Tricks of the Trade. 4.

Like my family closet idea, this idea is not really mine.

I probably grabbed it from someone else’s blog or brain in some form or fashion.

And now you can have it too.

It’s simple and it’s easy and that’s what makes it a good idea.

Serve your kids lunch in a muffin tin.

There you have it.

Anti-climatic.  Not at all dramatic.

Lunch in a muffin tin.

I drove right on over to Ye Olde Dollar Tree and placed down $5 for 5 brand new muffin tins.

(In the spirit of full disclosure – I might have purchased six.  I can’t really remember.)

The small cups are perfect for small random lunches.

If I served the kids grapes, peanuts, carrots, raisins and graham crackers on a regular plate, they’d ask “Is this all?”

But somehow, those exact same food items placed in little coordinating circles are suddenly transformed into Best Lunch Ever.

Seriously – Piper Finn cheers when I pull down the muffin tins for lunch.

(And don’t you just adore the magical innocence of that age?  When presentation is everything and a spin is all it takes to make mundane appear exciting?)

These muffin tins are great for taking on the road too.

Picnics are an ideal place to pull these bad boys out.  Their stacking ability allows them to fit snugly and take up very little space.

If you’re really clever (and I am not always so) you can toss the little liners inside and not even have any washing of muffin tins after lunch.

We’ve even packed these tins on long road trips and the kids have used them in the backseats as perfectly sized lap trays for their meals.

You can fill the circles with applesauce or yogurt or – well, you get the idea.

Some of our cups even fit down in there too.

And that is my Trick of the Trade today.

Ta-da!