healthy School Lunch ideas

When Kate started Kindergarten 2 years ago, I was worried about a few things.

The biggest one, though?
School lunch.

I had no idea what kind of lunch box I wanted for her, what kind of lunch containers to use, and what I would pack her for lunch.  As I navigated these waters, I hashtagged every post & photo about lunch as #SchoolLunch.  (Feel free to search for it on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.)

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We settled on lunch boxes and containers that actually fit in them, but I was worried about what to pack for school lunch.  After the first 2 weeks I felt like we were already repeating lunches.  We sat down as a family and made a list of things we like to eat for lunch.

We started by category and wrote them all done so we could post them on our refrigerator to have as an easily accessible resource.  I’ve put it all together and made it available as a download for others that may be looking for new ideas too.

The list is gluten free and nut free, however, I don’t know if all the items listed are made in a nut free facility.

This is a good place for me to let you know that at our kids’ school, they do heat up their lunches.  However, they only heat them up for 20 seconds so nothing is ever hot.  Besides, my kids never eat food when it’s hot.  For the hot items listed, you can pack them in a thermos, unless, you know, your kids never eat a hot meal ever, either.  {If you’re looking for some excellent lunch containers, read this post.}

Here are the staples of what I usually pack with a description and a link if I have one.  Feel free to print it out and stick it on your fridge!

Main Course:

• cereal and milk (milk can be sent in a separate container and poured in before eating)
• chicken nuggets
• egg cupcake
• hard boiled eggs
• leftovers
• mac and cheese
• make your own taco (place each ingredient in a separate container so your child can assemble it)
• oatmeal 
• pasta
• quesadilla (these are fun because you can use a ton of different ingredients)
• sandwiches (see below for different varieties)
• tuna and crackers
• yogurt and fruit or granola (I send the granola & fruit in a separate container so it doesn’t get soggy)

Sandwiches:

• cheese
• chicken salad
• egg salad
• grilled cheese
• ham
• roll-ups (roll lunch meat around a cheese stick, stick some toothpicks in it, and slice into pieces)
• tuna salad
• turkey

Fruit:

• apple slices (use my trick so they don’t turn brown!)
• banana
• blueberries
• canned fruit (canned in water or fruit juice)
• clementine (already peeled but not sectioned because it saves them time)
• dried fruit
• grapes
• orange slices
• peaches
• pear slices (use the apple trick so they don’t turn brown!)
• strawberries

Vegetables:

• broccoli
• carrots
• celery
• cucumber slices
• peppers

Sides:

• applesauce
• cheese cubes & crackers
• cheese stick
• granola bars
• fruit leather
• pretzels
• popcorn

Dips (because we love to dip everything and lately they’ll only eat vegetables if there is dip):

• hummus
• ketchup
• Ranch dressing
• yogurt

Click Here to Get Your Printable

 

Read how to teach your kids how to pack their own school lunch

Use this simple trick to keep apple slices from turning brown

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