Child labor/batch cooking

One of my most dreaded parts of motherhood is making lunches.  I know, I know.  Its pretty easy.  I try to get my act together at night and have them all ready before I go to bed.  But, there are some nights when I just plain forget or I'm too tired.

I follow several couponing websites, and one mentioned batch cooking.  I have never really gotten into making 9 casseroles and sticking them into the freezer for later use.  Mainly because I get sick of eating that many of the same kind of casserole.  Of course, there's the fact that E considers that "leftovers" no matter if you're eating them for the first time around or not.

Someone on that batch cooking post, commented that she does something similar for lunches.  She makes several PB&Js, freezes them, then just pulls them out for lunches every day.

Coincidentaly, kids were hankering for something to do today.  They tried to go outside, but it was too wet.  They tried playing with play dough, but it was "too mixed up!"  This particular project was on my agenda for today, so I thought I might let the kids have a whirl at it.

It was the BEST idea I've had all day week.