Healthy Kids Lunch Ideas

No matter if you’re packing a lunch for school or you’re preparing something at home, you know you need to be as inventive as possible because kids aren’t exactly huge fans of eating the same thing over and over again. So, how can you pull it off and make an interesting lunch every day while tackling your job and your husband at the same time? Easy! Just follow these lunch ideas and you will find a lot of kid-friendly foods and recipes that will help you avoid sandwiches for kids. No matter if you’re looking for ideas of healthy snacks for school or you just want to introduce new food to your child, these ideas should come in handy.

If you’re here to find school lunch ideas, you’re in luck. And not just that, you will find a lot of suggestions to create amazing ideas for lunch. No matter if you’re interested in quick kids lunch ideas, dairy-free or gluten-free, this is your go-to source of inspiration for every lunch from now on.

Quick and Easy to Fix Lunch Ideas for Kids

If you’re all about healthy meals for kids that you can prepare in a few minutes, you’re in luck. Here’s what you can pack for the next lunch that will be healthy and enjoyable at the same time.

Pasta Salad

Going for pasta is always a life-saver. Kids usually love pasta, especially if you introduce them to it at a young age and you have plenty of combinations available. You can add ham, eggs, prawns and lots of other ingredients to keep things fresh and interesting, you can always find something similar on foodnetwork.com recipes.

Salad-Wraps

If you’re interested in healthy lunch recipes, a super-salad wrap may be the way to go. You can go full vegetarian with veggies or add some cheddar cheese for extra taste. The wraps are perfect for packing into a lunchbox and will also stay fresh for a longer period of time.

Omelet in a Bun

There’s nothing more interesting than a vegetarian omelet roll to keep things interesting for your kid’s lunch. It can serve as dinner as well, in case he’s feeling like skipping lunch and you can rest assured that the menu will remain fresh in the lunchbox.

Healthy Lunch Ideas for Kids

Continuing our list of healthy homemade lunch ideas, we have a few suggestions that are not always a guarantee. However, once your child catches the taste of one of these 10 dishes, it’s going to be difficult to keep them off.

Chicken Taco Salad

This lunch is healthy, it has plenty of different ingredients and it’s all topped up with crunchy taco shells. If you’re planning to add some variety in your child’s diet, this is a sure-win for you. Some creamy avocado chunks can be added as well and if you know your kid not to be a big fan of vegetables, spice things up with barbecued chicken.

Pitta Pockets

Next on our list of healthy meals for kids, we have pitta pockets. While it may not sound like the most delicious food of all time, don’t be so quick to judge it just yet. It’s a great alternative for sandwiches and you can combine it with finger food such as mint dip, crushed peas or carrot sticks.

Peanut Hummus with Fruit Sticks

If you’re not short on time, going for this amazing peanut hummus with smooth tahini and some smoked paprika will make one interesting lunch for your kid. You’ll need a blender to prepare everything and the texture isn’t for everyone. However, the fruit sticks create a great taste combo.

Gluten-free Lunch Ideas for Kids

Since nowadays parents have their own take on healthy kids lunch ideas, we’ve included some gluten-free alternatives on the list as well. After all, it’s a choice parents can make if they want the kid to eat gluten or dairy-free products.

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche Muffins

It makes require a bit more effort on your side but this just might easily become your favorite kid foods to prepare. Also, your kid will definitely not complain about eating their veggies if you put it this way. As far as healthy lunches for kids go, this one is awesome!

Grain-Free Wraps

It’s hard not to like a good wrap and the good news is that your kids can now enjoy them for every lunch. Even if they have a gluten intolerance, we have the perfect lunch for kids that contains no grains. The process is similar to making pancakes so you don’t have to worry about a difficult recipe.

Quinoa Mac & Cheese

Next in line in our kids’ lunch box ideas is a twist for the traditional mac and cheese. Not only that this is a very interesting and healthy version of the old mac and cheese but it also contains the quinoa superfood. It doesn’t lose any of the traditional flavors while also adding a lot of healthy ingredients.

Dairy-free Lunch Ideas for Kids

Since we explored kids lunch ideas without gluten, it’s time to turn our focus towards dairy-free lunches as well. And there’s plenty to choose from if you want to make sure your kid gets all the proteins needed for balanced development.

Pepperoni Rolls

One recipe that goes perfectly with kids’ lunches is pepperoni rolls. You can easily prepare them and serve them with pizza sauce and the greatest thing about them is that they stay fresh for a long period of time.

Cheesy Tomato Pasta

Yes, you can have cheesy tomato pasta without the cheese. Just combine pasta and tomato sauce with dairy-free mozzarella shreds, heat them up and you will get the perfect recipe.

Homemade Subway Subs

Nothing could be simpler and more delicious than taking mini sub buns or hot dog buns and fill them with sliced chicken and veggies. Add some toppings like tomato slices, green pepper or olives and you have a homemade subway.

Cold Lunch Ideas for Kids

If you don’t have enough time to cook something or you’re simply out of kids’ menu ideas, there’s nothing to worry about. We have some cold kids lunch ideas for you that will do an excellent job.

Quesadillas

The best part about a quesadilla is that you can serve it cold without an issue. They are just as delicious and your kid will never protest against it. Actually, some kids prefer it cold because of how hot quesadillas can get when hot.

Spring Rolls

No matter if we’re talking about lunch ideas for kids at home or something you put in their lunch box for school, spring rolls can’t go wrong. You can use lettuce leaves and roll them up with meat, tofu or pork. Sky’s the limit when talking about these cold lunch specials.

Sushi

While it may sound a bit extravagant for lunch, it’s actually one of the easy lunches for kids you can prepare with leftovers from dinner. Sushi is great the next day as well so you can just pack a lunch and get over with it.

Warm Lunch Ideas for Kids

We’ve already shown you a lot of warm lunch ideas for kids. No matter if you want to prepare school snacks for kids or serve at home, there are plenty of suggestions you can use to get inspired. Things like Vegan hummus and avocado wraps, vegan Asian rice salad, cheesy meatball bombs, pizza pockets, or meatloaf muffins are great and can even constitute funny meals for kids if you pack them properly.

Fun Lunch Ideas for Kids

If you’re not that concerned about how healthy the lunch is or if it’s warm or cold, then you definitely want your yummy lunch ideas to be fun. If your recipes are fun, there’s a big chance they’re going to be the best lunch ideas for picky eaters. So, we put together some recipes that your kids will love without a doubt. You can try your luck with things like tortilla pizza, ham, and cheddar pinwheels, rainbow wrap, banana muffins, pizza bites or breakfast bento and make this best lunch with kids together.

Many of the recipes presented so far were designed for school. However, before you put in the nest kids’ lunch box and send your little wonder to school, you also need to make sure you store the food properly. So, instead of giving you even more ideas about what to put in that lunchbox, we’re going to focus on how to pack everything so that your kid can actually enjoy the food when he or she gets to school.

Snacks for School

When talking about snacks, the range of things you can go for is very diverse. It can start with some energy bars and end all the way with multivitamin for kids. The truth is, if you pack a very good snack, you won’t have to worry so much about the actual lunch since your kid will get the needed nutrients anyway.

How to Pack a School Lunch

AS we said earlier, packing a good lunch for school needs to involve a lunch box. There’s nothing better to keep the food fresh and tasty during the adventures that your kid takes on the way to school. So, besides getting the best kids lunch box, you also need to have some wrapping paper and a decent thermos. With these tools in hand, you won’t have a problem with making sure your kid gets to school with his or her lunch in perfect condition.

How to Keep Kids Lunch Warm?

When you use a high-quality lunch box you don’t have to worry about the food getting cold easily. However, you should still be aware of some tips and tricks to make sure the food stays in perfect condition until it’s lunchtime. You can put the food in the microwave and make sure it’s hot when you put it in the lunch box. Some of the best boxes out there also have a thermo-protecting layer which should work wonders for you.

When it comes to making sure your child gets the best possible lunch, there’s no expense that should be spared. This means you should always get creative and make sure you are delivering a variety of dishes to make lunch every day a special one. With the examples we put together in this article, you will never run out of easy lunch ideas and, in case you needed it, you now know how to make sure the food stays warm until lunchtime. All you have to do now is experiment with the lunch recipes and find out the ones that your kid loves so you are both happy. If you need more tools in your kitchen or utensils to prepare awesome lunches for your wonder or find something new and interesting for dinner ideas for kids just check out parenthoodroutine.com right now.