easy lunch Archives | Heavenly Homemakers

Who takes a salad for a family picnic?! We do. When you go out for as many picnics as we do, you start to get creative. :)

Now that we are living in Lincoln, we’ve been taking our seven little kids out for almost daily “adventures.” The weather has been beautiful and the outings are sooooo good for our kids’ mental health (and for mine, actually). Plus this has been a good way to help us all become familiar with our new surroundings.

So many family picnics

I’m telling you, we pack food a lot for our crew to eat while we’re out. They love it, it’s not hard to do, and the best part: THERE ARE NO DISHES TO WASH AFTERWARD.

We live a few blocks from the zoo, so we bought a membership and go there for an hour or two whenever we can. Here’s our picnic last week: meat, cheese, applesauce, carrots, crackers, and juice. We had lunch with the giraffes.

Another day Eva, Kelsey, and I took the kids to a splash park and enjoyed sandwiches, chips (wow, what an actual normal picnic), mandarin oranges, and juice.

One Saturday we took the kids to “Discovery Day” at a UNL campus where they featured all kinds of science-based, hands-on learning booths for the kids. We enjoyed doing experiments at many booths before sitting down under a tree to eat nuts, cheese sticks, and fruit.

A couple weeks ago Eva and I took the kids to play at a huge park all morning, then ate hotdogs that I’d heated and “bunned” ahead of time for us to eat at lunchtime.

And yes, we also enjoy a lot of picnics in our backyard. This one was pizza and fruit. But it all tastes better outside. :)

Other picnic ideas we’ve enjoyed:

Quesadillas
Hamburgers
Chicken Sandwiches
Burritos
Summer Sausage
Tortilla Roll-Ups

How to Take a Salad for a Family Picnic

So now let’s talk about salad.

This idea came to me as I was quickly searching my refrigerators to see what I could throw together for my kids to eat at the zoo this week. I had already grabbed some sliced meat and cheese, but we needed a veggie that could easily be transported and eaten at a picnic table. I was out of carrots, but aha! There was a Salad Kit I’d bought for Elias sitting in my veggie drawer. We could make that work at the zoo!

(This is the photo I sent Elias from Aldi asking if he wanted me to get it for him. And then I bought it for him. And then we ate it without him. Sorry Elias. I’ll get you a new one.)

I threw the kit into a gallon-sized ziploc bag along with avocado cups for our toddlers, applesauce cups and muffins for everyone, and juice boxes. We got to the zoo just in time to sit down for a Baby Cheetah “show.” We settled everyone in with an applesauce cup and spoon, then I dumped the salad kit into my ziploc bag.

I added all the extras included in the kit, closed up the ziploc, and shook it up. This took 5 minutes and it was brilliant! (I did wish I had scissors. That would have made the process only take only 4 minutes.)

I then dumped salad out for Brayden, Keith, Kiya, Matt, and me, handed out forks, and we learned about baby cheetahs while we chomped on salad. Truly, this idea is genius.

These kits are around $3 at Aldi, which is a GREAT PRICE for a lunch on the go. Plus they have several varieties to choose from. I will definitely be grabbing more next time I’m shopping so that I’ll have these on hand for outings as needed!

Meanwhile, Acacia ate her avocado cup with a spoon. She loves those!

Want to make your own salad to take along on a picnic? Here are some great recipes:

How about fruit salad?

Ever tried taking salad for a family picnic?

Let’s talk about how to make Uncrustables and all the reasons you should make them at home!

Yum

What is an Uncrustable?

Uncrustables are a lovely convenience item found in the freezer section of the grocery store. They are pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwich with crusts removed. Perfect for most of our kids, right?

Yes, but the cost.

I can’t let myself spend $4.18 for just four crustless pb&j sandwiches. Surely it costs much less to throw together a simple sandwich at home, right? Right.

Here’s what you need to make Uncrustables:

100% Whole Wheat Bread: $0.19/sandwich
Natural Peanut Butter: $0.13/sandwich
100% Fruit Jelly: $0.13/sandwich

Uncrustables at the store: $1.05 per sandwich (made with less-nourishing ingredients)
Cost for a Homemaade Uncrustable: $0.45 (made with much better ingredients)

Oh, and you’ll need this handy tool which is a one-time, very worth it purchase.

Don’t waste the crust!!

When I use two loaves of bread to make 20 Uncrustables, I end up with a 10×13 inch pyrex full of crusts. I can’t stand the idea of throwing them out, so I use them to make Easy Bread Pudding. My family loves this and I love that nothing goes to waste!

How to make your own Peanut Butter

Want to make your own peanut butter? It’s truly the most delicious! Here’s the recipe. It’s so very easy to make!

If you don’t make your own peanut butter, look for brands that don’t have hydrogenated oils in them. Those oils are best avoided. :)

The joy of Homemade Uncrustables

If you make Uncrustables, I recommend making many at once so that you get more mass for your mess. :) I make two loaves of bread worth each time I make Uncrustables (which produces 20). Then I freeze them to pull out for quick lunches for my kids (either at home or in lunchboxes at school). Having these ready in the freezer is so handy! And if we’re at home and want to eat them straight from the freezer, we put them into our air fryer for a minute or two to thaw/crisp up. So good!