Back-To-School Food Prep Ideas

Food prepping can be the greatest experience for a family to stay on a healthy path or the most daunting. It just depends on your point of view when faced with the task.

Take the overwhelm out of the task of preparing meals or snacks in advance with a few organizational techniques and finding those foods that will satisfy everyone’s taste. And, have the kids help you with this…yes, it may get messy, but you will be teaching them a life-long skill they will use that will be a great memory and is very much needed in today’s world of fast-foods and rushing around.

First, make a plan to spend a few hours once a week to prep snacks and lunches, and have enough food and containers for each child to have for a week. Then, make time in your schedule and routine for the task of making the very perishable portion of the lunches the night before or the morning of.

PackAheadSnacks

When thinking about snacks, try using reusable containers instead of snack baggies like the ones pictured here. There are plenty of inexpensive brands that are made for little fingers and lunch boxes and less goes into our landfills that way!

Easy and nutritious snacks come in the form of fresh fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds, cheese, crackers, eggs, etc. and have those on hand before you start. Take note your child’s favorites and resolve to always have those on hand (even if it seems like they are eating the same things each week.) They’ll let you know when it’s time for a change!

Making a combination of snacks will provide your child with colorful and healthy snacks that are full of fiber, good fats, healthy calories, protein and natural sugars. Everyone loves something sweet, so make a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies or brownies. Try to stay away from tubed, tubbed or boxed cookie dough and packaged snacks. They are typically laden with harsh preservatives, hydrogenated fats, dyes, hidden sugars and excess salt that can wreak havoc on young digestive systems, cognitive thinking processes and produce headaches, rashes and other irritations and are full of empty calories.

I have posted several photos below with links to recipes for school snacks and lunches that are sure to be a hit for any discerning palette, including salty & savory and fresh fruit & veggie options! And for those with a sweet tooth, my personal, super simple chocolate chip cookie recipe that we still use today. We make a batch once a week or so, and we haven’t purchased store-bought cookies in years. Why should we when these are so easy and tasty too!

Enjoy these food prepping ideas and please let us know what your favorite healthy snacks for your kids are and which ideas you found most useful!

Super Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, chocolate chips and a pinch of salt, mix well and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the sugars and the softened butter and beat until creamy.
Add the vanilla and egg and beat again until creamy & combined.
Add in the flour mixture and beat until combined and thick, scraping excess down from the sides. Chill the dough for about 20 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove chilled dough from the ice box and drop by teaspoon or tablespoon (depending on how large you want them to be!) leaving space for spreading.

Bake 7-10 minutes until just lightly browned around the bottom edges.

Remove from oven and let cool for about two minutes on the cookie sheet before removing (they will be soft) the cookies to a plate to cool.

Serve & enjoy!!