School is starting this week! Usually this means we pack our kids a nutritious first day of school lunch in a new lunchbox, write a sweet note on a napkin, stuff it all into a brand new backpack and send our kids off to school. This year however, things are a wee bit different. As a parent of two elementary school aged kids the school year will start at home with remote learning.
What does this mean for our family? Well, Lisa will become a “teacher/therapist/working mom” again and things have to be more structured. One way we plan to cope with the homeschooling is having lunch prepared like normal.
This is a helpful time saving hack for everyone, not just busy parents. We’ve found if we prep our food, specifically our lunch ahead of time, we snack less and it’s an easy way to have a nutritious, well balanced meal.
Grazing is problematic for most people. It usually results in overeating because you don’t realize how much you have actually eaten. If you have prepared a lunch- whether it’s a salad, a sandwich or a grain bowl, it’s compact, balanced (hopefully) and quick. No time spent staring in the fridge wondering what to eat for lunch, mindlessly stuffing chips or almonds in your mouth.
So this week we challenge all of you to do some lunch prep. Make your lunch for the next day before you go to bed or if you have time in the morning when you are preparing your breakfast. This way, when lunchtime rolls around you can grab your prepped meal, eat it mindfully and slowly while sitting down at a table, and get back to whatever it was you were doing.
*Helpful tip- if you are like us, we make a salad just about every night to eat with dinner. We make a big salad, don’t dress it, and save some for lunch the next day. It’s so easy! Then we just stick some protein on it (meat or beans ), add some carbs (rice, quinoa, couscous) and add a little dressing and voila- lunch!