• About Me
    • Brand Work
    • Portfolio/CV
  • Family
  • Food
  • Health & Beauty
  • Home
  • Style
  • Subscribe
  • Shop
    • Shop My Amazon Picks
    • Shop My Instagram

Dreams + Coffee

North Carolina Healthy Living + Style Blogger

How to Make School Lunches Fun | Back to School with Kroger

August 30, 2018 Comments : 2

This post is sponsored by Kroger Family of Stores but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

My girls’ preschool classes started last week and I can hardly believe it’s already that time! Since we got home from our month-long vacation at the beach two days before school started, it was a bit of a scramble to turn around and get back-to-school ready less than two days later. I realized I hadn’t given school lunches much thought, but with my youngest (she just turned 2) attending preschool as well, I needed to strategize how to make their meals fun yet simple for both girls.

Make School Lunches Fun with these Ideas

They generally eat the same foods, but I’m a little pickier with what I give my two-year-old since she still has to be watched like a hawk when she’s eating (because she will stuff her mouth full!). I also try to find a good balance between sending healthy foods and foods I know they will eat – we generally eat pretty healthily around here, but some things aren’t worth the battle when it comes to getting kids to eat, am I right?! So, it’s always my goal to find the healthiest option of foods I know they enjoy just to meet all of our needs 🙂

Make School Lunches Fun with these Ideas

I like to make school lunches fun, too, and I’ve fully embraced being Pinterest-y when it comes to food ideas. The reality is, it can be complicated to come up with good, healthy and creative ideas – especially if your kids’ school is nut-free. We faced this for the first time last year, as there is a little girl with a peanut allergy in my daughter’s class, and I feel for all of the parents and kids out there dealing with food allergies – it can be so scary! With that said, I wanted to share some of my favorite school lunches that can be adapted to meet the needs of all dietary needs.

Make School Lunches Fun with these Ideas

Best Creative School Lunches

  • Bean + Cheese Quesadillas – This is our go-to – my girls eat these every week without fail and I make them in bulk at the beginning of the week
  • Turkey Deli Meat + Cheese Rollups – My girls are hit or miss with deli meat, but it’s a good way to change it up from time to time
  • Pepperoni, Cheese + Crackers – Kind of like a Lunchable, but maybe a little better for you depending on the ingredients you go with
  • Turkey Sausage Medallions with Cheese Cubes – I will cook sliced turkey sausage/kielbasa for dinners some nights and we’ll have leftovers, which makes an easy lunch for the girls
  • Sunbutter + Jelly Cut-Out Sandwich (or other nut butter if allowed) – My girls love sandwiches cut into fun shapes with cookie cutters
  • Grilled Cheese – My girls don’t mind eating their food cold, so that’s why I added this to the list – it’s possible some schools may heat food for kids, too?
  • Ground Turkey Tacos – If we have taco meat leftover, I’ll make a taco, folded like a burrito to prevent spilling and add hummus + cheese

26 Fun Lunch Ideas for Back to School

Easy Snack Ideas for School Lunches

  • Avocado + Banana Mini Muffins
  • Graham crackers
  • Grapes, halved
  • Strawberries
  • Banana
  • Goldfish
  • Animal crackers
  • Clif ZBars for Kids
  • Yogurt pouches
  • Raisins
  • Tortilla chips + salsa
  • Apple slices
  • Dried cranberries
  • Carrots + hummus
  • Mini pretzels
  • Orange slices
  • Plantain chips + guacamole
  • String cheese
  • Applesauce pouches

Make School Lunches Fun with these Ideas

I’m all about convenience, sticking to a schedule and streamlining our day, so it’s important to have all of our lunchbox essentials on hand before the week begins. Thanks to Kroger.com’s new shipping service, Kroger Ship, I can order all of my girls’ favorite non-perishable snacks and have them shipped directly to my front door within two days. I really love the quality of ingredients in Kroger’s Simple Truth brand and typically chose it over other options when shopping for groceries, especially when it comes to healthy options for the kids. In my most recent order, I also snagged a box of Goldfish (let ’em live a little, right?) and an 18-count Clif ZBar pack to add to my girls’ lunchbox rotation. Since I was able to buy these in bulk from Kroger.com, I’ll have plenty on hand for the next couple of weeks!

Make School Lunches Fun with these Ideas

Lastly, when I’m packing up their lunchboxes, I also like to throw in a cute printed napkin or a sweet note for my girls to surprise them when they open their lunch box. These fun ice packs also add a little excitement to school lunches.

How do you make school lunches fun for your kids? Share in the comments below!
brittany worrell boyce

Related Posts

  • Fun Ways to Trim the Christmas Tree with Kids

    This post is sponsored by Red Baron but the content and opinions expressed here are…

  • Fun Fashion Finds!

    Even though its still cold outside (and snowy, in some places!), I've got my mind…

  • Fun Halloween Snacks for the Whole Family

    This post is sponsored by Bel Brands USA & Mini Babybel® Cheese, but the content…

2 Comments Categories: Food

Comments

  1. Jaclyn musselman says

    August 31, 2018 at 12:59 pm

    What a cool service-Love anything that saves time!! I’ll have to try bean and cheese quesadillas with the kids!

    Reply
    • Brittany says

      September 5, 2018 at 3:05 pm

      Time-saving is a must with kids! And the bean and cheese quesadillas are so simple but the girls love them! 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Me

Hi y'all! I'm Brittany, a wife, mama to three little ladies and the creator behind Dreams + Coffee, a North Carolina lifestyle blog. Grab a cup of coffee and catch up on my latest family, food, health and lifestyle posts.

read more
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Categories

Search

Follow
BrandBacker Member

Subscribe

Follow My Instagram

brittanywboyce

Wife | Girl mama | Pure Barre & Peloton obsessed | Dairy + gluten free | Freelance writer | Owner @somethingbleuclt | CLT | Order GS Cookies ⬇️

Brittany | Mom Life + Style
When your cat loves @cleanjuice as much as you do When your cat loves @cleanjuice as much as you do 😘🤪
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Last week to this week ➡️ We’re SO grateful Last week to this week ➡️ We’re SO grateful for a quick recovery from pneumonia — having a sick child is scary enough, but to top it off with no space in our local hospitals’ PICU and being flown to Asheville, you can imagine we were beyond stressed last week 😩 So so grateful she’s back to normal and on International Women’s Day, it felt like a good time to celebrate Brynn 🥰 Thank you to all of our friends & family who reached out, lent a helping hand and kept us in your thoughts & prayers ❤️ 
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
We still have Girl Scout cookies 🥳 *Online ship We still have Girl Scout cookies 🥳 *Online ship-to-home orders* begin Monday, 2/27! If you’re not local to CLT and would like to place an order with shipping, I’d be happy to share the link - my girls would love your support 🥰Also, the newest cookie, Raspberry Rally, will be available in limited quantities online — I plan to place a bulk order and can deliver boxes locally in CLT if you’d like to try them 😘
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
45 degrees and snow tubing yesterday…75 degrees 45 degrees and snow tubing yesterday…75 degrees and windows open today ❄️🤷🏼‍♀️☀️
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
These beauties went camping at the @schielemuseum These beauties went camping at the @schielemuseum with Troop 2997 last night ⛺️ Proud of them for being brave because when I was their age, you couldn’t catch me sleeping away from home…ever 🤣
Finally took the girls back to our favorite place Finally took the girls back to our favorite place in Virginia — @colonialwmsburg ❤️ We loved it so much, we even took our engagement photos here back in 2011 😉
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Prolon Day 3 | The day started off really good — Prolon Day 3 | The day started off really good — I felt very clear-minded and awake this AM 🥳 Truly, I was nervous because today was a very low-cal day and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel 😅 I did grab a plain iced espresso because my energy was depleting super quickly and that def helped 👌🏼 After lunch, though, I started to hate depriving myself of real food and disliked that I couldn’t push myself in my workouts like I usually do 😒 After dealing with three kids who clearly woke up on the wrong side of the bed 😆, slicing my hand open with a knife and being cranky and irritable because I’ve been hangry for 3 days, I caved. And sorry, not sorry ✌🏼 I just wanted a dang salad and some protein so I can lift heavy things 💪🏼 Moral of the story, listen to your body and what it needs. And maybe try a 1-2 day cleanse/fast because that’s about all mine could handle 🤪
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
@prolonfmd Day Two | Overall an easier day than ye @prolonfmd Day Two | Overall an easier day than yesterday 👌🏼 Time went by faster and I didn’t have any nausea from being hungry…I looked forward to and savored all of today’s meals — the black bean soup for dinner was actually really good (esp with a little cumin + paprika!) 🙌🏼 I did @pure_barre this AM and then a @onepeloton walk this afternoon…keeping it light because of how little I’m consuming this week 😅 Not gonna lie, nervous for day 3 because it’s the lightest day of food and I’m already pretty hangry in general 🤣 Interestingly, I’ve felt pretty amazing today other than just craving a real meal 👌🏼 Btw, was so hungry for dinner that I forgot to share it in the reel 🤦🏼‍♀️
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Load More... Follow Me on Insta
Design by SkyandStars.co
Back Top

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.