7 No Sandwich School Lunch Box Ideas for Kids

So many moms are stuck in the habit of making sandwiches to pack in their kids school lunch boxes. Yes you can change the filling in the sandwich but quite frankly it is boring as can be and not that healthy when you think about it.

I have been stuck making sandwiches for my kids for a long time and then I add in the same snacks too which never seems to change either, they get a yogurt and fruit with their sandwich. Yes the fruit changes and so does the flavor of the yogurt but the formula is the same.

One sandwich, one yogurt and one piece of fruit. Some mornings when I have felt especially creative I have chucked in some raisins for them.

This is the start of my mission to make things more interesting  and healthy for my kids (and for my husband who is lucky if he even gets a sandwich out of me, most days he must fend for himself).

The problem I have, and I am sure many moms do too, is that getting ready in the morning is not easy and to add in making some gourmet lunch on top of that, well no thank you! I scramble around in the mornings like a headless chicken shouting at my kids to move it while they run around my legs instead of getting ready.

My poor husband has always left for work before any of us even crack open an eyelid, so if lunch is not prepared the day before he is on his own. While part of me wonders why on earth he can’t throw together some food to take with him, the other side of me feels sorry for this poor defenseless man that starves to death if I don’t pack something ready for him.

The answer I have decided is to plan ahead and have the lunches packed in the evening ahead of time. This will also mean planning my week’s meals ahead of time so that I can make sure I have everything I need for the lunches.

Now I did a browse online for some ideas and quite frankly who makes that for their kids? Not me, I am more the kind of mom that stuffs left overs into a lunch box and closes the lid. I don’t need to be making 3 meals a day for my family on top of cooking them special meals just to put in their lunch boxes! Sorry but I am not Mary Poppins.

My plan includes making extra food at supper time and putting that in their lunch boxes with something else to give it a special twist (ie disguise the fact it is last night’s supper), not adding another one hour plus cooking and preparation time into my day for school lunches. I would rather stick with the boring old sandwich routine thank you.

So here’s my plan for healthy school lunch box ideas for my kids that hopefully my husband will also get and yes add a fruit and a yogurt or other snacks to each lunch idea (maybe some raisins).

Pasta Salads

Pasta salads are great cold and you can add just about anything to cold pasta and make it tasty.

Here are some nice ideas for pasta salads:

• tomato, feta, basil and olive oil pasta salad
• basil pesto pasta salad
• bacon and mushroom pasta salad
• tuna pasta salad

Rice Salads

The same goes for rice salads, you can make so many different varieties of rice salad that your family won’t ever feel like they are getting the same meal twice!

Here are some awesome recipes for rice salads I came across. Once again I suggest you don’t go full out to try and make your family a completely new meal for each lunch, rather use what you are cooking already and use left overs from the day before to create awesome salads.

Wraps

Add some salad to left over meats and pop it in wrap making a completely new lunch for your family.

Here are some great wraps recipes to give you some ideas.

Mini Meat Balls or Chicken Legs

When you are making a meal using mince whip up a couple of little meat balls to add to lunchboxes. If you are cooking chicken add in a few chicken legs to add to lunchboxes.

Easy to eat, easy to pack and they can be eaten cold which is really handy since your kids most likely aren’t able to warm food up at school!

Pizza Rolls or Mini Pizzas

These are really nice for lunch boxes and can also be eaten cold. Once again you can change the toppings often which means your family won’t get bored with the same old thing.

You can make your own pizza bases and freeze them to save money since those store bought mini pizzas cost a fortune!

Veggie Fritters

There are also loads of different vegetable fritters you can make. Vegetable fritters are nutritious and tasty which means this is a great option.

Here are some really lovely veggie fritter recipes I came across.

Kebabs

Kebabs are always fun to eat and you can get really creative here too. Here are 50 kebab ideas from Food Network.