With school holidays coming to a close, It’s almost time to send the kids back to school. This means you have to start packing school lunches again and your children may have outgrown ham and cheese sandwiches, and want more interesting snacks for school. You may be wondering just what you can put in your kids’ school lunchboxes that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, and is still nutritious for them. We have come up with some cool school lunchbox ideas you may want to take note of. Packing school lunches doesn’t have to be your biggest and most difficult chore anymore.
Best Tips For Packing Lunch Boxes
- Plan ahead and pack lunches the night before. This will save you from rushing to pack food for school lunches in the mornings when there isn’t enough time., unless your lifestyle allows you to.
- When you pack school lunches the night before, let the kids get involved. Children often love to eat things that they get to help make or pack themselves.
- Packed lunches are a great way to use up leftovers too, and your kids will love eating food that they enjoyed, again.
- If you’re using thermo flasks, check their instructions. They may need to be prepped before putting in the warm contents.
- No matter how old your kids are, they will smile if they find a sweet note from you in their lunch, giving them some encouragement and letting them know how proud you are of them. Of course it’s your choice if you want to do this or not.
School Lunchbox Essentials
- Bento lunch boxes are super handy, especially for picky eaters. These lunch boxes have little compartments that can be filled up with food that’s kept separate.
- For an extra pop of colour in the lunchbox compartments, silicone baking cups come in an array of exciting colours and work well for holding small snacks like crackers or berries.
- Hydro flask bottles are perfect for keeping beverages refreshing and cool. They also come in a range of popping colours. Your kids can put stickers on them to decorate and keep track of their bottles so they don’t get mixed up with someone else’s.
- There are also stainless steel lunch boxes that you can buy; they are like bento boxes except made of stainless steel, and they even come with a cloth bag. They also have silicon storage containers that fit inside the compartments. They come in a variety of different sizes as well.
- Don’t forget about thermos. You can get small sizes of these too which are perfect for hot chocolate or soup. The thermo flask will keep the contents warm till lunch time in autumn and winter.
- Lastly, mini cookie cutters are handy for cutting vegetables, cheese, and fruits into exciting shapes.
Non-Sandwich Lunchbox Ideas
There are lots of healthy and fun lunch options that aren’t plain sandwiches – kids can get bored of sandwiches and not finish their lunch. Here are some interesting lunch ideas that your kids will love:
- Pita bread sandwiches are tastier than regular bread sandwiches. Or you can pack cut pieces of pita bread with veggies and hummus.
- Vegetable or tortilla wraps are great for making delicious wraps filled with meat, veggies, and cheese.
- Fill a small container with a dip and place a ziplock bag with their favourite flavour chips.
- Leftover pizza is an easy favourite for lunch.
- A crunchy salad is healthy and simple to make. Use your child’s favourite fruits and vegetables to throw together a yummy salad.
- Switch things up and make a charcuterie themed lunchbox with their favourite deli meats rolled up, and some pieces of cheese, olives, crackers, and vegetables.
- Fill a small thermos flask with soap and pack some crackers or pieces of bread on the side.
If you follow these lunchbox ideas your kids will enjoy their school lunches and actually eat them. For vegetarians, you can still use these ideas, simply switch out meat for vegetables. Your kids will be so happy with their lunch everyday, you won’t hear any complaints.