DIY Lunchables

My kids have a love affair with the Lunchable.
(I would insert the trademark thing here, but I can't figure out how. Lunchables are made by Oscar Mayer and they are a fine product.)

Oh, the tiny compartments!

Oh, the itty-bitty pieces of cheese. The itty-bitty slices of ham. Even the tiniest hot dogs ever. Swoon.

And then there is juice! And chips! And, if you are lucky...candy!!

But then...the turkey one (which Tater prefers) has chocolate chip cookies...which he does not prefer at all. Or the ham one (which Sprout prefers) has (hold on...it's scandalous...) no Kool-Aid!!

And really, those tiny stacks of cheese and lunchmeat are tiny...not really enough for a growing kid's lunch.

So, I started to make my own "packaged lunches".

I took a big one-gallon sized zippered bag. And into that, I put smaller bags...with a couple of cheese sticks, some crackers, maybe some grapes, a few cookies (in the case pictured - little donuts...I was going WILD!) Along with this I packed single servings of milk (Tater prefers Silk Vanilla Soy Milk, Sprout likes these Horizon ones).

I told them that I made them their own special "Lunchable" (sorry Oscar Mayer) and they totally bought it!! And they ate it all up!

And...

* less packaging. If you are really diligent you could reuse some of the bags.
* healthier ingredients. (Except for the donuts...)
* more customized to what the kids like.
* much less expensive.

A big win on all fronts. They can have this kind of lunch much more frequently, and I actually feel good about it!

Which is not to say that I don't wimp out and get the "real" ones from time to time. I am still a bit of a sucker for the itty-bitty compartments!