Welcome Back to School: Sustainability, Lunch Ideas, and More!

Head Back to School Sustainably in 2024

It’s the time of year when school supplies seem to have taken over my house and I’m scouring the web for lunch ideas: back-to-school prep.

With four kids in public school, we seem to have lists a mile long of writing utensils, binders (SO MANY BINDERS), erasers, composition books, calculators, folders, and more. (And we all know you buy Crayola for coloring and Ticonderoga for pencils, right?)

I don’t know that there’s a lot we can do to stay green when it comes to back-to-school supply shopping, other than attempt to reuse as much as we can from prior years. Sometimes I’m able to find good quality binders or a pencil box at the thrift store, too.

But when it comes to packing school lunches, there are so many more opportunities for being earth-friendly! Ten years ago, I was kind of weird for packing Bento boxes for my little ones. When my now-teens were preschoolers, their preschool director actually had me talk about the good reasons to use a Bento-style box for lunches – mainly how much easier it makes life for our teachers!

Picture Perfect Lunch Ideas

When I share pictures of our packed lunches on Instagram, I often get comments with people asking me to come pack their lunches (mostly adults!). What I really want to tell them is that if they’d put what they normally pack in a Bento box, it would automatically become more visually appealing! Especially if you use a brightly colored silicone muffin cup or a cute toothpick.

And they’d be helping the environment by not using a bunch of plastic bags.

Katie Kimball has been sharing for just as long about packing with eco-friendly containers, using stainless steel water bottles, and sending real food in lunch boxes!

With back-to-school in full swing (here in Tennessee, kids have started already!), we wanted to make sure you haven’t missed any of the advice here on lunch packing and other ways to prepare for school. From which Bento to choose to what to put in your lunchbox to how to help an anxious child get out the door, we have it all covered in the KS archives!

Choosing Lunch-Packing Supplies for Back to School

If you want to go the route of a Bento box, you’ll need to assess what will suit both you and your child. The amount of food your preschoolers needs vs. what your teenage son might want is going to be vastly different! Here are some decisions you’ll want to think about when choosing a lunch box:

1. Size – How much food will it fit? Will you need to supplement with other containers? Do the foods touch, and is that okay? Also consider the depth of the container – will it fit a sandwich, muffin, or orange?
2. Watertight – I haven’t ever seen a stainless steel Bento that holds multiple items and is leakproof. If it’s important to you to be able to pack items like yogurt and applesauce without a separate container, you might need to consider a different option. (The Bentgo Kids box and its big sister Bentgo Pop are super popular for good reason. They are watertight, easy to use, and the plastic is food-grade and BPA-free.)
3. Are all the pieces dishwasher safe? Definitely check before purchasing if that’s important to you!
4. Closure – If something closes too tightly, it’s going to be difficult for a younger child to open and shut properly. That can mean you end up with a mess inside your backpack! Something with a latch may be easier than a lid.
5. Food Temperature – If you want to send warm foods, most Bento boxes aren’t going to be great. You’ll need to supplement with a Thermos (or try an Omie Box, which has a container for warm foods – but I have not tried this one.)

Check out these posts for reviews of MANY different Bento boxes, reusable snack bags, and supplement containers:

• Bento Lunch Box Container Reviews – Seeking the most eco-friendly, sturdy, and simple option, Katie reviewed many Bento favorites. (Spoiler: her choice is the Lunchbots stainless steel brand! I am a big fan of Planetbox Rovers, but they are on the small size for older kids.)
• The Best Reusable Snack and Sandwich Bags – A decade ago, the choices for reusable snack bags were slim! These were the best options then – and in 2023, we added a guide for choosing a reusable snack/sandwich bag for yourself since there are many more options now. (My personal fave here is the ChicoBag; they can turn into two different sizes with the hook-and-loop closures.)
• Stainless Steel Lunch Containers: Life Without Plastic Review – Sadly, LWP doesn’t make the smaller stainless steel containers anymore. ECOLunchBox does have some good substitutes.

Answers to All Your Questions about Packing Bento Box Lunches for School!

• When is the best time to pack a school lunch? After dinner, using those dinner leftovers.
• How do I pack a school lunch? Batch it, fill the squares, and teach your kids to pack their own lunches.
• What happens if kids don’t eat everything they bring? Anything uneaten comes home in the lunchbox! You can always offer it as an after school snack.
• How can I pack a real food school lunch? Here are tons of tips from Australian naturopath Georgia Harding.

But Really, WHAT Do I Put in That Lunchbox? Easy Lunch Ideas

Some kids are truly delighted with the same thing in their lunch every day. Others desire more of a variety – and as the parent, you probably want that too!

One strategy I’ve employed is lunchbox rotation: choosing a general theme for each day of the week and sticking with it. For example, you might do a sandwich on Mondays, something pizza on Tuesdays, breakfast-for-lunch on Wednesdays, pasta on Thursday, and homemade “Lunchable” on Fridays (crackers, meat, and cheese).

Perhaps, like Katie, you use last night’s leftovers for today’s lunchboxes, supplementing with some fruit and yogurt as needed.

Or maybe it’s a free-for-all, using whatever is in the fridge, and that’s okay too.

Thankfully, we’ve shared a PLETHORA of ideas over the years to get you and your children started (or continuing in) packing real, whole foods for lunch.

• What Leftovers Work Best for School Lunch? – 30+ dinner recipes that can easily become lunch the next day.
• Plant-Based School Lunch Ideas Kids Love – Contributor Steph likes to lay out a variety of plant-based foods and let her kids choose which ones to pack for the day, with a loose guideline.
• 10 Easy Tips for Packing Real Food Lunches
• Easy Lunches for Kids Using Mason Jars – Why is everything so much more fun eaten from a Mason jar? Have your kids help put these 10 fun food ideas together.
• Bread-Free Alternatives for Lunches – Sandwiches can be great, but they also get boring, or maybe you’re trying to reduce or eliminate gluten. Here are a few ideas for bread-free lunches!
• How to Pack Gluten-Free Lunches
• 70 Real Food Lunch Ideas – If you want ALL the tips, ideas, strategies, and links to recipes, this is the post you want!
• Getting Healthy Fats in School Lunches – Contributor Mary writes, “Unprocessed, real fats are an essential component of good health. Especially for growing kids! After all, your brain is mostly made of fat.”
• The Healthy LunchBox eBook – a 124-page guide with many recipes, not a sandwich in sight!

More Tips for Back-to-School Time

Are you struggling with managing a schedule again after a summer of laid-back fun? Curious if you can promote some real-food strategies to teachers and administration? Or just trying to get your kid up and out the door?

Here are some more posts about those back-to-school hassles and questions:

• Simplify Your Schedule by Scheduling Your Food – A real-food diet can be time consuming, but here are some simple steps you can take to make it easier.
• Back-to-School Meal Planning Tips – Jessica Braider of The 6 O’Clock Scramble talks about why she plans the way she does, how she started her meal planning service, and how beginner cooks can feel competent.
• Non-Food Birthday Celebration Ideas for School – Every celebration does not need a cupcake with 2 inches of frosting! Try implementing a non-food celebration instead … and maybe encourage the school to stop the cupcake madness.
• Power Brain Foods for Standardized Testing – Brain-boosting nutrients are so much better for standardized testing than the junk-food snacks usually provided!
• Why Your Kid Isn’t Eating Lunch at School – Mary outlines several reasons why your child might not be eating their lunch and how to talk to them about it.
• Our Smart Kids Are Struggling – Here’s How to Help – Do you have disintegrating students at your house?
• Anxiety Is Causing Attention Problems at School – Dr. Wiggy Saunders talked to Katie about strategies for anxious kids and adults!
• Raising Confident, Free-Range Kids – Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids, was once called the worst mom in America, simply for letting her son ride the subway alone. Have we gone too far in being cautious for our kids?
• Real Food Treats for When You Aren’t Allowed to Send Homemade
• Healthy Snack Swaps for Team Sports – Part of a three-part series on team sports, this post outlines some of the best swaps for when canceling sports snacks altogether isn’t an option.
• Simple Strategies to Cope with Anxiety for Kids – More strategies for those anxious kids – always helpful at the beginning of a new year.

From all of us at Kitchen Stewardship^®, we wish you the very best, healthiest school year!

Unless otherwise credited, photos are owned by the author or used with a license from Canva or Deposit Photos.