Lunch Made Easy: 20 Non-Sandwich School Lunch Ideas for Kids!
Let's face it, we all know that {allergy friendly} and {gluten free} breads can be expensive. We also don't always have time to bake our own. Not only that, what if your kiddos don't even like sandwiches to begin with?!
We need some Non-Sandwich {Easy} School Lunch Box Ideas stat! Don't worry - I got you covered!
This week Little Miss had four days of school. I'll be sharing below her four school lunches from this week - None of them using sandwiches!
I'll also be sharing some additional ideas from past posts, giving you a nice "one-stop shop" for tons of inspiration and ideas.
On Tuesday, we packed MOMables Salmon Salad with Crunchmaster Sea Salt Crackers. Salmon Salad is similar to a chicken or tuna salad, and one of Little Miss' favorites. She loves being able to spread it on her crackers with her cute little fork giving her a fun change-up from a boring sammie.
The great thing about Crunchmaster Crackers are they're fairly inexpensive (they cost less than $3/bag at my local grocer and you can print a coupon right off their website), they're gluten free and also vegan.
Also packed in her EasyLunchboxes container is a spinach side salad, grapes, and two HomeFree {Allergy Free} Mini Chocolate Chip cookies.
On Wednesday, SunButter was the star of the show not a sandwich! SunButter is our favorite nut-free spread. (Make sure to also sign up on their website to get coupons emailed to you periodically.) Little Miss has apple slices and carrot coins for dipping and dunking into her SunButter Creamy. She also had chicken breast dices and grapes in this {allergy friendly} lunch box.
Another fun alternative to a sandwich are muffins. We love baking big batches of gluten free muffins on the weekends so we can enjoy them for breakfast, snacks, or lunches. They freeze great so they won't go to waste!
I recommend King Arthur Flour's Gluten Free Muffin Mix for my {Allergy Free} friends. KAF's GF mixes are made in a Top 8 Free facility. A box at my local grocer runs around $5 each. I can typically get 14 full-size muffins from one package. We fill them with blueberries, chocolate chips, apples & cinnamon, bananas, or zucchini.
The muffin in this lunch box is an apricot jam stuffed muffin. Yumm-o! She also has gluten free beef stick bites, cheese bites, strawberries, sweet peppers, and peaches.
PS: I also am singing the Beyonce song "Put a Ring on It" in my head but singing "Put a Muffin in It", hehehe
Salads are not only healthy, but a great alternative to packing a sandwich for lunch. Here I've packed Little Miss' favorite: Spinach! I topped it with cheese, grated carrot, and "ribbons" of ham to make it a little more fun! Party in a Lunch Box, whoop whoop! ;)
She also has Ener-G Brand {Allergy Free} Pretzels and grapes in her EasyLunchboxes container for Friday.
. . . . .
So there are four {easy} school lunches from just this week. Below are additional ideas from just some of our past posts for added inspiration! Click on the photo to see the original post and details from each lunch. {Enjoy!}
Incredible round up of great ideas Keeley! Thank you for this!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Kelly!!
DeleteThese all look great but I'm not sure how to keep them from becoming a big mess by the time she makes it to the lunch table at school.
DeleteI'm in LOOOOVE.. This is such a great and informative post.
ReplyDeleteThank you JeeJee! :)
DeleteSuch good ideas Keeley! Awesome post!
ReplyDeleteThank you Michelle!
DeleteThese are great ideas, thanks so much! My this time of the year my 2 kids get sick of of sandwiches so this is really helpful. I do have a question though, how do you keep the apple slices from turning brown? Everything I've tried so far hasn't worked.
ReplyDeleteHi Bobbie! Thank you!
DeleteI soak mine in apple juice so it doesn't effect the flavor. Others I know have success with lemon juice, pineapple juice, or even just cold water. There is also a product called fruit fresh I hear is great, as well. Hope this helps!
If the lunch box is big enough, you can use an apple slicer and put a rubber band around the sliced apple and that should help.
DeleteI just found your site and I have to say this is wonderful. Not just for families with allergies but for kids who are also bored with sandwiches!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas really! I also soak toss my apples with apple juice. I used orange juice once - I say once because my son told me the apples I sent tasted like oranges!
Thank you Lisa! Yes, that's why we prefer using apple juice too. :) Easy and always on hand!
DeleteI love your suggestions! Thank you for sharing them. My concern is keeping the food cold until lunch time...do you put the containers in a lunch box with ice?
ReplyDeleteHi Emily! Yes, most of these containers pictures are EasyLunchboxes. You can use an EasyLunchboxes cooler OR we use the Embark cooler from Target. It holds her ELB, Camelbak water bottle, and morning snack perfectly.
DeleteYou can add an ice pack, but since we pack ice water almost daily in her Camelbak, it keeps everything chilled perfectly. Thanks for your question & nice comments! {If you want to see the items we use, click on the "Lunchbox Goodies" tab on the top of the page}
A lot of the things inside the boxes don't look like they have lids, how do they not get spilled? What if their box doesn't stay upright, won't everything get all mixed up by lunch time?
ReplyDeleteHi! It all depends - my daughter uses an Embark lunch cooler which carries her EasyLunchboxes container flat and tight. She's also seven and very responsible to not throw it around or upsidown. So it depends on the kiddo too.
DeleteThat being said, if you're afraid you child is prone to that, EasyLunchboxes makes these awesome containers called "MiniDippers" which fit inside the containers that have lids. We use them frequently, as well, and are great for such a reason as you've mentioned above. Thanks for your comment & visiting our page!!
Can you tell me where to find the more rectangular bento accessories? Are they baking cups? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Tracey!
DeleteYes! You can purchase them all on AllThingsforSale (bentousa.com) I have a link at the bottom of the post or you can find them by going here: http://www.allthingsforsale.com/117-bento-cup-mold?aff=KeeleyMcGuire