Survivor: weekly life version

I chose to be a working mom and it is a choice that I do not regret. I stayed home for many years but with my two being close in age, they both entered school within a year and whammo, my life changed. I like my job, I like my life. That said, there is an art to getting through the week and ensuring we don't dissolve into fast food and convenient traps. Here are my tricks for packing lunches which by this time of year can get tired and boring real fast:

Trick #1: Every weekend I make some type of breakfast food that can be frozen and then re-surface as a quick morning breakfast or lunch box item. My friend 4ever29 turned me onto the world of waffles and we make those every or every other weekend and then eat them throughout the week. Whole wheat, whole grain muffins make a great saturday breakfast and even greater lunch box item. Make those muffins with cheese and ham and you have a very good lunch item. I have also made whole grain soft pretzels and home made bagels. Homemade, hearty buns make a great lunch too and breakmaking serves as a de-stressor for me. And you can even pack meats into buns, just don't add mayo or cheese, and then freeze the buns ready made. I once threw pile of these at a friend, accompanied by chocolate milk as she rushed her kids off from a playdate at our house to a hockey game. You never know when ready to eat food that is healthy will come in handy.

Trick #2: package up leftover dinners as lunch friendly items. Pizza is a great lunch item. We have it 1x a week - not because I love it so much but because the kids do. Homemade or ordered, either way, leftover pizza can be sliced up, wrapped up and frozen for a later day. Pasta - we have been making this great pasta dish with sliced chicken sausage and kale and it makes a fabulous lunch box item the next day in a thermos. Noodles with meatballs, our family's version of fast food on a desperate day, are also popular. Those who know me know that I can't touch ground beef without some gagging so I resort to president's choice blue box, low fat meatballs. Another favorite dinner is taco's. We make our taco's with veggie grind, although we had them this week with moose meat and they were also extremely lean. Lots of lettuce and tomatoes on mine, kids opt for just cheese and tomatoes. I often extend the meat by adding beans. The leftover meat can then be wrapped in soft whole wheat tortillas, with a smidgen of cheese and then wrapped in plastic and frozen. Really, any dinner can probably go to school via a thermos but I spare my kids the "joy" of things like Halibut with grapefruit or roasted lemon chicken in a thermos.

Trick # 3: make cookies with the kids and then freeze the entire batch (minus a few eaten hot from the oven) for school lunches. I loathe super sweet, white flour atrocities. True they taste good but I just don't go there very often. Our cookies are whole wheat, rolled oats, wheat germ added events. sounds gross but to be honest, add a few chocolate chips, more raisins and some coconut and you can't even tell. Well maybe you could but my kids don't bat an eye and they think of those cookies as a treat so we all win.

Recurring theme, M loves her freezer. Trick # 4: I keep the freezer in my kitchen exclusively for breakfast and lunch box foods. This makes for easy search and find missions and quick lunch box packing.