Homemade "Lunchables"

I'm really big into teaching my kids the value of what is considered a "balanced meal." So much so that I have my kids pack their own lunches every morning (that and it saves $$!). In a matter of 15 minutes we had 16 "Lunchables" made for pennies on the dollar!

Generally we have left-overs they can chose from and I have a drawer with shelf-stable goodies they can add and a drawer in my fridge they can pick from. Depending on my meal plan and the amount of leftovers I anticipate, I will get them Lunchables. This weekend I had some spare time and decided to make some homemade "lunchables."

Pictured from left to right: cupcake liners in a jar, snack size Ziplocs, a bunch of sandwich sized storage containers and bento boxes, colby jack cheese sticks, mozzarella cheese sticks, Ritz crackers, pepperoni, colby jack cheese block, medium cheddar cheese block, turkey lunch mean, bologna, and cotto salami.
Not pictures is Fritos, salsa, nacho cheese, american cheese, and ham

 Most of the stuff needed I already had on hand. I always keep a bunch of cupcake liners in a jar in my cupboard and the sandwich containers I've had for a long time. I bought a bunch at the last Army case lot sale for dirt cheap so it's no big deal if they don't come home or get broken. The Ritz crackers and cheese blocks were also from that case lot sale so I have a bunch of them that I needed to use up ($.92 for a case of Ritz. No brainer!). Obviously we had some lunch meat hanging out in our fridge that needed to be finished off and I bought two more when I stopped by the store the day before. I think I spent under $10 for everything I needed that we didn't already have.

You can use any time of container you have on hand. I prefer just regular sandwich containers as they have more room but the side-dish ones work too. Also, I have found the cheap Dollar Tree version of the Bento boxes work great for chips and salsa (Frozen theme container). We use the large Bento boxes for Wes and I. 

On today's agenda:

• turkey and cheese (colby jack)
• cotto salami and cheese (cheddar)
• ham and cheese (mozzarella)
• pepperoni and cheese (mozzarella) 
• bologna and cheese (american)
• Frito chips, salsa, & nacho cheese

It doesn't take a whole lot of time to make them. I think within 15 minutes on a Saturday morning, the four of us (3 oldest kids and me) made 16 of them and cleaned up afterword.

I put Mason to work doing the chips and salsa

Saydi was in charge of bagging the Ritz crackers. We put 5 in snack sized baggies.
We've learned that they need to be in baggies so they don't get soggy. 

Karli was in charge of putting five piece of meat in each cupcake liner.
These work great as they can soak up any extra moisture from the meat, keep everything divided, and the kiddos can toss them when they are done. We also put our sliced cheeses in cupcake liners too.

Here's the finished products! 

Example of how the chips and salsa look.
Mason also tossed in a slice of cheddar cheese because we didn't have a lot of nacho cheese. 

Awful picture but this is Turkey with colby jack stick.

I'm a big fan of masking tape and use that to label each container. It stays on but comes off easily when needed and if I accidentally cycle it through the dishwasher, it still comes off without leaving residue. It make not be the prettiest but it's definitely effective!

Instructions: 

1. Place 5 Ritz in a Ziploc bag (snack size works best)
2. Cut up lunch meat into 5 pieces. I usually cut 5 slices/ pieces of meat at a time so I can make 4 "lunchables" at a time. 
3. Decide on what type of cheese. If it's American cheese singles, slice 5 of them to get 4 sets of 5. Otherwise, slice up cheese blocks or include a type of cheese stick. 
4. Place meat in a cupcake liner and place in sandwich container
5. If you have sliced cheese, place those in cupcake liners also. Otherwise, place cheese stick in sandwich container with the meat.
6. Place in sandwich baggy with Ritz crackers
7. Seal up container and label it. I usually include a short description of what's in it and the date I made it.
8. Storage life is roughly 5-7 days as long as you refrigerate it.

If you'd like to cut down lunch box prep time, you can also toss in a Go-gurt yogurt too. Right after Halloween I also toss in a fun-sized candy.

Sky's the limit on what you could include!

Don't forget to include Lunch Box notes!!! There's tons of great ones on Pinterest- here's some I've recently printed off for my kiddos!