Hi Friends,

It’s that time of year again – Back to School! We’ll be sharing plenty of back-to-school content over the coming weeks to help you feel ready to start the school year. If you’re dreading school lunch packing, then this podcast episode is for you. Anna and I offer realistic advice to simplify packing lunches.

Key Points

* Why lunch packing feels overwhelming

* The pros and cons of bento-style lunch boxes

* Easy, practical ways to streamline lunch packing

* How to deal with uneaten lunches

* Ideas for lunches to pack

Resources

* Simple Black Beans and Rice Recipe

* Easy Black Beans, Corn & Tomatoes

* Sunny Side Up Nutrition: Lunch Packing Ebook

* Pottery Barn Bento Lunch Boxes

* Pinney Davenport Nutrition, PLLC

* Lutz, Alexander & Associates Nutrition Therapy

Transcript

Ep. 105 – Back-to-School Lunch Packing Tips

Anna: Alright. We’re back. We’re back. Elizabeth, this is so much fun. I’m excited to talk to you about lunch packing. Woohoo!

Elizabeth: And guess what? I’ll start the episode by saying I am finished packing lunches.

Anna: Oh, I’m so jealous.

Elizabeth: because my youngest is about to go off to college.

Anna: Wow.

Elizabeth: So I’m a little sad because it’s been a big—it’s been a job that I’ve always done.

Anna: Yes.

Elizabeth: Not in the summers. They do their own lunches in the summers, but during the school year…

Anna: Well, you have a lot of wisdom to pass on. And I’m so jealous. I have another nine years of lunch packing. That’s all. No big deal. Well, school is about to start for us, I guess at the end of the month. End of August here.

Elizabeth: Yeah, it starts, I guess, mid-August here. It starts August nineteenth, I think. Here.

Anna: Wow. Wow.

Elizabeth: In Alexandria City. I don’t know about the rest of the DC metro area, but yeah, it’s coming up. Summer has flown.

Anna: And I know when school starts approaching for me, I start to think, oh gosh, we’ve got to get back to lunch packing. My child’s at a camp this week that they don’t have to pack lunch, and it was like celebration time.

Why do you think it’s so dreaded? Why do you think packing lunches is such a dreaded thing for so many parents?

Elizabeth: I think, in part, because you have to come up with ideas for what to pack. So it’s one more thing you have to think about and manage as part of the mental load. Often we do it in the morning, and mornings for many people tend to be rushed. And I think other reasons that make it dreaded is it’s just kind of a boring task and you do it over and over. I mean, if you think about the number of years your kids go to school, that’s a lot of lunches.

Anna: Yes – so true.

Elizabeth: And as I always share, I opted—and I’m not saying people have to do this—but I opted to pack my kids’ lunches all the way through high school. I felt like that was a job I could do. And in my mind, they were still learning what goes into lunch, because they would see what I packed.

But back to what you think people dread about it… I also think kids have different likes and dislikes. And if you have multiple kids and you’re trying to keep things simple and pack the same things, that can be tough.

Anna: Can be, can be. You need to have the items on hand, right? There are all these steps: the items on hand, the proper packing stuff, the containers or lunchboxes—whatever that looks like. If there’s utensils involved, there’s just… there’s a lot.

Elizabeth: And I’m going to say this—I don’t know if I’m jumping ahead—but one of the things I’ll say is about the lunch packing supplies, the lunch boxes and bags. I think the bento boxes are great. I use a couple different ones for my younger daughter. However, I almost always have to pack something outside that bento-style box. It’s very hard to give kids enough in those, and I’m not criticizing them. I’m just saying this because we see them so often on social media. Every time I see them, I think, oh, that can’t be enough for a child. Maybe it’s just the way it looks on the screen.

Anna: Right. Right.

Elizabeth: Again, they’re great because young kids can open them up and see everything—they don’t have to open a bunch of containers. So there are some real benefits. But you also have to think: what’s going to fit in there? Sometimes I have to change what I’m using because it didn’t fit.

Anna: Oh, totally.

Elizabeth: I’m like, what of this is going in there?

One piece of advice is to have a number of different things that you use so you’re not just restricted to one type of container.

Anna: Right. I agree. I think that makes total sense.

And, you know, of course we’re talking today about school-aged children. So that could be anyone from age three—if they go to preschool or daycare—up to eighteen. And so, of course, there are different needs and different size containers.

But I’m with you. Some of those bento-style boxes are not enough for my older children. I do use—and we’ve written about this—the Pottery Barn ones for my younger child.

Elizabeth: Yes.

Anna: They’re a little deeper, I think, than some of the others. But there are lots of lunches that don’t work in that.

Elizabeth: Right? Can you still buy those? We’ll look and see if we can link to them in the show notes.

Anna: I just bought our new Pottery Barn lunch box. We buy them because they have a strap, and she needs one she can throw across her body. And then the bento boxes they sell fit in there.

Anna: But again, we don’t work with Pottery Barn.

Elizabeth: Yeah. Not sponsored by Pottery Barn. Just sharing helpful information.

Anna: Yes.

Elizabeth: We keep this ad-free for you all.

Anna: Alright, so I’m kind of curious. Do you feel like there are some main pitfalls that make packing lunches harder for people than it needs to be? What are the things you commonly see when you work with parents?

Elizabeth: I mean, I’ve seen so many different things. Let me think of a good example. I’ve seen parents come in who are packing their child the same thing every day, and they’re worried about doing that. And I think that’s okay.

School cafeterias typically are very busy, noisy places. They have a short time to eat lunch. It’s not like a calm, pleasing environment. So just send what they’ll eat.

I think parents also may feel pressure to pack some sort of perfect lunch. You see these on social media. And if that brings you joy, that’s great. It’s okay if it brings you joy to cut the veggies into little shapes and stars.

But in my mind, for some people, that’s a form of pressure for the kid to eat the food.

Anyway, I’m getting off topic again.

I just think parents are under so much pressure—to be perfect, to plan something different every single day—and it’s just not realistic.

Anna: That’s right.

Elizabeth: We’re all about simplifying things.

Anna: Right. But I think you’re exactly right—that pressure of “It needs to be this. It needs to be this. It needs to be this…” It doesn’t. I think that’s the biggest pitfall: succumbing to that pressure.

Elizabeth: I think you’re right. And if your kid likes the school lunch? That is great. We’re not saying in this episode that parents have to pack their kids’ lunches.

Anna: That’s right.

Elizabeth: We are big fans of school lunches.

Anna: Absolutely. I’m very excited when my child wants to buy the school lunch. Unfortunately, they prefer packed lunch.

Elizabeth: In some schools—honestly, like in my kids’ schools—the schools were just too big. I mean, the high school had 4,500 students. There’s not enough time to get in line, get lunch, eat, and get back to class. So it’s really hard to make that happen. Even in elementary school.

Anna: Yeah, that makes sense. I’m going to circle back to something you said a few minutes ago because I think it’s important: you said you packed your children’s lunches all the way through, which is great. Like you said, it was modeling, and they could focus on other things. And some parents do it differently.

So I’ll share what we’ve done. When they’ve gotten to a certain age—upper middle school, maybe—I might have them help me. I’d say, “I’m going to make the sandwich. Why don’t you grab a fruit and some chips?” So we’d do it together.

But what I’ve also noticed is that as my oldest child got busier and busier, I went back to packing her lunch.

Just to give you a picture—there’s no wrong or right. We get asked so often, “At what age should you stop packing your child’s lunch?”

Elizabeth: Exactly. And there’s no right answer.

Anna: Involving them in an age-appropriate way is fine. You doing it so they can focus on other things is great, too. There’s no wrong or right when it comes to that.

Now, I will say, something you and I have both seen is when a child is given these responsibilities too early—like making their own lunch or dinner—and they might not have the skills to do that, they still need their parents’ care when they’re young.

Elizabeth: Yes, there is such a thing as “too young.” The scaffolding is removed, the support is taken away too early—and that’s what we see in our office when we see clients, for sure.

In high school, I really think it’s one of the reasons I kept packing their lunches—because of the work I’ve done over these years. We see kids in our offices who need their parents to go back to packing their lunches.

As you said, high schoolers get busier. They still need a lot of sleep. Packing lunch is their last priority. It’s unlikely they’re going to pack enough or even remember to pack it. They may just leave with no lunch if they’re really busy.

If you have kids entering high school—or even middle school, as they start getting busier—that’s something to be mindful of.

Anna: I wanted to mention—we have an ebook on our website that’s about lunch packing. It’s called Reboot Your Lunch Packing… or Take the Stress Out of Lunch Packing. I can’t remember the exact name right now. But it has great resources, including items to purchase and steps to make lunch packing simpler.

Elizabeth: Yeah, if you want to do a deeper dive—ask questions, share things you’re making for lunch, or get ideas—that’s a great resource.

Okay—tips for making lunch packing easier. One of the things that comes to mind—and this goes back to general meal planning—is: when you plan your meals for the week, include lunches in that planning. Also think about what meals might make good leftovers that can work for lunch.

That’s something I really relied on. Then all you have to do is pour boiling water in the thermos—I’m miming putting the lid on the thermos—let it sit for 10 minutes to heat up. Reheat the food in the microwave. I like to reheat in glass or microwave-safe bowls. Put the food in the thermos and you’re good to go.

Some people might say, “Ah, a sandwich would be so much easier”—and that’s great too!

Another tip can be: just pick two things you’re going to make for lunch that week. It doesn’t have to be different every day. I would even jot down the sides I planned to include—just to make it easier on myself.

They might have carrots, apples, and cookies five days in a row—paired with different entrees or sandwiches. I also love things like peanut butter crackers. That’s not as easy for really young kids, but for older ones, it works. Or salami, cheese, crackers, a yogurt, and then some sides—veggies, fruit…

Another thing that simplifies lunch packing is our meal formula. Think of it this way: an entrée, a fruit and/or veggie, and two or more sides.

Your high school athlete is going to need many more sides. Your growing elementary schooler may also need more than two or three sides.

:Another great tip: check in with your kids at the end of the day. Ask, “Was that enough lunch for you?” or “Are you staying satisfied through the day?” or “Are you getting hungry too early?” Just periodic check-ins like that.

Anna: That’s great. During the school year, when I’m planning meals for the week, I try to think of one dinner that can double as a lunch. It even helps me pick what to make for dinner.

Elizabeth: Yes! In the book, we have so many ideas for lunches you can make—and dinners that work well as lunch leftovers.

Anna: That’s great. Those are all really great tips. Do you think it would be helpful for us to talk a little bit about the steps we outline in the membership?

Elizabeth: Okay, one more simplifying tip: use prepackaged foods.

Now, we do try to be conscious of not using too much packaging, but we also need to be realistic about our bandwidth.

And I think I can speak for both of us on this—yes, it’s okay to buy the big box of individually bagged chips from Costco or the grocery store. Then all you have to do is toss it in the lunchbox.

Anna: Totally. That’s a great thing to consider.

Elizabeth: Or the pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or things like that.

Anna: Alright, so to think about what we share around simplifying your lunch packing… because I really want our listeners to be able to say, “Okay, here are a few things I can do.”

I know one major thing we talk about is making a master lunch list.

Elizabeth: Yes! Oh, I forgot about that.

Anna: So, make a list with three components: 1. entreés, 2. fruits and veggies, 3. sides

Sides could be crunchy things like chips or pretzels, or yogurt, cheese sticks, or even dessert. The idea is to build out a list of all the options in each of those three categories.

And what you highlighted at the beginning is one reason lunch packing is so hard—there are so many decisions. So by having a list, you decrease the decision-making.

Literally, if you can pull out your list and say, “Entrée, fruit or veggie, sides…” you’ve simplified the process. Or like you said—sometimes you even plan it all out at the beginning of the week.

Elizabeth: Right. We want to decrease your decision-making because we all know about decision fatigue. Once we’ve made a million decisions, our brain just stops—especially at 7 a.m., or 6 a.m., or even 5:30 a.m. depending on when your kid has to leave for school.

Anna: Exactly. So that’s a big one: make a master list. And when you’re dreading packing lunches, pull it out and just start—pick one category and get going.

And we’ve already talked about the second step—our simple structure of entrée, fruit and/or veggie, and two-plus sides. And the third step is including lunches in your meal planning—which we’ve also covered.

Elizabeth: Yep. Cook once, eat twice. That’s the way to do it.

Anna: And the last one—why don’t you talk about it? What do we mean by embracing the gray?

Elizabeth: Lunches don’t need to be photo-perfect. I think I touched on this earlier. We are bombarded with images of perfect lunches—especially bento-style boxes, which I’m not criticizing—but the ones we see are often filled with fruits and veggies cut into shapes, little food picks, and all that.

And then there’s this pressure to pack something new and interesting every day. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Embracing the gray is reminding yourself: keep it simple. Your kids need food they can eat quickly at school that will fuel them for the day. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Anna: That’s great. Take that pressure off.

I’m imagining there might be a parent listening who’s thinking, “Okay, but what if I make my child’s lunch and it comes back uneaten?” Or “What if I don’t pack this exact lunch every day and my child doesn’t eat anything?” Okay, so two questions: 1. What if they don’t eat? 2. What if you feel like you have to pack the same thing every day for them to eat?

Elizabeth: So let’s start with: what if they don’t eat?

You can just say, “Oh, I noticed you weren’t able to eat your lunch. What was going on today?” I’ve made the mistake of saying, “Oh my gosh, what happened?! You didn’t eat your lunch!” and that is a surefire way to get your kid not to tell you the truth.

Anna: Or to throw away their uneaten lunch so you don’t say that next time.

Elizabeth: Exactly! And it’s a natural instinct—you’re thinking, “They went all day without food!” But try to stay calm and be curious. Think of it as a chance to support them and learn what’s impacting them—especially if it starts happening repeatedly.

Anna: You never know what you’ll hear—it might not be what you expect.

Elizabeth: The second question was about packing the same lunch every day. If your child will only eat four specific things, I think it’s okay to rotate those. You’re obviously going to mix things up a little over time, but there’s no rule saying lunch has to be different every day.

I’d ask yourself: where is that worry coming from? Is it something internal—like feeling pressure to “do it right”? Maybe it’s an opportunity to ask your child if they’d like to switch from peanut butter and jelly to peanut butter and honey. You don’t have to change the whole lunch. A small tweak can go a long way.

Anna: Where that can really bump up against a parent’s stress is when they have multiple kids with different preferences. Now they’re making two or three different lunches.

Elizabeth: Yes. I was only thinking about making one lunch! That’s why this gets so complicated.

Elizabeth: Exactly. If you’re making multiple lunches, it’s important to remember: not everyone has to love every component every single day—and that’s okay. And just to note, we’re not talking here about someone with extreme picky eating or feeding challenges.

It’s okay if they don’t eat every part of their lunch—just like it’s okay if they don’t eat every part of dinner.

Anna: I don’t think that contradicts what you said earlier. I think it highlights the nuance. It’s okay to balance your needs as a parent with your child’s needs. And those needs change!

Elizabeth: They do. They evolve over time.

Anna: And in those cases—if your kids are older, or even if they’re younger and it won’t stress you out—you can involve them in packing their lunch. You can say, “I’ll make the sandwich, you grab the sides.”

Elizabeth: And if the sides are prepackaged, they can do that easily—even younger kids. They can grab an applesauce pouch or sliced apples, or a couple other pantry snacks. Simple.

Anna: To wrap up, what’s one piece of advice you’d want a parent to take away from this episode—especially if they’re dreading packing lunches?

Elizabeth: Whatever you can do to simplify it. Maybe that means asking your child to buy lunch one or two days a week—if they have enough time to get through the lunch line. Or maybe it’s doing some prep the night before while cleaning up from dinner.

Anna: Yes, that works really well for a lot of people. You’re already in the kitchen. It’s already messy.

Elizabeth: Exactly. Sandwiches, for sure, can be made at night. And that could be when kids help, too—especially younger kids who aren’t off doing homework or sports yet.I don’t know if that helps at all, but I hope so!

Anna: No, I think that’s great. Just think: What do you need to simplify?

Okay, last question. What’s one unique food item you’ve packed in a school lunch—either an entrée or something fun?

Elizabeth: Well, this feels a little extra, but we live in a neighborhood with a cheese shop, and my kids love these mini finocchiona salamis—“mini finies,” we call them. I’d slice those up with meats and cheeses. They loved it.

Anna: Yum! For me, I don’t know if this is unique, but we just had it for dinner this week—our Simple Black Beans and Rice recipe with tortilla chips. It’s on the blog. It goes great in a thermos, with avocado, shredded cheese… simple and satisfying.

Elizabeth: Exactly. And if you want to send avocado, here’s a tip: I send half an avocado, still in the skin, face down in a container with a slice of lime. They scoop it out and add some salt. It sounds extra, but it works!

Elizabeth: And if all they eat is avocado and chips, they’ll still be satisfied!

Elizabeth: One more: You’ve made another black bean recipe that’s on our blog—a black bean, corn, tomato mix with rice. I used to make it just for lunch, or as dinner leftovers. My kids now say, “You gave me that a lot,” but hey—they ate it!

Anna: Maybe someday they’ll feel nostalgic.

Elizabeth: Maybe! Another easy one: a batch of pasta with tomato sauce—or even plain pasta. Just reheat and toss it in a thermos. Super easy.

Elizabeth: Alright—this was awesome.

Anna: Good luck, everyone, as school starts! Bye!

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