School lunches made easy: Items to have on-hand for mixing and matching

Of all the back-to-school tasks on the agenda for September, packing school lunches always feels like the most burdensome. The same turkey sandwich, apple and cookie get boring fast. But do I really want to spend time planning interesting menus for lunchboxes on top of everything else I have to do?

My kids don't want -- or even appreciate -- fancy preparations. But they do like variety. This year, I'm trying something new. To keep things quick and simple, I've made lists of the different categories of foods I want my children to eat. I'll stock my refrigerator, freezer and pantry every weekend with items from the lists, and every morning I'll improvise a new combination to satisfy their nutritional needs and tastes.

I plan to pack my kids' lunch- box items in BPA-free bento boxes and containers I've purchased at The Container Store. They keep sandwiches separate from salad without any environmental waste, and won't leach chemicals into the kids' food. And they're fun to open up, especially if you never know what they'll hold. I'll put the containers in an insulated lunch box along with an ice pack to keep everything at a safe temperature for eating.

Store a selection of the following items in your pantry, refrigerator and freezer, and you will be able to come up with a different lunch-box combination for every day of the month. Don't forget to mix in leftovers -- chicken, pizza, meatloaf -- whenever you have them.