselves. We homeschool, but I pack lunches because we are out of the house a lot. I still try to film what we are having every week and share. I really enjoyed your series this week, especially this one!
my daughter is going to start nursery I m looking for her different ideas please make a video on toddlers lunch ideas..🍉
I'm sure you know but for everyone else. pouring boiling water into the thermos for a few minutes before you add the hot food keeps it warmer.
also if you freeze the bottles on their sides it cools down better
At my school lunches are free
That's awesome!
yes mine too
+Sonata Wolf xD awesome
at my school we don't buy lunches not because they're expensive but because they don't do it
Lucky
thank you, thank you for the pb&j & ham & cheese idea. Have always been worried to make and freeze them for fear the bread would become soggy. Now I can make them at home with organic ingredients and the flavors we like. Almond butter, Nutella, honey and the list is pretty long of what can be used in place of the store bought frozen pb&j sandwiches. Thank you again and keep your inspiration alive. 😉
when your going to the dollar tree to grab sponges to make ice packs... why dont you pick up some ice packs....
Great tips, Kimmy! I used to make the freezer smoothies in bulk (30 every Sunday), but eventually they freezer jars cracked or warped and then I couldn't find them anymore. Did you purchase yours recently?
I purchased them last year at Wal-Mart
+She's In Her Apron Thanks, I will look!
+She's In Her Apron you have the best techniques!! I am in love with your channel and can't wait til my 2 yr old little girl goes to school! OH WAIT !! YES I CAN WAIT. I DON'T WANT HER TO GET ANY BIGGER , SHE'S GROWING SOOOOOO FAST! LOL 😂
Does food stamps work at Costco? I love your video and I'm new to this channel I have a little boy who is turning 2 next month and it's always a hassle finding new ways to make things. I'm glad I got your channel in my recommend thanks
+Stephanie Peninger thank you
+Stephanie Peninger I've never been to Costco how does it work?
+Natalie Arif thank you so much Hun this does help a lot
We don't have Costco so Costco is basically Sam's club
FlaminDonut Costco, BJ's and sams club are all basically the same thing but they all tend to carry some different things (brand wise), if u can split membership with someone or if u can afford it having more than one club membership is definitely worth it
Great refrigerator organization for school lunches, it would be great to have a separate frige for prepped lunches. Great tips Kimmie!
I love all that you do...you're a Great Mom!! =) =)
With the bought fruit cups, the kids can also use the straw from the juice box to poke in the top and sip the juice out before opening and eating
How many kids do you have????
I have 11 other siblings so my mom doesn't have time to do all that :( we have 2 nanny's
Googly eyes she has 4 kids 2 boy 2 girls
Tip for the sistema salad containers... If you take out the top bit, the container itself fits two sandwiches perfectly. My fiancé eats a lot of sandwiches! 😂
Oh my lord! $12? for all 4 kids, right ?Here in MD lunch is 2.50
exactly, i live in md too
In Florida we pay $1.80 for lunch (elem. school) and breakfast is FREE for everyone!
I go to a private school so you only pay for milk and it's on a card so you don't have to but money
Bella C food at my School is around 6$:(
Bella C in Texas they are $4.50 per child. I have two, one in high school and one in kindergarten.
love these ideas!!! The school lunches are unpredictable and most of the time they get wasted. Not to mention, expensive!!! I love for my kids to have something for lunch that they like and you can control what's in it. It's safe and healthy. Thank you for the tips
At 12:06 you can see beer 😖😖
+Andy Bridge I use beer in my beef stew.
She's In Her Apron wine is good idea too
Andy Bridge whats wrong with beer
Andy Bridge is it being included in the lunch bags? no..get over it
Andy Bridge and the point
I'll have to keep these tips in mind for when I need to start packing lunches for my littles! My son just started PreK and he gets free lunch while there (the entire school does).
Your kids must have good lunches for 12 bucks
Grace Weasley she has 4 kids it 3.00 a kids
Grace Weasley omg you profile pic I thought was hair.... and I kept trying to run it off 😂😂😂😂
Love the way you have arranged the snacks and the way you encourage your kids to put together their own lunches. I am actually envious of your kids - my mom banned anything that came in a package for lunch. Our family didn't believe in buying snacks that came in packets or tiny boxes. So we always got something homemade, but mom never had time with how much she was cooking EVERY SINGLE DAY.
| love how you have organizxed this!
are you from Utah? Because the granny sycamore bread is as far as I know only a Utah thing
+Jesse Carrillo sure am!
i miss living in utah i moved back home to ohio 3 years ago now and man i miss the lil things
Amanda Amanda there we go Ohio
Idaho has that bread to :)
It’s in Washington too! That’s the brand we buy, and I got so excited when she said that!
I like to use the containers that lunch meat comes in for lunch boxes. They are basically glad containers, but work great! They are gonna get lost, broken, stained etc anyway right?
try some healthier food for your children. white bread and potato chips?
Tracy Z chips*
Khushi khan thanks, stupid autocorrect won't let me change it to the proper way. cheers
Mom shaming. When will it stop? Live and let live.
Tracy Z Well, to be honest, I feel like it's much healthier than the actual school lunches. They are also healthier than some lunches that some parents make. I've seen a lunch everyday at school with Donuts, Chips, everything unhealthy. I must say though, my parents do make me healthier lunches, but at least Kimmy really does care about what her kids eat. Not trying to be rude, just helping! 😊
Tracy Z my mom does wheat bread and good boy chips they aren't really chips but they kinda are (there vegan chips)
you can get reusable pouches you can put homemade or bought - yoghurt. custard. puree fruit and custard. jelly. etc.
These lunches aren't healthy
I am soooooo going to do this! Packing lunch is the bane of my existence. I usually do a homemade lunch able every day since my girls refuse to eat sandwiches, but I'm totally going to implement this "pick your own sides" system, thanks!
You should consider giving a more balanced diet to your kids
Susana Sezoes judgemental & they will have a varied diet these are just ideas.
My son loved tomatoes with ranch dressing. I'd cut tomatoes up & add the ranch, fridge overnight so it's cold & he was a happy boy. New sub, love your channel 🎈
If they like them drained, poke a tiny hole in the top of the fruit cup, drain it, and put a little piece of duct tape or regular tape over the top!!
That's a good idea except the fruit could get stuck to the tape
Oh... I like the idea of turning that second fridge into a on the go lunch and snack fridge. I organize everything with dollar tree items. How could I neglect my second fridge! Thanks for the tips!
+Mommyof3 You're so welcome!
Yes! We have a fridge in the garage where we keep drinks so they don't clog up the kitchen fridge. It never occurred to me to put the kids lunch items out there. My mind is blown. 😃
Thank you for sharing all of your great ideas....you are so organized :) My kids have been home schooled up until this year (they will be starting public school) and I'm really excited to try to make it special to them. One thing that I plan on doing for their school lunch is leaving a little note everyday. Anything from a joke, to an I love you to something like clues leading up to a special surprise on the weekend. Thanks again for all of the tips :)
Love it!
So were we live (in Sweden) everyone gets a warm lunch at school. But this makes me want to do lunches , LOL
Sistema (sis-teh-mah) is a New Zealand brand, and was actually started by a guy who originally just made coat hangers. His business partner, who came up with the container idea about 20 years ago is a family friend and I grew up across the road from him.... so always had awesome lunch containers. I still use the brand. They also have soup containers that you can put in the microwave.