Just last year, I was a pinning fool. Frantically searching Pinterest for back to school lunch ideas, so I know the stress of wondering what to pack for lunch. Thank goodness for me, my youngest has entered middle school and has informed me that she no longer needs daily lunches because middle school gives her several lunch choices each day. Whoo hoo! While not making home lunch is a huge convenience for me, it kind of makes me a little sad. It’s a reminder that she isn’t my “baby” girl anymore. Waahhh, can I cry a little? Okay, enough of my self-pity party 🙂 We’re here to talk about “Back to School Lunch Tips – Part 2, Quick, EASY, & Fun Lunches”!
Earlier this week, I posted “Back to School Lunch Tips – Part 1″ on containers and tools needed to make simple and fun lunch boxes. On today’s “Back to School Lunch Tips – Part 2”, I’d like to share some of the best simple and fun lunch ideas from around the web. All of these lunches use limited lunch tools, are easy to make, and are just plain fun!
- Back to School Bento Lunch @Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons – A knife is the main tool used to create the paper lines, pencil, and the letter “A”.
- First Day of School! @Bento-logy – A knife is used to create this cute pencil shaped sandwich and food pens to color the sandwich.
- Easy Lunchbox Ideas for the Family @Family Fresh Meals – Here, all you need is an apple-shaped cookie cutter or just use a round cookie cutter, a straw for the small hole, a leaf food pick, and a small dip container.
Aren’t these back to school themed lunches cute? They’re easy to make and only use a few tools: cookie cutters, food picks, food pens, a knife, a straw, small food containers (for dips), and cupcake liners. These are tools that you’ll use often and can make a variety of super fun lunches.
- Minion Bento Lunch @Eclectic Lamb – All you need are food pens to make this Minion lunch.
- A Smorgasboard of Bento Lunch Ideas @Following in my Shoes – Egg molds and lunch punch sandwich cutters make a fun puzzle lunch.
- How to Make Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Apples (And a Bento!) @BentoLunch.net – Isn’t this cute! All you need is some fruit roll-ups and candy eyes (find these in any super market in the cake decorating area). Use a round cookie cutter or cup to make the sandwich.
- Keeping it Simple @Bento-logy – Fun cat shaped cookie cutters make this cute themed lunch. Of course, if you’re not a cat lover, you can make a dog themed lunch :-). Tip: Use a mini owl cutter to make mini cat heads.
Don’t you just love these simple to make lunches? These don’t take a ton of time and you don’t have to be an art major to create them!
- Autumn Bento Box Plus More Autumn Lunch Ideas @Modern Parents Messy Kids – Okay, you have to jump over to Modern Parents Messy Kids to see how she made this cute acorn. You don’t even need any fancy tools…just a cup and a knife.
- Halloween Bento Lunch @Glory’s Mischief – Halloween bat cookie cutters and Halloween picks make this cute lunch. (blog no longer running)
- Happy Halloween! @Lello News – Make crossbones from string cheese and cut out a scary skeleton sandwich. (blog no longer running)
Seriously, there were tons of super cute and simple Fall lunch ideas on Pinterest. Way too many to put into one post, so here are just a few cute and simple ones.
These are some of the more popular food tutorials on my Simple Bento Ideas for Kids & Recipes.
- Build a Sandwich House @Cute Food For Kids
- How to Make Cute Penguin Shaped Rice Ball Bento @All Things For Sale
- How to Make Veggie Flowers @Recipes by Photo
- Onigiri Tutorial @Cooking Cute
HANDY QUICK PREP LUNCH ITEMS
Hope you enjoyed “Back to School Lunch Tips ~ Part 2, Quick, EASY, & Fun”. Before we wrap it up, I wanted to share some handy quick prep lunch items that you may want to keep in your pantry.
To keep the morning stress to a minimum, I try to pack school lunches the night before (I’m sure you do too). However, even with the best planning, there may be a day when you’ll need one of these quick prep items.
- Frozen cheese or meat ravioli/pasta — these take under 15 minutes to prepare for a quick hot meal
- Pasta sauce — great to have on hand for quick pastas and pizzas
- Cooked rice — we eat rice almost daily, so I make rice balls or fried rice. Rice balls take under 5 minutes and fried rice takes about 15-20 minutes
- Bread, peanut butter, jelly, Nutella, etc… — I think these are pretty self-explanatory 🙂
- Tortillas for quick quesadillas, pizzas, or roll up sandwiches
- Eggs — great for egg sandwiches, scrambled into rice, or just eaten boiled with a salad
- Cheese — use for sandwiches, toppings on salads, a quick side treat, or make a quick cheese pizza on toast
- Cherry tomatoes — great paired with cheese and in salads
- Lettuce — salads are always a great healthy and quick-lunch to prepare
- Cold cuts — great for sandwiches or add to rice for a quick meal
- Frozen veggies — Use these to make fried rice, in pasta salad, or as an add on
- Fruits — grapes, apples, banana, and oranges are my “go to” fruits that I can quickly toss into the lunch box
- Crackers — make homemade “lunchables” with cheese and cold cuts
- Tuna — make sandwiches, add into rice, make a tuna spread for crackers, or make a tuna salad
- Can of biscuits to make quick pizza breads/rolls or wrap around hot dogs.
Want more lunch ideas? Check out my Simple Bento Ideas for Kids & Recipes on Pinterest.
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Awesome lunches!! So cute!