Is your little one back in school?

Our school year is in full swing and little miss is in junior kindergarten this year! She goes five days a week and even stays for lunch each day which is a bit of an adjustment and although I was a bit sad that summer was over I was also doing a bit of a happy dance thinking of a few hours of freedom each day.....can you relate?

Now this is our third year of school and I had the entire summer off work so it was a bit of a different feeling. I mean my baby was no longer a baby and next year she would be in school full time-that is so hard to imagine! She is such a big girl she even dressed herself for the first day of school....I mean who doesn't want to wear pearls and giant hairbands everyday of their lives:

So I made it the entire first week and then today while working on snack for the class for the week I break down and absolutely loose it! How in the world can this little miracle baby be going to school full time and not need me anymore! Of course I know she needs me and we still will have fun but its not the same as when she was little and I was her number one playmate. Every time I look at her I see this little baby stuck on her belly because she couldn't figure out how to roll over to her stomach. It is hard to believe that she is four and tomorrow I will blink and she will leave us for college....I am by no sense saying life is roses each day but it is the tiny moments you want to reach out and hold on forever.
So back to our snack situation. Does your child's school have a "waste policy"? It is a big thing in Canada and we are starting to receive more pressure to adopt this style of life (no problem for our family since we have been living this way for years). Basically they encourage you to pack your child snacks/lunches that do not have to be thrown away such as sandwich bags and juice boxes. I will reveal a ton of great ways we have been saving money over the years with these products but I want to tell you a little about the new and improved Squeez'Ems Reusable Food Pouch:

 

This is one of my favorites for lunch time because little miss loves fruit purees but not so much whole fruits. For example if an apple is brown of a banana is mushy she will not eat it or even think about touching it. To make sure we are using all of the fruit in our house and that she is getting the best of the best we started "fruit salad Sunday". On Sunday we go and get her favorite fruits and get out the Magic Bullet. She then picks out five combinations and we blend each with a bit of vanilla yogurt. This is such an amazing "trick" because she will ALWAYS eat what she thinks she "cooked" herself. Here is one of our new favorite recipes:

Raspberry Applesauce Pouches:

(Makes about 3 pouches) 

2 Cups Applesauce (I use the no sugar added if I am already using a sweet fruit)

2 ounces raspberries pureed (I use my Magic Bullet but sometimes I will have her smash them in a plastic bag to make her feel more involved)

*Note the best part of mashing the fruit in a plastic bag is you can easily cut off the corner and transfer to the pouches with little mess*

So far lunch has been a complete success-not only are we saving a ton of money by NOT having to buy a bunch of those fruit pouches that are so pricey but I know exactly what is going into her lunch. She loves that the pouch is just like the throw away pouches-it has an easy twist on cap and the other side has a clear window so you can tell when you are getting to the end of the pouch. All in all this first week of packing lunches has been a success-stay tuned for my tutorial on making your own peanut butter and jelly uncrustables!