Before the children went back to school I wanted to get things organised at home to make things run smoothly. I have plans to write all day long in between school trips and classroom mother help this year, so the house has to be in order, because I just don't like housework, really, and if there are things that will make it easier, then count me in!
One of the things I really wanted to take off my 'to do' list was the school lunches. Not only did I wash and fill the lunch boxes, but I also noticed that I was having to run to the grocery store every few days to top up the food.
When my friend Christine told me her secret tip that she used with her children, I fell in love with it. It's one of those ideas that you just know is going to work. And it is!
We have this system up and running. Some of my children, mostly the girls, love it. They rush in the door when they get home, wash out their lunch boxes in the sink of hot, soapy water and then make their lunches.
The boys…. well, it takes a bit of jogging them along, but they do it too, and this idea puts the control back in their hands, plus, they learn how to plan ahead.
So, you want to know what the idea is?
This is how I do it.
I went out and bought each child a large snap lock container. I bought pretty stickers and named all the containers. Initially, I bought open trays, but then as someone pointed out to me, it might end up being too tempting for one of the dear darlings to steal food from another of the dear darlings….. so snap locked boxes it was.
Then I went grocery shopping and bought 4 packets of mellow puff biscuits, 4 packets of muesli bars, 4 packets of dried apricots, 4 boxes of fresh grapes… you get the idea.
They each get their own packet of food - enough to last the 5 school days. You should have seen Teddy's eyes when he saw a whole box of mellow puffs, all to himself! And a whole box of crackers!
They have to decide how many items, and what they want in their lunches, if they want to eat the whole packet of mellow puffs today or spread it out over a week. Then they make their own sandwiches. No more wasted food. No more moaning because they don't like something. And I think it's helping the grocery bill as well, because I'm not having to restock halfway through the week.
This is such a fun idea. The kids love it and I do too!
2 comments :
Such a great idea! Almost tempted to do it here at home......
cool idea. I think my kids would scoff the lot in a day or two and starve the rest of the week tho :(
xx
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