The Pantry Lunch Zone

I have dedicated one section of our pantry as "The Lunch Zone" to help simplify the morning rush. Any moms of school age kids know that the morning rush can get CRAZY. Trying to get a healthy breakfast on the plates, hair fixed, clothes on, homework completed, library books located.....  And then there is the dreaded packing of the lunches.  I figure I have packed a minimum of over 500 lunches over the past 3 years and now this year I will be packing TWO lunches a day instead of just one.  So that is over 300 lunches I will be packing this school year alone.  I figure any ways that I can simplify the lunch process will make it easier on us all and gives us just a bit better odds of walking out the door on time, with smiles on our faces and loving words spoken to each other..... Here are the basic items making up this area. Future posts will focus on certain products, favorites and organization systems.

1. Lunchboxes - I find there it is not possible to have THE ONE perfect lunchbox to fit all needs so we have multiple lunchboxes. 8 are on the wall and I must admit we have a few more stored away.  Yeah, I may have a bit of a lunchbox problem.

2. Thermos - great for soups and definitely requires it's own special lunchbox

3. Water bottles - 90% of the time water is all the kids have with their lunches and they keep water on their desks the whole day. It is important to have a number of bottles since they seem to get scattered between bedrooms, cars, bags, classrooms and more.

4.  Reusable napkins

5.  Reusable snack bags

6.  Reusable utensils (are you seeing a theme here:-)
7.  Fun picks for skewers and shish-kabobs
8.  Cookie Cutters - big and small of all different fun shapes for sandwiches, fruits, cheese and more
9.  The Food - The basic food items that I can go to in a pinch: soups, canned fruits, PB, Nutella, crackers, pretzels, nuts, sweet treats and more
10.  Box top and label collection jar for school collections

11.  Love Note Box - All the premade notes, papers and stickers for the notes that I put in the lunchboxes
12.  Writing utensils and scissors for quick access

13. A basket that holds more food items: things like granola bars, fruit rolls and other individual serve items.
14.  Juice boxes for the rare days where I decide not to send water.

Another view from the Lunch Zone