I used to take the time each night to wash, cut, and package fresh produce and entrees for the lunches my husband and children take to work/school the next day (my kids are too young to manage this entirely by themselves, and my husband doesn’t take the time). It worked pretty well, but I have lately fallen out of the habit–it takes about 15 minutes each night, and that added up.
Now, I buy what we want and package it right then, as I’m putting it away. We have a drawer set aside for the dry goods, like crackers, granola bars, fruit cups, applesauce, and reusable utensils. On Sunday night, I make sure we have adequate baggies of things like this and make fresh ones of popcorn, cereal, nuts, and more. I also wash and chop the produce and put it into baggies in the fridge, usually one for several fruits and one for several vegetables. Today we had a baggie with sugar snap peas, carrots, and cucumber slices (just a few of each) and another baggie of strawberries and grapes.
For the main item, I have two strategies. My kids like sandwiches, so I make and package those ahead of time. For my husband, I rely on my freezer full of homemade tv dinners. (The quick definition of that for those who don’t want to follow the link right now is my frozen pre-packaged-as-a-meal leftovers.)
Even though I minimize the use of baggies by grouping items together, I hope to make this more environmentally friendly by changing from plastic baggies to something else. I’m still working on that something else, however. Any ideas?
