We have a LOT of picnics in the summer. The kids love eating outside and I love that the mess stays outside. Win/win! However, that means we have to pack a lot of picnics and I’ll be the first to admit that it gets tiring to get meals for 7 people ready to go. Processed food is the easiest way to go…right? Maybe not.
Don’t get me wrong, my kids would happily eat chips, Lunchables and cookies. But I want them to eat something that will nourish their bodies (and actually fill them up!) so we’ve experimented with real food we can grab in 5 minutes. Instead of packing individual bags, we just grab some gallon-sized baggies and work through our major food groups:
- Protein: leftover grilled meat, lunch meat or hard-boiled eggs
- Fat: olives, almonds, peanuts, cheese
- Produce: always sliced apples, baby carrots, sugar snap peas, grapes, mini bell peppers, mini cucumbers, kale chips
- Smart Carbs: fruit counts here, dried fruit (no sugar added), popcorn, whole wheat tortillas, homemade granola bars
It’s that simple…and a LOT nicer on the grocery budget.
Tomorrow we have a round of doctor’s appointments at the local University for one of our kiddos with special needs and we have a picnic packed up to feed our gang on the patient playground. This took 5 minutes to prep and cost about $5 to feed 4 kids and have leftovers. Not bad. 🙂
