Cooper’s school lunches have morphed quite a bit throughout the years. Cooper is now in third grade and has been giving the responsibility of making his own lunch. YAAAAAAY!!!  I’ve already discussed this before, but Cooper is a finicky eater and in some ways, it’s actually a blessing. He likes pretty much the same thing for lunch most days, so I don’t there isn’t a need to always try new things when it comes to lunch. I like how sometimes it becomes an auto-pilot situation.

It took us quite awhile to figure out what he likes in his lunch. Now we have a base that we stick to and swap things out from time to time. Sometimes I repurpose leftovers to make life easier and every once in awhile I’ll throw a treat in there because I believe that if he had one every day, it wouldn’t be as much of a treat 😉 We shake up the snacks and rotate those out but for the most part his lunch looks something like this:

Most of his lunches look like this: 

• Sandwich (turkey, lettuce, mustard)
• Snack (sometimes 2 depending on school)
• Chips/pretzels
• Fruit/Vegetable
• water

To start the new school year off right, I wrote out a list of things he likes right now. This is the template that I keep in my bullet journal so that I have something to refer to when I am out grocery shopping. I can’t recommend this enough. It’s been so helpful to know all the ingredients I can to work with.

I am thinking of printing this out, laminating it and keeping it in my bag. Is that too much? I think I just really want to use my laminator.

Current Equipment:

• Sistema snack containers
• Sistema sandwich container
• Lunchbox
• Water bottle
• Thermos (for hot foods)
• Mabel’s Labels for labeling everything
• napkin
• appropriate utensils

Sandwiches/Sandwich Alternatives

• Tuna Salad Sandwich (with no mayo!)
• Open Faced Toasts
• Fresh Spring Rolls
• Peanut Butter Banana Roll-Ups
• The Ultimate Veggie Sandwich
• French Bread Pizza
• Turkey Sandwiches in Lettuce Wraps
• Pizza Waffles
• Cucumber Seaweed Rolls
• Pizza Bagels
• Veggie Cream Cheese Bagels
• Pasta Salad
• Spaghetti with Meat Sauce leftovers
• Chicken Teriyaki with Rice

SNACK IDEAS:

Snacks:

• Apples + Lime Juice (our favorite!)
• Apples + Cinnamon
• Savory Snack Mix
• Spicy Edamame
• Homemade Granola Bars
• Mango Apple Salad with Lime Sugar
• Fruit Kebabs + Honey Yogurt Dip
• Olive Oil + Parmesan Popcorn
• Pickled Cucumber Salad
• Parmesan Crisps
• Strawberry Roll-Ups

Treats:

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
• Cinnamon Tortilla Crisps
• Chocolate Chunk Blondies
• Rice Krispie Balls with Sprinkles
• Hippy Banana Bread
• Cinnamon Sugar Wonton Crisps
• Cinnamon Tortilla Roll-ups
• Caramel Corn
• Gluten Free Fudge Brownies
• Hot Cocoa Popcorn

Don’t forget to leave a love note!

I like to write random notes for Cooper on post-its and washi tape  🙂  The best part? Sometimes Cooper will leave me notes around the house because he knows how nice it feels to get one in his lunchbox. It’s the sweetest.  Jokes are always fun too. I have this joke book for kids  in our kitchen and sometimes I’ll write a joke out and put it in his lunch. He LOVES it.

You can see some of our past lunches here: #shutterbeanschoollunch

I hope this inspires you to get your ideas together and write out your own School Lunch Ideas list. If you’re looking to get your kids in the kitchen, you might like this post I wrote- Kids in the Kitchen.

Is there anything that’s been a huge hit in your family? I’d love to hear. Leave a comment!