Time Saving Tips for School Mornings

There's a reason why I LOVE to blog. Want to know why? It's YOU! Yes, YOU all inspire me!

It wasn't too long ago that I posted on preparing school lunches ahead of time. You may remembering reading that post. If you missed it, you can view it HERE.

At the end of that post I had asked you all to share your tips and tricks on organizing lunches. My very first comment came from Rachel. She said that she makes sandwiches ahead of time and freezes them. Her great suggestion was to put the peanut butter on both slices of bread (one side lightly, just to seal it from the jelly) and when preparing meat and cheese sandwiches to put the condiment between the meat and cheese. Brilliant, genius - you are so smart Rachel!! Thanks for the advice.

I was SO EXCITED about that awesome tip, so you know what I did right?! I made a bunch of sandwiches for the freezer. I've been doing this now for about a month and it is the BEST thing e.v.e.r. Our school mornings are such a breeze.

This is how I store the sandwiches in the freezer:

I found these containers at the Dollar Tree. They are good for the freezer too. Not all of the ones at the Dollar Tree are for the freezer, but these ones are.

I designed and printed the labels. Laminated them and slid them through my sticker maker. I've talked about my sticker makers in my Coupon and Receipt Organizing Post and in my Craft Room Closet Organizing Post.

I go through one to two loafs of bread when I make up the sandwiches. Sometimes I make the sandwiches on rolls, sometimes on bread, sometimes with a tortilla wrap. I've got 3 guys in school. If you do the math, 3 (chicklets) x 5 (days a week) = 15 (sandwiches per week) so I make a bunch at a time. Once I have all the sandwiches made, I stack them all on top of each other and slice right down the middle. Kinda like the leaning tower of PB&J ;)

I put them in freezer ziploc sandwich bags,

place them into the container...

and store them in my garage freezer. I've got two containers, one for meat and cheese sandwiches and one for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Each morning, I (or one of my boys) go into the garage, grab a sandwich bin from the freezer, and a tray from the refrigerator, bring them into the house and pack them into the lunch boxes, which takes a couple of minutes. It's so sweet!

That's it, I just wanted to share some time saving tips for those busy school mornings. Yes, making the lunches ahead of time takes a little prep time in the beginning of the week (or on the weekend, which is what I've been doing.) BUT it is so worth it come Monday through Friday.

Do you have an awesome time saving tip for school mornings? Have you blogged about it? Please share, so we can ALL benefit from them.