As you start planning for your kids’ lunches, try to think of foods that are easy for them to eat. While soup and chicken dinners might seem great for you when you prepare your own lunch with leftovers, these aren’t easy or convenient for kids to eat in the cafeteria. Here are some healthy foods that are convenient for your kids, but also nutritious and delicious.
A book full of great ideas is Little Bento: 32 Irresistible Bento Box Lunches for Kids by Michele Olivier
Kids Lunch Ideas
Fruits and Veggies
First of all, fruit and vegetables make the perfect finger foods for a kids’ lunch. You can easily chop, slice, and dice them into bite-size pieces where a kid of any age is going to find them a fun treat for lunch. You can slice up fruit like cantaloupe, apples, watermelon, and honeydew melon so that they are easy to put in a compartment of the lunch box. Veggies like carrots, celery, zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower are also easy to cut up. Some veggies and fruits are already small enough to have as finger foods, such as berries, grapes, and cherry tomatoes.
Breakfast-Inspired Kids Lunch Ideas
Your kids’ lunch doesn’t always have to be a traditional lunch food. There are ways to give them finger foods that actually have breakfast components. For example, you can make some little egg muffins by beating eggs and pouring them into little muffin tins. Bake the eggs with cubed ham or bacon, veggies and cheese, then put each muffin in the freezer individually-wrapped. If you take them out and put them in your kids’ lunch boxes, they will be thawed by lunch time and ready to eat.
Mini Pizzas
You can make mini pizzas for your kids lunches, but also make them in a healthier way. If you want your kids to stick to a paleo or low-carb diet, then you can make the pizza dough with a cauliflower crust. This is lower in fat and much more nutritious than a regular dough crust. Otherwise, consider getting some whole wheat dough and making mini pizzas, then in the lunch box, include ingredients like a lighter pizza sauce, cheese, and lots of veggies. This ends up being similar to a pizza Lunchables, but is a lot healthier.
Quesadillas
You can also prepare some veggie quesadillas for their lunches, which are great finger foods. Bake the quesadilla so it is crispy, making sure there are plenty of veggies inside, not just cheese. Cut the cooked quesadilla into smaller pieces, and place it in their lunch box with some salsa. It is a fun and nutritious lunch for the kids.
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