The Countdown is on!  Only one week until the little ones are back at school and we begin the nightly ritual of unpacking and re-packing their lunch boxes.  Actually, I have a plan this year……I have bought each child 2 new lunch boxes and multiple drink bottles so that while they are at school I can pack their lunch for the next day, except for the sandwiches which I will make each morning, and freeze their water bottles all before they get home from school. This will give me more time to spend with them reading and doing their homework and hopefully squeezing in some fun time together before dinner and baths.

Another big part of my plan is big batch baking muffins, slices, biscuits and things like scrolls, quiches, mini pizzas and cheese and bacon rolls.  Monday I managed to squeeze some baking in between loads of washing, bed making and vacuuming and this is some of what I ended up with.  I still had biscuits in the oven and more to go in, but I wanted to grab a photo before the kids (and Daddy) did some taste testing.  Don’t judge me on the chocolate content, I had some chocolate chips I wanted to get rid of before the kids discovered them and they went missing.  The chocolate containing muffins and biscuits are safely stashed away in my freezer for rationing.  If they’re frozen, they can’t sneak them can they? I just take what I want out of the freezer the night before, put it in the lunch box in the fridge for the night, and they are ready to eat by morning tea or lunch.  So far no-one has complained that their snack was frozen.

Here’s what I made:

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (The Vegemite Kid’s favourite muffin)

Choc Banana Muffins

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies (Diabetic Friendly)

Anzac Slice

Cheesy Ham and Macaroni Bake

I still have a lot of Diabetic Friendly baking to get done before school goes back Monday, muesli bars, fruit muffins and savoury things, but I feel much better knowing I have made a start and won’t be left baking up a storm at midnight (which has happened before).

Notes:  I wrap each muffin/slice individually before placing in a freezer bag or airtight container in the freezer.  For the biscuits I just pop them in an airtight container in the freezer.