Easy Lunch Box Ideas for Kids: What to Pack, Smart Tips & Fun Recipes

Healthy Snacks for School Lunch

I love lunches that are full of protein and keep me going all day without losing flavor. My lunches are all about getting enough nutrition with a twist. For example, I make a lot of Jennifer Aniston salad or a rotisserie chicken salad that I can't get enough of.

But making healthy, tasty meals for my kids? That's a whole new kind of cooking difficulty. I make two healthy lunches for my kids every day of the week. Each one is made to keep them happy and full of energy during a long afternoon of play and learning.

When we're at home, I usually make a quick sandwich, heat up leftovers, or let them eat what I'm eating. But now that they're at school, I've been trying to pack lunches that are easy (and healthy) and that they'll really eat.

Packing lunches for kids every day may be a pain, so I decided to make a article for simple lunch box ideas for kids. Here are some lunches I've made for my kids, along with lunch box ideas to keep you going all year long and beyond!

Tips for Packing School Lunch: How I Approach Packing My Kids Lunch Box

I find it easier to pack my lunches by food group so I don't get too stressed out about it every day. Usually, these meals contain an entree, some fruits and/or vegetables, dairy, and snacks, either homemade or bought from the store.This job is a lot easier with bento boxes or any other lunch container with discrete sections. I see each section as a chance to show off one of the food groups. Making lunch is a lot easier and less stressful when you divide it down into little, manageable tasks (sometimes even literally bite-sized).

Get as much ready and packed as you can the night before so the mornings are less busy. Your future self will be very grateful! I don't always listen to my own advise on this one, and I generally wind up racing around in the morning to prepare their lunches before school. But I'm always glad when I pack them the night before.
If you have the time, get some of the kids' lunches ready on Sunday. On Sundays, I usually wash and chop a lot of strawberries or cut grapes in half with my favorite grape cutter. If you do what I do, I suggest keeping your chopped fruit in a glass jar or container with a paper towel on the bottom to keep it fresh.
A lot of my mom friends say that each of their kids should have two lunch boxes. That way, kids don't have to wash and dry the lunch box right away when they come home. I haven't done this yet, but I might in the future.
I always prefer to include a "safe" dish, which is a food that I know my kids would eat and appreciate. This is a good rule to follow when giving your kids any meal, especially if you are giving them something they have never eaten before. I think this is very important with packed lunches because if they don't like what you pack, they won't have anything else to eat. Plus, it makes me feel better knowing that their lunch box has at least one thing in it that they know and hopefully like.

Healthy Snacks for School Recipe (ideas)

Uncrustable from scratch

My kids enjoy a classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or in our case, sunbutter and jelly (because their school doesn't allow nuts). You can make a standard peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but my kids don't like the crust, so I generally just chop it off with a knife or create uncrustables. If you have a sandwich cutter and sealer, it's actually very easy to create these. My chia jam is fantastic and a good substitute for store-bought jam if you want to try it.

This lunch box has a homemade uncrustable, grapes, Colby jack cheese, Hippeas Cheese Puffs, carrot chips (which I love), and cucumber slices.

Sandwich with deli meat and cheese

Another classic! You just need to pick your child's favorite deli meat, cheese, and spread for this one. I put ham, cheddar, and mayo on little sweet Hawaiian bread in this picture. You can always make things fresh by preparing different kinds of sandwiches, but if your child likes to do the same thing over and over, that's fine too. (This is coming from the girl who ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich virtually every day as a kid.)

There is a deli meat sandwich, Annie's Bunnies, apple chips, a blueberry Abe's Muffin, and fresh peaches in this lunch box.

Crackers or veggies with hummus

My kids adore hummus and will eat it with a spoon. I think it tastes better with crackers, pita, or veggies to dip it in. To keep the hummus (or other dips) from getting too messy, I like to place it in a silicone muffin liner. You can always make your own hummus (I have a great recipe), but I'll be the first to admit that I usually carry store-bought hummus for my kids. We really like Ithaca lemon garlic hummus right now!

This lunch box has hummus with pita crackers, a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, cucumber slices, a hard-boiled egg, blackberries, and Soley Gummies.

Little Bagels

My kids love little bagels so much! You may either keep the toppings basic with only cream cheese or build a whole bagel sandwich. I normally pack a few pieces of smoked salmon with their bagel because my kids love it.

This lunch box include a little everything bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, Harvest Snaps Green Pea Crisps, Babybel cheese, an Once Upon a Farm Oat Bar, and Annie's Gummies.

Berries, granola, and yogurt

Yogurt, granola, and berries are always a good choice. My kids always adore this lunch, and I love the OmieBox for packing it because it has a stainless steel insulated container for the yogurt. That being said, I've packed yogurt in Olivia's Bentgo and it's been alright. I merely put plastic wrap over the interior of the lunch box to help keep it in place.

I suggest using plain Greek yogurt because it's thick and you can add honey or maple syrup to make it sweeter if you want.

This lunch box has yogurt, granola, berries, cucumber slices, and Earth's Best Organic Crunchin' Grahams.

Sandwiches with pinwheels

Pinwheel sandwiches, often called tortilla roll-ups, are a fun way to change up a typical sandwich. Simply add your fillings and roll them up. You can use small toothpicks to hold the pinwheels together if you need to. There are some plastic toothpicks that are safe for kids that would be really entertaining.

There are pinwheel sandwiches, blueberries, small mozzarella balls, chopped medjool dates, and Kibo chickpea chips in this lunch box.

Lunchable for yourself

You can make your own Lunchable at home for a lot less money and with healthier products. I used crackers, cheddar cheese, salami pieces, cucumbers, sliced apples, and little granola bars for this one.

There are Back to Nature crackers, cheddar cheese, salami, cucumbers, apple slices, and Granola Minis in this lunch box.

Muffins with eggs

Eggs are a terrific lunch option, and I prefer carrying egg muffins since they're the right size, they stay fresh, and it's easy to add veggies to them. You can buy these at the store or make your own. Here's my recipe for baked egg muffins.

This lunchbox has Veggies Made Great egg white frittatas, raspberries, coconut flakes, roasted sweet potatoes, and Ozery Bakery Morning Rounds.

Oatmeal

I had to include oats as a lunch suggestion because you all know I love them. If your child has a thermos, cooked oatmeal is a terrific choice. If not, you may make overnight oats, baked oatmeal, my baked oatmeal cups, or even these berry baked oatmeal bars. There are a lot of nice choices. I prefer to have oatmeal with a hard-boiled egg on the side for extra protein.

There is oatmeal, freeze-dried mango, berries, Colby jack cheese, and a hard-boiled egg in this lunchbox.

Sushi with bananas

This is like a tortilla roll-up, but you just spread nut or seed butter on a tortilla, add a banana, roll it up, then cut it into pieces that look like sushi. So much fun!

This lunch box include string cheese, Bear Fruit Rolls, freeze-dried raspberries, melon, raisins, and red pepper strips.

Quesadilla with Cheese

A cheese or chicken quesadilla with guacamole or sour cream for dipping is a delightful lunch that kids will love. I liked it with plantain chips, but tortilla chips are also a good choice.

In this lunch box, there are plantain chips, cheese quesadilla, guacamole, roasted broccoli, yellow kiwi, and dried blueberries.

Pasta

My kids enjoy many kinds of pasta, so I typically bring pasta salad (like my pesto pasta salad). But leftover mac and cheese or even leftover pasta with marinara also fit beautifully in a thermos-style lunch box.

This lunch box has a fig bar, small pretzels, mac and cheese, cucumber slices, and an applesauce pouch.

Other Things to Pack in a School Lunch

Fruits and Vegetables

My kids love fruit, especially berries. They can eat a lot of berries! however they're not too open to eating many vegetables either.

Strawberries that have been hulled and sliced up, depending on how old your child is
Blueberries
Raspberries
Blackberries
Cut the watermelon
Slice the cantaloupe
Kiwi
Sliced apples
Slices of pear
Peaches cut in half and a banana with the peel on
Grapes sliced in half or quarters (I use this grape cutter all the time)
Cucumbers, peeled (if necessary) and cut into slices (I adore this crinkle fruit and veggie cutter)
Halved or quartered cherry tomatoes
Carrots that have been chopped or sliced
Sliced peppers
Peas that snap or snow peas
Tucker's favorite vegetable is roasted sweet potatoes.
Broccoli that has been roasted
Cauliflower that has been roasted
Zucchini and squash that have been roasted

Milk or some dairy

Laughter Olivia likes cow cheese.
My youngsters are crazy over Babybel cheese. If you believe your child might have trouble opening it, I usually peel off the wax or have the peel already started it for them.
My kids are crazy about these little mozzarella balls.
Blocks of cheddar
Cheese on a string
Milk that doesn't go bad on the shelf
We enjoy the Stonyfield Organic and Siggi's yogurt pouches.
Pouches of kefir

Homemade Goodies

Granola bars without nuts
Granola bars that are chewy
Muffins with yogurt
Energy balls with sunbutter
Dates filled with Snickers
Banana oatmeal biscuits using only three ingredients
Trail mix is an excellent choice if your child's school doesn't allow nuts.

MORE SIMPLE RECIPES LIKE: 16 Healthy Snack Ideas For work to Power You Through the Week (Yes, Even Wednesdays)

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