10 Healthy Sack Lunch Ideas for Kids

This is our third year to pack school lunches. Our oldest, Grant, eats in the school cafeteria once a week (he calls it “eating out”) and takes his lunch from home the remaining days. We look at the school menu monthly, then he picks which days to buy a school lunch and marks those days on his calendar.

He’s in charge of knowing when he needs to take a lunch. It would be great if he packed his own lunch every day, but he’s still young and some days it doesn’t happen. I still help out when needed or lay out his lunch container and bag which help things along.

Description of a lunch box, food containers, and water bottle

For his divided lunch container, I love the one we currently have because it only has 4 parts. The less to wash and keep up with the better. I bought it at our local Asian market, Super Cao Nguyen. The brand is called Incense, but unfortunately, they no longer sell them in-store. I found something similar at IKEA, but the lids don’t close easily. Amazon sells a similar one, which has good reviews. Wow, as you can tell I geek out about the perfect lunch container. It is important to me because I want to keep the whole lunch prep thing as simple as possible since we do it almost every day.

For hot lunches, we have a 13.5 oz Mira thermos and a 10 oz Thermos Funtainer, we’ve been happy with both. They keep the food warm, they’re not too deep to eat out of with a spoon, and they’re both stainless steel. The only drawback is that sometimes Grant has trouble opening the Mira one himself. When preparing a thermos for use, I pour boiling water into the empty container to heat it up. Once it has set for a few minutes, I dump the boiling water out and add in the hot food.

For water bottles, I am a fan of these. Once the boys are bigger we’ll move up to this bigger size water bottle. They never leak, look nice, hold up under numerous drops, BPA/BPS free, are easy to wash and come in fun colors.

The lunch bag was a gift from Brent’s mom and it is from Thirty-one. I can’t find that they still sell this size but this one is similar. It has lasted 3 years and still looks great. His name is embroidered on it which helps us not to lose it and gives it a personal touch. The ice pocket is on the outside, which keeps all the condensation off the food.

I like to pack his lunch like this:

First water bottle, lunch container, then napkin. That way the napkin stays dry, away from the condensation of the cold water bottle. An ice pack, if needed, in the outside pocket.

10 Sack Lunch Menus for Kids

I try to not buy any prepackaged or premade items for sack lunches. The main reason is to save on expenses and the second is for health reasons. Lunch consists of the main course, a vegetable, fruit and always water.

1. Classic peanut butter and jelly, carrots and grapes
   • Splendid Table, a podcast I love, recently did a show about sandwiches. They told of how one chef made a pb&j with peanuts crushed over the peanut butter and strawberries sliced over the strawberry jelly. I can’t wait to try it. They also mentioned how sandwiches taste better when they are cut diagonally, I agree.
2. Homemade Lunchables, sugar snap peas, and a cutie 
   • For the meat, I usually use Canadian bacon. I either cut it up or use a small cookie cutter to make little circles.
   • I cut up whatever kind of cheese we have. These days, cheddar cheese and gouda are favorites.
   • My kids like wheat thins so that is usually the cracker we use.
   • It is a must to package the crackers in their own zip lock bag, otherwise, they get soggy.
3. Cheap man’s tuna rolls, watermelon, and cherry tomatoes
   • These are similar to sushi rolls, but you use canned tuna. This is something we have come up with that lets us enjoy sushi whenever we want at an affordable price. Of course, fresh tuna would be ideal but this tastes great as an alternative.
   • Mix 1 can of tuna, 2 cups of cooked rice (I use brown), 1/4 of mayonnaise, and 1 teaspoon of wasabi. Place one cup of the tuna mixture on a flat nori seaweed sheet and roll up. I use a bamboo mat for this process. This video is very helpful if you are new to making California rolls. After it’s rolled, I like to wet the end of the nori sheet with water or soy sauce so the roll will stay together.
   • Be sure to include a small container of soy sauce and wasabi to dip the rolls into. My kids eat these with their hands.
   • For lunches, this is best made the morning of and you need fresh rice. Sushi rolls do not keep overnight, they dry out. If I cook rice the night before I freeze it, then reheat it in the morning. Freezing it keeps it from drying out.
   • When I make these for dinner I put carrots, cucumber, and avocado in the center.
4. Canned turkey chili with crackers and sliced Cara Cara oranges
   • We buy the Canned Turkey Chili from Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s private label items have no trans-fat, no artificial colors and flavors, no GMO’s or preservatives.
   • Cara Cara oranges are my favorite type of orange. The flesh is a beautiful color, a mixture of pink and orange plus they are super sweet.
5. Deli meat and cheese sandwich, edamame and strawberries
   • Since the school lunch is short (20 minutes) we’ve found that a half sandwich with fruit and a vegetable is a manageable amount of food for the timeframe.
   • I find my kids love it when they have something new for their lunch. On days when we are out of bread, I have to come up with creative solutions; these usually are winners. A bagel, tortilla, or pita instead of bread transforms a regular ole’ sandwich into a new treat.
6. Leftovers
   • This is a huge hit around here. Some popular leftovers to bring as lunch are pasta and meatballs, fried rice, poppyseed chicken casserole with rice, and Asian dumplings or potstickers.
7. Chicken Salad, sliced cucumbers, and kiwi
   • My kids like the chicken salad served on bread or with crackers.
8. Boiled egg, almonds, cheese, and whatever fruit and vegetables you have on hand.
   • This is the, “We have nothing in the fridge but need to pack a lunch go-to.”
   • My youngest son likes mini Babybel cheese rounds.
   • Fruit and vegetable ideas: sliced bell pepper strips, fresh broccoli, dried mangos, or banana chips.
9. Salad with dressing
   • This is a hard sell to my 7-year-old, but occasionally he will agree.
   • If I can sneak in some nuts or other protein I will.
   • Also throwing a few pieces of dried fruit in the salad counts as the fruit in my book.
   • We pack the dressing separately.
10. Canned or boxed soup with a cheese sandwich
    • A favorite is Trader Joe’s Butternut Squash or Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup.
    • Since we intentionally don’t have a microwave, I heat everything up on our stovetop. It works well and is not really a big hassle once you get used to it.
    • Since I always try to include a fruit and vegetable sometimes I put random things in and see what happens. I have found a few leaves of fresh spinach passes as a vegetable with flying colors. Applesauce is a good fruit option since slices of apples will not keep well.

Additional Tips

I’ve also found that the boys will eat something that they won’t eat at home if it is in their lunch box. I have no idea why this happens, but I sneak not-so-favorite things in here and there.

On special occasions or just for fun, I put a note or one piece of candy in his lunch box.

Grant is in charge of unpacking his backpack every day after school and has to empty his lunch box and put all the dirty dishes away.

He also has to bring a snack every day to school, but that is a whole other post.

I would love to hear your lunch-packing tips.

What is your go-to lunch for your kids?

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