Simplify Your Lunch With These 3 Time-Saving Kitchen Hacks
Prep ahead, even when you so totally don’t feel like it.
“I’m your mom, not a short order cook.” Of all the things I swore I’d never say to my kids, I swore this the most. I remember hearing it when I was a kid and thinking, “First of all, it’s not that hard to make me any food I request at any moment, Mother, and secondly, what the heck is a short-order cook?”
Then I had kids. I probably haven’t said this exact phrase, but I have definitely begun to understand deep in my bones why my own mother did not stop what she was doing to make me pasta when there was a perfectly good meatloaf on the table. Moms are BUSY, and time is our most valuable commodity. Whether we are juggling a school schedule or a packed summer, most of the time, saving time is just as important to me as saving money — and my sanity.
That’s why I need to plan ahead to keep lunch simple. If I want to save a few precious moments and keep lunchtime running smoothly, it pays to be prepared. Here are my three favorite hacks to save a little time and make lunch time a cinch.
1. Prep ahead, even when you so totally don’t feel like it.
Full disclosure? When Sunday night rolls around and it’s time to prep the week’s lunches, I don’t always feel like it. But I do it — even on the weeks when I’d rather just go to bed — because it’s the biggest time-saving hack I’ve got in my mom toolbox.
I wash and portion fresh fruit, cut carrots, celery, cucumbers or radishes, and bake a batch of something super simple like muffins or oatmeal cookies. I also make sure I open a fresh package of Hillshire Farm Ultra-Thin Sliced Oven Roasted Turkey Breast and separate it into individual portions. I just roll each portion in a wax paper sheet, and I pop it right back into the reusable container. My kids can make their own sandwiches without guessing how much meat they should use!
Side note: I hang onto those sweet containers and use them for, well, everything. They’re so dang handy!
2. Embrace the mix-and-match life and keep the menu simple.
You are not under any obligation to provide a zillion choices for lunch every single day. I never have every single lunch food my kids love in the house all at once. I’m not independently wealthy, and I have things to do!
To save time during the decision-making process, just prep a couple things in each lunch category and rotate them so that nobody who doesn’t want to is eating the exact same lunch all week long. In addition to our staple Hillshire Farm turkey or ham, I’ll make egg or tuna salad or slice some grilled chicken. I don’t buy the entire produce section; a couple fruits and veggies per week do the job. Some weeks, my kids can choose between wraps or crackers. Other weeks, they might have pita pockets or sandwich bread. A small selection of snacks and treats in the pantry rounds out their choices.
I can choose for my kids or they can grab whatever they feel like eating that day. We’re not overwhelmed with choices, and that shaves time off the lunch-packing process. Grab whichever protein, carb, fruit or veggie and snack you feel like having. Bam. Lunch is served.
3. Don’t get caught up in making every single lunch an event.
Keep. It. Simple. Your kids want to eat three times a day every single day. You don’t have to feel anything if you’re not the kind of parent who can turn every lunch into a decorative bento experience. An old-fashioned ham sandwich, an apple and a bottle of water is a perfectly fine lunch, and it takes no time to put it together. Hillshire Farm Brand has delicious, quality lunch meats crafted with no artificial preservatives, no added nitrates or nitrites*, and no artificial flavors. Their Ultra-Thin Sliced Honey Ham on your kid’s favorite bread with a little squeeze of mustard? There’s nothing easier or more delicious.
Your kids won’t remember whether you cut their cucumbers into alphabet shapes, but they will remember that you always made sure they had food in their bellies, no matter how busy life became. With Hillshire Farm Lunch Meat and a little planning, you can take the guesswork out of lunch, and spend more time making memories than meals.
*Except for those naturally occurring in celery juice powder and sea salt
