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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of ‘Build a Better Sandwich’ at Publix. The opinions and text are all mine.
Packing lunches for kindergarten and preschool isn’t super complicated, until you come face to face with the fact that many kindergartners and preschoolers would rather play than eat lunch. I recently spent the day in my middle child’s preschool, and I found out that they have a very fun game of snack trades that happens. Little did I know the price for gummy bears or strawberries. Those are high-ticket items right now.
I decided that my kindergartner and preschooler would take much more pride in their lunches and relieve me of scrambling for snacks and goodies at the last minute if I switched it up. So, I have a fun little sandwich and snack bar, where they get to make their own sandwiches, pack their own snacks and have their lunches ready for the week. We get everything set up in Tupperware and sandwich bags, so they can help me grab and go in the morning.
We Head to Publix to Grocery Shop! Here’s What We Get:
We start by heading to Publix to see what’s on sale and what looks good for the week. Now that I know snacks are being traded, I had to make sure we got some of the valuable snacks like Cheez-It® Snap’d™ snacks and fruit. The Del Monte® Fruit Cups® are awesome and are easy ways to pack fruit. I get the no-sugar added ones. My boys are a big fan of turkey sandwiches, which include turkey, cheese and mayo. Hillshire Farm® Lunch Meat and Sargento® Sliced Cheese are usually on sale, and they seem to like cheese slices on everything. Hellmann’s® Mayonnaise seems to be a favorite too! Then I head to the bakery to get the Publix bakery rolls which are the perfect size for little sandwiches. All of these items are on sale as well. From 3/16/19 – 3/29/19, you can click here and save on Publix bakery items by building a better sandwich with these participating items:
- $1.75 off any Publix Bakery item when you buy any (1) Hellmann’s Mayonnaise 23 –30 oz. OR Vegan Dressing & Sandwich Spread 24 oz.
- $1.00 off any Publix Bakery item when you buy any (1) Cheez-It Snap’d 7.5 oz
- $1.50 off any Publix Bakery item when you buy any (2) Hillshire Farm® Lunch Meat 7-16 oz.
- $1.00 off any Publix Bakery item when you buy any (2) Del Monte Fruit Cups 2-4 pk.
- $1.00 off any Publix Bakery item when you buy any (1) Sargento Sliced Cheese 6.84-8 oz.
We also grab a cookie from the bakery too. This is their favorite part of shopping at the end (or beginning depending on moods).
Once we get home, I set up the ingredients and the sandwich and snack bar:
I think the hardest part is spreading the mayonnaise on the sandwiches, so I help with that.
I lay out the turkey and cheese on a platter, so the boys can grab as much as they want, and I pre-cut the rolls, so they just have to layer on. Then, we pack the sandwiches in a Tupperware to grab for the week.
I also have the boys bag up their Cheez-It Snap’d snacks, pack little packs of fruit and organize their Del Monte Fruit Cups.
This whole project doesn’t take long at all, and I usually cut up strawberries and wash fruit while they are working on the sandwiches. That way we get a lot done quickly. I really like having the boys involved in packing their own lunches because they can make sure they like what is in them, have fun trading snacks at school, and have some independence learning to feed themselves.
Once everything is ready to go, I put it all in the fridge for easy grabs, and we can move on with our week with one less opportunity for things to go wrong. When I first started having to pack lunches, I would totally fail and have to do a drive thru at times when I would start making peanut butter and jelly, remembering the school is a peanut-free space…so this fun prep activity helps eliminate those mom-brain moments!
