Healthy & Fun School Lunches

by Mandi on September 20, 2010

creative school lunches creative school lunches creative school lunches
creative school lunches creative school lunches creative school lunches
creative school lunches creative school lunches creative school lunches

The school year has really just started, but if you’re already finding yourself in a school lunch rut, be sure to check out these creative ideas for packing balanced lunches that are healthy and fun. Because we homeschool, we only pack a lunch once a week for co-op, but I’m definitely going to be adding some of these ideas to our lunch rotation!

creative school lunches
1. Food for My Family: hard boiled eggs, carrots, cheese cubes, potato salad, raspberries

creative school lunches

2. Cool Mom from Vancouver: monster sandwich, orange slices

creative school lunches

3. Weelicious: eggplant cheeseburgers, fruit and seed bar, corn, red, yellow and orange raspberries, blueberries

creative school lunches

4. Family Fun: PB&J blossom sandwiches

creative school lunches

5. Goodbyn: salad, salami, cheese and crackers, trail mix, cookies

creative school lunches

6. Healthy Lunch Ideas: rice, tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, oranges, cauliflower, squash, pineapple, snap peas, grapes, blueberries, purple cabbage, grapes

creative school lunches

7. Another Lunch: cereal bar, granola bar, cracker & cream cheese “sandwiches”, grapes, carrots, sunflower seeds, chocolate chips

creative school lunches

8. Making Life Better.com: sandwich on a stick

creative school lunches

9. Funky Lunch: house sandwich

How do you make school lunches healthy and fun?


  • http://www.simplekids.net Kara @SimpleKids

    I love the house sandwich! :-)

    But, all of these are fun ideas. Thanks for the round-up!

  • http://www.simplekids.net Kara @SimpleKids

    I love the house sandwich! :-)

    But, all of these are fun ideas. Thanks for the round-up!

  • http://www.examiner.com/green-culture-in-mankato/alicia-bayer Green Living in Minnesota

    Darling! Thanks. :)

  • http://www.examiner.com/green-culture-in-mankato/alicia-bayer Green Living in Minnesota

    Darling! Thanks. :)

  • MemeGRL

    Thank you for this post–it’s so much easier than people think (if we’re typical, and I think we are)–my husband and I high-fived each other last week when we had less than one trash can for the trash truck and four bins for the recycling! Still–way too much recycling–but given everything, my husband even said, “Did we really used to send that much to landfills?” and that hard answer is: absolutely. Good luck to all in the challenge!

  • Bek

    Thank you, keep posts like this coming. And please let people know about Freecycle.org. I use it almost daily! It is a great way to get rid of things you would otherwise toss. Instead, you can give them to people who can use them, fix them, repurpose them, etc. Plus, the “taker” will come pick it up from you! You never know, you just might find something you could use for free as well!

  • http://paulanix.com Paula @Motherhood Outloud

    We started working on this a little over a year ago. A few things that have really helped us are going mostly paperless in the kitchen (using rags, towels, and cloth napkins), composting what we can, and cutting out the purchase of individually packaged items. It feels great to see our big can only half full on trash pick up days!

  • http://naturecanopy.typepad.com/lilolu/ Jackie Prager

    Without a doubt, I am most productive in the morning.

  • http://www.se7en.org.za Se7en

    Am I the only person that gets down to blogging in the dead of night!!! I have a mid afternoon peak and I use all that energy on projects with the kids and getting the end of the day sorted out… And then I head for bed with the kids and wake up later and blog for an hour or two in the wee hours before heading back to bed… I don’t have any early risers so it works for us to just lie in a little longer…

  • Ashley

    My husband and I round down all deposits and round up all expenditures in our check books. Basically, if we deposit $635.44, we record that amount so that we can make sure everything clears the way it should, but we only add $635 to the actual running balance. If we spend $34.16 on gas, we again record the full $34.16 but we subtract $35. This will cause the running balance to always be an even amount, helping you to avoid overdrawing the account, thus saving in overdraft fees. However, the biggest plus to doing your checkbook this way is that you will eventually accumulate a “cushion”. In only 2 months we had a little more than $80 saved up. We use this money for Christmas shopping…if we have that $80 on average every 2 months, that’s $480 at the end of the year to do our shopping with…and we don’t even have to think about it! :)

  • http://zenfamilyhabits.net Sherri

    You’re so sweet. My biggest cheerleader is my hubby hands down. He’s always encouraging me to do whatever I want, try new things and is supportive through all my failures … oops I mean learning experiences :) See even when I fail he’s awesome!

    Yes, there are a few things I would have thrown the towel in on if he hadn’t been there and I’m grateful everyday for him standing there cheering me on. This is a great exercise Mandi thank you for making me think about it!

    Mandi! Mandi! Mandi! … ;)

  • Anonymous

    My husband is definitely my biggest cheerleader. He has supported in most everything I wanted to do. My latest venture is a new blog launching Nov 8th!
    Bernice
    http://bernicewood.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/the-perfectly-imbalanced-life/

  • Kristia@Family Balance Sheet

    Definitely my husband and it goes both ways. After him, it would be my parents. They have been cheering me on for as long as I can remember.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks, Sarah — it should work now!

  • Pingback: Simple Alternatives to Sandwich Lunches « Simple Organized Living

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