This Unicorn Sandwich post is sponsored by Nature’s Harvest® Bread and Entenmann’s® Little Bites™ snacks, but all opinions are 100% my own.
The first few weeks of a new school year always feel more hectic. It can be so tough to get back into the swing of school for kids and parents alike. I’ve never been a morning person, so when I have a set time to be anywhere in the morning, I plan as much as possible the night before.
My go to “tricks” for saving time in the morning include:
- Showering the night before.
- Picking out an outfit the night before. (Including trying it on just to make sure it looks nice put together).
- Pack lunch and/or snacks before bed.
- Have my agenda, schedule or to-do list already written.
When it comes to packing lunch for school, most parents want to balance nutrition, convenience and flavor. Of course, if your child refuses to eat what you packed then it’s all for nothing. The up-side of packing lunches for school is they are usually ‘cold’ and don’t require reheating which opens up a lot of convenient ‘grab and go’ options. However, many grab and go snacks are pretty unhealthy.
When packing a balanced and convenient lunch I always include a sandwich as the main entree, and then I try to include a fruit, a protein and a treat. I recently discovered Nature’s Harvest® Bread 100% Whole Wheat. It’s 120 calories per 2 slices, has 6g or protein and 4g of fiber per serving. Plus, there is no high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors or flavors. Of course, it can be paired with cold cuts, pb&j, shredded chicken or hundreds of other options to keep it interesting. I love how sandwich cutters have gotten so common and can be purchased for a couple dollars a piece. I have a few different cutters that I rotate through to keep things interesting. The favorite is a puzzle piece cutter that I have. The pieces form a genuine puzzle so if you’re careful you can pull the pieces apart and rearrange them which always impresses kids’ friends.
For the protein I usually go with a yogurt or cheese. These are great ‘grab and go’ options to throw in a lunch and almost every kid will find some flavor of yogurt, or some variety of string cheese that they enjoy.
Our fruit is always changing, but we always have apples, oranges and bananas on hand so we use those most often.
For the treat, I like finding something that is delicious and gets us excited about having lunch but still has some nutrition to it. We like a variety of Entenmann’s® Little Bites® snacks because they taste great while having no high fructose corn syrup, and no trans-fat. Plus, they have a couple grams of proteins per package. Right now the seasonal S’mores mini muffins are in stores which we love. Their muffins are extremely soft and they come in several varieties.
Nature’s Harvest bread and Entenmann’s Little Bites snacks can both be found at Walmart.
Enter for a chance to win a $10,000 savings bond sweepstakes! It’s called the Life Of The Lunchbox sweepstakes and it doesn’t end until September 13th.
Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
This post currently has 21 responses.
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SMORE!!!!! We love these for breakfast or snacks! I havent seen the smore ones yet! They look delicious!
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Janet W.
My grandsons are big fans of the little bites muffins! The smores are delicious as we’ve tried them before. Their favorite is the banana flavor muffins!
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Those Little Bites by Entenmann’s look like something I might have everyday! Yum. Thanks for letting us know about the sweepstakes. That would be awesome to win $10K in savings bond!
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First of all. LOVE the puzzle cutter for the sandwich. My son would’ve loved that. Those Little Bites are perfect for kids lunches.
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kathy downey
Thanks for the post,those Little Bites are perfect for kids lunches or snack after school\1
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We also shower at night and I try to pick out my clothes at night too but come morning, I don’t want to wear it anymore :/ We love the little bites at my house and they are a great breakfast or morning snack.
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Jackie
I love the puzzle sandwich….what a cute idea! I buy Little Bites for my daughter to take in her lunch. She’s in college and loves them. Perfect to take to work too.
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I can’t believe it is almost time for making lunches! My kids love Little Bites and they are great to have on hand for easy lunch snacks.
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I saw that bread the last time we were shopping and I think we are going to switch to it. It looks really healthy. I love Meijers!
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Elizabeth O.
School can be too much pressure on kids and the best we can do is make life easier for them. When the kids were smaller we usually have night routines to prepare for the next day, so that we don’t have to rush all the time.
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Victoria
This is awesome tips, I can use this for preparing meal for my son next year he was in the big school
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Jeanine Carlson
Oooo, I just noticed the S;mores Mffin is a seasonal item. I better get lookin!!
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Michelle S
I will have to look for the bread at the store – I would like to get my kids eating a healthier bread.
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Nicole Etolen
I remember my son when he is a little bit younger. He used to have packed lunches like that.
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Karen Glatt
I love this brand of bread and the Little bites are so delicious. These are great products for back to school lunches.
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What a great idea for school lunches. I am trying to stay on my feet thinking of things my son would lik.
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Great tips. We try to create a schedule to keep things running as smooth as possible, start building lunches the night before, and stick to a bedtime. It’s all about practicing the routine night after night.
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ellen beck
That puzzle cutter sandwich is so neat! I think a kid would eat a sandwich made that way just because it is so fun. I could see that used for all kinds of things. School is tough especially the first week or so. Bedtimes have to be transitioned to .
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Lauryn R
My kids love Entenmanns Little Bites! I love that they are an easy and delicious breakfast or snack that is still nutritious! 🙂 Oh and I just jumped on the adorable bread cutter bandwagon as well, there are SO many cute shapes! It definitely makes lunch time a lot more exciting, I would have loved this as a kid too!
I also like to get the shower and clothes prep out of the way the night before. I’ve seen laminated check lists that the kids can check off so they don’t forget anything, like their lunch, books, etc. Something always seem to come up so getting going early is a good plan.