Recently, a couple of people have asked me for ideas on what to pack in lunch boxes, and while my initial reaction is "Why are you asking me? I'm still trying to figure that out myself!" I realize that it's not unreasonable to expect me to have a clue. I am, after all, starting my fifth consecutive year of packing school lunches. It would be expected that I figure out what the heck I'm doing in that amount of time.

And so, while I'm still always looking for new ideas, I guess I do have several standards that I easily fall back on. What I'm hoping for, through writing this, is to gather more ideas.

My boys attend a school that has no cafeteria, and that encourages packing no-waste lunches - meaning that Go-Gurts, Lunchables, Uncrustables, and other pre-packaged convenient items are not an option. I will, on occasion, toss one in (usually individual yogurt containers that I inherit after the boys have stayed with their grandparents but haven't finished all the treats that were bought for their visit). But for the most part, I have whole-heartedly adopted their Green philosophy.

Lunch Boxes
Everyone probably already has a lunch box by now, but for those that are still using last year's or are considering getting a new one, I'd like to recommend the byo lunch bag - not that you need to get them customized, I'm just avoiding promoting any one store - because they are EVERYWHERE). What I like about these is that they store flat (and when I have to store 3, it matters!), they can turn inside out to clean, they have ample storage space, and if need be, they are machine washable!

Other supplies
My older kids are expected to pack any utensils they need, a napkin, and a place mat. One thing I've found is that the large collection of baby washrags that we have around the house make nice cloth napkins. I'm actually looking for cloth napkins to use at mealtime that work as well, but in the meantime, we keep our drawer of washrags - and pack the non-patterned ones in the boys' lunches.

I've also picked up a few of those cute-shaped reusable ice packs (a football, a smiley face, and a monkey, to be precise) to toss into their lunches if need be (the bags insulate for 3 hours, so it's really not even necessary).

Finally, I bought an Aladdin Mini Lunch Bowl that comes with a spoon, and does fit into the byo lunch bag.

A couple of sandwich containers, and a whole shelf full of mini-storage (1/2 cup mini-round), and we're ready to go!

Composition of a Meal
To me, a lunch needs to include one "entree" and two sides. Last year, I confess, my fallback meal (which was fine by my boys) was a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, yogurt, and fruit. But with more kids having peanut allergies, I need more options (besides, I want to save PB&J for lunch on soccer game days).

I recently bought a cookbook that boasts recipes made up of 3 or 4 ingredients. I'm hoping some of these turn into decent lunch options. I'm starting by making these foods at home first, and will test how they taste colder (because really, how warm will they really remain 3 hours later - I'll have to test that too).

To me, anything that has to be done repeatedly needs to be as simple as possible. Someone recently posted this quote on Facebook that applies here:

“Whenever there is a hard job to be done I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it.” –Walter Chrysler