Healthy Lunch Box Ideas For Kids

It is back to school season and you might be running out of ideas of healthy foods to add into your child’s lunch box. I will share some healthy lunch box ideas for kids and include allergy friendly foods.

Both of my daughters are severely allergic to eggs, nuts and one of my daughters is coeliac. So, when it comes to packing lunches, I have to be very creative in the kinds of foods that I pack.

Due to many allergies around, schools are very strict on prohibiting certain foods like nuts on school grounds. I won’t be surprised due to the rise of egg allergies, that schools may prohibit egg, too.

Because of this, parents need to be creative in packing their children a protein-packed lunch without eggs and nuts. This can be done and I’m here to show you how.

As a former Teacher, I saw lots of lunch boxes over time. I was so surprised to see lots of lunch boxes packed with processed foods and very little nutrition. I understand the convenience of packaged foods, but it saddened me to see that many children were not being fed nutritious food.

While preparing a nutritious lunch box seems time-consuming, it does not have to be. There are plenty of ways to make it less time-consuming, like batch cooking/preparing or making simple recipes with fresh food.

Let’s get to the meat of this post, shall we?!

What I will cover in this post

• What makes a balanced lunch box
• Healthy protein to add
• Healthy fats to add
• Health carbs to add

What makes a balanced lunch box

As I mentioned before, many parents due to lack of time, energy or knowledge, pack their children’s lunch boxes with lots of highly processed foods. I often wonder if this is partly the reason for many children’s lack of concentration and short attention spans in the classroom. That’s a topic for another time!

A balanced lunch box is filled with three main components of a healthy diet: protein, fat and carbohydrates (the good kind).

You can also fit in a bunch of micronutrients in there, like various vitamins and minerals.

Lots of packaged foods are stripped of their nutrients and lack protein (which is vital for children’s energy, muscles and blood sugar) and fat (which is vital for blood sugar, hunger hormones and gut health). This is why it is important not to just pack whatever you have in the house that day, but consider what your child needs throughout the day to stay satiated and thrive.

Now, of course, there are going to be times when you don’t have time to cook or bake or even pack a semi-healthy lunch box and that’s okay! As long as you are making the effort in the best of times.

Healthy protein to add

I would say to build your child’s lunch box around protein. If you focus on getting in good protein, then everything else is fairly easy to add.

Here are some healthy protein ideas to add into your child’s lunch box:

• Cold chicken breast (if able to keep cool)
• Nitrate-free ham (if able to keep cool)
• Beef brisket (if able to keep cool)
• Slow cooked lamb (if able to keep cool)
• Tuna
• Sardines
• Eggs
• Greek yoghurt (if able to keep cold)
• Cottage cheese (if able to keep cold)
• Lentils
• Edamame

Some ways to incorporate protein into lunch:

• Chicken salad sandwich
• Tuna pasta (recipe)
• Lentil soup (recipe)
• Ham and cheese scrolls (recipe)
• Beef brisket with brown rice (recipe)

Healthy fats to add

Good fats will help to stabilise blood sugar, keep your child satiated longer and provide a great balance to your child’s diet.

Here are some wonderful fats to add to your child’s lunchbox:

• Avocado
• Cheese (only if you can keep cool)
• Salmon (only if you can keep cool)
• Coconut oil/cream
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Grass-fed butter
• Chia seeds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Flax seeds
• Tahini
• Gelatin gummies

Some ways to incorporate fats into your child’s lunchbox:

• Apples baked in coconut oil and cinnamon
• Chia seed pudding (recipe)
• Nut free granola (recipe)
• Choc chip tahini bars (recipe)
• Mini sushi rolls with salmon (recipe)
• Homemade gelatin gummies (recipe)

Healthy carbohydrates to add

Now, don’t fear – not all carbs are bad! Sadly carbohydrates have a bad reputation these days because of foods like hot chips covered in seed oils and refined salt and white bread.

However, children need carbs to thrive! Here are some healthy carbohydrates to add into your child’s lunchbox:

• Sweet potato
• Potato
• Pumpkin
• Brown rice
• Quinoa
• Buckwheat
• Whole grain bread
• Steel cut oats
• Beans
• Fruit

Here are some healthy carbohydrate ideas to add into your child’s lunchbox:

• Homemade potato/sweet potato fries baked in olive oil and sea salt
• Quinoa salad (recipe)
• Banana buckwheat muffins (recipe)
• Overnight oats with fruit (recipe)
• Sandwich of choice with sourdough/whole grain bread
• Black bean chocolate muffins (recipe)

Keep it simple

I am all about real, whole foods here!

So, if you find that you can only throw together a lunch box made up of fruit, cheese and a sandwich, then that is perfectly fine.

One word of caution is to try and minimise the packaged food (unless it has real ingredients).

Include lots of flavours to add variety of nutrients.

Make sure to add in foods you know your kids will enjoy. Sometimes my kids have gone through fussy phases and only want the most basic foods. That’s okay. As long as it mostly resembles whole foods, then you’ve got a winner of a lunch box.

Let’s not overcomplicate lunch boxes. They are simply meant to give your child sustenance and nutrients that they need for the day.

Make sure to download my Family Grocery Guide here for whole food ingredient inspo!