Getting Ready for Lunches!

I started doing Bento style lunches, in a way American way, last year. I was using various containers but the ones that everyone seemed to like the best were the Ziplock ones with 3 different sized containers. I liked them too but they are pretty flimsy. Iain went through one in very short order, the lid just breaking and tearing. Since they were $5/2, I decided to not worry too much about it.

As the school year came closer, I once again looked at the containers. I had considered these last year but went with Ziplock instead. This year, I went ahead and ordered a set of Easy Lunchboxes and got each of the kids a cooler for them. I say each of the kids but really, only 4 of the 6 in school. Iain and Rhys got a black cooler, Kierynn the pink (of course!) and Kaitlyn got purple.

For the three younger ones, I found someone who is currently using her machine to embroider their names and designs. Pictures will be posted when they arrive back to me. We also got ice packs to help keep things the proper temperature and some insulated jars to take hot meals during the winter.

I also organized my little cute picks and cutters to be ready for the school year. It looks so cute and pretty and organized. Let's see how long that lasts.

So, I think I am doing fairly well with getting ready to start the lunch making madness. One thing I still was kinda stuck on is drinks.

Pouch drinks (Capri Sun, Kool-Aid, Lemonade etc) are very convenient. They come in a 10 pack for about $2, sometimes less if I find a good sale. I don't have to mess with much, just grab one and toss it in the bag. The down sides are that I think they are basically sugared, flavored water and I don't like the food dyes in them. I can (and do) buy the lower sugar and no dye variety but I am not overly fond of this option. It is $1.20 per day to send pouch drinks.

My other option is to have the kids buy milk. The school system had taken out the HFCS chocolate milk and only plain milk was available. Then they came up with a non HFCS chocolate milk option and it is back on the menu. This option means I would be shelling out $3.60 a day for milk.

After thinking about it for several days and mulling over options, I decided to get some SIGG water bottles, like this one, for the three smaller ones, to send in drinks with them. These are 13 oz, which is actually more than they need to drink but I don't have to fill them up.

Although the cost of the bottles, initially, is a lot, I think in the long run, this is our better option. This also means I can send in just plain ice water too...which they do like to drink. The older three can still take their pouch drink to school. I am hoping that milk will do okay in it and occasionally some lemonade or crystal lite.

So, basically, I have done away with 80% of sandwich bags, paper bags and now 75% of our pouch drinks.