Making Mornings Easier { part 2 }

I am still not a morning person.

Are you surprised?

Me either.

Mornings aren't magical.



But since they happen every day, lets try & make them a smidge easier, mmmk?
So, we tackled my fav go-to back-to-school breakfast the other day, {breakfast burritos}, now lets talk school lunches.

Nothing makes me crazier than a kid who is 30 seconds from walking out the door and says
"I thought you said you would make me a lunch!?"

For the love people. I know, I know, this should totally be up my alley, right? Wrong.
Getting all the people all the things in the 50 minutes we have between waking up and getting out the door is not my specialty. {Y'all, I refuse to get them up before 7am unless it is absolutely necessary.}
Now my people are 10 & 7.5. They can make their own stinkin lunches. And they usually do, but the 7yo still needs help with a couple parts and I double check them to make sure its not full of granola bars.

The best thing I ever did was sort out school lunch items in both our pantry and fridge. They are only allowed to grab things from those bins unless they ask first.

I fill their fridge basket with apples, carrots, grapes, string cheese, babybel, celery, cucumbers, and any other fruit or veggie that they are currently into. There is also a specific basket for making sandwiches. It holds the currently open deli meats and cheese. The rest are in another basket up higher. All of the baskets in the fridge are from Dollar Tree or Walmart. The labels are from Ikea, but I haven't been able to find them since last Autumn. 

Side note: my fridge is less than a month old. This is the one and only reason it looks so clean. Also, my kitchen is currently a mess because I cleaned out the pantry and made it pretty for these pictures. Do not be deceived! 

In the pantry, the snack & lunch bins overlap a bit but that's okay. They have everything from nutella and graham crackers, to kettle corn, granola bars, cereal bars, raisins, canned fruit, applesauce, and of course, some chips. Hubs and I use these as well to pack lunches so we have stuff in there for ours too. The fabric bins and labels are from Ikea. The bins are actually the ones that are suppose to go inside a dresser drawer! The bottom is soft but could be made sturdier with a piece of cardboard if you plan to take it in and out of the pantry.

I can honestly say that having these two spaces organized has saved us a lot of time and energy in the morning. That and making PB&J's ahead of time! B doesn't eat deli meat, except pepperoni. She's weird. Whatever. So since I really dislike making sandwiches every morning and seeing her tear apart the bread trying to make one, this is a huge win for us. 

I just make a bunch of them up, put them in freezer bags, and put them in the freezer. She can grab one for her lunch and we don't even have to worry about cleaning up crumbs. Winner winner chicken dinner! 

Now our stash will change as the seasons do. They like to take salads, soups, baked potatoes, and some other items that require more prep but that's a whole other post for a much later date. 

I truly hope this helps make going back-to-school a bit easier in your house too.

I can't wait to sip my coffee in peace... yay for back-to-school!!