Easy School Lunch Ideas

This shop has been compensated by Inmar Intelligence and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MakeBacktoSchoolPremium 

These Easy School Lunch Ideas can help your mornings run more smoothly, keep the kids happy and provide a delicious meal to fuel them through their day.

I can hardly believe we’re already prepping for back to school. 

This year is a new adventure for all of us.  My son is going into junior high, in a new school district, and my daughter is also starting a new elementary school.  

New school, new friends, new routines, new car pool lines, new everything. 

So, essentially we’re starting over. As a mom, I want to ease both of my children into these unfamiliar situations to the best of my ability.

That starts with their favorite foods at lunchtime.

Over the years I have learned what my children prefer in their lunches, how much to pack and what not to pack.

I shop at Kroger for Land O’Frost® Premium Meats

They have a variety of flavors, which my kids love, they’re a healthy and affordable protein and I love the resealable pouch for added freshness! My husband and I also love to make sandwiches for our lunches so we always have a few packages in the fridge at all times. Here are a few easy lunch solutions I’ve learned over the years to keep the kids happy during lunch time:

• Pack their favorites
  • My son LOVES turkey sub sandwiches, so I start with Land O’Frost® Premium Meat Oven Roasted Turkey Breast, a sub roll, lettuce, cheese and mayonnaise, for him.
  • My daughter prefers tortillas, so for her, I use Land O’Frost® Premium Sub Kit Honey Ham & Turkey, and make her turkey and ham roll ups with cheese, lettuce and “special sauce.”
• Pack more than you think they will eat
  • My kids started coming home starving after school which made me ask, “did you have enough to eat at lunchtime?”  Depending on the day, it was either a yes or a no.  Therefore, I started packing a few extra packaged items and told them if they didn’t eat them, to bring them home.  I also pack a few extra items in my son’s backpack so he has a snack on the bus.
• Reliable lunch containers with compartments
  • I love these compartments containers that can keep foods separate.  They’re close tightly, so if I pack something with liquid, I know the juices won’t run into other parts of the container.  I just use a cold pack under the container and they fit right into their lunch boxes.

A few ideas for deli roll ups and deli sub sandwiches

Turkey and Cheese sub

• Sub sandwich roll
• mayonnaise
• Land O’Frost® Premium Meat Oven Roasted Turkey Breast
• cheddar cheese
• iceburg lettuce

Turkey and everything but the bagel roll ups

• Large tortilla
• cream cheese
• everything but the bagel seasoning
• Land O’Frost® Premium Meat Oven Roasted Turkey Breas
• string cheese
• Roll up and slice

Turkey and ham with “special sauce”

• Large tortilla
• Land O’Frost® Premium Sub Kit Honey Ham & Turkey
• special sauce
  • mayonnaise, ketchup, pickle relish
• cheese (sharp, mild, colby)
• shredded lettuce
• Roll up and slice

I place these “main dishes” into the large compartment of the lunch containers and then into the smaller containers I include a few more of their favorite snacks. 

Including:

• blueberries
• white cheddar popcorn
• strawberries
• BBQ chips
• yogurt covered raisins
• cheese crackers

Use your children’s favorite foods to make their lunch feel extra special.

Sometimes I include Lunch Box Notes, but being my son is going into 6th grade, I don’t think that’s “cool” anymore so I’ll save my love language to packing his most loved foods.

What are some of your kids favorite lunches?