As always, keep food safety in mind. Make sure that you pack a frozen chill pack, or freeze a juice box and add that to an insulated cooler. Tell your kids to eat everything at lunch or throw it away; don't save the food for an after-school snack unless you have specifically packed it for a longer time. Oh, and be sure to pack the utensils your child will need to assemble and/or eat the lunch!
Have a great school year!
Brown Bag Lunch Menus and Ideas
Individual Lunchbox Salads
- Juice box
- Individual Layered Salad
My mother packed a lunch like this for me when I was in high school; I still like to make it today. Use your child's favorite veggies and cheese. - Date Oatmeal Cookies
These soft and chewy cookies are filled with sweet dates, oatmeal, and crunchy nuts.
Make Your Own Cracker Sandwiches Lunch
This lunch is modeled on the popular snack packs you can buy in your grocer's meat aisle. Make sure that all the foods are totally prepared, so all your child has to do is assemble and eat. Cut the cheese and lunch meat into shapes the same size as the crackers, but pack them separately, since the crackers will become soggy unless separated and tightly wrapped.
- Water crackers
- Cheese rounds
- Lunch meat, cut into rounds
- Baby carrots and celery sticks
- Sesame Seed Dip
This mix is made into a dip by combining a few spoonfuls with sour cream or yogurt. It's nutty and sweet, perfect for dipping baby carrots and celery sticks. - Vanilla Peach Pudding Cup
Use any fruit and any flavor of pudding in this simple recipe. You could use crumbled cookies or toasted nuts in place of the granola.
Focaccia Sandwiches in the Lunch Box
- Chicken Salad Focaccia Sandwiches
Make the focaccia (let cool completely) and the chicken salad (omit the avocado) and pack both into the lunch box for a wonderful lunch. Using different types of bread help make lunch interesting. - Vegetable juice drink
- No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
These were one of my favorite cookies as a child. Make a batch (better yet, let your kids make it!) and tuck into lunchboxes all week long.
Mini Bagel Sandwiches Lunch
- Mini Bagel Sandwiches
Use little bagels to make any kind of sandwich you like. Another favorite of mine is flavored cream cheese combined with tender sliced chicken breast and sliced tomatoes. - Mandarin Orange Gelatin Salad
Before the gelatin sets, spoon the mixture into small resealable containers for easy packing into lunchboxes. - The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yes, these are the best! Ground oatmeal and white chocolate add the most fabulous texture and flavor to America's favorite cookie.
Mini Wrap Sandwiches for Lunch
- Wrap Sandwiches
Make any of these easy and delicious wrap sandwiches "mini" by using 4" tortillas, or cut a 4" circle out of regular sized tortillas. For variety, look for flavored tortillas, including spinach and red pepper. - Bottled orange juice
- Instant Cupcakes
Well, these cupcakes are perhaps not "instant", but are super easy and delicious!
Snacker's Lunch Box Menu
- Ants on a Log
With variations! If peanut butter is a no-no at your child's school, use cream cheese instead. - Praline Cranberry Dip
If your child doesn't like cranberries, just leave them out. The purpose of this dip is to get your kid to eat the fruit! - Kiwi fruit slices and strawberries
- Gingerbread Caramel Corn
Oh boy, make lots of this crunchy caramel corn and serve it as after school snacks too.
Soup Sipper's Lunchbox
- Crockpot Chicken Rice Soup
Save leftovers of this soup, or any hot soup, then two days later reheat it and pour it into a thermos to pack into the lunchbox. To make the thermos hot, add boiling water, then drain it just before filling. - Four Cheese Snack Mix
This mix can also be used as a topping on a simple soup, like Southwest Cheese Soup. - Butterscotch Brownies
Any bar cookie is perfect to pack into a lunchbox.
Try your best to get some nutrition into those lunchboxes - but don't go to too much of an extreme. For a while, there was a show on television that made over a family's diet. I was appalled that the nutritionist started by introducing the most unappealing foods possible: brussels sprouts, beets, tofu. You can improve nutrition and your diet without taking such drastic steps. For instance, combine some chopped peaches with a bit of pudding and serve that for dessert; that's certainly more healthy than a Twinkie, but kids will eat it, unlike a grapefruit-flavored tofu cake.
So tend toward nutrition, but remember what your kids like and will actually eat. Banana cookies are better than a chocolate bar; they're not ideal, but have redeeming qualities.
