3 Easy and Healthy Back to School Lunches

Making lunches easy, delicious and healthy

It’s easier than you think to assemble a healthy lunch for any school-age kid! All you need is a protein, some healthy fats, vegetables, and a fruit.

To accommodate a variety of food allergies, I’ve made the examples below grain-free and gluten-free, (mostly) dairy-free, (mostly) egg-free, soy-free, and free of refined sugar.

Here’s your template for an easy packed lunch for kids (or grown-ups):

1 Protein + 1 Fat + Vegetables + 1 Fruit

A few tips:

• Getting the kids involved in packing their own lunches will make it more likely that they’ll eat it.

• Older/bigger kids will need bigger portions, so adjust accordingly.

• To keep hot foods hot, use a thermal container. To keep cold foods cold, include an ice pack.

Proteins

• Meatballs or slider patties

• Sausage “coins”

• Salami slices

• Grass-fed hot dog slices

• Smoked salmon

• Diced cooked chicken thighs

• Hard boiled eggs

• Chomp sticks (available at Yoke’s)

• EPIC bars (meat protein bars, available at most grocery stores)

*I’m omitting proteins from legumes (e.g. beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc) and grains (e.g. quinoa) here because their protein is not as bioavailable, or able to be used by the body, as well as animal protein. Plus, their protein content is much lower than animal proteins: legumes and grains are actually mostly carbohydrate. For kids who don’t or won’t eat meat, eggs and cheese are the next best option, as it provides bioavailable protein, healthy fats, and important nutrients for little learning brains, like choline and B vitamins.

Pre-cut your fruits and veggies to make it easier on the littles!

Healthy Fats

• Avocado

• Nuts (almonds, macadamia nuts, cashews)

• Nut or seed butters (almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter). Tip: sunflower seed butter is a great nut-free alternative to peanut butter.

• Olives

• Cheese cubes (Costco has Kerrygold)

• Ranch dressing

• Mayo

Vegetables

• Sliced carrots

• Celery sticks

• Broccoli cut into bite-sized pieces

• Roast sweet potato

• Cucumber slices

• Bell pepper slices

• Radish slices

• Sliced cooked zucchini

• Cherry tomatoes

• Lettuce slices (make good wraps)

• Nori sheets (for sushi hand rolls) or Seaweed Snacks (snacking seaweed, available at Costco)

• Fresh mozzarella “pearls”

Fruits & Treats

• Whole fruit (sliced apples, mandarin orange, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, peach slices)

• That’s It bars

• Trail mix

• Avocado chocolate pudding

• Siesta foods cassava tortillas (for tacos/burritos)

• Grain-free granola

• Paleo bars (available from Costco)

On to the example lunches! Remember, don’t let perfection get in the way or worry about making it too fancy. On a busy school morning, ain’t nobody got time to make lunches Instagram-worthy. Just assemble one from each of the above categories, and you’re good to go.

Lunch 1

Salami slices + cherry tomatoes + cucumber slices + olives

Lunch 2

Smoked salmon + cucumber + avocado + SeaSnax (kids like assembling little sushi rolls) + apple slices with sunflower seed butter

Lunch 3

Hard boiled eggs + cheese cubes + carrots + cherries + grapes

Easy to assemble sushi rolls just for kids!