For example, laying out clothes the night before, complete with hair clips, socks and shoes. Or setting the breakfast table before you go to bed.
But if I had to pick one thing I did this first week of school that made the biggest difference, it would be this:
Prepack lunches for the whole five days.
I do this anytime I'm going to be out of town so that my mother-in-law doesn't have to worry about what to pack in Bird's lunchbox. But I've never done it for myself. Until this week. And I just couldn't believe how much more relaxed it made the mornings.
I've plugged these before on the blog but I'll do it one more time - we use Easy Lunchboxes and their insulated cooler bags pretty much everyday.
photo courtesy of easylunchboxes.smugmug.com
Since Lily eats a predominantly paleo diet, these bento-style trays work great. Most of her lunches look more like a "buffet of snacks" consisting of cut-up fruits and veggies, deli meats, trail mix, nuts, boiled eggs, popcorn, gluten free crackers, fruit leathers, and the like, along with a special paleo treat or two, like cookies, banana bread, or granola bars.
So last Sunday afternoon, as I'm getting everything ready for Lily's first day of school, I decided to try making her lunches for the week. And within one hour, I had a nice little stack of Easy Lunchboxes...
... ready to pull out of the fridge and go.
We'll see how long it lasts but since the mornings went so smoothly, I'm hoping that motivates me to overcome my typical Sunday afternoon laziness.
Oh - and the lovely recipient of those nice little lunches?
Here she is on the first day of first grade. I caught her on the move but I also caught her looking at the camera!
Got any great back to school tips to share? I'd love to read them so leave a comment!
Now get out there and have a fabulous (long) weekend!
That's a cool idea! I wonder, however: don't the bread and the veggies become dry when they have been prepared days ago?
ReplyDeleteThose lunch boxes are awesome!
We return to school in 1,5 weeks...
I just assumed you did this all along - you've let another secret out of your bag, my friend. I think it is a fabulous idea and you know I'm on board if you ever need assembly line help! :)
ReplyDeleteLana! So happy to see you're still enjoying my EasyLunchboxes. Love the pic of your wonderful stack of ready-to-go lunches and of course, your adorable first-grader :) Here's just a bit more inspiration if you find you run out of steam when it comes to packing for a week ... http://www.easylunchboxes.com/blog/make-lunch-for-the-week-pack-ahead-and-save-time/
ReplyDeleteThe Bird in First Grade - amazing!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is an awesome idea Lana! Our one tradition is with all the craziness and making sure we are ready for tests and the day is I just take a moment and hug my babies and tell them I love them then we pray. Praying with them before our day begins gets us out of the rush of the day and puts us back to where we need to be..with God. I am also going to look into packing their lunch for a week. Would give me a little bit more time with them in the morning to just hear them laugh.
ReplyDeleteI make Roman and Olivia's lunches the night before. Thursday morning I make their lunches and I got Roman's almond butter sandwhich in with Olivia's lunch. Poor Roman. Obviously not a successful lunch day.
ReplyDelete