When we first launched LaLa Lunchbox back in 2012, our goal was to make school lunches easier for families. Our mission was to get kids engaged in the meal planning process in a long term effort to help raise the next generation of healthy eaters. We sought to make the "what's for lunch" chore easier for parents, to help them save time and money by packing lunch items that they had already shopped for, and that their kids would actually enjoy eating.

Sneak peak from our new Dairy Free bundle

We've been overwhelmed by the response in the last four years! To the LaLa Lunchbox users who email us with comments and praise, we thank you tremendously. We could not have come this far without you! To the publications who have posted about us, we are forever grateful. You have helped hundreds of thousands of people find relief in the daily slog of lunch packing.

Sneak peak from our new Gluten Free bundle

While we are satisfied with how far we've come, the lunch-packing struggle is far from over. Here's the big news: to celebrate the back to school season, we've made the LaLa Lunchbox app FREE to download (what are you waiting for?)

Sneak peak from our new Vegetarian bundle

And the even bigger news: in response to the ever-changing landscape around families and food, we have added five dietary-specific food bundles for users to download -- nut free, dairy free, gluten free, vegetarian and kosher. Four of them have been curated by well-known, phenomenal dietitian and blogger Holley Grainger and the kosher bundle has been curated by the ever-amazing kosher blogger and cookbook author Ronnie Fein. Each bundle contains about 25 new ideas to provide lunch packing inspiration for a variety of lifestyles and eating habits. In addition to these dietary-specific bundles, we've also added three new bundles filled with lunch inspiration from drool-worthy creative food geniuses: Aviva Wittenberg, Sylina Lunches and Gina Kirk.

Sneak peak from the Aviva Wittenberg bundle

We hope that this new content inspires you and your family to pack interesting, delicious lunches for your kids this year! As always, we welcome your feedback. Please just drop us a line to let us know how it's going. If you'd like, follow along on Instagram, where we post daily pics of school lunches - we're there in the trenches with you! Be sure to tag us (@lalalunchbox) to show off your lunch creations.

Sneak peak from the Sylina Lunches bundle

You'll be able to browse the new food bundles on the app and decide whether the content is for you before downloading. We think you'll be pretty excited when you see the wealth of healthy, delicious, kid friendly options. Of course, these new bundles won't replace the food library you already have -- they're designed to add even more amazing content to our already robust selection of foods. If your child attends a nut-free school, if someone in your family has allergies or sensitivities, if you have dietary preferences for any reason whatsoever or if you just want a fresh injection of new lunch inspiration, we've got you covered. Please note: these bundles are available for a separate, one time fee of $2.99, and with about 25 new lunch ideas in each bundle, that amounts to approximately 11 cents per idea.

So listen, back to school can be an overwhelming time for families. And getting back into the school lunch routine can be downright intimidating. We get that, and we're here to ease the pain. After you download LaLa Lunchbox, go ahead and hand over your iPhone or iPad to the kiddos and let them pick out the foods for their lunches. Their choices will become and easy-to-use grocery list for you so you'll stay on top of your lunch game. As Holley says, "inviting children to lend a voice in the food they eat helps to cultivate a healthy relationship with food, fosters a sense of pride and makes kids more likely to eat more food, resulting in less waste and more money saved." We bet that after using LaLa Lunchbox regularly, you'll never open up a smelly, uneaten wasted lunch at the end of the day again, and you'll never sweat over the "what's for lunch" question again. Win-win.

Please feel free to email us with comments, questions or feedback - our customers are our number one priority! Best of luck with back to school! - Gillian

When my kids were babies, my diaper bag was ready for anything. I'm a planner and I like to be prepared for the "what if" scenarios. My pantry is always stocked with extra cans of beans, coconut milk and dried grains, I keep a roll of paper towels and a travel potty in the trunk of my car. Just in case! My mother laughs at this (lovingly), but I am who I am. Unfortunately though, because I live in NYC, I can't fully apply the "what if" laws to my freezer, which is a sliver of the size I want it to be.

So while I dream of making and freezing gallons of soup or lasagnes, and having these fabulous lunches or breakfasts for my kids all ready-to-go, my real-life space constraints make that impossible. What's a gal to do? Prioritize. I've boiled down the "freezer what ifs" to our family's most important:

What if I feel like making smoothies? I always have frozen fruit (this is great for lunches and pies too!).
What if someone is sick and we need soup? I usually have a small container of carrot soup or bean soup on hand in the freezer.
What if I want to make spinach pie, add extra vegetables to something or my kids want peas in their lunch? I always have frozen veggies.
What if I need some chocolate? I have several dark chocolate bars in the door, and quite honestly, have to replenish the stash with regularity.
What if I forget about groceries entirely and there's absolutely nothing for dinner, not even eggs or pasta? I have a small drawer of frozen meat. Note: this has never happened and I don't actually know how to defrost meat quickly. I'm not sure why I ever have meat in my freezer.

Beyond the "what if" areas in my freezer, there's also the "occasional" shelf that houses non-staple, sometime-foods that aren't regulars in our house like waffles, breakfast sausages, chicken nuggets, dairy free ice cream, frozen pizza dough or pie crust and if we're lucky, half a batch of these delicious muffins.

The Occasional Shelf hit the spot this weekend when I was home with my sick 3 year old while the rest of my family was out of town for a family wedding. After the 100th reading of Jez Alborough's It's the Bear!, my little one suggested making a blueberry pie. I took it as a good sign when the kid who had a 103.5 fever two days earlier was interested in an activity. I've probably made a fruit pie twice in my life, and I'm not a pie lover myself, but my mom is the queen of pies so I knew exactly where to go for the recipe.

As it turned out, we had most of the ingredients that this recipe called for on hand (thanks for the pie crust, Occasional Shelf!) and we made substitutions where we needed them. Blueberry Pie thus became Blueberry Pomegranate Pie! Thanks to the cooking class I took last weekend in Tennessee, I added freshly ground black pepper to enhance the flavor of the streusel topping. See below for the full recipe.

Frozen blueberries and pomegranate seeds

This pie was made with all frozen fruit: 2 packages of frozen blueberries and 1 package of frozen pomegranate seeds. Two thumbs up for the freezer!

Next, add the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt.

Squeeze fresh lemon juice on the berry mixture

Squeeze lemon juice on the mixture and thoroughly combine. Preheat the oven to 375 and pour the berries into the pie crust. Next, prepare the streusel topping.

In a separate bowl, add the flour, oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, ground pepper and melted butter.

add fresh ground black pepper for added flavor

Pour the streusel topping on the berries and this pie is ready to go!

Tada! Bake for one hour, let it cool and enjoy! Yum yum.

Blueberry Pomegranate Pie with non dairy ice cream and "It's The Bear!"

Blueberry Pomegranate Pie with Oat Streusel

1 recipe Oat-Coconut Streusel (see below)
4.5 cups frozen blueberries and frozen pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup sugar
5 tablespoons flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare the Oat-Coconut Streusel and set aside. Mix the blueberries and pomegranate, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Pour the blueberry filling into the pie crust. Cover with the streusel. Bake about one hour or until top is golden brown.

Oat Streusel
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
6 tablespoons melted butter

Place the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the melted butter. Mix until the dry the ingredients are covered with the melted butter.

What's in your freezer?

Huge App Update and New Food Bundles to Fit Every Lifestyle

What's In My Freezer?