How I Prep a Week of Lunchboxes in One Nap Time

If your mornings look anything like mine, the lunchbox is where good intentions go to die. One child wants crackers, the other wants "the yellow thing", and suddenly it's 8:15 and you're buttering bread with your car keys in your hand.

A while ago I decided to stop making lunchboxes every morning and start prepping them once a week, during one good nap. It's honestly changed our weekdays. Here's exactly how I do it.

The idea: bake once, mix and match all week

The trick isn't making five different lunches. It's making a few building blocks that can be combined differently each day, so nobody gets bored and you're not cooking every night.

Every lunchbox in our house gets:

• Something filling: a muffin, a slice of pasta bake or a sandwich

• Something fresh: fruit, veggie sticks or a yoghurt pot

• Something fun: a cookie or a little treat

• A drink bottle of water, always

If I've got one or two of each ready in the fridge or freezer, the box basically packs itself.

What I make in one nap (about 90 minutes)

1. A batch of muffins

I always start with these, because they can bake while I do everything else. My Banana & Blueberry Oat Muffins are the hero here. They use up spotty bananas, they freeze beautifully, and they thaw in the lunchbox by morning tea.

2. One savoury "main"

While the muffins bake, I get a savoury option going. The Hidden Veggie Pasta Bake is perfect: dinner on Sunday night, then cut into squares for lunchboxes. In warmer weather I make the Pesto Bow-Tie Pasta Salad instead.

3. A cookie dough

The Lunchbox Choc Chip Oat Cookies are my "something fun". I bake half and freeze the rest of the dough as balls, ready to bake straight from frozen next week.

4. Yoghurt pots and chopped fruit

Last, I portion out Strawberry Yoghurt Pots into small containers and wash and chop whatever fruit we have. Cucumber, capsicum and carrot sticks go into a container with a damp paper towel so they stay crunchy.

How I store it all

• Fridge (eat within 3–4 days): chopped fruit and veg, yoghurt pots, pasta bake squares

• Freezer: muffins, cookies and extra pasta bake, individually wrapped so you can grab one at a time

• The night before: I move tomorrow's muffin and cookie from the freezer to the fridge. That's the only "job" during the week.

Prep once, then just assemble. Assembling takes two minutes, even with a toddler hanging off your leg.

My top tips for making it stick

1. Start small. If 90 minutes feels like a lot, just do the muffins this week. That alone takes a load off.

2. Let the kids help. Mashing bananas and stirring in blueberries keeps little hands busy (and they're far more likely to eat what they made).

3. Rotate, don't repeat. Swap the muffin flavour or the savoury main each week so the lunchbox never feels like a rerun.

4. Label your freezer bags with the name and date. Future you will thank you.

Over to you

Feeding little ones every single day is a lot, and you don't need to do it perfectly. A little bit of prep, done while the house is quiet, buys you calmer mornings and one less thing to think about.

If you give this a go, I'd love to see your lunchboxes! Tag me on Instagram, and let me know which recipe ends up being the household favourite.

With love & snacks, Holly x