Packing a healthy school lunch that my kids will actually eat and won’t get them bullied on the playground is a delicate balancing act as any Mom concerned for the health of her children well knows.
I pack school lunches for all 3 of my kids and I quickly discovered that packing the same items for all of them just didn’t work most of the time.
One of them likes all types of fruit, the second likes only fruit leathers (organic, preservative free – regular grocery store ones have really nasty ingredients), and the third will only eat bananas SOME of the time. The same goes for lunch meats; one likes turkey slices, the others prefer roast beef. The list goes on and on.
One thing is for sure. Arguing with a kid’s palate is just going to result in wasted, good quality food and much frustration on your part. How to quickly pack a healthy school lunch that appeals to all the kids and doesn’t take an hour in the kitchen the night before is a challenging task even for the most creative Moms!
Healthy School Lunch: Build Around the Basics
Let’s start packing our hypothetical school lunch with the nonnegotiable item: a thermos of fresh from the farm whole milk. It really concerns me that most kids these days seem to have juice boxes in their lunches instead of milk. What happened to milk? When I was in grade school, all kids got a half pint of whole milk for lunch.
Perhaps the astronomical rise in milk allergies is to blame for the disappearance of milk from school lunches. Sadly, fresh from the farm milk would not cause an allergic reaction in most kids as “milk allergy” is usually “pasteurization allergy” in reality! Even if your child has a true milk allergy (most don’t), a much better choice would be some sort of fresh squeezed juice in a thermos rather than the nutritionless juice boxes from the store.
Let’s be very clear that pasteurized grocery store juice is not a much better choice than soda. Processed juice causes a quick spike in blood sugar just like soda, followed by a crash that results in “sugar coma” and a lack of concentration. Any type of processed juice is a very poor choice for a school lunch beverage if any sort of learning is to occur in the afternoon!
Once you have settled on a healthy beverage to pack in a thermos (fresh, whole milk is my first choice), the second item to decide on is some sort of healthy protein. My kids really enjoy Applegate Farms antibiotic/steroid free deli meats, so I frequently will pack a couple slices of whichever meat each child prefers. Our favorites are the smoked turkey breast and roast beef slices. One of my sons really enjoys the Applegate Farms pepperoni slices with some organic ketchup (Annie’s or Muir Glen are good quality brands) on slices of sprouted spelt bread (Berlin Bakery).
Hard boiled eggs served either alone or as egg salad are a fantastic choice for a school lunch. MSG free tuna fish mixed with homemade mayo is also a favorite. Most folks are surprised that grocery store canned tuna is loaded with MSG (disguised with one of the many MSG aliases such as “broth” or “protein isolate”)! Make sure you get your tuna from a healthfood store that offers brands that do not use these types of unhealthy additives!
Homemade pizza makes a great item for a healthy school lunch as do organic chicken nuggets cooked in expeller pressed coconut oil (packed in a thermos to make nice, warm lunch on cold days).
Choose a Complete Protein
I’m not a big fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In a pinch, I will send peanut butter or sunflower butter and raw honey sandwiches as the main course, but I much prefer the protein in my kids’ lunch to be a complete protein such as eggs, meat, or cheese. No plant proteins can be considered “complete” and hence, are not as nourishing a choice for a school lunch.
Once I have the thermos filled with fresh, whole milk and a complete protein of some kind packed into the lunchbox, I pick one or two final items as “filler food”. This might be fresh fruit cut up in a container, a banana, or an organic fruit leather (I like these). A cup of organic, additive free apple sauce is a good choice too. A small container of apple chips, banana chips, raisins, dates, or nuts works well if your child likes them well enough.
See the snacks section of my Shopping Guide for more ideas (find it here).
One of my children really enjoys nuggets of baby ginger as a lunchbox snack food. Homemade popcorn popped on the stove with expeller coconut oil is also a good choice (do not buy microwave popcorn!).
Have Your Child Help with the Decisions
Get creative! Take your child with you to the healthfood store and stand in front of the aisle with all the bulk foods and have them choose what they like. Involve them in the planning and decisions of what will go into their healthy school lunch, and they will be more bought in to the process.
Avoid Processed Carbs Even if Organic
The main point with the “filler food” is to avoid refined carbohydrates in school lunches if you possibly can. Processed chips, cookies, and crackers from the store are addictive foods, even if made with organic, additive free ingredients. Some studies have shown that sugar is even more addictive than cocaine!
Refined carbs are nutritionless and will only foster sugar and carb addiction which will haunt the child for the rest of her life. Putting these types of foods in your child’s lunch gives them your blessing. You are indirectly telling your child that processed carbs have your seal of approval and are a good food to eat. This is, of course, not the message you are trying to send. Try your very best to pack unprocessed, whole foods for your child to foster good eating habits.
I hope these ideas help you with the conundrum of how to pack a healthy school lunch for your child. An indirect benefit of packing whole foods is that there is little to no garbage that your child will throw away. An empty thermos and a couple of empty containers will come home to you to wash and reuse the next day!
Packing a healthy school lunch with whole foods is not only nutritious, it is very green too!
Please comment with your own ideas for healthy school lunch items. I can always use new ideas too!
More Information
Lunchables Creator Won’t Feed Them to His Own Kids
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
I just came across your blog looking for lunch box ideas for my daughter who has just started school and is sick of frittata! Thank you for all of the great ideas.
I would however say that I disagree with milk being the first choice for a drink at school. Water should always be the first choice of drink. I will occaisionally send a small bottle of raw milk or water kefir with my daughter but she always has water. Water should be the first drink of choice for all non-infants including us adults. Other wonderful and healthy drinks like kefir, kombucha, milk, smoothies etc should be the supplement.
Kids should also have a bottle of filtered water as well. My kids all take a reusable stainless steel water bottle to school everyday. But for lunch, a thermos of raw milk is key for maintaining blood sugar stability and concentration through the day so that they can optimally learn.
Hi Sofia, I send a thermos of raw milk almost every day to school .. I put an ice cube in there just before I close the lid. It stays nice and cold until lunch!
On cold days, I’ll make hot chocolate (with raw milk, carob, and chocolate exract .. see my video on this) and put that in the thermos instead. Then, they look “cool” for having chocolate milk from time to time! 🙂
Your son is fortunate to have a Mom like you who is so thoughtful about packing his lunch!
Hi Sarah,
The lunchbox is always a struggle for me. As you mentioned, it is a delicate balance. My concern is that some of what my son loves, will be “YUCKED” by his classmates. I don’t want him to feel that what he loves is actually bad. So I tend to avoid sending him to school with one his favorites – sardine & avocado sandwich. Also, since we cook at home a lot and he does enjoy the dinners most nights, I feel guilty sending the cold leftovers (chili, homemade pizza, shrimp creole, etc). Even though he does claim he doesn’t mind them cold. You see, we don’t use a microwave in our home and I don’t know how else to either warm or keep these items warm. Also, some items could be delicate temperature wise. How do you judge that? Are you comfortable sending the raw milk that may sit in a warm place until noonish? I usually don’t mind but sometimes if its not cold he wont drink it.
Our lunch box usually includes carrots & olives, a sandwich (egg salad, tuna salad, meatloaf, turkey or chicken – made at home, and a sliced apple or some raisins & other dried fruit. It’s so sad that we can’t pack nuts these days with all of these nut allergies running around!
So our categories are generally a sandwich/protein source, a vegetable and a fruit. It seems I run out of options. I need more ideas for sure.
He also eats for breakfast every other morning, 2 eggs, 2 pork sausages and 1 mug of raw yogurt. The other mornings its oatmeal & the yogurt. This is why I don’t hit to hard on the dairy for lunch. He sure eats a lot for a 5 year old! 🙂
Sophia,
I know your comment is a couple years old, but for those reading it, I would think that, in the absence of a microvave, you could use a toaster oven for reheating leftovers, then pop that into a Thermos. For chili, you can just heat on the stove, then pour straight into the Thermos. Pizza might be harder to stuff into a Thermos, but a lot of kids like it cold. It sounds to me like you have a lot of variety in the lunches you pack, so you son should be grateful for that. ☺
Your lunches sound very similar to ours 🙂 I always send water though, it's hard to get them to drink enough of it. One of my boys likes lacto-fermented pickles so he gets one of those with his slice or two of lunch meat. The other one likes hummus so if I've made that I'll send some with carrot sticks. The main course is usually yogurt, almost always homemade from the farm, sweetened with either some homemade jam or honey and frozen fruit or cocoa powder. My older son loves homemade salmon patties so I often make a large batch with canned salmon and pull some out of the freezer to heat up and then pop in his thermos. Or soups. And occasionally I make special mac' n cheese with a cauliflower cheese sauce, spaghetti/pizza sauce, Applegate Farms pepperonis and call it pizza mac and cheese.
My daughter takes an Applegate Farms organic chicken hot dog(no bun) with organic ketchup, black beans cooked in the crockpot and either organic grapes(dark and green) or organic apricot/applesauce. Sometimes I put raw organic carrots or cucumber instead of the black beans.She drinks water. She drinks oatmilk at home. I don't send it for lunch because milk tends to make you feel thirsty and they don't get much opportunity to drink anything at school.
My son takes the same kind of hot dog and raw carrots and/or cucumbers and the same type of fruit to 3 day/wk preschool.
Linda
Oh, and yes you must always read the label. Just because one bread from particular company is good doesn't mean they all are! Berlin Bakery has a sourdough spelt made with canola oil, so that one is definitely a no no.
I've seen Berlin Bakery breads at a number of healthfood stores up and down the East Coast (not just in FL) and also at a Publix once. If the one closest to you doesn't carry it, just ask and they will order it for you.
sarah,
do you order the berlin bread directly from them? do you recommend any other products from them? i saw that some of their other products made from sprouted grain had soybeans in them.
karen
Great info Sarah 🙂 Rita, I saw the zip code search on the website, but there isn't anything close to me here in Brandon, which is why I was wondering where you buy it from Sarah. Have you found it at Nutrition S'mart and Chuck's?
I see that "Margaret" commented about where to purchase Berlin Bakery bread. I was able to locate a local source after going to the Berlin Bakery website and doing a zip code search. Rita