When your children are at home with you, you do your best to serve them healthy meals. You can fill them up with some of their favorites like my Sloppy Joe recipe, or these Smoked Turkey Wraps with Chipotle Mayonnaise recipe. You can easily whip up a batch of Easy Tomato Soup recipe and sit down to a nice hearty and healthy lunch together (and for you Mom, try my Orange and Spinach salad withBalsamic Vinaigrette recipe!)
What happens once your children go off to school, however? Do you just let them eat whatever the school is making that day? Or do you continue to prepare a variety of healthy lunch ideas to keep your kids healthy, full and focused even when they are out of your sight? I think we know the answer to that!
While some schools are starting to prepare more healthy lunches, unfortunately many schools still serve foods that are really not very healthy at all.
If you have spent much time on Pinterest lately (are you following me on Pinterest yet?), you have undoubtedly seen some of the amazingly creative school lunch ideas out there. They look so cute and fun, and any child would be happy to eat them. As a bonus, they are surprisingly easy to make once you know how. If you are interested in finding some great healthy lunch ideas, keep reading! I've got three school lunch ideas you and your kids are sure to love!
Just grab yourself a Bento Box or a lunchbox and start filling the cups! If your Bento Box doesn't come with removable cups, try these silicone cupcake liners that can be reused all year and clean up easily!
Chicken Taco Bento Box
Ingredients
- 2 oz Grilled Chicken Breast pieces
- 7-10 Tostitos Multigrain Scoops
- ¼ cup Cheese Crackers
- ¼ cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- ½ Orange sliced
- ¼ cup Diced Tomatoes
- ¼ cup Shredded Lettuce
Directions
- Place each ingredient into cups and place in Bento Box.
Pepperoni Pizza Bento Box
Ingredients
- 1 oz Mini Pepperoni Slices
- 1 package Pillsbury Pizza Crust Dough
- ¼ cup Shredded Pizza Cheese
- ⅛ cup Pizza Sauce
- 1 Lowfat Chocolate Milk Carton
Directions
- Preheat Oven to 400.
- Spray cookie sheet with non stick spray or line with parchment paper
- Spread out pizza dough and using a 3" cookie cutter, biscuit cutter or drinking glass cut into rounds.
- If your kids aren't too picky, sprinkle rounds with garlic powder, oregano and basil for extra flavor.
- Place rounds on prepared sheet and bake for 8 minutes.
- Allow to cool.
- Place each ingredient into cups and place in Bento Box.
Beach Themed Ham & Cheese Bento Box
Ingredients
- 2 slices Honey Ham
- 2 slices Cheddar Cheese
- 1 Pretzel Roll (or Hoagie Roll)
- 1 Boiled Egg
- 1 Raisin
- ¼ cup Goldfish Crackers
- Leaf Lettuce
- ½ Orange sliced
- Blue Jell-O
- 1 Swedish Fish Candy
- 1 Lowfat Milk Carton
Directions
- Prepare Jell-O according to directions and pour in serving size containers and allow to nearly set.
- Add one Swedish fish to each Jell-O container
- If you want to make the roll look like a fish: take the roll and notch out each side and the rear to create fish shape. If your bento is small, split roll in half first to make 2 fish. Notch out a mouth and remove a small circle to create an eye. Place raisin in the eye.
- Split the roll and add ham and cheese.
- Place lettuce into box to support fish.
- Place remaining ingredients into cups and place in Bento Box.
