The holidays really throw my routine out the window. In November and December the school lunches were made, and the photos were taken, but I didn't get around to blogging them for you. So here you are, a catch up of several weeks of school lunches.

Remember, the food itself doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just take an extra minute to present the meal in a fun way, and it will seem so much more appealing. If you look at the contents of these lunches, most of them do not contain anything really revolutionary, just normal kid lunch stuff presented in an appealing and organized way. I try to make sure the lunch is balanced with a protein, a fruit and a veggie (although looking back at some of these pics, I see I haven't done so great with the veggie - something to work on in 2015!).

I follow a very loose theme menu each week for my lunches. It just gives me a place to start and helps me ensure I'm not giving them the same thing every day. I know some kids would be perfectly happy to eat the same lunch every day, but mine will not. They like a little variety. And honestly, so do I. I would get too bored just making the same lunch every day. My routine goes a little something like this:

Monday: weekend leftovers, or sunbutter & jam sandwich
Tuesday: something with a tortilla - quesadilla, burrito
Wednesday: breakfast for lunch - oatmeal, muffin, leftover pancake or waffle
Thursday: homemade lunchable - crackers, meat, cheese
Friday: Weeknight leftovers, or sandwiches, usually meat and cheese. Or 'make your own' sandwich kits.

And finally, my biggest lunch packing tip is to plan ahead! If you do a meal plan, great. If not, even just jot down on a scrap of paper a few notes about what you're going to pack for a few days. You'll be so glad you did, it's so much easier to have a plan, rather that have to figure it out right at the last minute. And a big part of planning ahead includes making your lunches ahead of time. I try to make mine right after dinner each night. If I get lazy and skip it, I really kick myself in the morning.

If you're looking for lunch packing products, here are some of my favorites that you'll see used in many of these lunches:

Our lunch containers are Easy Lunchboxes. They are great! Each set comes with four boxes, each with a different colored lid. They are dishwasher safe and really durable, and very reasonably priced.
The little dip containers are also by Easy Lunchboxes, called Mini Dippers.
I use square silicone baking cups to keep things separate and organized in the lunch boxes.
The little forks I use are just plastic cocktail forks .
The spoons are little disposable cocktail spoons.

Now on to the lunches!