Lunch Prep Hacks: For Back To School, Work and Beyond
Most people prepare a lunch every day - whether you are preparing lunch for your child or yourself we've provided you with the best lunch prep hacks below!
Prep In the Fridge
The first step in lunch prep hacks is prepping your lunch beforehand in the fridge. This means parceling out individual parts of the lunch and arranging in baggies before it's time to make the lunch. One of the great lunch prep hacks is to do this in bulk all at once well before it's time to make lunches. This means dedicating a small portion of your time towards lunches, prepping all at once and have ready to go in bags in the fridge ahead of time.
The steps are easy:
- Identify and gather lunch items. This includes: the main course, sides, starch, vegetable, and fruit
- Prepare each course
- Divide into lunch size portions
- Divide portions into containers (such as ziplock plastic bags or glass reusable containers)
- Put containers or baggies in trays in the fridge ready to go!
- Grab each individual part of the lunch and throw in a lunch bag!
Freeze Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
Did you know you can freeze peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? You can! Freezing PB&J sandwiches ahead of time is a great way to prep for lunch. All you need to do is find a block of time when you have time to make a bunch of sandwiches all at once and then go at it! Make space in your freezer for the frozen sandwiches. Also, make space in your fridge for a place to unthaw the sandwiches when it's time.
Money Saving Mom did an article on freezing Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches. About this, she said:
"Freezer-Friendly Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches
- Bread
- Peanut Butter
- Jelly
Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
To freeze:Cut and put in baggies (if desired) and store in airtight freezer ziptop bags in the freezer for 4-6 weeks.
To thaw:Stick frozen sandwiches in sack lunches in the morning and they will be thawed by lunchtime. Or, you can be weird like me and eat them straight from the freezer. You can also warm them in the oven or microwave if you like your sandwiches warmed."
Divided Lunch Pails
One of the best lunch prep hacks is using divided lunch pails. Some are called bento boxes, or compartment lunch pails. They are lunch containers that have divided compartments that allow you to pack lunches in a pre-divided way.
These are great for a few reasons:
- They provide a way to easily pack lunches
- It helps you properly size lunch portions
- It keeps all the food tightly packed and prevents moving around or leaking
Utilize Leftovers
Another one of the great lunch prep hacks is to utilize leftovers. If you think ahead a bit when you're making dinner, you could save yourself a lot of time in lunch prep. Simply make extra food when you're preparing dinner to leave for lunch for the next day. That way, you accomplish meal prep for two meals at once. This could mean chopping extra veggies during dinner prep to have with your lunch the next day or just preparing a little extra food.
You can even save more time by packing your leftovers right after dinner to have them ready to go for lunch the next day. This will save you time the next morning when prepping for lunch.
Leave A Note Or Inspirational Thought
Enough can't be said about the power of a kind note or inspirational thought with lunch. Whether you're a parent slipping in a post-it note in your children's lunches, a spouse slipping in a small love note with your partner's lunch pail - the power of positive words in the middle of the day cannot be calculated. If you're packing lunch for yourself, you might even consider putting in a slip of paper from an inspirational day calendar or putting a post it with a positive mantra to the lid of your lunch pail.
Whateever your situation and whoever you're preparing lunch for - a great step in lunch prep is to include positive and happy words inside your own lunch or the lunch of a loved one or friend.
We hope these lunch prep hacks have helped you gather ideas to make your lunch prep go more smoothly!
In addition, you can visit Keylock Storage Blog for more interesting articles about organization and lifestyle: keylockstorage.com/blogs
