No more boring lunch boxes that are the same day after day! Find 10 complete easy lunch box ideas – that’s two whole school weeks- of unique and wholesome school lunch ideas that are fun, filling and even customizable for your kid’s taste preferences right here in this post. These are perfect for switching it up a little throughout the week, or finding new lunch box ideas to keep lunch a new and fun but still simple to make with healthy ingredients you can keep on hand.
We are in our final count down for the start to school, so I have been experimenting with lots of new, fun, and totally portable lunches that I can send to school with my kids! My kiddos really loved helping me test these ideas to tell me if they were a super yummy recipe to add to the list, or an “ewwwww YUCK!” one to toss in the trash. We had fun, got creative and made some really fun lunches I am excited to share with you!
See the first 10 easy wholesome no-sandwich lunchbox ideas I shared here!
If you make these, make sure to snap a pic and tag me on Instagram (@easyfamilyrecipes) so I can see your creations! And if you have more simple lunch ideas, please let me know in the comments! I am always looking for more to add to our rotation too! So without any further adieu, here we go:
10 Non-Sandwich Lunch Box Ideas
As you have heard from me in my other lunch box ideas posts, the first rule of cool lunch box making is that there are no rules.
Remember that! If your kids don’t like pepperoni, use ham, chicken, or turkey instead! If they are a vegetarian, just leave out the meat all together. If they hate carrots but love sweet peppers, then by all means, use sweet peppers in place of carrots. Allergic to peanuts? Use almond butter! The key is to use these ideas as inspiration and modify, or trade out things you need to for dietary restrictions, so please don’t feel like there are rules, it is all just inspiration for easy and healthy lunches!
My recipe for the perfect lunch box is:
- A main dish consisting of a protein– This helps me know they are getting healthy food that will keep them full until the end of the school day.
- A veggie or fruit– At every meal I want my kids to eat one super healthy, wholesome thing. We talk about this a lot, and to help my kids understand what healthy food is, I often ask what they want their “healthy thing” for the meal to be!
- Something crunchy- I love to have something with a little crunch. I think it helps pace the meal as you have to slow down a little to eat crunchy things and it just balances the textures in the other part of the meal to make it feel complete.
- Something sweet- Everything in moderation! I my kids and I both love to have a little something sweet to finish off our meal and my kids absolute favorite is Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks. Even my littlest, sneaks into the pantry to find them! I feel like it is pretty win-win as far as sweets go!
Having a formula to generally follow makes it easy for me to figure out what to put in the lunch when I am in a rush, or haven’t planned ahead. All of my lunches below pretty much follow this rule as well.
No 1: Turkey Ranch Roll Up Lunch Box Idea
This is one of my kids favorites! Heck! It is one of my favorites too! Creamy ranch flavored cream cheese layered on to a soft tortilla with tender turkey on top. Roll it up and you have a super easy to eat, delicious lunch idea. You can also change it up with whole wheat or veggie tortillas. Grab the recipe for these Turkey Ranch Roll Ups here!
Turkey Ranch Roll Up Lunch Box
- Turkey Ranch Roll Ups
- Dried Cranberries
- Sweet Potato Chips
- Apple Cinnamon Crunchies
- Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks
No 2: Crackers, Meat & Cheese School Lunch Idea
This lunch option is so simple but so fun! You can put just one choice of meat, cheese and crackers, or a bunch of kinds. Your kids will love mixing and matching the toppers to make their own combination of flavors. Even though this is the same type of thing you would find on a sandwich, kids have so much more fun when they get to create it themselves all in a kid sized package the size of a cracker!
Crackers, Meat & Cheese Lunch Box
- Crackers
- Deli Meat
- Sliced Cheese
- Grapes
- Yogurt Raisins
- Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks
No 3: Pizza Dippers Lunch Box Idea
Who doesn’t love pizza?! These pizza dippers are a kid favorite! We take all the goodness of pizza, a pepperoni and a mozzarella cheese cube and sandwich them between a slice of a mini bagel. Then serve pizza sauce on the side to dip away at lunch time! This makes sure that nothing gets soggy if you make the lunch the night before, or while your kids are at school in the morning.
Pizza Dippers Lunch Box
- Mini Bagels
- Pepperoni
- Mozzarella cheese cubes
- Pizza sauce (we use our favorite spaghetti sauce)
- Pretzel crips
- Pizza veggies like sweet peppers
- Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks
No 4: Nachos Lunch Box Idea
My kids two favorite foods are without a doubt, pizza and nachos. I made a lunch box version of each! Nachos get a bad wrap, but I actually think they can be a pretty healthy option when you do it right! To start out I give my kids a mixture of chips and crunchy veggies for dipping. Since we can’t just pile the toppings on like we could at home since it would get totally soggy by lunch time, I pack all different nacho toppings and let them dip instead and they love it!
I include cheese sauce, which you can usually easily find on the Mexican aisle at any grocery store, salsa that is packed with wholesome veggies, and guacamole for more veggies and healthy fats. The guacamole I usually make at home with this recipe, just add extra lime to keep it from turning brown, but you can also pick up quick and easy single sized serving containers at many stores.
Healthier Nacho Lunch Box
- Chips
- Crunchy veggies like snap peas and carrots
- Nacho cheese sauce
- Guacamole
- Salsa
- Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks
No 5: Pita & Hummus School Lunch Idea
This lunch is great because you can really tailor it to your kiddos tastes. Hummus is packed with protein, and you can find it in no less than 10 flavors in just the average grocery store. Add white or whole wheat pita bread, and whatever deli meat or combo of meats your child prefers and they can build their ultimate lunch!
Pita and Hummus Lunch Box:
- Pita Bread
- Hummus
- Deli Meat
- Cucumbers
- Tomatoes
- Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks
No. 6: Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes Lunch Box Idea
This is a great twist on an old kid favorite! I use small roma tomatoes, cut them in half and hollow out the inside. Then I fill it with tuna salad and pop it in a plastic container. TIP: to keep the tomatoes from rolling over, cut just 1/4 inch slice off the very bottom to give it a flat surface to balance on. I throw in some carrot strips just to help keep them in place and my kids love them!
Tuna salad can be as quick and simple as mixing a con of tuna with some mayo, salt, and pepper, or you can find tons of recipes for any flavor you can imagine to dress it up. If you really want it fool-proof, then they even sell premeasured kits to throw together at the store. And in the event your kids doesn’t go for tuna, you can use chicken! If they don’t like tomatoes, then use sweet peppers, cucumber slices, avocado, or even hollowed zucchini or squash. The options are endless!
Tuna Stuffed Tomato Lunch Box
- Tuna Salad
- Roma Tomatoes
- Pretzels
- Cheese Cubes
- Banana
- Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks
No. 7: Apple Pizza Lunch Box Idea
This is one of the more creative lunches I send with my kids and they absolutely love it! It is so simple but really, really, yummy! I even eat it for a snack sometimes myself! All you do to make these apple pizzas is slice an apple horizontally, spread peanut butter over the top, then put on your toppings! We use toasted coconut as the “cheese” and raisins on top usually, although you could get really creative with it! When you make this you can either core the apple first, or leave the core in and the kids just eat around the sides. Both work!
Apple Pizza Lunch Box:
- Apples
- Peanut Butter
- Toasted Coconut
- Raisins
- Cheese Cubes
- Carrot Sticks
- Whole Wheat Crackers
- Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks
No 8: Pizza Kabobs Lunch Box Idea
Why is it that my kids love everything cute, little, or on a stick? Who knows, but this is definitely pizza made cuter! We use wooden skewers I cut down to lunchbox size to put a pepperoni, a tomato, and a cheese cube together just like the flavors you find on pizza! If your kids love other veggies or meats on their pizza you can add those too! My kids love to help make these little guys as much as they love eating them!
Pizza Kabobs Lunch Box:
- Pepperoni or salami
- Tomato
- Mozzarella cheese cubes
- Whole wheat crackers
- Sweet peppers
- Apple cinnamon crunchies
- Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks
No 9.: Chicken Salad Lunch Box Idea
I absolutely love chicken salad as a lunch box filler. It is awesome because it is really anything but boring when you do it right! You can make it in so many flavor combos, so there is something for everyone! Plus, I hide tons of healthy veggies in mine to up the nutritional value and they don’t even notice with all the great flavor! My kids absolute favorites are ranch chicken salad, fajita chicken salad, cranberry almond chicken salad and this classic chicken salad.
Chicken Salad Lunch Box:
- Pita bread
- Cherry tomatoes
- Sweet potato chips
- Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks
No 10.: Savory Bagel Lunch Box Idea
Bagels aren’t just for breakfast, but if breakfast is your kids favorite meal of the day then you are going to love this school lunch idea! All you need are bagels, I use the mini ones, some cream cheese and your favorite savory toppings. You can use plain cream cheese or mix the cream cheese with ranch powder for an extra delicious treat. Then top the bagel with meat and veggies you love! I serve it open face for twice the goodness!
Savory Bagel Lunch Box:
- Mini bagels
- Cream cheese
- Toppings: Turkey, carrots, sweet peppers, etc.
- Sweet potato chips
- Cucumber slices
- Apple slices
- Mott’s Medley Fruit Flavored Snacks
Hopefully this leaves you inspired to spice up your lunch boxes and convinces you it doesn’t have to be hard with just a few things on hand! Do you have any creative lunch box favorites? I would love to hear about it! Leave me a note in the comments and it would make my day! I read each and every one!
Original article and pictures take www.thepinningmama.com site
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