It’s about that time of year when visions of school lunches start popping into mom’s and dad’s head. Of course, gone are the days where you can throw a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the lunch kit and call it a day. In fact, packing lunches can be such a huge source of stress for parents. We all want our families to eat healthy and since time comes at a premium, finding convenient solutions to maintain our sanity is so important.
Snacks in particular can be a challenge. There’s a million pre-packaged options on the market, but many of them are loaded with things that we don’t want to feed our families including extra sugar, preservatives or food coloring, and many contain nuts which automatically cross them off of the acceptable list as far as school lunches are concerned. Which begs the question, what are parents to pack for a kid’s lunch?
SunRype snacks are a great addition to kid (and adult) lunch boxes and are so easy to throw into a backpack or the car making them perfect for after school activities as well. They’re nut free for the classroom (and also happen to be gluten free and vegan) with a wide range of choices.
Here’s a list of my top kids’ lunch snack ideas:
- SunRype bars
- Strawberry halves with Greek yogurt for dipping
- Hummus and whole grain crackers
- Mini muffins (try these ricotta blueberry muffins)
- Veggies and Dip
- Black Bean Brownies
- Hardboiled egg
- Grapes and cheese
- Homemade energy balls
- Applesauce in a pouch
- Homemade banana bread or granola bars
- Leftover mini pancake and fruit kababs (on a toothpick)
- Cheesestrings
- Pita and tzatziki
- Air popped popcorn
- Edamame
- Tuna salad with whole grain crackers
- Apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon
- Cucumber ‘sandwiches’ (with sliced turkey and cheese)
- Roasted chickpeas
Get more ideas for back-to-school snacks »