I have been deep in my daddy/daughter nostalgia feelings lately as I stare down 42 and my dad stares down 71 later this year. This little slice of peanut butter and emotional terrorism is not helping! I had a Peanuts lunch box with a thermos that my dad packed carefully for me every day of summer camp, and this piece brought all those memories of cool ranch chips and little Debbie cakes. I really did feel loved when he handed me that lunch box.
All this rings true for me, though I'm not a parent, merely a guy whose wife goes to the office three days a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings are a struggle because we're always out of SOME two things she wants, and then I offer some fridge leftovers that she's sick of. Occasionally she'll kvetch to her co-workers about what I've packed, and the team reminds her that she can be grateful I did the task and keep doing it.
(Consider a second fridge for your dipping mustards.)
Cackling as I feel every word of this deeply in my soul!
My kids are just finishing up 2nd and 3rd grade. I still make their lunches because they were too picky to eat the school lunches provided (for free) by the school. Said free lunch program has expired and I'm not wasting my money on lunches they won't eat. So, I send them to school every day with a PB&J sandwich, pepper strips or blue berries, ritz bitz or goldfish, and 4 mini chips ahoy cookies. In the middle circle of the bento box is their daily fiber gummies. Thankfully, my school only asks that we pack one daily snack.
I've mentioned them before, but Rubbermaid Freshworks containers are great for storing berries and cut-up peppers. Even strawberries will last a decent amount of time if you remove the leaves.
For water bottles, it took a lot of trial and error to land on the bottles they have now. Stainless steel which is much harder to break, is anti-microbial, and keeps the drinks colder than plastic. Also, no fear of weird chemicals leaching from the plastic. Thelids are very hard plastic with only one moving part, the part of the lid that flips up to be the straw. Any type of overly complicated mechanism is just going to break.
This process plays out similarly when it comes to packing lunches for The Missus and myself, except that instead of "gas station candy on the way home" it's "$17 of takeout that, with delivery fees, actually cost $46 and was cold by the time it arrived." And water bottles? HOO BOY. One look at our cabinets would lead you to think we're a Simple Modern wholesaler yet we still have bottles with no lids and lids with no bottles and DAMMIT I'm not getting rid of any of them because the others are in there somewhere!
Also, I think it's great that you let Olaf write the section about string cheese.
The Yeti kids water bottle is thus far completely indestructible. Might need stickers to appease your kids and AirTags so they don’t get left somewhere.
I make my kid's lunches and have to say this one resonated with me. I'm paying this article the highest respect (going back and forth one million times deciding whether or not to forward it to my wife...I *think* she will like it, BUT also I might get into trouble somehow)
Good news, she loved it, especially "Feed the Kristof ones to the dogs." I'd share more but I've got to go make a special trip to Target to get the specific kind of yogurt-covered raisins that are the only ones allowed into the lunch bag to be yeeted directly into the trash.
I love this very much because it is entirely relatable despite my not having to pack lunches for them. The water bottle hunt every night is always fun. The berries. The berries are always bad!!! At least daycare feeds them, so we don't have to worry about it currently.
Our schools have “reheated on site” lunches available, in which our daughters had no interest , which in turn is why they were on their own for making school lunches starting in middle school. My younger daughter’s last day of senior year is Friday, and my wife has been talking about reclaiming the drawer space used for small food containers like we don’t also use them for small quantities of leftovers, but that’s not a debate I need to have.
Daughter is doing a day camp starting next week, first such venture for us. There are kids in her room with allergies and between them, I have no idea what to pack. Makes me feel for those kids & parents
Scott, I should know better by now having read your newsletters over the past several years. But the emotional terrorism has got to stop, man. "Little act of love" with every lunch box, GTFO. :)
I have been deep in my daddy/daughter nostalgia feelings lately as I stare down 42 and my dad stares down 71 later this year. This little slice of peanut butter and emotional terrorism is not helping! I had a Peanuts lunch box with a thermos that my dad packed carefully for me every day of summer camp, and this piece brought all those memories of cool ranch chips and little Debbie cakes. I really did feel loved when he handed me that lunch box.
All this rings true for me, though I'm not a parent, merely a guy whose wife goes to the office three days a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings are a struggle because we're always out of SOME two things she wants, and then I offer some fridge leftovers that she's sick of. Occasionally she'll kvetch to her co-workers about what I've packed, and the team reminds her that she can be grateful I did the task and keep doing it.
(Consider a second fridge for your dipping mustards.)
Doubled over laughing in the condiments aisle yesterday when I thought of the dipping mustards tweet.
Cackling as I feel every word of this deeply in my soul!
My kids are just finishing up 2nd and 3rd grade. I still make their lunches because they were too picky to eat the school lunches provided (for free) by the school. Said free lunch program has expired and I'm not wasting my money on lunches they won't eat. So, I send them to school every day with a PB&J sandwich, pepper strips or blue berries, ritz bitz or goldfish, and 4 mini chips ahoy cookies. In the middle circle of the bento box is their daily fiber gummies. Thankfully, my school only asks that we pack one daily snack.
I've mentioned them before, but Rubbermaid Freshworks containers are great for storing berries and cut-up peppers. Even strawberries will last a decent amount of time if you remove the leaves.
For water bottles, it took a lot of trial and error to land on the bottles they have now. Stainless steel which is much harder to break, is anti-microbial, and keeps the drinks colder than plastic. Also, no fear of weird chemicals leaching from the plastic. Thelids are very hard plastic with only one moving part, the part of the lid that flips up to be the straw. Any type of overly complicated mechanism is just going to break.
This process plays out similarly when it comes to packing lunches for The Missus and myself, except that instead of "gas station candy on the way home" it's "$17 of takeout that, with delivery fees, actually cost $46 and was cold by the time it arrived." And water bottles? HOO BOY. One look at our cabinets would lead you to think we're a Simple Modern wholesaler yet we still have bottles with no lids and lids with no bottles and DAMMIT I'm not getting rid of any of them because the others are in there somewhere!
Also, I think it's great that you let Olaf write the section about string cheese.
The Yeti kids water bottle is thus far completely indestructible. Might need stickers to appease your kids and AirTags so they don’t get left somewhere.
I make my kid's lunches and have to say this one resonated with me. I'm paying this article the highest respect (going back and forth one million times deciding whether or not to forward it to my wife...I *think* she will like it, BUT also I might get into trouble somehow)
>>> I will have to throw out all of my beer, hot sauces and dipping mustards to make room for them.
I thought everyone learned in college about the need for a beer fridge.
Seriously, caring for another by finding the stuff they enjoy is a good thing.
Good news, she loved it, especially "Feed the Kristof ones to the dogs." I'd share more but I've got to go make a special trip to Target to get the specific kind of yogurt-covered raisins that are the only ones allowed into the lunch bag to be yeeted directly into the trash.
I love this very much because it is entirely relatable despite my not having to pack lunches for them. The water bottle hunt every night is always fun. The berries. The berries are always bad!!! At least daycare feeds them, so we don't have to worry about it currently.
Never have I been happier for universal free school lunches in my state.
But, looming in the next few weeks is that damn jar of sun butter for summer camp.
Our schools have “reheated on site” lunches available, in which our daughters had no interest , which in turn is why they were on their own for making school lunches starting in middle school. My younger daughter’s last day of senior year is Friday, and my wife has been talking about reclaiming the drawer space used for small food containers like we don’t also use them for small quantities of leftovers, but that’s not a debate I need to have.
Daughter is doing a day camp starting next week, first such venture for us. There are kids in her room with allergies and between them, I have no idea what to pack. Makes me feel for those kids & parents
Scott, I should know better by now having read your newsletters over the past several years. But the emotional terrorism has got to stop, man. "Little act of love" with every lunch box, GTFO. :)
-Lunches and snacks and waters it's all chaos
-Yes. Haha yes.
-My daughter finished kindergarten...
-Oh no
“Never meet your heroes”. Hahaha😂🤣😂