Preschool Lunch Ideas

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My daughter had gone to a daycare from the time she was 7 months old that provided daily lunch and then we suddenly found ourselves at a new preschool that didn’t provide meals, so the pressure was on to come up with something every day!

I purchased a couple Bentgo boxes, and I must admit that it was kind of fun to fill all of the little compartments. But it can also be hard to come up with healthy, tasty and varied ideas for all of them, especially if I would forget to think ahead about it and was rushing to get her lunch ready by the time she had to be out the door at 8am.

Here are some ideas, both a la carte and combos, to save your mom brain from having to think of something original before your morning coffee. If you have more go-tos that aren’t listed here, please feel free to add them in the comments – I’m always looking for more ideas!

Mains

  • Any leftovers from the night before that could be consumed cold (assuming your school won’t heat up lunches either); fortunately for this one, I’ve found that toddlers are more ok than adults with eating foods at weird temperatures, so things like cold leftover pizza and pasta have been a go

  • Make-your-own lunchables with deli meat or salami, cheese and crackers

  • Pesto pasta salad

  • Sunflower butter and jam sandwiches (most daycares/preschools are peanut- and nut-free these days but allow sunflower butter or soy nut butter)

  • Egg cups

  • Hardboiled eggs

  • Ants on a log (celery with sunflower butter and raisins)

  • Hummus roll-ups

  • Mini pinwheel sandwiches

  • Quesadilla

  • Mini bagel with cream cheese

Fruit

  • Sliced apples or pears

  • Grapes, quartered

  • Mandarin orange sections

  • Blueberries

  • Sliced strawberries

  • Watermelon chunks

Veggies

  • Carrot sticks or baby carrots (I quarter them lengthwise for my toddler)

  • Cucumber rounds (which I then halve)

  • Sliced bell peppers

  • Celery sticks

  • Edamame, shelled or in the pod if they know how to eat them that way

Savory Sides

  • String cheese

  • Goldfish / cheddar bunnies / cheddar rockets (from TJ’s – my favorite!)

  • Mini pretzels

  • Veggie chips

  • Pop chips

  • Green pea crisps

  • Seaweed snacks (if your kid likes that sort of thing)

  • Freeze dried vegetables

Sweet Sides

  • Raisins, craisins or dried apricots

  • Chocolate chips (plain or mixed with raisins)

  • Yogurt-covered raisins

  • Mini granola bar, or halved granola bar

  • Mini muffin

  • Animal crackers / bunny grahams / graham crackers

  • Yogurt-covered pretzels

  • Freeze dried fruit

  • Fruit leather

Combos

Really any combos could work that sound good and varied to you, but here are a few curated ideas. The plus (+) sign indicates separate sections of the Bentgo box.

  • Lunchables + sliced apples + carrot sticks + ranch dressing + mini granola bar

  • Pesto pasta salad + fresh mozzarella + sliced strawberries + sliced bell peppers + chocolate chip raisin combo

  • Chicken and cheese quesadilla + sour cream + bean salad (or straight black beans) + sliced bell peppers + watermelon

  • Pita bread or pita chips + hummus + sliced cucumbers + mandarin orange sections + mini granola bar

  • Sunflower butter and jam sandwich + mini pretzels + carrot sticks + string cheese + grapes

Once the lunch is all packed, it’s become a little morning ritual that I show it to my daughter, since she loves to see what she’ll be getting – I explain what everything is and how she can eat it (e.g., “dip the veggies into the hummus”). Then I put it in the Packit, which is a freezable lunch bag that keeps food cold for hours (since we don’t have use of a fridge at school) and add 4 oz of milk in one of these containers, which they’ll pour into a cup for her at school.

We’re only a week in, but it’s actually pretty fun to pack her lunch and I feel good about putting together healthy options. And once I have a good rotation going and don’t have to come up with something original every day, I’m sure it will get easier and faster to put them together. They send home whatever remains of her lunch, so I can see what she eats, and I’m pleased to see that she usually eats almost all of it! The other day, there were a few cheddar rockets left, which was surprising because it means she actually chose veggies over snack.

There’s a new option to pay extra for a hot lunch every day, but as long as she’s enjoying these and eating them, I’m going to stick with it and consider it a small way to feel Mommy’s love with her when she’s at school.

Update, April 2021: Even though my daughter is back at a preschool that provides lunch, I still sometimes serve weekend lunches in these little Bentgo boxes, since she finds it more fun and is often willing to eat more out of them!