Healthy, Simple School Mix-n-Match Lunches

While school lunches that include julienned carrots and veggie/bacon cream cheese stuffed peppers are definitely Instagram worthy, who really has time to create gourmet school lunches morning after morning? Here's to going back to easy, healthy kids lunches (that don't require hours of prep and a year at Le Cordon Bleu to boot!). These easy mix-n-match elements will give you a consistent list of ideas for a healthy, nutritious lunch to send every morning (with minimal mid-year slippage). And the best part? Endless possible combinations!

These elements are divided into four categories (including 3 of the 4 categories per lunch seems to be a good balance): Main course (usually a meat or a carb), Veggie, Fruit/Dairy, Snacky Treat. 

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Main Course

- PB & Honey on whole grain bread (a naturally sweetened twist on the classic PB)

- Chicken nuggets (previously cooked and frozen, will thaw by lunchtime)

- Make your own sandwich bites w/ pita bread slices, cucumber slices, and hummus

- Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and banana slices on top (for nut-free schools use sunflower seed butter)

- Whole wheat banana pancakes (for a fun treat!) (click here for a recipe)

- Ham, cheese, lettuce on whole wheat bread w/ a little mayo

- PB&J on a whole wheat wrap/tortilla (to switch it up a bit)

Veggie

(Pretty self-explanatory but we will offer a few twists on the age-old carrot sticks)

- Cucumber & Beet slices w/ ranch dip

- Frozen peas (will thaw by lunchtime)

- Carrot sticks w/ onion dip

- Frozen corn (will thaw by lunchtime)

- Grape tomatoes

- Bell pepper slices 

- Spinach salad w/ corn & pumpkin seeds (for those more adventurous eaters!)

Fruit/Dairy

- Sliced apples

- Plain yogurt w/ a little maple syrup, fruit, & oats

- Orange & grapefruit mix

- Cheese stick

- Hard-boiled egg (we know... doesn't really fit in this category, but where else to put it??)

- Grapes

- Raspberry & strawberry mix

Snacky Treat

- Pretzel sticks

- Bacon slices

- Corn muffins

- Popcorn

- Overnight Oats

- Roasted nut mix

- Raspberry lemon muffin (click here for a recipe)

- Slivered almond, pumpkin seed, dried cranberry homemade trail mix

- Granola

Then simply mix-n-match elements and voilà!

Healthy, easy school lunches that the kids won't be bored of by week two!