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When my son started school, I was determined to pack him healthy, nutritious and satisfying lunches. Without me hovering over him while he ate, he brought his fancy sandwiches right back home, sometimes untouched. I could see he wasn’t really into what I packed for him.
After he brought several lunches back, I resorted to ordering food at school, but that never sat well with me since they weren’t very balanced meals – very little fruit or veggies. And, I could never tell if he actually ate his lunch.
Then I got creative. Read on for great (easy) lunch ideas for cold and hot school lunches your kids will actually eat and you’ll feel good about. Thank you to Shamrock Farms for sponsoring this post!
One of our favorite easy lunches to pack (and make ahead) are tortilla pinwheels and I’ve included the print-friendly recipe for those below!).
P.S. Don’t miss our new lunch ideas post for 2017!
Update on the Lunchbox:
For first grade, my son started using this Planet Box lunchbox (affiliate link).
Start with the drink:
1. Milk: my son’s drink of choice so I always make sure he has milk for lunch.
2. Juice – select a juice box that has reduced sugar and real fruit juice
School Lunch Main Course (Grains & Meats):
1. DIY “lunchables”: crackers, deli turkey or salami, sliced cheese
2. Sandwich or sandwich kabobs: disguise their sandwich by threading turkey, cubed string cheese, and squares of bread on skewers.
3. Mini bagels and cream cheese
4. Easy chicken sliders (canned chicken – drained well and mixed with mayo and black pepper to taste, place filling between lettuce and cheese to keep the bun from getting soggy)
5. Tortilla pinwheels (cream cheese, sliced cheese, deli turkey, thinly sliced tomatoes, shredded lettuce or spinach – roll tightly and slice into rounds). Get the print-friendly recipe for tortilla pinwheels below.
School Lunch Fruit:
1. Small banana
2. Grapes
3. Blueberries, strawberries or other berries
4. Fruit kabobs
5. Apricot, apple,.. whatever your kids love
6. Applesauce 7. Peeled clementines
School Lunch Veggies:
1. Baby carrots with ranch in mini cups
2. Cucumber slices
3. Snap peas
4. Salad (romaine, cheese, croutons, side of ranch)
5. Avocado slices (to prevent browning: slice flesh into bite-sized pieces inside the skin, scoop out flesh and replace into shell, drizzle with lemon juice, cover tightly with plastic wrap)
School Lunch Snacks and Treats:
1. Banana bread (Here is my husbands perfect banana bread)
2. Yogurt
3. Pudding
4. String cheese
5. Pretzels, or gold fish crackers
6. Fruit snacks or fruit leather
7. Dried fruit (raisins, craisins, banana or apple chips)
8. Z-Bar or fruit bars
9. Muffin
10. Chocolate chip cookie (click for soft homemade cookies)
12. DIY trail mix
Here are some winning lunch combinations:
[DIY “lunchables”, cucumber slices, grapes, yogurt]
[chicken slider, salad with ranch, trail mix, banana]
[turkey sandwich kabobs, carrots & ranch, apricot, pudding]
[mini bagel with cream cheese, snap peas, strawberries, fruit leather, string cheese]
[tortilla pinwheels, sliced avocado, blueberries, banana chips]
Hot Lunch Ideas (with a Thermos):
Tips for using a thermos: *We recommend the Thermos Foogo 10 oz or Thermos Funtainer 10 oz: *Pack hot thermos in the morning (5 hours before it’s eaten) *Heat the thermos first: add boiling water, cover and let sit 5 min then drain. Heat food until it’s hot. Place into heated thermos and close tightly with lid. Food will be warm at lunchtime.
What to put in a hot lunch thermos:
1. Soup (try: chicken noodle soup or Mom’s meatball soup)
2. Pasta (try: chicken alfredo or spaghetti with shrimp)
3. Pilaf/rice, or stir fry (try: creamy chicken and rice, or shrimp fried rice)
4. Leftovers! You can really get creative with a thermos. Just avoid foods with overwhelming aromas (i.e. broccoli and cabbage).
Tortilla Pinwheels Recipe (School Lunch Idea)
Ingredients
Tortilla Pinwheels
- 1 flour tortilla
- 2 Tbsp cream cheese
- 1 slice mozarella cheese, (or your favorite cheese)
- 1 oz turkey deli meat , (2 slices)
- 1/4 cup shredded lettuce, (or spinach leaves)
- 1/4 tomato, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Spread cream cheese over tortilla.
- Add sliced mozzarella and deli meat over the top half of the tortilla followed by shredded lettuce and sliced tomato.
- Tightly roll the tortilla from the top downward then slice the roll into rings.
Nutrition Per Serving
Can you tell by the look in his eye that I promised him candy for this photo? 😉
My husband packs my daughters lunch, and he likes to make sure that she always has a nice healthy snack, and a sweet treat. I love all these ideas, and might take over her lunch prep now.
I like a sandwich sliced in half so I can eat half of it before lunch as a snack, an apple, and tea that I just bring in the bag and add hot water to during lunch. So filling! Typical Ukrainian lunch, even at home lol
In general, our school lunches are very good so sometimes my first grader packs and sometimes eats at school. One quick note about school lunches before I go on to our pack lunch ideas – schools are now required to provide salad bar with fresh fruits and veggies so often they aren’t listed on the menu that is in the school newsletter because they are there daily. Before completely dismissing your school lunch program, try it with your child a time or two. I’ve been a K12 teacher and had other jobs that allowed me to visit lots of schools. School lunches have made great strides in the last few years increasing whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies and eliminating fatty, empty-calorie foods.
On to how it works at our house …
I don’t pack drinks. She can buy a milk for $.35 that comes from a local dairy that happens to be the same brand we buy at home. My first grader will eat nearly everything that is supposed to be hot at room temperature or colder so at this point, she gets leftovers like the rest of us generally eat for lunch. In addition to the items on your list, we’ve had success with the following:
– Cold pasta tossed with a little shredded or cubed cheese and some cubed cold cut or salami;
– Bell peppers either the minis or sliced bigs;
– Chicken strips or nuggets with barbecue sauce or pizza sauce;
– A variety of whole grain crackers;
– Make your own pizza (also a Lunchable copy-cat) with tortilla rounds, sauce, pepperoni and shredded cheese;
– Nachos with whole grain chips, homemade fajita strips or taco meat, copped fresh veg and a little cheese;
– PB&J roll-up using the crustless bread or a tortilla;
– When I send sandwiches of any kind, I cut them with sandwich cutters to make them more fun (and take off those pesky crusts);
– Quesadillas;
– Steak and veggie strips with dipping sauce;
– Cherry or grape tomatoes;
– Last night’s chicken and rice (I don’t make mine with a creamy sauce) as a cold salad.
The list is pretty endless. Rarely do I buy special foods for lunches. I plan for leftovers when I make dinner, and we adapt them (or eat them as-is) for lunch.
I liked putting something unexpected in my daughter’s lunchbox.
I don’t have kids, but when I was a kid myself I loved getting fresh fruit in my lunch.
My son started kindergarden, and just like yours, those fancy sandwiches came back home untouched. so, yest I took deli meat with cheese and rolled it up, he actually ate it. I also put grapes and baby carrots with ranch, milk the kind you posted and granola bar.
I love this so much! Im probably going to do this for myself. Always have to put so much time into meal planning for things that are easy on the go between work and college. Thank you!
My favorite thing is to put little notes in my daughter’s lunch box!
we love homemade corn dog muffins and homemade chicken nuggets!
Right now my kids are packing cucumber slices in their lunch every day because we have so many from our garden! During the rest of the schoolyear, applesauce cups are our quick go-to for fruit.
My 8 yr old son is kind of picky, but he will eat a peanut butter sandwich, grapes or a banana, yogurt, OJ, and maybe a treat like fruit snacks.
My tweet.. https://twitter.com/staceygrantham/status/636634047368794112
I tweeted https://twitter.com/royaldixie/status/636281437772226560
I always pack some fresh fruit/veggies and a sandwich of some sort.
I tweeted!
https://twitter.com/myWAHW/status/636184164836880385
I love packing variety, homemade lunchables! With a little treat and notes!
I typically pack a sandwich with one or two of the following: fruit, yogurt, chips, cheese, granola bar, trail mix, carrots, etc.
How do you keep food safe for 5 hrs?
Hi Cheryl,
The container says up to 5 hours, but be sure to follow the preparation instructions in this post for best results. You have to make sure your thermos and food are hot when you seal it. – Natasha
I usually pack a sandwich, a fruit such as an apple or a banana, something from the vegetable category – either carrot sticks or grape tomatoes and something sweet – a cookie or a candy.
My kids love anything they can dip in their lunches.