My 10 year old daughter announced this year that she wants to eat more healthy for swimming. Last year she earned her way on to a competitive swim team, and after hearing an US Olympic swimmer declare that eating healthy made him faster, my daughter was all over her new plan. So together she and I have been cooking and preparing healthy and budget friendly school lunches. Here are some of her favorite School Lunch Ideas: 7 Days of Healthy Eating, many of which she can prepare by herself.
School Lunch Ideas - Day 1:
Cheese tortellini with white sauce, spinach, and onion, Strawberries, and grape tomatoes
with ranch dressing made with greek yogurt.
A Basic White Sauce is good recipe to know by heart. It’s used to make a lot of things such as home made mac and cheese, scalloped potatoes, or this delicious red pepper lasagna that I make. Here’s the recipe for you to take to memory.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter (You can use olive oil for a healthier version.)
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup of milk (I have used skim milk and low fat milk. They both work, but are slower to get creamy.)
Salt
Pepper
Directions:
Add the flower and butter to a small sauce pan and cook until slightly brown.
Slowly add one cup of milk and stir constantly until you have a slightly thick consistency.
Add salt and pepper.
It is at this point that I added the 2% Milk Shredded Italian cheese mix for the sauce for the tortellini. I’m not sure exactly how much I added, but once it was melted I added the sauteed onions and spinach mixture that I had made ahead of time. That went over the cooked cheesy tortellini, and there you have it! Lunch.
School Lunch Ideas - Day 2:
Pancake and sausage mini-muffins, real maple syrup, strawberries, Go-Gurt yogurt
I saw a recipe for Corndog Mini-Muffins from Happy Good Time Blog , and they looked good except for one thing…my kids don’t like corn dogs. So instead I made a pancake batter, cooked some turkey sausages that had been on sale the week before, and put the two together. Both of my kids loved these pancake sausage muffins.
By the way, I later made those Corndog Mini-Muffins for myself with turkey dogs that I had gotten on sale. Aw yeah. They were the bomb. I almost felt like I was at the fair minus the greasy after glow.
School Lunch Ideas - Day 3:
Air popped popcorn, sliced apples, jelly beans (a splurge), and a Flatout wrap with Easy Crockpot Cooked Chicken, hummus, shredded carrots, tomatoes, and red onions.
Easy Crock Pot Cooked Chicken: I’m always needing cooked chicken, and this is by far the easiest way to cook it for me. All you need are 3 ingredients. Just dump them into the crockpot, cook on low for 6-8 hours, and you have the cooked chicken that you need for recipes.
Ingredients & Directions for Easy Crock Pot Cooked Chicken:
Chicken
I have used dark meat, white meat, chicken breasts, etc. Just make sure to remove the skin (You can leave the bones for now. Just remove them after the chicken has cooked.), and if you want to use a whole chicken you’ve gotten on sale, then be sure to just break it down in pieces and remove the skin. Also, if you have frozen chicken pieces? Guess what? You don’t have to even thaw them.
Italian Seasoning Spice Packet
Sprinkle each piece of chicken with a touch of the seasoning packet, and put the chicken into the crockpot. (You can make as much chicken as you need, so rather than telling you to use the whole packet or part of a packet, just sprinkle on a piece by piece basis.)
¼ cup of water
This is per 4 pieces of chicken. Lower if if less, or increase it if more. Pour it into the bottom of the crock pot. You can use chicken broth if you so desire.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Your house will smell heavenly.
School Lunch Ideas - Day 4:
Boiled Egg, Strawberries, Emerald Coast Roasted Almonds – Dark Chocolate Flavor, and Cold Pasta Salad with tomatoes, fresh chopped basil from my garden, shredded parmesan cheese and a light italian dressing.
My daughter is obsessed with the almonds, and I’m super excited to find a sweet treat that is better for her than say a miniature candy bar. Plus, she gets a little extra protein.
School Lunch Ideas - Day 5:
Avocado Egg Salad in a Flatout, Sliced green apples, strawberries, Emerald Coast Roasted Almonds – Vanilla Flavor
I found this Avocado Egg Salad recipe on {Never}Homemaker, and thought I’d give it a try as I’m a huge fan of curry. In all honesty only half of my kids liked it, but both of the adults liked it. You definitely taste the curry, and I think that’s what put my daughter off. However, it is a super healthy egg salad so I will be making it again…just not for the girl.
School Lunch Ideas - Day 6:
Carrots and hummus, Emerald Coast Roasted Almonds – Vanilla Flavor, Flatout flatbread wrap
with strawberries, granola, and peanut butter
I have another confession. I bought store bought hummus for this lunch day which is not cost effective. My food processor died recently, and I’m waiting on a good sale to buy one. However, if you love hummus and have a working food processor, it it super easy to make. Here’s a basic recipe for (Even Healthier) Hummus from The Delicious Life to try.
Also, if you have not tried Flatout flatbreads I highly suggest you try them. They are super high in fiber, low in calories, and are a great healthy substitute for bread and flour tortillas. Bonus? My kids love them.
School Lunch Ideas - Day 7:
Corn, Tomato, and Avocado salad with pita chips, apple and peanut butter sandwiches with no bread (Gluten free!), and Emerald Coast Roasted Almonds – Dark Chocolate Flavor.
I am a huge fan of this Corn, Tomato, and Avocado Salad. I made it incessantly this summer, and it’s one of my go-to recipes.
Ingredients:
2 cups of corn – fresh or thawed frozen
2 cups of frozen edamame – shelled
1 pint of grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes– cut into halves or quarters depending upon the size of the tomatoes
2 avocados – chopped up in ½ inch cubes
½ cup diced red onions
Mix together in a large bowl.
Dressing:
½ bunch of cilantro – chopped up fine (about 1/3-1/4 cup)
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Mix the dressing together, and pour over the vegetables. Toss and serve with pita chips.
What are your kids taking to school for lunch? Would you be interested in seeing my kids’ favorite School Lunch Ideas next month? Leave me a comment.
Kelly Kinkaid
Want to know more about making kids lunches? Check out Kelly Whalen’s 5 Simple & Frugal Tips for Packing Kid’s Lunches. She has some great tips!
Also:
- Back to School and Healthy Lunches
- Fill the Backpacks: Healthy Lunches on a Budget
- Teach Healthy Meal Planning to Your Kids? Yes!
About Kelly Kinkaid
Kelly Kinkaid, professional blogger and freelance writer, enjoys writing about such topics as stretching a dollar, personal finance, diet and fitness, and living a life well lived. She spends all of her spare time in her many roles including but not limited to soccer, basketball, swimmer, band, and piano mom, runner and wife. You may also contact her on Twitter as @Kellyology, or on Facebook.
Love the ideas (never thought about making a “sweet” wrap like the strawberry granola one). Do you sprinkle something on the apples to keep them from turning brown? The store-bought cut apples are so expensive, and my kids won’t eat apples that have even barely begun to turn.
It’s one of my favorites. I think I wore out my family with it I made it so much. 🙂
Great ideas…. definitely some new items I hadnt heard of or considered before! Thanks, Kelly. I am going to try that corn, tomato, avocado and edamame salad ASAP… sounds so yum.