This post is brought to you by Bolthouse Farms Kids™ and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.
With four kids, mornings are a blur. We’re rushing to get everyone fed, dressed, brushed, polished, and out the door without forgetting anything (or anyone!). Inevitably there are forgotten homework sheets, a rush to find the baby doll that MUST go with us as we drive to preschool, a dash to find money needed for school, lost shoes, coats put on inside out…There are a lot of points that can derail the morning’s schedule and cause the whole family to be late for each place they are going. There are a few things that you can do to make the morning less of a blur. We like to be prepared by talking through our morning schedule and using our back-to-school morning routine story stones. It helps to plan ahead when kids are involved and back-to-school routines require so many parts. Preparing the backpack and lunch the night before is key in a large family (or any family that needs to be out the door by a certain time.) One thing that helps us with the morning rush is packaging up the backpack and all needed items the night before and packing a healthy lunch before going to bed. Pop the lunch boxes into the fridge for the night and they are grab and go in the morning.
Healthy Lunch Ideas that are Grab and Go:
Easy lunch ideas and healthy snacks are a must for this busy mama. If you’re following us on Instagram, you know that I love to serve my kids healthy options that include real fruits and veggies.
The snacks from Bolthouse Farms Kids™ are perfect for overcoming the rush of busy mornings while maintaining healthy foods without preservatives.
We received a package from Bolthouse Farms Kids™ in the mail recently, and when we pulled out the goodies, the kids were immediately oohing and aaaahing over this happy mail.
These healthy foods were a huge hit with all four of the kids. I love that the Bolthouse Farms Kids™ items contain no added preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup, or artificial flavors and my kids love all of the fun flavors.
Bolthouse Farms Kids™ is a refrigerated line of real fruit and vegetable snacks for kids. My kids are huge smoothie fans, so the individual serving “kid-size” bottles are perfect for them. We packed a few up and took them with us on our 6 hour road trip to the beach. The 6 oz bottles contain 1 ½ servings of fruit and no dairy and no added preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup, or artificial flavors. These smoothies are perfect for on-the-go like a road trip with a bunch of excited kids. The individual serving of “kid-sized” bottles are great for on-the-go occasions. My kids loved the “Strawberry Meets Banana” flavor and can’t wait to try the ” Peach Meets Mango” smoothie. At 80-90 calories per bottle, they are full of flavor and easy to pack into lunches.
We decided the smoothies are perfect for car rides like our road trip or for the inevitable “Oops. We-missed-the-bus-and-still-need-breakfast-so-eat-this-in-the-car”.
(It happens. Often.)
I love to pack my kids full of veggies. I’m lucky in that my kids usually love their vegetables, so when they saw the Veggie Snackers, they were pretty excited. These convenient individual sized bags are perfectly sized to fit into princess and super hero lunchboxes. The two available varieties, “Carrot Meets Ranch” and “Carrot Meets Chili Lime”, have a super fun individual sized bag that you pull to unleash tremendous flavor with all-natural seasoning and just a pinch of salt. These were a big hit with my kids. And me! The package of baby carrots are only 25 calories and a perfect way to shake your way to snack time!
Fruit tubes are always a hit with my kids, but typically they are so loaded with sugar that I don’t buy them for my kids. The Fruit tubes from Bolthouse Farms Kids™ have no added sugar or preservatives and are just 30-40 calories. The real fruit purees are a treat for lunch. Even my one year old loved these! We tried the “Mango Meets Banana & Pineapple” version, and can’t wait to try “Strawberry Meets Banana” and “Blueberry Meets Raspberry”. How good would these be served frozen on a hot summer day?
More easy to pack lunch ideas that will make the morning rush a breeze:
peach
apple
grapes
banana
bottled water (Grab and go!)
string cheese
homemade trail mix
celery sticks
snap peas
avacado
kiwi
strawberries
blueberries
raspberries
grape tomatoes
orange slices
cucumber slices
The best news is that you can try all of these healthy snacks and treats from Bolthouse Farms Kids™, too!
Find them in the Produce Section at your local Giant Eagle. AND, join in on the fun of the Bolthouse Farms Kids™ Snack Mob. The Bolthouse Farms Kids™ Snack Mob trucks are coming to Pittsburgh this fall and helping kids go back to school in a healthy way!
Throughout six weeks in August and early September, the Snack Mob team will be stopping by select Giant Eagle stores and many community events throughout the region – sharing FREE samples of Bolthouse Farms Kids™ products with kids and parents. You can find the full list of events and contest rules here. You can always find them in the produce department at Giant Eagle.
Some of the events where you can see the Snack Mob truck are:
September 19: Junior Great Race at Point State Park (8am)
Follow along with us as we welcome Bolthouse Farms Kids™ to the neighborhood!
You can also enter to win in the #SnackMob #Contest, and have a Snack Mob truck crash your next party. Win a visit from the Snack Mob by tweeting @BolthouseFarms for a chance to get the #SnackMob truck to deliver Bolthouse Farms Kids™ products for free at your next party. Use the hashtags #SnackMob and #Contest in your tweet and include the date and type of event (e.g., soccer tournament, block party, etc.) in your entry. Contest ends September 10, 2015 at 11:59 pm. You must be 18 years old to enter. Maximum of 100 people per event.
Stop by and visit Bolthouse Farms Kids™ on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
