Awesome School Lunch Ideas (Kids Will Love!)

These healthy school lunch ideas for kids will make your life as a parent infinitely easier! Plus, there will be no need to rush getting the kid’s (or even your own) lunch ready the morning of ever again.

Note: this post has been updated with new images and ideas. I love this post and continue to make ahead of my kid’s cold lunches to save time and money!

Coming up with exciting school lunch ideas week after week for a whole school year can be exhausting. Plus, kids can sometimes get sick of eating the same thing for lunch every single day.

That’s why I’ve come up with a big ole’ list of fun & healthy school lunch ideas, and I’m sharing them with you today! This list should save you so much time and give your kids a healthy variety of lunches they will love.

But first, let’s talk about my system. Because….well…..it rocks.

Idea: Kids Pack Their Own Lunches

Yep! Every morning, my kids grab their lunch box and fill it with items I’ve prepped for them. I have three small bins filled with individually sized portions of lunch foods – one I keep in the fridge, one in the freezer, and one in the pantry.

How it works is one day a week, I spend a few hours bagging up several small portions of fruits, veggies, sandwiches, and crackers. Then add them into the bins. And voila! Pre-made lunches for the week! All the kids have to do is grab what they want out of the bins each day.

I have been making ahead my kid’s lunches using these bins forever now, and it is the best thing for busy moms! This method has totally saved me.

But even with this system, you need some creative ideas each week on what to add to the bins! So here’s my big list of ideas.

Back To School Kids Lunch Ideas:

Combo #1
Turkey & Colby Jack Cheese Sandwich
Mandarin Orange
Carrots
Chips

Combo #2
Cheese Quesadilla
Strawberries
Celery Sticks + Peanut Butter

Combo #3
Chicken & Rice Burrito
Pineapple
Red Bell Peppers, sliced

Combo #4
Quick Pasta Salad
Granola Bar
Yogurt
Blueberries

Combo #5
Veggie Hummus Wraps
Sugar Snap Peas
Orange Slices

Combo #6
Croissant BLT sandwich
Carrots + Ranch
Apples
Chips

Combo #7
Bagel & Cream Cheese
Sliced Smoked Turkey
Raspberries
Granola Bar

Combo #8
Hummus + Pita Bread
String Cheese
Fruit Leather
Cucumber Slices

Combo #9
Crackers, Meat & Cheese
Olives
Carrots
Hummus
Grapes

Combo #10
Pizza Pinwheel Bites
Edamame
Mandarin Orange
Frozen Yogurt Tubes

Combo #11
Homemade Hot Pockets
Green Peppers
Watermelon
Fruit Snack

Combo #12
Sesame Noodle Salad
Yogurt
Cantaloupe

Combo #13
Almond Butter (or Peanut Butter) & Jam Sandwich
String Cheese
Popcorn
Applesauce

Combo #14
Ham & Swiss Croissants
Sugar Snap Peas
Apple Slices

Combo #15
Hard Boiled Eggs
Cubed or Diced Cheese
Whole Grain Crackers
Celery & carrots with ranch

Combo #16
Tuna on Pita Bread
Carrots + Ranch
Banana
Granola Bar

Combo #17
Deli Meat & Cheese Kabobs
Crackers
Pears
Yogurt

Combo #18
Tortilla Chips & Salsa (or Guacamole)
Orange Bell Peppers
Sugar Snap Peas
Kiwi (Peeled and Sliced)

Combo #19
Nutella & Banana Roll-up
Pretzels
Broccoli & Ranch Dip
Fruit Leather

Combo #20
Homemade Muffin
Pre-Cooked Bacon Slices
Yogurt
Raspberries
Carrots + Ranch

How Do I Make Meal Prep Lunches For The Whole Week?

The process for making your lunches for the week is actually much easier than it sounds. It can all easily be done in just a small portion of your day. Here’s a breakdown of the process:

• Once a week, I chop and bag up all the fresh fruit, vegetables, crackers, and other lunch items.
• Then I add them to 3 different cold or dry lunch buckets to store in my fridge, freezer, and pantry.
• The kids can quickly grab the items to throw in their lunches themselves in the morning or evening before.

It’s as easy as that! You and your kids get a delicious and healthy cold lunch and a ton of stress taken out of your daily life. Win, win!

The Make Ahead Lunch Bins System

The trick to making easy make-ahead lunches for the week is all in the simple organization. All you need to do is to separate all of your prepped items into three different lunch bins: 

Bin #1: The Pantry Bin

The dry goods lunch bin is a simple plastic tote bin I keep in my pantry. It’s filled with individual bags of dry lunch items such as bagged pretzels, crackers, homemade granola bars, trail mix, treats, and more. Here is a list of ideas and dry lunch items we have done:

• Store-bought or homemade crackers
• Pretzels
• Pre-packaged fruit cups or applesauce
• Dried fruit
• Homemade granola or trail mix
• Homemade granola bars
• Popcorn
• Nuts (if your school doesn’t ban them for allergies)
• Fruit snacks or fruit leather
• Beef jerky
• Chips
• Graham crackers
• Homemade cookies or brownie bites (bake a big batch and individually bag them up)
• Special treats, candy, or snack cakes (usually for a holiday)

Bin #2: The Refrigerator Bin

The cold refrigerator lunch bin is where you store any of your lunch items that need to be refrigerated. Once a week, I take the time to separate out fruits and veggies, like grapes, chopped oranges, chopped apples (soaked in pineapple juice or Fruit Fresh, so they keep longer), and chopped carrots or celery sticks. Here are some more cold lunch idea items you can keep in the refrigerator bin:

• String cheese, cubed or squares of cheese, or mini Babybel cheese
• Yogurt smoothies or other yogurt cups
• Carrots (I found little cups with lids at Cash N Carry that I add ranch dip to)
• Sliced apples (soak for 10 minutes in pineapple juice or Fruit Fresh, so they don’t go brown)
• Homemade pasta salad
• Sliced oranges
• Mandarin oranges (whole)
• Strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries
• Green peppers (sliced thinly)
• Celery sticks
• Sugar snap peas
• Grapes, cherries, cantaloupe, or other seasonal fruit cut up
• Green salads
• Mini cups of hummus
• Mini cinnamon streusel, blueberry, lemon poppyseed, or even savory muffins

Bin #3: The Freezer Bin

The freezer lunch bin is primarily filled with sandwiches. I know that a frozen sandwich may sound strange, but it’s honestly the perfect way to prepare sandwiches for the week!

They last a lot longer when you freeze them, and they thaw throughout the day, making for a perfectly cold sandwich by the time lunch comes around.

The process is pretty straightforward. You take a sandwich bun or roll, add the meat and cheese only, and then wrap and freeze them individually.

Outside of the basic meat and cheese sandwich, here are some additional make-ahead lunch ideas that you can freeze:

• Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• Quesadillas
• Frozen homemade yogurt tubes
• Wraps with meat, cheese, pesto, and/or cream cheese
• Homemade hot pockets

Tips for Freezing Sandwiches:

• If you’re going to add condiments before freezing, add them between the cheese and the meat. That way, you keep the condiment from penetrating the bread and making it soggy and gross when it thaws.
• You can also get some individual condiment packages and throw them in your lunch bag the morning of.
• Do NOT add lettuce, pickles, peppers, or any other vegetable to the sandwich before freezing it. Frozen veggies always come out slimy and less than appetizing. If you’ve got to have some veggies on your sandwich, you could always make up individual bags of sandwich fixings and add them to the cold refrigerator lunch bin.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Should I Make?

To figure out how many to bag up for the week, I count the number of days for cold lunch that week and how many children. Here is my own personal math:

• 4 kids x 5 days = 20
• 20 bags of various chopped vegetables
• 20 bags of various chopped fruit
• 20 bags of chips/crackers
• 20 string cheese (or even treats if I’m feeling extra nice that week)
• 20 sandwiches, quesadillas, or other main dish options

Once everything is prepared, I can let the kids do the rest! They can just grab all the separate bags and throw them in their lunch bags for the day while I take care of other tasks that need to be done in the morning.

How Many Days Ahead Can You Meal Prep Kids Lunches?

I typically just meal prep on the weekends for the upcoming week. Frozen things like sandwiches should keep for about five days, where refrigerated items should last 5-7 days. Just make sure that items like veggies and fruits are properly stored in air-tight bags or containers, and they should keep for the duration of the week.

Where Can I Get The Bins & Reusable Bags?

I purchased the large-sized BINO brand bins on Amazon.com here, and I totally LOVE them. They fit perfectly in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. Plus, they look great too!

As for the letters on the bins, I used my vinyl cutting machine at home. But if you don’t have one, you could easily order some 2-inch vinyl letters from Amazon.

If you’re looking for some quality reusable snack & sandwich-sized bags, I love these ones here I ordered off Amazon as they wash up really well with some dish soap and water. If you want bigger reusable bags, such as gallon-sized freezer-safe ones, check out my review post for the 5 best reusable bags ever.

These cold lunch ideas are much healthier than getting fast food or attempting a healthy lunch that you threw together for your kids 5 minutes before they get on the bus. Meal prepping your lunches for the week allows you to make sure that you and your kids get a healthy, balanced lunch, which makes for a healthier and happier you!

Kids School Lunch Ideas Printable Option:

If you make your own Meal Prep Lunch bins, I would love to see them! Snap a picture of your bin and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #happymoneysaver and tagging me @happymoneysaver!

More Freezer Meal Lunches

• Homemade Hot Pockets
• Oven Baked Chicken Strips
• Make Ahead Ham & Cheese Sliders
• Mini Naan Pizzas
• Easy Meatball Subs Recipe
• Homemade Chicken Taquitos