Earlier this year we declared a war on eating out. We were spending WAY too much on fast food, restaurants and convenience foods and it was a strain on our budget and was not at ALL healthy!
So we started making changes. We got back to meal planning, perfected Instant Pot recipes and went back to the old faithfuls.
We also got serious about packing lunches and dinners to take with us and that is when our TO-GO boxes were born. We purchased these re-usable trays on Amazon ($14 for 20) and they have worked REALLY WELL!
Then we found things to put inside them that were easy to keep on hand and tasted good, too!
WHAT WE PUT INSIDE:
Our general rule of thumb is 1 protein + 1 fruit + 1 choice item. Here are a few ideas for each category:
PROTEIN and/or HIGH FAT
Lunch meat (in a sandwich, on its own or wrapped around a pickle!)
String cheese
Snack/jerky sticks
Hard boiled eggs
Egg salad (recipe below!)
Chicken salad (recipes below!)
Yogurt
Nuts/trail mix
Peanut butter
Bagel with cream cheese
Olives
FRUIT
Cuties/tangerines
Bananas
Apples (cut up or whole)
Strawberries
Grapes
Fruit salad (when I want to use up fruit that’s overripe!)
…really any fruit works well!
VEGGIES
For us, mostly just:
Baby Carrots
Cucumbers
Cherry Tomatoes
Sliced Peppers
…if your family has wider tastes there really is no limit!!
OTHER
Apple sauce pouches
Crackers
Pretzels
Chips
CHICKEN SALAD RECIPE
- 2 cups chopped cooked chicken leftover or rotisserie work great!
- 2 green onions finely chopped
- 1/4 cup diced celery
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp. sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- salt & pepper to taste
Optional add-ins:
- red pepper finely diced
- chopped water chestnuts
- chopped almonds
- bacon bits
- sliced grapes
- diced apple
- diced pickles
EGG SALAD RECIPE
- 6-8 hard boiled eggs, peeled, yolks separated
- 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp. chives, thinly sliced
- salt & pepper to taste
Optional mix-ins:
- bacon bits
- diced avocado
- siracha
DIRECTIONS: Add first five ingredients in bowl and combine until smooth. Chop egg whites. Stir egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.
Our To-Go Boxes
(Or watch this video on YouTube here!)
I certainly hope you find this helpful! I’d love to know what else you would add to the lists???
THANK YOU for visiting!
If you’re on Pinterest, feel free to use this image and THANK YOU for sharing!!!
I have young kids (under.4) but have giant appetites. I’m trying to meal plan more would these hold up well in the fridge for a few days.
What do you carry your boxes in?
Your such an inspiration to me and I love, love your Sunday messages with your sister. Thank you so much for all you do.
Ps. I met Jim at Single Moms Retreat in Alexandria last year and was kind of excited to see that you two are friends on here. Keep up the good work and sorry about the typos ha!
I love your videos and ideas!! Im pretty sure I’ve watched the movie all. They have helped me simplify our home and I’ve noticed how’s it helps us homeschool better, weve lost weight and also can keep the house picked up faster. This has helped me so much. Thanks for sharing!!
Great ideas. I bet sweetcorn would be a nice addition to the chicken recipe. Other ideas for snacks:
Olives
Hummus
Pretzels with peanut butter
Tinned salmon