We live a very busy life. Our “normal” schedule includes four night of extra activities a week, in addition since August, I have been working till 5:30 at least 3 if not 4 nights a week. In the mornings, I enjoying taking the girls to school and try to get out the door in time for me to have 15 minutes for my devotional time once I get to work. So I am going to share with you, a couple of time and money saving tips that make our weeks at least a little more smoother.

First is the clothing issue, both Kendall and Lily have every strong opinions about school clothes. On Sunday afternoons, our first chore is to pick out clothes for the week. This is a process as each outfit has to be approved by me. Today, we finished quickly in less than 30 minutes. After we pick out each outfit, it is placed in my room or closet so that there are no “last minute” changes during the week. I offer suggestion and even let the girls decided which day they are wearing each outfit.  I have my required scrub uniform with optional undershirt. I try to wash these on Saturday so that I can just grab and go during the week.

Next is food, this school year both Lily and Kendall are required to take a snack for each school day. Lily is also allowed to bring a bottle of water.  I do keep a small stock of easy to grab items such as Rice Krispy treats and fruit roll up. However, both the girls like to take other things such as popcorn or even chocolate pudding. We pick out the items they want to take for the week and pack it in their bookbags. This is especially important so they can always grab out a snack and one less item on my list.

Finally are lunches. We allow both girls to pack 2-3 times a week depending on the menu. The first step of this process is we print a monthly lunch menu, each girl then reads and circle what items they will be eating or writes pack. No matter what day of the week they chose to pack on we prepare ahead on Sundays. I purchased two years ago “lunch boxes” they are plastic containers with 3 separate areas, the down side is that they will leak but they is usually not a problem. The girls pick what they want in their lunches and it is pack. The “finished” box sets in the fridge until the morning they are packing. We have discovered several easy and favorite meals, they include:
Sandwich sushi- this is a tortilla with meat, cheese and mayo rolled and sliced into bite size pieces.
Toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- by toasting the bread it stays fresh for the week.
Chicken nuggets- Think lunchable on this one.  I go ahead and fry the chicken nugget on Sunday, place in a container with ketchup or other dipping sauce. This is Kendall’s favorite and she has never complained about it being cold.
Pickles – I cut these to fit in one container.
Carrots and Ranch dressing.
Tomatoes and/or green peppers- this was a favorite during August when we had lots of tomatoes in the garden.
Graham crackers with nutella to dip in.
Applesauce, jello or pudding- I usually pick one of these and mix up a batch. One box of either jello or pudding fits perfectly into 4 of the small compartments. I pour each into the compartment and set in the fridge, it doesn’t spill because it has  settled prior to going in the lunch bag.  This is a huge money saver as I can make a box of pudding for less than a dollar compared to a pre-packaged 4 pack for around $1.50. The girls also enjoy having a choice each week.
Cheese and crackers- either American slices or cheese sticks depending on what is available.

I also take my lunch most days, I can pack with the girls but I usually grab a dinner plate that is made from left-overs, because I can use a microwave at work. Other days I have a soup stash at work.

Do you have an easy lunch idea to add?