The kids and I go on lots of field trips, all the time. For this to work, we have to have a plan for packing lunches. So, here are my quick tips for packing a lunch for field trips. A fun and silly Homeschool How To for travelschooling.
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Packing a lunch for field trips
1. Have the staples on hand. In our house, that is: bread, peanut butter, jelly, chips, fruit snack, and juice boxes. For me, as soon as I get those individually wrapped items home I take them out of their boxes and dump them into a central box, it cuts down on boxes in my pantry.
Future Ticia 2026 will say, once my kids were past this really young stage, I no longer used juice boxes, and once we went on our first family mission trip, and the kids had their own water bottles, instead, the kids filled their water bottles.
We have several variations on this water bottle. It seals fairly well, and isn’t inclined to spill if it’s upside down or sideways in a backpack. I also picked up this silly mini Batman water bottle for when I don’t think I’m likely to need as much water. My kids think it’s hilarious their Mom has this bottle, but it’s obvious which is mine, and I don’t care.
2. Buy a large bag of the chips your kids like. Then, reapportion them into snack-size bags. It’s cheaper than buying the pre-made snack bags, and since my kids are little, it’s closer to how much they eat. This also helps keep me and my husband from eating half the bag in one sitting. What is it about Cheetos?
Future Ticia 2026 still does this, but sometimes on days I’m feeling lazy I would buy the snack bags, but there was always that one flavor no one wants, which is why the groups of snack bags never made sense to me.
3. Get the divided containers like you see at right, Ziploc Container, or something similar. Easy Lunch Boxes sells this same basic idea. This is the perfect amount of lunch for most pre-schoolers and elementary kids. If I’m honest, it’s usually about the right amount for me.
Sigh, silly Amazon putting huge amounts of space around their picture.
Future Ticia will also say, silly Past Ticia 2011 for putting the pictures in like that so I can’t edit them. So frustrating.
4. Buy a folding cooler, and it will pack all of your containers, several drinks for everyone, and a snack. We have gone through 3 different variations of this (one of which was destroyed by a squirrel determined to get our lunch).
Thoughts on field trip lunches from Future Ticia 2026
As I’m reading this I’m realizing I kept to this simple plan for our entire homeschool career. I learned it back when I was teaching public school and I saw what the cafeteria packed the kids getting a school lunch. They kept it simple, a sandwich, a bag of chips, a fruit, and a drink.
I went with the same general philosophy. As the kids grew they would pack their own lunches and they kept to the same general idea. Sometimes they would just slice up an apple and have peanut butter to dip the apple in and some other ideas.
That’s my tips. Anyone have any others? Any favorite picnic recipes? I have a pasta salad that I’m going to share. It’s my go-to for large groups on a picnic.
Future Ticia will say I shared it briefly but decided the recipe was so simple it was not worth keeping as a post. Are you ready here it is:
Cook your pasta.
Pick out your protein.
Now pick out any extras you want to add in: shredded carrots, cheese, chopped tomatoes, etc.
Mix all ingredients together, and then add in salad dressing.
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