Top 5 Tips for Back To School Meal Prep

Can you believe our littles are already almost BACK TO SCHOOL?! I personally am slightly in denial because this year my sweet (baby) boy is starting Kindergarten! Yes, that means he's officially entering our Douglas County School District and while I'm super excited for him, I'm also really nervous for a variety of reasons! One of those reasons is the stressful morning routine trying to get both kids up, showered, fed, packed, and dropped off at 2 different locations. Yikes! That's why I started looking into ways to make life easier and decided meal prepping is a necessity and came up with these 5 crucial tips for success. Hopefully this means no more stressful mornings arounds here!

Choose a day & time that works well with your schedule. If it's not convenient, you won't do it so make sure it makes sense with your routine and even get the kids to help, if possible.
Lists, lists, lists. My husband definitely thinks I'm crazy for making a list for literally everything but I swear if I write it down then I'm way less likely to forget something! In this scenario, make a list outlining each meal each day and then make your grocery list from this outline. That way you can avoid grabbing items at the store on the off chance they may work for a meal. P.S. I think it's fun to organize my grocery list by the direction I walk in the grocery store so that I'm not going back and forth through isles and wasting time. 👌🏻
Make freezer-friendly meals in bulk. How easy is it to come home, toss something in the oven and then serve? I just love it especially since my husband does most of the cooking around our house so if all I need to do is heat it up, I consider that winning! Some of our favorite freezer dinner meals are lasagna, chili, chicken noodle soup, chicken pot pie, and pasta sauce thats easy to heat and serve over any fun style noodles. You can also make pancakes or waffles ahead of time and freeze them until ready to eat!
Prep the night before. Set a timer for your coffee machine to make your coffee, wash any breakfast fruits, put out bowls & silverware if you'll be having cereal or oatmeal, etc. Also, if you're like me and can't stand a dirty kitchen in the morning, do all the dishes and clean up before you go to bed so you start the day feeling organized, which will put you in a better mindset!
Create a 'Grab & Go' snack area. I like to buy in bulk at Costco especially for kids snacks but then I create little snack size baggies with items like goldfish, veggie sticks, crackers, chips, etc. That way they can grab whichever snack they prefer and it's already in a manageable portion size!

I hope these help calm the frenzy of back to school time! I don't know about you but I'm certainly looking forward to my son's new beginnings, seeing him make new friends, learn new things, and have a plethora of new memories.

If you have some tips & tricks that you have found highly successful, I would LOVE to hear them!! Send them on over to my phone/email or comment with them. I appreciate it! Kylie