It’s already back to school time here in the mid-west and parents are talking about school lunches.  Each week this month I’ll be sharing ideas for easy to fix, kid friendly, and inexpensive kid lunches.

The Basics

Lunch Box/Bag:

We use insulated lunchboxes/bags.  They come in a variety of colors and are available locally at stores like Target, Wal-Mart, Meijer, Kroger, etc.  If your store no longer has a back to school section, look for them near the luggage.  Year round there’s usually at least 1 shelf of lunchboxes.

Ice Packs

We like to pack cold foods, and keeping them cold is important.  When you use a reusable ice pack inside an insulated bag, many foods can stay cold until lunch.  The small packs cost about $1.50 and are the right size for 1 kid’s lunch.  We keep one in the freezer for each kid that packs a lunch.

Thermos

When the weather cools down, some kids will want to take warm foods.  I invested in several real Thermos’.  They may seem a little pricey at $15-$25, but I think they are so worth it.  You can send warm soup, leftover spaghetti, macaroni, etc and it will still be warm hours later.  We have several of Thermos’ Funtainers.  They advertise that they keep hot foods hot for 5 hours or cold foods cold for 7 hours.  I’ve found these locally at Target and Meijer for about $16.  If you can’t find them locally, Amazon sells them too. See below for some links.

Containers

I’m an advocate for reusable containers.  Not only do they save the landfill from plastics, but they save you from having to run to the store to get another box of baggies when you run out.  Notwithstanding, we do use plastic bags sometimes.  But we love to use containers.  Ziploc and Glad make reusable plastic containers in a variety of sizes.  We have some of those around, but what gets used all the time is Tupperware.  You can also reuse plastic containers from sour cream, dips, yogurt (if they have lids), etc.  Here’s some that we like:

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