Kids Lunches
and
Kids Lunch Ideas

Do you need ideas for Kids school lunches or kids lunches at home? If you are like me it can be simple to plan easy kids meals for breakfast.

Dinner is the major event to plan. But lunches are difficult for me. You can only have so much peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or canned soup!

Here are Some of Our Favorite Kids Lunch Ideas

1. A little preparation goes a long way. Cook extra chicken and ground beef and freeze for small portions to add to soup, tacos, sandwiches, etc.



2. Leftovers! Make a little extra each night for dinner. This provides lunch for anyone the next day including your kids school lunches. Or if you don’t want to eat something twice in a row freeze them in Rubbermaid containers to pull out later.



3. Homemade Chicken Soup. Place roast chicken with chopped carrots, a quartered onion, 1-2 celery leaves and 2 bay leaves in a large soup pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook and simmer on medium-low 1 hour. Drain broth into large bowl. Allow to cool. Shred chicken. Use the shredded chicken for a casserole or other dish. Freeze the broth for a quick soup for lunches. Or if you want soup now add noodles, frozen carrots and peas and cook until vegetables and pasta are tender. A quick homemade soup that can be used for kids lunches or eaten at home.



4. Think “out of the box” for sandwiches. Try cut out bread with fun cookie cutters, bagels, tortilla wraps, crackers, pancakes or crepes. This changes things up. I've even given my son peanut butter on a pancake cut into triangles. It was a hit!



5. Make dinner into lunch. Either use leftovers and transform into something else or create something new. Use cooked chicken for chicken fajitas, (just add shredded chicken, cooked sliced peppers, onions and sprinkle with taco or fajitas seasoning.) Make a Chicken Caesar by using cooked chicken, shredded lettuce, and top with Caesar dressing and Parmesan cheese. For even more variety add these ideas to a pita or tortilla wrap.



6. Mini pizzas. Slice hard rolls, bagels, or English muffins in half. Top with tomato sauce seasoned with Italian seasoning. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and pizza toppings. Broil until cheese melts. Wrap up in plastic wrap or store in rubbermaid container for kids school lunches.



7. Salads. The ideas are limitless! Start with shredded lettuce and add variety. Try cobb salad with sliced lunch meat, tuna salad with a mayo/milk dressing, pasta salad or add shredded chicken to your lettuce.


8. Burritos and tacos. With tortilla shells on hand little preparation is needed. Using cooked hamburger that was frozen in small portions is perfect for these times.


9. Chicken nuggets. Whether store bought or homemade and frozen. Make extra Crunchy Coated Chicken one night and cut into cubes. Freeze for kids lunches another day.





10. Corn dogs. Also store bought or homemade and frozen. Again make extra and freeze some for your kids lunches.
    Homemade Corn Dogs
    ¾ Cup cornmeal
    ¾ Cup flour
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    ¼ teaspoon salt
    1 egg, beaten
    1 Cup milk
    10 wooden sticks
    10 hot dogs
    Oil for deep fat frying
    Combine cornmeal, flour and egg; mix well. Stir in milk to make a thick batter; let stand a few minutes. Pat hot dogs dry and pour batter into a tall glass. This will help to coat the whole hot dog. Heat oil to 375 degrees. Fry until golden brown.



11. Protein sandwiches. Egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad or chopped ham (ham sliced and chopped in food chopper. Perfect for after Easter leftover ham). These are not your typical lunch meat and PBJ sandwiches.



12. Pasta. When cooking macaroni and cheese add in peas, ham or tuna. Or for school lunches cook fun pasta noodles and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, Italian dressing, leftover spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce.



13. Mini calzones. Make small ham and cheese or pepperoni calzones and freeze for lunches.



14. Omelets. Add cheese, meat and chopped vegetables of your choice. May not work for your kids school lunches but great for kids lunches at home.



15. Shredded meat. Use left over pork or beef roast. Shred and put on top of a tortilla. Add cheese and other taco fixings for your child to put together at school. Or shred and mix with barbecue sauce. Eat with a hard roll.



16. Muffins. Pizza muffins or corn dog muffins are great for a change in kids school lunches.



17. Biscuit sticks. Add chopped ham or other deli meat and shredded cheese to homemade biscuit dough. Flatten onto cookie sheet and cut into strips. Bake.



18. Simple Goulash soup. Add cooked noodles and cooked ground beef to tomato juice. Season with pepper.



19. Meatballs. Use store bought frozen meatballs or make a large batch and freeze on a cookie sheet until frozen then place in storage bag. With leftover spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce make a meatball sandwich with French bread or eat with cooked noodles. For a child's school lunch you can put meatballs in a rubbermaid container and sauce in a separate container. Give them a toothpick or fork and they can dip their meatball. For more meatball recipes and ideas see this page.
    



20. Ravioli. Buy store bought cheese or meat ravioli. Add to chicken soup, toss with spaghetti sauce or plain yogurt sauce. Many kids like to eat theirs plain.



21. Mini size hamburgers, chicken legs, or chicken wings are also a kids favorite and can be used for kids lunches.

Kids Packed Lunch Ideas

One of our favorite ebooks on helping you pack brown bag lunches (or lunchboxes). Tips on making them healthy, safe and what to include in your kids packed lunches. As well as 30 thermos or container friendly recipes for your kids to try.


$5.95






Would you like more help with kids school lunches? Visit our school lunch page for help with getting your kids involved in packing their lunches, providing variety, what to pack for school lunch and more help with kids lunches and healthy lunch ideas.

Also find more help at Kid Lunch Ideas including more recipes and pack lunch ideas.

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Related Easy Kids Meals and Ideas:
~Easy Kids Meals, ~Breakfast Meals, ~Side Dishes, ~Snacks, ~Main Dishes, ~Desserts, ~No Bake Recipes, ~Favorite Preschool Snacks, ~Kids Lunches, ~How to stock your kitchen, ~Kids Meal Ideas (sister site), ~How to menu plan

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