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Hello! Welcome to my new (ish) blog! I recently changed the name from Amy’s Beauty Diary to its new name, The Hustlin’ Homemaker. I did this because I want to create content that is not just exclusive to beauty. While I love doing beauty posts, I want to be able to post about anything, whether it be kids, home, books – things that I think you guys would be interested in! So, thanks for sticking w me 🙂 I also created a new Instagram page, so give me a follow at @thehustlinhomemaker! I’ll be posting on there a lot. 🙂

Alright, so let’s get on with today’s post.

My two girls just went back to school- today, just as I type this. My older daughter, Allie, has started 3rd grade, and my baby, Ashley, has just started kindergarten. While I am sad and will miss them, I am so proud of them and will always cherish these past years of them being with me. I haven’t been without a kid for about 8 years, so it’s a big change for me as well.

Anyway, this post is about school lunch! My girls love to bring their lunch, and also like to buy their lunch at school. I have a lot of ideas that I am excited to share with you all!

First off, their lunchboxes. These came with their backpacks as matching sets. I like the shape of these because they can fit the lunch containers perfectly.

I have two types of lunch containers, these bigger ones with 3 compartments and then the smaller ones with four compartments that look like the containers Lunchables come in. I love to use these because they save money and reduce waste- and I can actually see how much of their lunch they eat.

Here are some examples of what I pack in them.

A Lunchables type meal with pepperoni, cheese and crackers, blueberry skewers, celery, some goldfish crackers, and an Oreo for dessert.

A unicorn shaped pb&j, some strawberries, carrots, some vanilla yogurt that i put a few sprinkles on, and a rice krispy treat.

A turkey and cheese sandwich on a Hawaiian roll, some cherry tomatoes, strawberry applesauce, wheat thins, and a pink sugar cookie.

Here I have a ham and cheese sandwich on a crescent roll, some pineapple, pretzel sticks, an oatmeal raisin granola bar, and some Barbie fruit snacks. 🙂

The little containers are what I use for Ashley, as she can’t eat as much as Allie.

Some string cheese and crackers, a hard boiled egg, carrots, and some blueberries.

And lastly, we have some turkey and cheese roll ups, strawberries, a granola bar, and some goldfish crackers.

The biggest tip for lunch making is just to do it the night before so you don’t have to rush in the morning. It really doesn’t take long at all.

Some other things I like to use for their lunches are these little Thermos Jars.

You can pretty much pack anything in these, mac and cheese, soup, spaghetti, chicken and rice…any leftovers, and it keeps it hot in the lunchbox, even if there’s an ice pack inside.

Also, the Thermos cups. These are so durable and keep their water cold all day. We have a bunch of these.

These silicone baking cups and toothpicks add a little bit of a colorful touch and just something extra that I know makes the girls happy to eat their lunch. Also, cutting a sandwich out with a cookie cutter is really fun for them- we’ve got a drawer just for cookie cutters.

I got these super cute Lunch Notes for them just to put inside their lunch. These are thick cardstock and have cute little sayings and pictures on them, and there is space to write something. They will love these.

Lastly, just a few snack ideas. I made these cinnamon roll apples for them for the first day of school- they were super easy!

Make up some cinnamon rolls, and wait until they’re completely cooled.

Add some red food coloring to your icing. Count out 8 pretzel sticks for the stems, and cut up some sour candy belts to make the leaves. It’s ok if they’re not perfect; all leaves are different!

I leveled the cinnamon rolls to make them flat, and then iced them and stuck the pretzel and the leaf into the top.

How cute are these?!

Super quick and easy! I made them the night before the first day of school.

The next idea is a little pencil wafer cookie. Just cut the top of some sugar wafers into a point.

Add icing to the top and bottom, and add a mini chocolate chip to the top.

These are such a cute afternoon snack! I gave these to the girls when they got home from school, and they loved them.

I hope you liked these ideas and will try them! Thanks for reading!

xx amy