My little bear Allie is starting kindergarten in just a few days, and I am on a mission to make her the best lunches ever! Who wants a boring sandwich every day? Not me! Even if you aren’t a mom, you can use these ideas too. These are for everyone!
I don’t like to use baggies or anything that has to be thrown away, so I like to use reusable lunch containers.
YumBox – this container is hard plastic with a removable, dishwasher safe tray inside. The compartments are labeled with food groups, and you can have a wide variety of foods in here.
Easy Lunchboxes Containers – these containers are really sturdy, and also dishwasher safe. There is one large compartment, one medium compartment, and one small compartment. These come in a 4-pack.
In these containers, I like to use separate containers for smaller items in the large section:
Containers with lids – these are just for things like yogurt or dips. These have airtight lids and they fit nicely in here without spilling on other foods.
Silicone molds– makes lunch colorful and fun, and keeps foods separate. They are also really flexible so you can fit them anywhere.
Some other fun things I like to do:
Plastic Animal Toothpicks – I make mini fruit skewers, or meat and cheese rolls on these, and they are really fun to eat.
Cookie cutters – I use these just to make the sandwiches more fun and also to make them bite size to fit in smaller compartments. These really make my kiddos happy when they have a sandwich in the shape of a princess or flower or something like that. I have a whole drawer just for my cookie cutters!
Here are some examples of lunches I’ve made:
Peanut butter and jelly “sushi” (just take a piece of bread, spread pb&J on it, roll it up and cut it into pieces), hard boiled egg, blueberries on toothpicks, cheese nips, and apples with peanut butter to dip.
Ham and cheese skewers, crackers, hard boiled egg, and blueberries.
Ham and cheese star sandwich, cheese nips, granola bar and raisins, oranges, strawberries, and a few candy pez in the middle.
Cheese quesadilla with mild salsa for dipping, baby carrots, strawberries, and some trail mix.
I got some Colby jack cheese sticks, wrapped some turkey around them, and stuck a pretzel stick through to create totally edible little skewers! I added cheese nips, blueberries, and some Frozen Graham cookies.
A castle shaped pb&j, some yogurt, cherry tomatoes, a granola bar, and a few tortilla chips.
“Lunchables” inspired – crackers, cut up ham, and pineapple shaped cheese slices (my kids love to assemble), some mixed nuts, applesauce, and a few blueberries.
Turkey and cheese sandwich on a Hawaiian roll, pistachios, baby carrots, blackberries, some pretzel letters, and an Oreo.
Tips:
- My biggest tip for lunch making would be to do as much as you can the night before. Most everything can be done the night before, with the exception of sandwiches. I like to do this so I’m not rushed in the morning! Just wait till the kids go to bed, and make the lunches with a glass of wine in hand!
- Write your guy or gal a little note, and if they can’t read, just draw a little picture or something for them. I know that my Allie really looks forward to reading her note everyday!
Hope you liked this post and it helped you to be more creative!
xx Amy
The Hustlin’ Homemaker 
Love this 👍🏻
Thank you!!!