Keeping on top of things

Planning and prepping ahead of time helps make mornings way less stressful! 

• Get the kids involved and sit down at the beginning of the week and ask what they might like to see in their lunchboxes.This means they are more likely to eat their lunches, leaving less waste!
• Spend Sunday afternoon in the kitchen baking cakes, muffins, bliss balls, biscuits rolls, making sandwiches… basic lunchbox fillers that you can easily grab out of the freezer each morning.
• We get that not everyone is into baking, so you could otherwise plan your weekly lunches ahead and buy in bulk what you need to last the week in advance, so you know that you won’t have to scramble on Thursday night to find enough to fill Friday’s lunch.
• It might take some time out of your weekend, but it definitely takes the rush (and stress) out of the mornings.

Spending some time the night before can make all the difference to your morning routine:

• Prep lunches the night before - lay the lunchboxes on the bench, add in any fruit, non-perishable foods so that you only need to add in the frozen/fresh bits.
• Fill your drink bottles and put in their school bags the night before.
• Make a couple of loaves of marmite/honey sandwiches at the beginning of the week, put back into the freezer and pop them ready-made into lunchboxes in the morning.
• Slice your cheese block at the beginning of the week so you can quickly add cheese slices into marmite sandwiches, or to add in with crackers.
• Buy small sistema yoghurt cups - fill with yoghurt or tinned peaches and put in the freezer overnight. By afternoon tea time, yoghurt is like ice-cream; peaches are like ice-bocks. Plus, it keeps everything else in their lunchbox cool, especially good on hot summer days.
• Spend a day in the school holidays (with a friend!) to stock your freezer(s) with things you can add into a lunchbox in a hurry.

If you've prepared in advance, you just need to heat-and-go. Some good ideas for making-and-freezing include:

• Pre-cooked sausages (cut in half) wrapped in pastry, cooked, cooled then stored in an airtight container.
• Quesadillas - heat a fry pan, add one round ‘wrap’, grated cheese and anything else (ham, salami, chicken, spinach), add another ‘wrap’ on top, brown each side - flipping is the best bit! Cut like pizza and store with baking paper between layers.
• Make toastie pies, eg, cheese & ham and save in the freezer, ready to toast in the morning.
• Pizzas - cut and freeze.
• Savoury muffins - bake and freeze.
• If you have a food flask or thermos, heat the food up in the morning and add to the flask. Or ask the school teacher if children have access to a microwave to reheat food.

We know every family has different tastes, preferences and dietary requirements. But here are a few of our favourite lunchbox ideas - let us know yours!  

• Good ole' sandwiches - butter a frozen loaf of bread on a Sunday night and make up sandwiches by adding in simple fillings, such as marmite, peanut butter, and honey. Put the loaf back into the freezer, then pop into lunchboxes the next morning. They will be freshly thawed by lunchtime! 
• Homemade sushi - line a tray with baking paper, add nori (or not!), then layer sushi rice, filling (salmon, tuna, avocado, chicken), another layer of sushi rice and finish with nori (if you are using it) and then cut it with a wet knife. Sushi balls (using the same ingredients) are a great option too - use cupcake pans to mould and put in an airtight container. (Note, you need to eat within 18 hours though, or less if you have a chicken or fish filling).
• Pre-made pasta sauce and/or pesto (cook pasta, add sauce & cheese. Heat and put in a thermos, but it's just as good cold).
• Tins of tuna or salmon - add mayo for a yummy sandwich option.
• Make a frittata or quiche (using leftover veges from the Sunday roast?).  
• Leftover chicken drumsticks (with or without marinade). 
• Boiled eggs (stored in the fridge in an airtight container).

A bit of planning goes a long way. Don't forget to organise your own lunches for the week. Half the trouble is thinking of what to make! Another good idea is to cook an extra dinner portion and save it for the next next day. Other easy lunch ideas include: 

• Making a frittata or quiche (using leftover veges from the Sunday roast?).
• Cook up chicken drumsticks (with or without marinade).
• Throw together a few lettuce leaves, grated carrot, steamed corn & tin of tuna or salmon.
• Boil up a pot of eggs on Sunday night, and store in the fridge in an airtight container.
• Have a bag of healthy snacks in the car, for example, protein bars, nuts, crackers.

Have a good breakfast too!

• Smoothies are always a great option - put bananas and spinach in the freezer, and add to frozen berries. Add in some almond or cashew nuts for extra protein. As long as you have milk, smoothies are a great option, anytime of the day.

Time is pretty precious for working parents so be sure to prioritise the things that matter and keep you feeling good. Work a schedule and routine that includes:

• downtime and doing things that you love
• time with your kids
• organisational time - keeping on top of housework, meal prep, lunchbox prep - keeping on top of the things that need to be done

Don't sweat over the small stuff though - it'll save you time, and it doesn't really matter!

If you have the opportunity, talk to your employer about your commitment to your work, and to your kids. There's a heck of a lot of us working parents out there so it's likely they'll be understanding. See if you can negotiate a schedule that means you can be there for important school and other events. 

We'd also recommend planning your breaks in advance. Look at the stat holidays over the course of a year and see what adding in one or two of your annual leave days does to Easter, Christmas, Matariki or other days that aren't the always Monday holidays. Sometimes taking one day annual leave will give you 4 or 5 days off!

The beginning and end of the day are the hardest for working parents, so get these sorted. Mornings might consist of having the breakfast cereals on the bench so the kids can sort themselves, or freezing lunch items so they can fill their lunchboxes. Just any wee things that save you time.

Once the kids are down in the evenings, re-set for the following day. Lists and good routines are seriously a best friend!

It's when we're not organised as working parents that we feel life is crashing down around us. But it happens every now and then til we pull ourselves back to sorting ourselves out!

Be sure to get the kids routine charts organised too and include a couple of chores. This way it's not all left for you. 

It's easy to put your own needs last when juggling work and family responsibilities, but taking care of yourself is important too. Make time for self-care activities like exercise, hobbies even if it's the old two birds and one stone trick we get used to as busy parents:

• Go for a walk with your kids on their scooters or bikes
• Take colouring things to the cafe for the kids to do while you meet a friend for coffee
• Schedule some time for you in while they're at school or preschool - half an hour before pick up or after drop off are great times if possible
• Bring them in on your enjoyable hobbies - cook with them, enjoy art alongside them, play music together...

Often we're not lucky enough to live near our parents or siblings, but that doesn't mean you don't have a team. Friends will know how stretched you are at times and will love to give a hand with babysitting or pick ups when needed. Sometimes families build working or single parent networks - one parent takes the kids after school on one day of a week, another the next day etc. This can work really well. As well as this, match up with other parents who's kids are taking part in swimming, dancing, sport and other after school activities - again if you're taking one child, it's no big deal to take another. It also supports the kids to stay in the lessons or activities because they have a buddy.