Back to School Lunches with PackIt

*This is a sponsored post in collaboration with PackIt. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

It’s hard to believe that the boys are starting week 3 of the new school year. With that, I’m getting the boys into the practice of helping me pack their lunches.

After a summer of traveling and exploring, and lots of eating on-the-go, we made a family decision to teach our kids how to make smart lunch choices this year. That means having them (even our 4 year-old) help with packing their own lunches in their new PackIt freezable bags.

As the boys get older, they become conscious of style and they insisted on whatever bag they use, they must look “cool”. If that means they’ll take care of their bags and take pride in helping make their lunches, that works for me.

When I was kid we had brown bags, warm drinks and dry sandwiches because freezer bags like PackIt weren’t around. To add to that, I grew up in a family of 9 kids, so that meant brown bags were recycled until the bottom fell out.

Thankfully, PackIt has my boys covered since their bags last year after year. This year they wanted new ones. My 11-year-old went with the Camo because it was the “coolest”. The other two (here and here) are black and pretty plain, but the toddler likes the ninja-like stealth of them so he got one and I got the other. Even though I work from home, I still like having a lunch bag because it makes it that much easier for me to actually take a break and leave the house. The all-in-one cooler aspect keeps things cool, so whether I have my lunch under the shade or at the beach, the food and drinks stay cool for hours—a necessary thing for someone like me, who admittedly is a picky eater, so a few temperatures too warm and I just won’t eat or drink it.

My boys have also picked up this same annoying habit. But to mitigate any other picky habits that they’ve observed in me, I’ve made it a point to have them prepare their own lunches. Not only does this make them more responsible about their eating choices, but they’ve been so much better with actually finishing their lunches.

Their latest choices might not be Instagram-able, but they’re healthier and I’m not complaining. Nor will I ever complain that they carved out their own shelf in the freezer for their bags. It’s made our morning routine that much easier since the walls of the bags are completely frozen – no more looking for ice packs, or using a bag of peas as a stand-in for the ice pack left on the school lunch table. Yay, to this and to the kids making their own lunches! Double yay to the fact  that whether we are driving in a warm car or walking to school on a hot day their lunches stay nice and cool.