School is in full swing now (or, it has been since July if your kids are year round like mine!) and this year I had the added challenge of packing lunches for two budding primal eaters. My second grader is easy. She knows the drill and loves leftover dinner meats. My Kindergartener, on the other hand, is a bit pickier. She doesn’t like leftover meat cold and she likes very few vegetables raw. Luckily for me though, she doesn’t mind repetition.
Many thanks to our readers who requested more lunch box ideas and especially to Nicole who gave me the awesome idea of assigning each compartment of the lunchbox a macronutrient to help teach the kids. I still get a few odd comments about how “Suzy A. or Johnny B. told me my lunch was weird,” but I take those opportunities to remind them about healthier choices that help them grow big and strong and perhaps re-read Sarah Fragoso’s Paleo Pals together!
I usually don’t stray far from the basics below. My best advice is to keep it simple, always make extra dinner meat for leftovers, make large batches of healthier treats when you have some extra time and stock them in the fridge or freezer, let your kids buy lunch every once in a while if allergies are not an issue, use the treat box for both something sweet and non-food items like sticker or notes, and don’t be afraid of repetition.
Proteins:
- nitrate-free deli meat
- leftover meat from dinner
- rotisserie chicken (buy one over the weekend, clean it up, and use it all week here and there)
- hard-boiled eggs
- nitrate free beef jerky or homemade beef jerky
- greek yogurt (if your kids do dairy like mine)
- full fat cheese
Carbohydrates:
- fresh berries
- sliced apples
- dried fruit
- baby carrots
- sliced cucumbers
- raw spinach
- sliced sweet peppers
Healthy Fats:
- nuts of any kind your kids like (aim for dry roasted or raw)
- pumpkin and sunflower seeds
- nut butter (almond, sunflower seed, and sometimes good ol’ PB because you can’t win every battle!)
- organic ranch dressing
- almond flour primal crackers
Combo items:
- apple sandwiches with nut butter
- cucumber sandwiches with sliced meat or cheese
- leftovers in thermos or compartment if they don’t mind them cold
- trail mix (and yes, sometimes even with M&Ms for fun)
- larabars or homemade laraballs
- paleo granola
- primal trail mix cookies
- homemade grain free muffins
Small treat box items:
- gummy vitamins
- mini m&ms
- stickers
- special mini notes
- candied nuts (or “sweet nuts” as my kids call them)
- yogurt covered raisins
Here’s a sample week full of lunches from our house. What are your favorite go-to lunchbox ideas from your family?
Have a happy and healthy school year,
Heather
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- apple nut butter sandwiches, grapes, carrots/cucumbers with ranch, nitrate-free ham, gummy vitamins for treat
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- leftover pulled pork, pistachios and peanuts, carrots and cucumbers with ranch, grapes, gummy vitamins for treat
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- leftover chicken, trail mix, apple slices, raw spinach, gummy vitamins for treat
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- leftover paleo pad thai, pumpkin seeds and larabar chunks, apple nut butter sandwiches, sliced full fat cheese, mini m&m’s for treat
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- blueberries, nitrate free ham and pepperoni, carrots with ranch, strawberry greek yogurt, m&m’s for treat
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- leftover steak, leftover sweet potatoe bacon casserole, fresh berries, pistachios and peanuts, and sticker for treat
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- nitrate free ham, leftover sweet potato bacon casserole, strawberries, trail mix, carrots with ranch, sticker for treat
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- nitrate free ham, cucumber cheese bites, apple nut butter sandwiches, strawberries, homemade almond flour muffin, sticker for treat
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- apple slices, nitrate free ham, cucumber cheese bites, carrots and red peppers, homemade almond flour crackers, yogurt raisins for treat
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- rotisserie chicken, pumpkin seeds with cinnamon, carrots and red peppers with ranch, dried strawberries and pineapple, m&m’s for treat
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- nitrate free salami, full fat mozzarella, pistachios, dried pineapple, carrots and red pepper with ranch, m&m’s for treat
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- Get the kids involved!
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- Ready to go!
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I think this is so much work – what a good mom! Being that I dont have any kids I should at least be this diligent about my own lunches.
Thanks, Shannon! It really becomes second nature after a while, only takes a few minutes to put it together in the evening.
Hopefully this will give you some good lunch ideas for yourself too! Planetbox recently came out with a more “adult” version perfect for packing lunches for work.
Thanks for reading!
Here are the links to the lunch boxes:
Adults:
http://www.planetbox.com/shop/product-category/lunchboxes/launch
Kids:
http://www.planetbox.com/shop/product-category/lunchboxes/rover
Heather, great post. I love the creativity, and the fact that a treat does not have to equal sugary snack (necessarily…) though i DO think it is realistic to add a smidgen of sugar “love” regularly.
I wanted to mention that I think that the children’s size planet boxes are probably satisfactory for adults–if your lunch is consistently similar to Heather’s examples above. With the exception of a “big salad” or a soup, I think it is adequately sized, and helps keep our portions in check! It’s compact, easy to maintain, and the carrying case is really functional–plenty of room to stick extras.
Just found your blog, and just started Paleo/Prime eating with a family of four! You have such great ideas for keeping your whole family realistically primal. Thanks for the great lunchbox shots, they are a great help!