Healthy Lunch Ideas

It is back to school time! It’s time for new backpacks, lunchboxes and loads of crayons. It is also time to start shopping for those lunch box foods. I feel like it is all our ultimate goal to pack a healthy lunch and to avoid foods that will be thrown out by our picky eaters. The Ziering girls are no different. Our household is just like everyone else’s. If it was up to them they would probably ask for PB and J with an apple and some crunchy cheddar things shaped like a fish or bunny.  I enjoy packing my daughters lunches. I search the internet for healthy lunch ideas and creative ways to get them to try new foods. Below are 5 of my go-t0 lunches for the Ziering girls. I hope they inspire you to pack a healthy and fun lunch for your child!

My favorite gear for packing their lunches are the bento boxes by YumBox. I purchase them from Amazon. I love them because they store wet food and keep dry food dry. They fit perfectly in their Pottery Barn Lunch boxes as well. They are also great because if you lose inspiration while packing. The bottom of them has little lunch ideas and suggestions you can follow to put in the section. I also found these super cute napkins by Napkids that allows me to leave them cute notes or little drawings to let them know I put extra love in their meal. For snack bags, I like to use the reusable Itzy Rity Snack Bags to reduce plastic waste.

The Ziering girls favorite lunch is the classic peanut butter and jelly. As you can see above, I like to use cookie cutters to remove the crust from the sandwich. My absolute favorite peanut butter to use is Pic’s Peanut Butter . It contains just peanuts and a little salt. It is super delicious and very fresh! We pair it with a homemade strawberry jelly and organic wheat bread. We always add a fruit and a vegetable. With this lunch we paired it with grapes and their all time favorite, cucumbers and carrots. Pretzels add the perfect crunch and a side of gogi berries for a little extra sweetness and antioxidants.

I like to say my youngest eats like a squirrel. Nuts and berries all day long! My oldest is sandwiches forever! The above lunch is one of Penna’s most requested. She loves a fresh slice of avocado and some nuts for protein. I drip lime juice on the avocado to keep it fresh. I pair it with berries and a piece of cheese for some dairy in her diet. I add a few extra vegetables for taste and crunch! We love a little “crunch” in our lunches.

Above is one of Mia’s most requested. The classic roll up. I can usually put anything in a wheat tortilla wrap and she will eat it. Here is turkey and cheese. It is a nice balance of protein and dairy. For her vegtables I used sliced carrots and black olives. The sliced carrots are a lot easier on the lose teeth for our Kindergartener. I add raisins for our “carrot-raisin” raw salad. I found that my girls didn’t love carrot raisin salad, but without the dressing would gobble it all up. I added some fresh popped popcorn from the night before and some fresh summer watermelon as a fruit. I added in a small organic shortbread cookie for some extra sweet love.

My girls love sushi. I realized that I was completely ignoring this as a lunch option. When my girls finally requested it I put together our little Asian lunch cuisine. Here we packed Salmon Sashimi, a side of seaweed, shelled organic edamame, Japanese Rice Crackers, cucumber and Mango. I use extra ice packets in this lunch to keep it fresh and make sure the lunch box isn’t stored in the sunlight during the day. If your little one doesn’t love raw fish you can use Chicken Teriyaki as a delicious option.

Taste the Rainbow! Never forget to add color to your kids lunch. The cuter the lunch, the more likely mine are to try new things. I like to add new vegetables to the mix occasionally with this beautiful rainbow display. In the center I added a ranch dressing dip freshly made at home. On the side I rolled up some organic Applegate turkey and added some blue corn chips for their salty crunch!

Some other great lunch ideas can include-

-Hard Boiled Egg

-Banana, Almond Butter and Honey on Wheat

-Chicken and Rice

-Pasta left over from Sunday night dinner

-Mac and Cheese with shaved broccoli

I hope these inspired you to plan some amazing lunches for your littles! If you have any inspirational lunch ideas to share please add them to my comment section to help a mother out!!