Quick & Easy Lunches {w/a Big List of Lunch Ideas and Lunch Planning Printable}

Whether you are home, work outside the home, have kids or homeschool, odds are you need to prepare a lunch. Here are some tips to make preparing lunches quick & easy.

Quick & Easy Lunches {w/a Big List of Lunch Ideas and Lunch Planning Printable}

Consider your Groups:

What do I mean by this? Everyone has certain things that they consider essential for a meal to be complete. I like a little of everything with my lunch–something salty, fruit, veggie, and dessert. Consider what types of things you would need on hand to be complete.  Use this printable to keep track of your options for the week.

Make it Routine:

There are 7 days in a week. Pick 7 items or themes, one for each day of the week. Can’t think of anything or stuck in a lunch rut? Here is a pretty printable — The Big List of Lunch Ideas!

 

Add it to Your List:

Using the handy dandy lunch planning form, make sure you add the items to your grocery list. If you listed themes, your grocery list can be generic:
– sweet snack
– lunch meat
– bread

Or you can be specific:
– grapes
– precut carrots
– small bags of pretzels

Whatever makes sense for your plan & how you eat & live.

Prep in Advance:
Once you have your food, prep it for the week. If you eat salads, chop all the lettuce and add-in’s. If you buy big bags, portion them out and put into bins or baskets to make packing easy. Check out this post at Uncommon Designs Online about setting up an easy lunch organization station.

Change it Up!
I would make your list generic enough to allow for flexibility & sales, but specific enough to not have to do it every week. Personally, I would change it monthly or by season. Or when your family started to grumble. All of them. At once.

If you have older kids who always grumble, perhaps having them prep the plan, keeping in mind everyone’s differing tastes, will help them see what a difficult job it can be. And if they are old enough, you could even give them a budget to do it with.

  

That’s how we make lunchtime quick and easy. It requires a little planning & thought up front, but your daily lunch prep with be streamlined and stress free!

Any tips to share with us? We all need help in making lunchtime quick and easy!