Getting my school lunch prep on!

So, school is in session again. And, I am now officially a SAHM! Wahoo!
I have never NOT worked. It's different. I like it.
Anyway, back to "school".

This year, my son asked if I could make his lunch every day.
After my initial panic attack, I relaxed and figured "Why not?"!

So, I read a bazillion different blogs online and pinned the heck out of Pinterest trying to get ideas. I wanted to make sure that I didn't spend a lot of money (especially since buying lunch is $2 a day through the school).

As we all know, Pinterest paints this gorgeous picture for you of perfect lunches with cute notes. Everything is perfectly portioned, bagged, labeled, prepped the week prior, and looks like Martha Stewart made it. I am not Martha Stewart. But, I thought I could give it a shot.

So, here's what I did to prepare the week before school started.


1) I made minis!
-muffins
-corndog muffins
-brownies

 

2) Made some yummy peanut butter balls I found online here (she's also got some great lunch ideas)
http://www.mommyskitchen.net/2011/08/back-to-school-lunch-box-ideas_16.html

3) Made mini pizza crusts for DIY Lunchables (also found on the above site)

4) Portioned snack items and put in a bin in the pantry
-goldfish
-pretzels
-snack mix (which I made myself)
-animal crackers

5) Made and portioned sides (cheaper than buying the already packaged stuff)
-jello
-pudding
-applesauce
-yogurt
-mixed fruit (the stuff in a can- I portioned out to make individual sizes)

6) Made my own bread to use for sandwiches with a recipe here
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-basic-white-sandwich-bread-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-166588

7) Bought an uncrustable maker (still have to figure out how it works though....)

8) Bought "fun food"
-Dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets (hello? fun!)
-Potato wedges
-V8 Splash 2 liters
-Rice crispy treats (yes, I could have made these, but they were on sale)
-Fruit by the foot (I found a recipe to make these from scratch, but haven't had a chance to try it yet)
-Granola bars
-Fruit snacks


I bought some lunch tupperware and got ready. The types I got were sandwich (the square ones), round (2 sizes for portioning sides), and small oval (for dipping sauces). I also got snack size plastic ziplock bags for everything.
Took me a week between errands, shopping, baby stuff, puppy stuff (we got another puppy- what was I thinking lol), and family fun.


There are tons of resources and after I made everything, I realized that I just kind of need to not stress it out, take what I learned reading all the blogs from other mommies, and go cheap! (Kids can't really taste the different between brand name anyway)
What also helped is our Sam's Club membership. Buying in bulk and portioning is awesome!

I hope I can keep my sanity for the whole year