Aah, the dreaded “what’s for lunch today mum” will be back in full play soon. Sometimes I find lunches are really hard to keep fun and exciting. From the comments and emails I have been receiving you all need help in this area. So I have put together some ideas to help you. Like last year, I will continue posting lunchbox ideas each Tuesday for you. You will find last years Lunchbox Ideas HERE.
More about this lunch below + recipe links here.
Here are some more Kids School Lunch Ideas:
Wraps/Sandwiches
- Egg, lettuce and mayo (add a bit of curry to be adventurous)
- Ham, cheese, spinach leaves, carrot and tomato
- Roast meat, tomato and cheese
- Avocado, chicken and lettuce
- Lettuce with Vegemite or Promite
- Peanut butter and sultanas
- Chicken, carrot and cheese
- Turkey, bean sprouts and cranberry sauce
- Tuna, corn kernels and mayo
Ideas instead of bread
- Sushi
- Scrolls
- Bread rolls, with fillings like above
- Hot dog shaped bread rolls, with fillings like above
- Rice cakes
Tip – Place meat on one slice of bread and lettuce on other with all other salads in between to prevent the bread from getting too soggy
Salads
- Pasta Salad
- Fried Rice
- Noodle Salad – Chicken 2min noodles, chicken, carrots, capsicum, onion (all diced) and shredded spinach leaves with a little drizzle of soy sauce
- Garden salad
Snacks
- Grapes
- Kiwi fruit
- Apple
- Pear
- Oranges
- mandarin segments
- Fruit tubs
- Dried fruit
- Cubed cheese
- Cubed cucumber
- Cherry tomatoes
- Carrot sticks
- Celery sticks with cheese spread
- Crackers
- Boiled egg
- Sliced deli meat
- Mini muffins, savory or fruit
- Pikelets
- Homemade muesli bars
- Popcorn
- Pretzels
- Fruit bites
I have taken some photo’s of after school snacks I have made for my kids to eat while at their afternoon sport activity.
Reduce your cost and purchase a tub of yoghurt and pour into individual portions. Here we have vanilla yoghurt and strawberries
Rice crackers & cheese. You could also add to this some diced or sliced ham.
Cherry tomatoes, olives and cubed cheese, my son loves this.
Another saving, all items here were purchased in larger quantities (eg, 1kg of sultanas, box of tiny teddies) and made into individual servings. No need to buy little packets. Here we have sultanas with Tiny Teddies, Nutri-grain and rice bubbles.
40 comments
I love the lunchbox and we use it everyday. Do you know where to get an insulated bag to fit though? Tupperware are not selling them anymore..
Hi Melinda, I purchased my bags (Tupperware brand to fit the sandwich keep Plus) from Ebay, they have lasted 2 years and still going.
BIG W are selling a new size insulated lunch bag, that is the perfect size fore the tupperware lunch box. It’s slightly longer and slimmer than the usual. About $8. Hope that helps!
I love the split containers you use – our kids go to day care after school and that is the perfect thing to use for their after school snacks!! Will start to use this. I lover tupperware but i do also love those clip containers.
thanks for lunchbox ideas! we're vegetarian, but i still get ideas from everywhere. we use the smaller tuppp sandwich keepers – one for morning tea, one for big lunch. and those snap boxes for munch-n-crunch at 10am. i feel sorry for a friend of mine who's kids can't take dairy, nuts, meat, eggs or fish to school. she has to be very creative!
our vegetarian lunchbox standards include:
hommos and seaweed crackers
cucumber and tofu sushi
cheese and pickle sandwiches
vegetarian sausage and bbq sauce on a hotdog bun
pasta salad with kidney beans, corn, cucumber and pesto
mini fruit muffins
mini vege muffins
lentil "sausage" rolls
mountain bread with soy cream cheese, shredded lettuce, grated carrot
and the dreaded packet of chips every now and then!
pen
Hi Pen. thank you for your vegetarian ideas, I'm sure alot of readers will get some good use out of them.
LOVE IT! Thank you. Off to check EBAY for the insulated bags.
Im a tupperjunky also LOL
Thanks for the lunch ideas. I also really like the after-school snack box idea and I know I'll use it.
Great Catherine, thanks for the comment. Glad you like my site 🙂
This post of yours is really incredible because the ideas of what to pack everyday for lunch and being eco-friendly is really amazing. Wow! Good thing I came here. I love the photos and the ideas. It can really save my budget and I know it will keep me healthy. Fruits and veggies are my favorite snack. By the way, I would like to share to you as well the insulated tiffin bag for your lunch pack container. As for an alternative to plastic you can also switch to stainless steel container. The insulated tiffin bag can keep the food's right temperature up to 4 hours. It also has 100% BPA free, durable, is reusable and stylish too. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun when you try using this kind of container. =)
Hi Katrina,
I am having trouble accessing the link for last years lunch box ideas. It just leads me back to your current lunch box post.
Would love to see your other lunch box ideas.
Thanks Meg
P.S Great blog, I wish I found you before today!! I like to think of myself as an organised housewife! I am a mother of five and studying full time and I am always open to new ideas on how to be orgnaised…I love my lists and my routines!!!!
glad you like my blog! It can definitely come in handy with 5 kids, good luck with it all.
Sorry you are having trouble viewing the lunchbox ideas. Here's the link, see if this helps? http://theorganisedhousewife.com.au/category/lunc…
You'll have to scroll down to view them all.
thanks
Hi ladies,
I have just come across this site and love it already. I am a labeler and have labels on linen cupboard, kitchen cupboards, large draws inside pantry, camping crates, metal shelving units in shed etc etc.
One thing I do that i haven’t noticed mentioned on here is make my kids (4 of them) lunches up in advance and freeze them. They are put into snap seal bags and written on with waterproof Nikko pen and the air ‘sucked’ out to create a vacuum seal effect.
Ingredients that I have had success freezing are:
Egg and Mayonaise
Ham (with cheese/chutney/pickles/dijon etc)
Tuna/Salmon and Mayonaise
Spreads – jam, vegemite, nutella, cream cheese, peanut butter, creamed spreadable honey.
I hope this helps some of you who, like me, hate making the sandwiches in the morning with the busy rush.
I’ll post your ideas sometime soon for the rest of the readers to see, thankyou for the great tips Kylie!!
Where do I find the actual sandwich keeper plus? The website has the lunbox in the gallery but doesn’t seem to be for sale is there anywhere else to get it other than eBay?
Really a nice blog. It is very interesting to read.
pallet racking
No disrespect intended, but why use the lunch box saver for the environment and then wrap the araps in plasitc wrap?
Is much easy for the child, to eat with the wraping around!
I’ve just been to a healthy eating workshop at my DD’s school this morning and am horrified at what is hidden in pre-packaged foods!! Thanks for all the ideas, couldn’t have come at a better time for me!!
Hi Katrina I was wondering what the little white balls are in the lunchbox photo.
Thank you so much for your useful tips it’s so nice to get some advice about domestic stuff for free and without judgement!
thanks for the great lunch box ideas I will now be some what prepared next week
Awesome ideas thanks. I sell Tupperware and have 1 insulated black /pink bag to fit the sandwich keeper plus if anyone in Christchurch is interested. 0273883771
My kids love mini quiches in their lunch boxes. I can make up a batch, freeze and use as required. Its nice that you can put anything in them too. As well as ham, my kids are happy with grated carrot, zucchini and broccoli.
Have you seen the book “the perfect lunchbox” it has great ideas for school lunches. I bought mine online. http://Www.theperfectlunchbox.com.au
Hi There, Can you tell me where you get an insulated lunch box that fits those long tupperware sandwich keepers?? Loving your ideas thanks
From tupperware 🙂 they’re awesome.
Also the Nudie lunchbox insulated covers fit the Tupperware lunchboxes and are cheaper
Hey, I’m a teenager in high school and I make my own lunch each day. Now that we’re going back to school, this website has been incredibly helpful. We do get very tired of sandwiches so I use this website’s recipes for my daily lunch. Thanks again! 🙂
Hi Katrina! I love your ideas for the afternoon snacks! I have 2 girls that have ballet twice a week (and my Mr 2 in tow!) and it is always a struggle to find something to snack ‘on the go’. Thanks for sharing! Can’t believe something so basic and I’d never thought of it! You’re a legend!!! 🙂
so glad that it will be able to help those hectic afternoons for you x
I bought some of those double containers today! So excited to use them tomorrow afternoon!!! Just a quick question though, does the yoghurt leak through to the other side? or should I keep the container flat? Thanks again 🙂
I bought some of those double containers today! So excited to use them tomorrow afternoon!!! Just a quick question though, does the yoghurt leak through to the other side? or should I keep the container flat? Thanks again 🙂
Just a quick question, does the yoghurt leak through to the other side? or should I keep the container flat? Thanks again 🙂
Only issue I have with the Tupperware lunch boxes is how do you keep them cool?? My boys have salad and a variety of meat wraps, a squeeze yoghurt/custard, Up n Go, fresh fruit and a home baked sweet treat eg cupcake, cookie or brownie. In the winter they have little thermos with anything from green curry to pumpkin soup to homemade mac n cheese.
I had the same problem but then found the Nude Food Movers neoprene skins (you can buy in the supermarket) fit the Tupperware lunch boxes and there’s plenty of room to slide in a cooler brick.
Tupperware make a cooler bag that they fit perfectly into 🙂
I would love some ideas for ‘incredibly fussy children’, one that won’t eat sandwiches, salad, cheese, vegies or fruit. It doesn’t leave much and makes the daily chore of packing the lunchbox an absolute nightmare… any suggestions?
Where do you buy the actual sandwich keeper +
Thanks for all of your ideas Katrina, and thanks to Pen for the vegetarian options. My little one turns 3 next month and starts school (Montessori) so I have to start packing a lunch for her, but due to allergies and intolerances she can’t have egg, peanut, dairy, gluten, soy, fish, sulphates, salycilates, amines, citrus and wheat. Help! At home I normally just heat up leftovers.
Thanks for the great ideas. I purchased some insulated lunch and snack bags called “Snack Happens” from notanotherbabyshop.com.au and just pop them in the washing machine. The kids love the colourful designs.