Today is the first day of school for my 1st grader and I’m back with another post in my back to school organization series! I’m going to be sharing with you how I’ve set up a simple and organized lunch packing station so that my 6 year old can pack most of his lunch on his own! 🙂
When my son was little, I always thought it would be so fun to pack his lunch for school. Bento boxes and themed lunches were in style and I was seeing them all over Pinterest. However, once school actually hit and I had a picky eater on my hands I knew that those cute lunches were just not going to happen. Plus, I knew that I wanted to teach my son to pack his lunch all by himself at an early age. Hello, self-sufficiency…aka teach him to do it so I don’t have to! 😉
Last year when he was in Kindergarten, I packed his lunch every single day. This year, we are going to be partners in crime in hopes that by the time he hits 2nd grade he is on his own! 🙂 I’m crossing my fingers over here!
If you have a school-aged child who takes there lunch even occasionally, a lunch packing station is essential to simple and efficient mornings. Keeping everything in one location in an organized manner will make packing lunch a breeze.
When we moved into our house in May, all of our lunch packing supplies were haphazardly placed all over the kitchen. However, I always made lunches on our island. So when I decided to create a lunch packing station, I knew I wanted to use one of the cabinets in this location. Since these are lower cabinets, they were also easily accessible by my 6 year old.
I decided to use the right cabinet to store all of the necessities we need to make his lunch. On the top shelf I store crackers, applesauce pouches, and sweets like raisins, fruit cups, and other treats I purchase or make throughout the week. I store these items in three small bins I purchased at Target.
On the bottom shelf I have air tight containers I use to store additional dry goods. These containers are part of the Better Homes and Gardens collection from Walmart. They are very similar to the OXO containers, but much cheaper!
Next to the dry goods, I’ve placed the lunch box containers we use each day. These are from Easy Lunchboxes which I purchased last year on Amazon. They have held up well and are leak proof so his food stays separated into the 3 little containers.
Behind these containers I store his water thermos as well as a hot food thermos if he ever wants to take leftovers. On the far right side I store his lunch box.
So that’s it! Our super simple, yet functional lunch packing station. If you haven’t set one up for yet, what are you waiting for?! I promise it will make lunch packing so much easier.
I absolutely love your page and emails as a mother of three. 7,6,2. I appreciate your pointers!!
-Leslie Ramirez Atlanta GA
Thanks so much Leslie! I’m glad they are helpful for you! 🙂