Class Act: Smart Lunches for Back-to-School with Reggae Jammin

Four easy recipes and real tips for keeping lunchboxes exciting once the term settles in. The first week of school runs on adrenaline and good intentions. By week three, though, that fades, and most parents are staring into an open fridge at 6:00 am wondering what can possibly go into a lunchbox that isn’t a repeat of Monday’s sandwich.

That’s the season Reggae Jammin was created for. The range, snappy chicken franks and juicy burgers, is designed to go from freezer to table fast; the deeply seasoned Reggae Jammin Rotisserie Chicken is ready whenever you need it, which means most of the lunch-planning work is done well before the school-week rush even starts. “Back to school is really about routine, and routine is where a lot of parents lose steam by week two,” says Navron Henry, brand manager at The Best Dressed Chicken.

“We created Reggae Jammin around the idea that a good lunch shouldn’t take a good hour to make. If the hardest part of the morning is choosing what to pack rather than cooking it, that’s a win for everybody.” Here are four recipes that pack well, reheat well and don’t fall apart by lunchtime, plus a few habits worth building into the school-week routine now, while there’s still time before the term gets away from everyone. Meet the line-up that gets an A+ in Back-to-School.

Reggae Jammin Burgers, franks and a rotisserie chicken that’s already done its homework: Four ways to pass the lunchbox test without pulling an all-nighter in the kitchen. (Photo: Travis Muschett) Real Tips For Packing Smarter Lunches Start the night before. Set an 8:00 pm cut-off for lunch prep.

Washing grapes, slicing cucumber and portioning dry snacks into containers the night before saves 10 minutes the next morning, and keeps knifework out of a groggy 6:00 am kitchen. Franks are made for batch cooking, and the rotisserie chicken pulls double duty too. Buy it for Sunday dinner and there’s enough left for lunches through the week.

Grill a full pack of franks on Sunday night alongside that Sunday chicken, and half the week’s protein is already handled. Kids eat with their eyes, so skip the single hot dish in favour of a compartmented container. Keep starches, fruit and protein in their own sections and there’s no chance for anything to go soggy against anything else.