It’s time to pack lunches again.
And every year when school starts, I print a fresh copy of my School Lunch Quick Guide to hang where I can easily reference it. I’ve been using some version of this list for years, adding things as my kids discover new foods they like and crossing things off when they suddenly decide they no longer eat something they’ve happily eaten for the last three years. I’m not bitter.
After more than 15 years of packing school lunches, I’ve learned what matters is simply that kids eat. I’m not the mom who makes fancy lunches, even though I did get cute on occasion when the kids were little; I just need a reminder sometimes that turkey exists.
That’s what this guide does.
On mornings when I’m standing in the kitchen trying to figure out what to put in three lunchboxes, I can glance at the list, pick what matches what’s in the fridge, and move on with my morning.
And now I’m sharing it with you in case you occasionally forget that turkey exists, too.
Healthy lunches by accident
Somewhere along the way, I realized what I packed in my daughter’s lunch was different from what a lot of her friends packed.
I wasn’t trying to recreate a bunch of packaged lunch foods with gluten-free versions. I was mostly packing healthy food that was already gluten-free—meat, cheese, fruit, vegetables, yogurt, rice, potatoes, corn, nuts, seeds, and leftovers from dinner.
Just food.
And because school lunch options haven’t always been what I would want my kids to eat, sending lunch from home gives me a chance to fill their lunchboxes with simple, real food that will actually fill them up and, hopefully, keep them level.
Now, I’m not saying a balanced lunch magically makes your child sit quietly, pay attention to every word the teacher says, and come home in a delightful mood. I’m just trying to help make that possible by packing a lunch that hopefully keeps them satisfied through the afternoon.
My Simple School Lunch Formula
I don’t count anything or try to make lunch complicated. Instead, when I open the lunchbox, I think:
Protein + Veggie + Fruit
That’s my starting point.
Once those three things are in there, I can add another side, a little treat, or whatever else makes sense that day. Some days the lunch looks impressively put together. Other days it’s leftover chicken, baby carrots, an apple, and whatever else I can find before we have to leave.
Both are lunch.
The point of the formula isn’t to create a perfect lunchbox. It’s to make packing one easier.
Start With Protein
Protein is usually the first thing I figure out because I want lunch to actually fill them up and give them the steady energy that helps them stay focused during afternoon classes.
Chicken, beef, and pork are at the top of our list because I can slice them into strips and pair them with their favorite dip, top salads, or stack them with cheese or pickles. But there are so many other options.
A hard-boiled egg counts. So does leftover chicken from last night’s dinner. Sliced beef, spiral ham, cheese and nuts, taco meat… it all works, too.
You can also use all of those in tacos, wraps, yogurt parfaits, pasta salads, or snack-box-style lunches.
This is one reason I keep the Quick Guide around. When we’ve had ham for three days in a row, and my brain can’t come up with another protein, I can look at the list and remember, Oh yeah, eggs!
Sometimes that’s all the inspiration I need.
Add a Veggie They’ll Actually Eat
Notice I didn’t say you need to pack a different vegetable every day.
If you have a kid who currently eats exactly one vegetable, pack the one vegetable. They can experiment at dinner.
My kids are pretty open when it comes to veggies, so I have some flexibility. I can pack leftover vegetables from dinner the night before or make a quick broccoli slaw with mayo, bacon bits, salt, and pepper.
But a lot of the time, my son wants leftovers from dinner or vegetables mixed into chickpea or lentil pasta salad, and my youngest would much rather have her favorite raw veggies with ranch dressing.
Fine by me.
Work with the kid you’ve got.
Raw, roasted, dipped in ranch, mixed into some kind of salad—I’m much more interested in them actually eating the vegetables and not wasting the food. So, if one kid likes cherry tomatoes dipped in ranch with a cheese stick on the side, and the other likes cherry tomatoes cut up with mozzarella cheese and basil, it’s a quick and easy adjustment of the same food to ensure both kids eat their lunch.
If your son only likes broccoli when it’s roasted, save some leftover roasted broccoli from dinner for lunchboxes.
If your teenager doesn’t eat many vegetables, but loves your chickpea pasta salad loaded with them… make the chickpea pasta salad.
Don’t worry. There’s plenty of time to force… I mean, encourage them to try new foods or foods prepared in different ways at dinner or on the weekend after a trip to the Farmers Market. Hopefully, you’ll end up with more options to pack in the lunchboxes.
Fruit Is the Easy Part
My oldest once announced that she could be a fruitarian. Haha! She gets it honestly.
Fruit is probably the easiest part of our lunchboxes because there is almost always something everyone likes.
Once spring hits, I especially love when the farm stands here in North Carolina start filling up again. Strawberries turn into blueberries and blackberries, then peaches, watermelon, and all the other good things that come with summer.
Fruit straight from the farm tastes better, and I love that we’re supporting local farms at the same time.
But please don’t think you need farm-fresh berries picked yesterday to pack a good lunch. Buy what’s available. Buy what’s affordable. Buy what your kids like.
Apples, bananas, grapes, berries, oranges, melons, peaches, applesauce, dried fruit, even canned fruit in natural juices—there are plenty of options.
What Does This Actually Look Like in a Lunchbox?
This is where the Protein + Veggie + Fruit formula makes life so much easier. Pick one thing from each category, then add something else if the lunch needs it.
Here are a few examples:
The “I have five minutes” lunch
Sliced turkey + baby carrots with ranch + grapes + popcorn
The leftover dinner lunch
Grilled chicken + leftover roasted broccoli + strawberries + rice
The snack-box lunch
Hard-boiled egg + cucumbers + apple slices + cheese + gluten-free crackers
The taco lunch
Leftover taco meat + bell pepper strips + watermelon + corn tortilla chips + salsa
The pasta salad lunch
Chicken and chickpea pasta salad with veggies mixed in + berries + cheese
The yogurt lunch
Greek yogurt + nuts or seeds + berries + granola + sliced cucumbers on the side
Obviously, adjust these for allergies, school rules about nuts, and what your own kids will eat. And that’s really the point.
Work with the kid you’ve got
Some kids just want to eat the food in their lunchbox. Other kids are picky about how their food is presented.
I’ve had a combination of both.
The good news is that you don’t necessarily have to make completely different lunches.
One kid might be perfectly happy with a taco lunch (leftover taco meat + bell pepper strips + watermelon + corn tortilla chips + salsa) tossed into separate sections of a lunchbox.
Another might be much more excited about those exact same foods made into a taco rice bowl or salad with sides.
Same food. Different presentations.
You don’t need to make elaborate, Pinterest-perfect lunches every morning. But if cutting slices of cheese into four smaller squares instead of two big triangles is somehow the difference between your child eating it and bringing the whole thing home, I give you permission to cut the squares. Ha!
Make School Lunches Easier
That’s really why I made the School Lunch Quick Guide.
After packing hundreds (thousands?) of lunches, I didn’t need someone to give me 47 elaborate lunchbox recipes, and you may not either.
I need a list.
I need to look at it and think:
Protein. Okay, chicken.
Veggie. Cucumbers.
Fruit. Grapes.
Done.
So print the guide, stick it on your refrigerator or inside the cabinet where you keep the lunchboxes, and use it however it helps you.
Just start with:
Protein + Veggie + Fruit
Add what your child likes, use what you already have, and send them off with simple, real food they’ll actually eat.
Then tomorrow, we get to do it all over again.