Mainely Martha

Back to school…it has to be the most exhausting week of the year. Part of the exhaustion in no small part, comes from preparing lunches; admittedly my least favorite task. But, you don’t need to have kids going off to school to plan for; it can still be a daunting task that looms overhead as we attempt to be mindful of what we eat and what we waste and plan for our own lunch.

Like all meal planning the secret hack to make this task less of a chore, not surprisingly, is in the prep. If possible, as soon as the groceries are unpacked, prep any foods that require cutting, chopping, washing, segmenting, etc…  Then, if possible, pre-pack portion sized containers to have an easy grab and toss into the lunch box. Thus, the next essential hack is to have a supply of containers.  Snack sized zip-loc bags to pre-pack single portions of nuts, baby carrots, grapes, etc… are great. You can buy them and bulk and filled with an appropriate portion that is also not taking up alot of space to store until used. But as not everything works in bags; small stackable containers are a must. But, be careful with the sizes; too big can cause too large of a portion as well as take up too much space in the fridge and in the lunchbox.

And while shopping and unpacking the groceries can be time consuming and tiring on it’s own and the thought of staying in the kitchen to plow through food prep and packing is less than appealing, try to think of how easy the following mornings will be. Adding the food prep to the task of unpacking groceries is an easy habit to adopt after a week or two and will pay off in spades with the time saved and peace of mind of packing a balanced lunch.

Will be doing a week of prep be easy? Nope. But, will it be worth it? You bet!