My oldest boy just started school this year, and we’ve been having fun coming up with quick, portable meals for his lunchbox. I know this is one of those things us healthy moms worry about the most. It’s such a challenge to find meals that will fuel and nourish their growing bodies, that they will actually eat, even when we’re not there telling them, “Just three more bites!” I hope these favorites will find their way to your kids’ hearts. I would love your feedback at the bottom of this post. Share an idea of your own, and then come back to read others’ ideas. We’ll have a huge collection by the time the week is up!

PB&J Remix

Skip the high fructose corn syrup. Even the all natural jams have more sugar than is necessary to make a delicious sandwich. Start with whole grain bread, add all natural peanut butter or almond butter, then add fruit, and top with another slice of bread. You’ve probably seen this done with bananas. But how about red grapes sliced in half? It tastes just like grape jelly. Raspberries, blackberries sliced in half, apple slices, and strawberry slices are awesome alternatives. For even more nutrition, lightly sprinkle the peanut butter with sesame seeds for an extra shot of much-needed calcium and essential fats.

Apple Pie Sandwich

Spread a thick layer of plain greek yogurt on two slices of whole grain bread. Add apple slices, a light drizzle of honey, and a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg. This provides excellent energy, fiber and lots of protein!

Cucumber Faces

(or banana faces or cracker faces)

Slice a cucumber into ovals by cutting it at a diagonal, which gives you bigger slices than cutting into circles. For picky eaters, peel the cucumber until they’re used to this meal. Put the ovals on a plate and spread a layer of peanut butter, almond butter, vanilla greek yogurt, or hummus over each oval. Then quickly decorate with anything from slivered almonds to pumpkin seeds, to dried fruit. Try raisins for eyes and slivered almonds for a mouth. Or make a flower by arranging dried goji berries as petals. I get slightly creative, but don’t have much time for food sculptures. My kids don’t seem to mind. They think the crooked smiles are just as cool. For variation, you can use oval banana slices or whole grain flax crackers instead of cucumbers.

Boiled Eggs

Boring, right? Until I found these:  http://amzn.to/p6Au7J

My kids go nuts over these silly things. Simply peel your egg while it’s still warm, press it into the egg mold, and snap it closed. I make a few eggs at a time and store them in the fridge in their molds until it’s time to pack lunch. It takes 30 seconds to pop out a cute bunny egg or fish egg and add it to a lunch box with a clementine, some carrots, and almonds.

Power Yogurt

Here’s another high energy lunch that is packed with nutrients. I use this as a main dish because it’s just as high in protein as a slab of kid-sized meat, but it tastes like a real treat! I wouldn’t really call this a recipe, because just about every ingredient can be switched out for whatever you have on hand. The basic template is:

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
something to sweeten it with
other stuff

For sweetener, I highly recommend Barlean’s Omega Swirl, which is a delicious flavored flaxseed oil. It comes in all sorts of flavors like Pomegranate Blueberry, Blackberry, Strawberry Banana (our favorites) and several others. Feeding your kids plenty of essential fats is just about the best thing you can do for their brain development. Increasing essential fats has also been shown to drastically improve behavioral disorders and ADHD symptoms. Here are the best prices I’ve found on Barlean’s. I pasted our favorite flavors for convenience. Clicking on each picture will take you right to the best deal I’ve found for each one:

Okay, back to the power yogurt. So grab a bowl, add your greek yogurt, squirt some Barlean’s in (about a Tablespoon makes it nice and sweet, but I never measure), then start adding some power-packed texture. Here are some ideas:

Handful of uncooked rolled oats
Pumpkin seeds
Sesame seeds
Chia seeds
Frozen/fresh berries
Dried mango/pineapple/goji berries/any fruit

Stir it all up and store it in a stay-cool container (here’s the one my little Carter has) and add a side of baby carrots and an apple and you’re good to go! By lunch time, the oatmeal will have softened up a bit, but there’s still plenty of texture. It’s like dessert!

Note: If you have kids who don’t like chunky textures, you can still serve this as the main dish for lunch. Just go with pain greek yogurt, Barlean’s, and a fine seed like sesame seeds and/or chia seeds. Call it polka-dot yogurt for fun. They won’t feel any added texture. Pack a side of berries instead of adding it to the yogurt.

Kebobs

I often do kebabs at the end of the week when I’m running low on a lot of things, or I’m left with a random assortment of food that doesn’t really go together in a recipe. You can throw just about anything on a kebob:

Strawberry halves
Cucumber slices
Grapes
Pineapple chunks
Olives
Avocado cubes
Cheese cubes
Apple cubes
Rolled up turkey slices
Mini sandwiches (use a mini one-inch, star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out sandwiches)
What else can you think of? I’d love your ideas in the comments below!

Sides

I keep the sides as simple as possible. Here are some ideas:

Clementine (I peel it before packing it)

Apple (make 4 straight slices around the core, then puzzle it back together into a whole apple again. Use a rubber band to hold the pieces back together so the apple doesn’t oxidize. Show your child how to take the rubber band off  before eating.)

Bowl of fresh berries

Thinly sliced carrots with healthy ranch for dipping

Thinly sliced celery (if your kids hate the stringy pieces, quickly run over the outer layer with a potato peeler and they’ll be gone)

Cucumber with hummus for dipping

“Baby trees” Broccoli or cauliflower with healthy ranch

I’ve found any time I can cut veggies into a fun shape, my kids will be more likely to eat it. For example, after slicing cucumber into round discs, use a small cookie cutter to stamp out a stack of flowers, stars or hearts.

p.s. Here’s one more bonus side recipe for Blueberry Banana Salad

https://simplywholelife.com/fruit-recipes-for-kids-blueberry-banana-salad

Will you try any of these in your child’s lunch box this week?