A week of lunches
Looking for lunch packing ideas?
I’ve got you covered. Packing fun lunches that kids actually want to eat is what I do, and I am here to share my ideas to help make lunch packing less stressful for you.
Here is a one week menu of school lunch ideas for you.
This is just one example of how I pack fresh and healthy school lunches that kids want to eat. If you like what you see here, be sure to visit my other lunch pages for hundreds more lunch ideas.
Here are five - a whole week - of easy lunch packing ideas for you! These are some of my favorites, they are quick and easy and generally popular with my kids. All of these lunches could easily be made the night before and stored in the fridge overnight, which can really make your school day morning even easier.
What’s on this school lunch menu:
A homemade “lunchable”
Pancake sandwich
Cheeseburgers
Muffins, fruit, and cheese
Tortilla pinwheels
These lunches are all packed in EasyLunchboxes. I use silicone muffin cups as dividers. A pack of bamboo skewers and a few bento picks and forks can also make lunch packing a little more fun, but still quick and easy.
You can find all of my favorite lunch packing products and tools in my Amazon Store.
Ready to pack lunch?
Here are the details about this one week lunch menu.
1) A homemade "lunchable".
This is a homemade version of a "lunchable".
For this one I used a round cutter to make the cheese and ham into circles, just like in the real lunchables. You certainly don't have to do that, and I usually don't, but this day I had a little extra time so I went for it. I think varying the shape just makes things a little more fun.
They have crackers, cheese, fruit, and cookies. Two have ham, and the two that don't like ham got some almonds for extra protein.
The stars are little yogurt covered cookies from Trader Joe's.
Making strawberry hearts is the easiest thing ever, and it looks so great! You just use a knife to cut out the stem at an angle from each side, and it looks like a heart.
2) Pancake breakfast for lunch.
If you've read my posts you'll know that I love sending breakfast for lunch, and one of my kids' favorites is pancakes. Whenever I make pancakes I make lots extra. They are great leftover.
This is just two pancakes, spread with either butter or cream cheese, cut into quarters and put on a bamboo skewer. I also included fruit, cheese, and some Chex cereal.
A lot of people ask about the bananas when I send them like this - do they get brown, and do the kids eat them? I cut the ends off and cut a slit so it's easy to peel. So they get a little brown on the ends, but my two banana lovers don't seem to mind it at all, the bananas always get eaten. My easy tip for cutting apples also works well with bananas.
3) Cheeseburgers!
This is one my kids really love. Leftover cheeseburgers are a hot commodity in our house, so I always make lots extra. It’s not something most people think about making extra of, but it’s always a winner here.
For this lunch my three meat eaters each got half of a cheeseburger. The one who doesn't eat meat got a toasted cheese sandwich - on an inside out hamburger bun! This is what she calls a cheese burger - a burger bun with cheese. They all have sugar snap peas, potato chips, grapes, and a cookie.
Do they eat the burgers cold, you are wondering? Yes. Well, at room temperature. My philosophy on this is that most kids don't actually eat their food when it's hot anyway. Mine certainly don't. They mess around and talk at the table until their food is basically cold anyway. So sending them a cold food for lunch that most of us think should be eaten warm doesn't seem like any difference to me.
4) Muffins!
Muffins are another favorite lunch for us. I love them because they make for a super quick and easy lunch. And my kids just love muffins.
Every now and then I will make a couple of big batches of muffins and stick them in the freezer. Making the lunch is as simple as pulling them out of the freezer, and sticking them in the lunch box with a little protein and fruit. Here they have a cheese, some apple bites, and Chex.
Set the muffins out of the freezer the night before to that - or better yet, make the lunches the night before with frozen muffins and put them in the fridge, and they will be thawed and ready to eat by lunch time.
5) Tortilla rolls / Pinwheels
Pinwheels are a great alternative to a sandwich. You can put anything in them that you would put in a sandwich, but it's an easy way to bring a little variety into the lunch box.
You just lay out a big tortilla, layer the ingredients you like, roll up, and slice. I usually end up snacking on the little end bits myself, and just pack the nice evenly sized slices for the kids. Running a bamboo skewer through them helps hold everything together as the lunch box gets tossed around.
Two of these have cream cheese, ham, and sliced cheddar. The other two have butter and cheese. They have some veggies, a quarter of an apple, and a cookie.
Happy lunch packing!
~ Lisa