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In our house, we’ve purchased our glue sticks, colored pencils, and dry erase markers in bulk. We’ve got bright new shoes (with shoelaces that will stay white for 4.3 minutes of the first day and then turn that lovely shade of gray that defies all cleaning). We’ve selected new backpacks and lunchboxes, and they are gloriously crumb- and pencil-sharpener-shaving-free (again, until 4.3 minutes into the first day of school).
The new school year is almost upon us, ready or not.
Along with planning for the new school year’s supplies and reading lists, I find it also helps me to start thinking about school lunches in advance. Throughout the school year I like to have a general menu of the week’s school lunches (along with all the other week’s meals too). Having a list of ideas in the back of my head—or better yet, on an actual list on the fridge—can be the difference in a calm-ish school morning and a frantic one. (I say calm-ish because I’ve never once had a completely calm school morning. #lifegoal) I generally plan out our entire week of meals on Sunday so that we all have something to refer to each day when meal prep starts to happen. We stick to the plan about 80% of the time, which I consider a rousing success.
Here are 10 school lunch ideas that are healthy, kid-friendly, and worthy of your kid’s brand new lunchbox.
5 Chilled Lunch Ideas
Cheese, Turkey, and Crackers
Yogurt and Mini-Muffins
Chef Salad
Hummus and Pita Chips
PB&J Roll-Ups
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5 Hot Lunch Ideas
Macaroni and Cheese
Mashed Potatoes with Toppings
Black Bean Soup and Corn Chips
Fried Rice
Oatmeal and Toppings
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The cold lunches pictured are packed in HEB Great Divide containers with silicone muffin cups (like these). The hot lunches are packed into Thermos containers. To keep foods extra hot, I fill the thermoses with boiling hot water while I heat up the lunch food. Once the food is heated, I pour the hot water into my tea cup (multitasking for the win!) and the hot food into the pre-heated thermos. As I mentioned in this post, I try my hardest to keep food temperatures out of the 40–140°F Danger Zone of food safety.
Find more back-to-school meal ideas on HEB’s website.
Would you like a few more ideas? Here are some other school lunch posts from ACMB:
Moving Beyond PB&J: A Week of School Lunches
Our readers offer some great lunch suggestions in this Facebook post on the Alamo City Moms Blog Facebook page.
