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Discover items to keep on hand for healthy school lunches and after school snacks your kids can make. Simple solutions and storage ideas for the school year for your family.
I’ve discovered a little secret….
When I let my daughter pack her lunch she eats it all at school and comes home with empty containers and a full tummy!
I know you’re thinking that’s easier said that done, she’s only 6. How could she pack her own lunch and make all healthy choices? It’s simple.
Solutions for Healthy School Lunches with Kids
We’ve found an easy solution. We use the Glad® Food Storage containers to hold each food group for her side items and her sandwich. She selects them each morning to put in her lunch box.
We’ve been working on food groups & nutrition with our Little Hands that Cook with Books Series so she’s learning quite a lot about which belongs in each group. When we’re making a list or shopping we’re always looking to build our rainbow of choices too! At the beginning of the week once we’ve done our shopping we fill up the containers together and store them.
Items to keep on hand for Lunch Boxes and After School Snacks
Here are some yummy items we add to our containers.
Fruits ~ strawberries, grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon, mandarin oranges, & dried fruit
Vegetables ~ baby carrots, celery, edamome, cucumbers, cauliflower, grape tomatoes, & tossed salad
Dairy ~ String cheese, cubed cheese, yogurt fruit & veggie dips, & yogurt parfaits
Protein ~ rolled meat and cheese, beef jerky, bean salad, & chicken salad
Grains ~ pasta Salad, rice cakes, Goldfish ,Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies,Pretzels, Crackers, homemade granola bars trail mix
Easy Snack Time Solution
When After School Time arrives, she’s looking for a snack. We’ve got it all set. She has a spot in the refrigerator and in the pantry to store her snack choices. That have already been created on the weekends with me and just the right portions.
Now half the fun is making things together that inspires her to eat her food all gone. Here’s our recipe for making our own version of Heart Healthy Energy Bars, which are a big hit at our house and at afterschool playdates. Here are few more helpful go to recipes to make your own snacks together. Put the recipes onto recipe cards and allow your child to choose one or two each week to make with you. You’ll treasure that cooking time together and they will be more interested in eating it if they’ve made it!
Here are some delicious recipes we add to our containers
Recipes to Make Together for Special Snacks
- How to Make Homemade Lara Bars
- Homemade Larabar
- No Bake Energy Bites
- Cheerio Treats
- Banana Nut Granola
- No-Bake Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
- Homemade Granola Bars
- Healthy Homemade Granola Bars
- Banana Nut Cheerio Energy Bars
- Homemade Trail Mixes
- Popcorn Trail Mix
- Kids Trail Mix
Breakfast Solutions with Kids
- Jumbo Breakfast Cookie from Cheerios
- Place cut fruit or dried fruit the night before in container to put on yogurt or oatmeal in the morning
- Holds yogurt from larger containers to save money and plastic.
- Keep fresh cut fruit in containers
Of course we can always use our containers to store playdough, paint, crayons, beads for some after school fun too! You get the idea, the options are limitless. I’m so glad Glad® sent us our storage containers to test out. It’s made our school lunch and snack planning so much easier on our family of 5.
Lunchbox Ideas for Kids Pinterest Board
We’re always looking for fun things to cook with our children, inspiration for school lunches and recipes to try out. We invite you to check out our pinterest boards. Let us do to work for you so you don’t have to spend much time online and be able to spend more time with your family.
Follow Us as we pin ideas from some of our favorite kid food bloggers on these 3 Food Boards!
What are your favorite back to school healthy school lunches recipes?
You can share your own Back to School recipes, tips and ideas within the “Mom Made” promotion on Glad’s Facebook page!
Don’t forget to include a LUNCH NOTE! Here’s our free printable.
Click now for more ideas for Back to School Lunches
I have partnered with The Glad Products Company through DailyBuzz Moms to help promote their Food Storage products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to review this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you GLAD!
Nice! I admit that I gave up on packing homemade lunches and let daughter go to cafeteria this year. They have more choices that I care to offer to her, and most of them are healthy ones. We'll see how it goes.
I'm so glad to here that her school offers healthy choices, so schools are not as lucky. Hopefully we'll see changes happening the more parents speak up. We let our daughter get school lunch on Fridays to help her build independence.
Oh, I love this idea. I think I might have to try it! We pack a similar type of lunch but I don't prepackage stuff ahead of time and do it in the morning, but with our life change, I won't have time for lunch packing in the a.m.
We use a similar system for my kindergarten sidekick. We homeschool, but he is fiercely independent and loves to help prepare a week's worth of snacks in those rectangular Glad containers and then load his snack bin every evening for the next day.
These are great ideas! I used to do something similar when my own daughters were young. I actually do something similar for the kids in my daycare now, too. Being organized like that, and prepared makes the days go so much easier! Thanks for sharing this idea!