Packing lunches for kids can lead to boredom and possibly even wanting to pull your hair out.  I always tell my kids, you don’t have to eat everything in your lunch, but you’re not allowed to throw it away.  At the end of the day, I just want to see what things you like (and eat all of) and what things you don’t like or don’t have time to eat.  These talks are serious.  You’d think it was an ABC after school special.  But, seriously, I want to be an effective lunch packer.  I hate throwing food away, but I don’t want them to be hungry at school either!  I’m sure some of you can relate.

I’ve learned that marketing is key.  And packaging is everything.  If I can ‘sell’ it, they’ll be excited about it and want to eat it.  Let me give you an example.  Vegetables in the lunches are not a big hit.  I wanted them to be able to dip their vegetables, but the individual ranch packets you can buy are a) way too much ranch for a kid to eat at lunch and b) expensive.  I went on the hunt for tiny containers to hold dips and found these Lock-Ups at The Container Store.  I saw them in the office section, so I think they are meant to be for office supplies, but they are the perfect size and also dishwasher safe (on the top rack).

Carrots are now a lunch favorite and we have plans to use them for celery and peanut butter too.  I’ve even been thinking pretzels in a yogurt dip would work.  The Lock-Ups stack too, so you could pack more than one dip and have the containers connect.