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Mt. Lebanon's Nancy Dapper is so well-organized that she scares me:

Mt. Lebanon mom Nancy Dapper recommends making school lunches the night, or even the week, before. When her three daughters, who are now 20, 18 and 15, were in elementary school, she writes in an e-mail, she'd make 15 peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches every Sunday, individually wrap them and place them in a large Ziploc bag in the freezer. Whole fruits were kept in a bowl on the counter and small baggies filled with a handful of grapes, cut-up carrots or celery were placed in the fridge; a "snack" drawer in the kitchen was filled with small packs of cookies and crackers, granola bars and individual bags of chips.

Each morning, Mrs. Dapper says, the girls were responsible for packing their own lunches by taking a sandwich, at least one fruit/veggie item and no more than one dessert/snack item. "Every day was a bit different, and it was what they were in the mood to eat," she says. "It made them responsible for themselves and taught them a bit about eating in a healthy manner. Best of all, it made our crazy school mornings a bit more relaxed."

"Some homework for back-to-school preparedness," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 13, 2008.