Crafting the Perfect Lunch

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® community. This has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #PackThePerfectLunch #CollectiveBias Note that as always – all ideas and opinions are my own, and I only ever share things I love, believe in, and enjoy here on my blog. Today I am thrilled to share with you some crafty fun ideas -and a new personal product favorite all while crafting up a good lunch…

The photo you see above? That’d be my lunch! I love taking a small plate, filling it up, then eating as I work (or write blog posts!). Ah, but this post isn’t all about me. It’s about lunch time! School is in session and now that the kids are older I asked them to help me explain our formula for packing (and crafting) the perfect lunch. We’ve spent the summer eating relatively healthy (when not traveling) and exercising a lot – we don’t want to lose momentum! So first and foremost we went for supplies.

I try to keep a number of options in the house so that we can keep  mixing it up with minimal trips to the store. When we buy fruit or veggies intended for lunch we go ahead and wash/prep them so things move quickly too. We NEVER have enough time in the morning! Things we like to use in lunches include:

• DASANI 10 or 12oz water bottles
• Honest Kids juice pouch or boxes
• POWERADE (on gym/track days especially!)
• meat (salami, jerky, sliced chicken breast- or whatever dad BBQ’d last night!)
• cheese
• nuts (any and all kinds. mixed or single type!)
• veggies (cucumber is the household fave)
• fruit (strawberries, blueberries, grapes, apple, orange… whatever is in season!)
• tiny treat (mini chocolate chips or a single small candy is always a big hit!

Occasionally there is a sandwich, bagel, or other “main” type item to enjoy instead of meats & cheese. The key thing we find is lots of variety, small amounts, and things that travel/save well win. I do always add nuts, a protein bar, or some other mid morning snack as well.

Above you see Rebecca’s lunch from yesterday in progress – minus one important detail! You see for me, I know childhood is fleeting and these days flying by all too fast. I also know that these “tween” years are getting harder as friendships struggle and girl drama hits. Trying to encourage the girls to be kind and not take other people’s drama to heart – it’s not easy! I don’t have a solution for that – I wish I did. So what can a mom do? I do craft some details to add to my lunches to hopefully brighten their day if it hasn’t been an easy one.

Here is the YouTube video that I created specifically to show how I’ve batched up surprises – some easy hand crafted goodness – to share with the girls over the next two weeks. If there’s one thing I know by now running this house of 2 kids and 3 dogs… work in batches!!

To recap the ideas I shared in my video: 

1. Cut strips of cardstock and make notes
2. Cut cardstock (or patterned paper) to make notes to attach to water bottles or decorate said water bottles with fun notes, encouraging sayings, or otherwise making them seem fun. Since beginning to call water “superhero mom juice” it sure does make it taste even more refreshing!
3. Add stickers or otherwise sweeten up a baggie (possibly with a treat)

There are many ways to sweeten up lunch time – not just with sugar. It doesn’t take a lot of time or supplies either, and by working in batches or at least prepping some stuff I know I’ve always got time for spreading some crafty love and cheer.

Looking to stock up on some great drinks & crackers? Special offer: Save $1.50 on any (1) Lance 8 count and larger sandwich packs when you buy any (2) participating DASANI, POWERADE or Honest Kids multipacks with tear-pad coupon found in-store. You can find a store locator here for Safeway, here for Albertsons, or check your specific store.

In addition to school lunches I keep some of these DASANI bottles of water and POWERADE in my car when I do school pickup. Whether my own kids or friends or just a hot and tired looking kid – I love being able to offer something refreshing to a weary middle school student! I’ve already surprised and delighted a few kids that looked like they needed a refreshing beverage.

I’m so happy that I was asked to share my recipe for crafty lunches with you. Perfect doesn’t have to be tricky or time consuming – healthy + happy is perfection to me! In this crazy world – it’s so lovely for me to be able to share ideas with you that are crafty, don’t take long, and that we can all have fun with no matter our style.

Now that I’ve shared all about lunches – there’s one more thing I want to share. If you are the lunch packer, if you no longer have school lunches to pack, or if you just pack for yourself (whether to go or to have at home) I encourage you to treat yourself. I have a brand new favorite to share- the Honest Kids Super Fruit Punch.

Now I’ve been a purchaser of Honest Kids drinks for as long as I can remember- no extra sugar and low in calories for the win! But I don’t usually snag juice boxes (calories + not for me usually!) so I didn’t realize that I love and I mean I LOVE the Super Fruit Punch. I’d never tried it! This is a new discovery thanks to making this post – and I couldn’t be more delighted. My lunches tend to be low calorie and super healthy so pulling out one of these cold from the fridge? That’s my new working lunch treat! My days have been long ones most of the time I’m on the run 5am – 9pm… so having a treat that I find delightful and isn’t bad for me? Well that’s a huge win in my book.

Whether sharing some decorated water bottles at a party or packing your child’s lunch, taking a bit of time to create something for yourself or dropping a note in someone else’s purse, lunch, or bag to brighten their day I hope I’ve inspired you. Thank you for checking out my post today – I’d love you to leave me a comment and let me know what your tips are for packing (or crafting) the perfect lunch are!