5 Tips For Quickly Packing Awesome School Lunches

I can't believe how fast the summer has flown! School is starting soon for my kids and many children have already gone back. Packing school lunches can definitely get tedious after a while. These 5 helpful hints will give you lots of ideas for packing easy, healthy and awesome lunches your kids will love!

Mac and Cheese, mangoes, blackberries, tomatoes and steamed baby peas.

1. "Something fresh and real with every meal" - Try to include at least one fresh, raw fruit or veggie with every lunch. It doesn't need to be fancy - just a real, fresh, whole food. Keep it simple, keep it fresh and buy organic whenever possible.

Homemade zucchini muffin, blueberries, raspberries, cucumber sticks, tomatoes, eggplant hummus and pretzels

2. Dinner for Lunch - I love leftovers! When you're preparing dinner, make extra so you can add it to the next day's school lunch. Doing this will save you so much time. Plus, it adds variety to the lunches. Throw in a handful of berries and veggie sticks and you have a quick lunch that's also healthy. No need to heat the meal at school, leftovers taste great cool

Roast chicken strips, grapes, carrot sticks, hummus, pretzels, raw sprouted pumpkin seeds.

3. Preparation Is Your Best Friend - Make the kids' lunches before you go to bed and put them in the fridge. They'll be ready to grab and go in the morning. So much better than trying to pack lunches during the morning rush.

Yogurt with beet puree, kiwi slices, Annie's cheddar bunnies, blueberries and "Ants On A Log" with peanut butter, celery and dried cherries.

4. Spinach as sandwich "lettuce" - Try substituting fresh, baby leaf spinach as the lettuce in sandwiches. It is one of the healthiest foods on the planet and has a very mild taste.

Applegate turkey bologna sandwich with baby spinach, steamed asparagus, tomatoes, raw sprouted pumpkin seeds and a chocolate dipped pretzel

5. Trade in all of the separate baggies for 1 container - We love using stainless steel bento boxes, like Planetbox, for lunch. It saves so much time by not having to individually wrap everything. Plus, these containers are dishwasher safe and leave no waste.

Hummus with chia seed chips, roasted broccoli, blackberries, blueberries and Annie's gummy bunnies.

Happy back to school!!!

What are some of your favorite tips for packing lunch?