This post has been sponsored by Hillshire Farm and Walmart. All photos and opinions are mine.
Some days as a mom, I struggle. That struggle can often be seen in my kids’ lunch they take to school. I may or may not have given them cold pizza in a zip top baggie before…and yes, I am ashamed. But then there are days that I am a total rock star. They have all their favorite snacks and even some healthy stuff in there too and I feel like I’ve actually got my life together.
One way that I’ve stepped my game up is by purchasing a lunch kit that allows me to be creative. These lunch kits that have separated areas and one big seal in the lid for all of the compartments! The kids don’t have to keep up with lids and I don’t have to worry about them spilling things all over the cafeteria. You can get a lunch kit like this one that has all different size compartments and I being able to get creative about what will fit in each space.
So what to actually put in there? Start with the protein. My kiddos like lunch meat – but not sandwiches…yeah, it gets really confusing around here. lol. But I’ll take Hillshire Farm’s lunch meat and roll it up. For this one, I used Black Forest Ham and the 1 Lb Variety Pack with Turkey and Honey Ham. Hillshire Farm lunch meat is made with no preservatives, no artificial flavors, and no added nitrites or nitrates. I found these are Walmart on the lunchmeat aisle and there’s even an Ibotta coupon for Hillshire Farm Lunchmeat Red Lid Varieties from 5/20/18 to 6/30/18 here. Even better – Walmart has curbside pickup so I don’t even have to get the kids out of the car! Use the Pickup locator here to see if your local Walmart has this feature.
Then there’s the carbs. My kids don’t want plain bread (because they like making my life difficult), so I opted for a croissant (which they love) and some pretzels as well. You could really include anything – like chips, sandwich cookies, etc.
Fruit is always a staple i my kids’ lunch. In fact, neither kid had any candy before they turned two years old. They thought fruit was the sweetest that food got, so they’ve always been crazy about it. For this lunch, I opted for whole strawberries and some cut up kiwi. They’ve never had kiwi before, so I’m using this opportunity of a fun lunch to try something new.
Of course, I had to add a person touch – i.e., the cheese letters. I showed my son his lunch this morning (because I wanted to see his reaction) and he was SO excited to be able to eat his name. He couldn’t wait to show his friends at school. That’s right, he’s 5 so Mom is still cool. All I did to make it was use cookie cutters. You can use any shape and they make lunch just so fun! And I made a grilled cheese sandwich for myself using the scraps, so nothing went to waste.
So get creative with lunch! My kids love packing their lunches with me and we have a lot of fun creating new combinations!
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