The Pantry.

I came up with this idea, almost a year ago. It's not really all that spectacular in and of itself, but the time it saves is quite impressive. I bought these big baskets at Costco. Three for 19.99. They are kind of a paper material, so there are no sharp edges inside. They are labeled and live in my pantry. Whenver I get home from Costco or the grocery store, all snack type foods get put into individual size portions in baggies. I usually make the kids do it. I taught them to look at the serving size on the box, find the right measuring cup and have at it. This goes for goldfish, dried fruits, almonds, cashews, crackers, marshmallows anything that can go in a bag!

The amount of time it saves with packing lunches and kids grabbing a snack during the day, really really surprised me. It also is teaching the kids an appropriate size to be eating. I definitely do not want the kids to become neurotic about food and dieting. However, they should learn what a healthy amount of food is. I want them to start to own that now, instead of me constantly saying, "oh that's too much." Too many times I caught them reaching into a big box of goldfish and grabbing handfuls and mindlessly eating. No more!

This is working....