My friends have a habit of rewording songs to better relate to their own lives. For example, at the Cantina, Neil Diamond’s Forever in Blue Jeans becomes Forever in Sweatpants. (Can I get an amen from the carpool-driving Moms out there?) And there’s this song about OJ to the tune of Bubba Shot the Jukebox that I can’t even describe here because this site is rated PG.

This morning, as I prepared my son’s lunch, I found myself humming an old Jim Croce tune. It was that bittersweet tune that resonated with our angst-ridden youth, despite the fact that we had nothing to be angst-ridden about. As my humming turned to singing, I found myself doing exactly what my friends do, singing:

If I could save time in a Ziploc…

I have never met a Mom who enjoys preparing lunch. As a matter of fact, until we found ourselves joining the rest of the world in this economic crunch, I blithely handed out twenties and wrote checks to replenish the school lunch fund. But, as it happens, my son prefers to bring his lunch and guess what? It’s cheaper to pack a lunch than to buy!

That still doesn’t make it any easier to put together lunch in the morning. I know that some people swear by doing it at night, but I’m always thinking, “The bread on that PB&J is going to be funky after spending 12 hours in the fridge.” Then, my friend Pilar, to whom I am giving FULL credit, told me what she does. And here is the result:

My son may be an anomaly amongst ‘tweens, but he eats the SAME THING EVERY SINGLE DAY for lunch. Bottle of water, PB&J, baby carrots, cheese stick and a granola bar. So, using the Pilar method, I pulled out four of each critical piece of my son’s lunch (Tuesday being Veteran’s Day, I didn’t need five).

Into each Ziploc bag, which is maybe one of the most important technological developments for Moms, I put the carrots, a granola bar and a cheese stick. I put a bottle of water and a Ziploc bag into each brown paper lunch bag. I put them in the outside fridge, stacked one beside the other. (The outside fridge may also be one of the most amazing additions to a Mom’s home. I remember early in our marriage having friends who had an outside fridge stocked with beer. I felt that if we ever had an outside fridge, we would really know that we arrived. Now that we have one, it’s more likely to be stocked with Gatorade and club soda than beer.)

So now, thanks to the Pilar method, each morning I just have to make a PB&J sandwich each morning, stick it in a bag and send my son off with a paper bag full of love…and efficiency…and most importantly, the perfect lunch!

Di appears Saturdays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Di at her blog Live and Let Di.