School has started, and that means for many of us it’s time to figure out not only what to make for dinner every day, but what to pack in the kids’ lunchboxes. While some kids are perfectly content and maybe even comforted by eating the same lunch day after day, other children prefer more variety. Below is a list of some of our favorite healthy homemade school lunch ideas (thanks to many Scramble subscribers for your suggestions!).
Sandwiches/Wraps:
1. Your child’s favorite cold cuts like turkey, ham or salami, cheese and lettuce on whole wheat bread
2. Turkey or ham or other cold cuts, red bell pepper strips, and cheese wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla, with mayonnaise, spicy mustard or salsa
3. Whole wheat tortilla with your child’s favorite cold cuts, shredded cheese (or leave out the meat and use cream cheese) and shredded carrots, rolled into a wrap
4. Tuna, chicken or egg salad with whole grain crackers or pita chips or on a bagel with lettuce
5. Your child’s favorite cheese and sliced tomato sandwich (put the tomato between the slices of cheese so the bread doesn’t get soggy) with a little mayonnaise or mustard
6. Fresh mozzarella, basil or pesto and tomato (or tapenade) on a soft baguette.
7. Peanut or other nut butter on whole wheat with jelly, sliced bananas, honey, raisins or apples
8. Bean and cheese burritos (warm black beans & cheese on tortilla in microwave & wrap in foil) or quesadillas
9. Rice cakes with natural peanut or other nut butter
10. Whole grain bagel with cream cheese and sliced cucumbers
Hot Foods:
11. Leftovers like pasta, tortellini with tomato sauce, pizza, chicken, meatloaf or steak (kids don’t seem to mind eating them cold). Save little condiment packages from takeout food to use as dips
12. Black beans and rice or other rice salad (such as one of the rice or orzo salads on The Scramble website)
13. Healthy soup or chili in a thermos (try The Scramble’s Tomato and Wild Rice Soup or Black Bean and Tomato Soup)
14. Morningstar Farms Veggie Nuggets with ketchup (bake in the morning and wrap in foil)
15. Cooked oatmeal in a thermos with brown sugar and berries on the side
Other Proteins, Veggies, Fruits and Grains:
16. Trail mix made with raisins, peanuts, and chocolate chips (or your kids’ favorite items) or granola bars
17. Turkey or ham and sliced cheese roll ups (secure with toothpicks)
18. Hard-boiled eggs or egg salad
19. Healthy dried cereals (milk is optional)
20. Homemade whole grain muffins such as Blueberry Raspberry Oatmeal Muffins
21. Sliced apples and cheddar
22. Popcorn (a whole grain!), alone or mixed with raisins and nuts
23. Whole grain tortilla chips and salsa (look for a brand without added sugar) or black bean dip or guacamole
24. Low fat yogurt or cottage cheese with fresh fruit and granola or other cereal (keep them separate and let your child combine them at lunch)
25. Caesar salad (pack dressing separately)
26. Diced tofu drizzled with teriyaki sauce
27. Drinkable, spoon-able, or squeezable yogurt or kefir
28. Proteins like cheese sticks or cubes, sunflower seeds, nuts and chickpeas or other beans
29. Baby carrots, celery, sliced cucumbers, snap peas, red bell pepper strips and/or pita chips with hummus or other dip
30. All varieties of fresh fruit (cut apples, mango, oranges and other hard to eat fruit, if needed)
Do you have more ideas to add to our list? Please leave a comment here or post them on The Scramble Facebook page.
My kids like a small container of peanut butter and a cut apple. To keep the apple from browning we add water and a splash of lemon juice to the container with the cut apple and then pour off the liquid.
Great Ideas!
I believe that avoiding ready-made foods is the first step in order to lose weight. They can taste very good, but processed foods have very little nutritional value, making you take more only to have enough vigor to get throughout the day. Should you be constantly consuming these foods, moving over to cereals and other complex carbohydrates will make you to have more power while consuming less. Good blog post.
Hello.This article was really interesting, particularly since I was investigating for thoughts on this issue last couple of days.
My kids love brown rice cakes with a schmear of cream cheese. We got this idea from pre-school and I even love it. Wrap in plastic wrap to keep fresh and throw in a chill pillow to keep the lunch cool.