Menu Plan Ideas: School Lunches

Are the kids bored with lunch? Sick and tired of taking sandwiches every single day of the week or worse yet...eating school lunch. Spice up your lunch with delicious treats that are easy to prepare at home and do not require reheating at school.

Coming up with new lunch ideas for kids to take to school is not always easy and often times we end up sending them to school with the same sandwiches and snack foods every day. It is time to create new lunch favorites and ban the old stand-by's (or at least banish them to once a week).

Here is a week worth of easy ideas for your lunch boxes. These items are a snap to prepare and the kids will love the new variety.

Monday

Cold English muffin pizzas
Homemade snack mix (nuts, M & M's, mini marshmallows and dried cranberries)
Sliced apples (add a tablespoon of lemonade or lemon juice to the apples to reduce browning)

Tuesday

Cracker Stackers (crackers with lunchmeat and cheese cut in small chunks or slices)
Sliced veggies and dip
Cubed pineapple

Wednesday

Egg salad sandwich
Sliced tomatoes with mayonnaise
Mandarin oranges

Thursday

Cold chicken melts
Baby carrots
Grapes

Friday

Mini hot dogs with ketchup and mustard
Cheese cubes
Broccoli with ranch dip

Drink Ideas

Instead of buying expensive juice boxes every week, pick up a reusable drink container the kids can use every day. Fill the container with homemade drinks or juice to save money and give the kids a variety to choose from each week.

Chocolate milk
Regular milk
Lemonade
Iced tea
Orange juice
Apple juice
Cranberry juice
Grape juice
Other fruit juices
Fruit smoothies
Water
Flavored water (add a tablespoon or two of fruit juice to water to add flavor)

Sources:

School Lunch Ideas: 10 Healthy Kid Lunch Box Tips & Ideas
http://www.school-lunch-ideas.com/10_Healthy_Kid_Lunch_Box_Tips_&_Ideas.html

Mom's Menu Planning: Lunch Menu Ideas - Chicken Melts
http://www.momsmenuplanning.com/2010/05/lunch-menu-ideas-chicken-melts.html