By: Jazmin Decker
When it comes to healthy lunchbox ideas for this back-to-school month, packing a lunchbox for your child can go from being healthy to really boring in just the duration of a week. With today’s society being full of extremely unhealthy foods, making a balanced and healthy lunch for your child should be the highest priority. Coming up with creative, healthy lunchbox ideas can be difficult, so here are dozens of lunch ideas easy to pack and easy to love!
The main course is the part of the lunch that your child will be looking forward to the most this back-to-school season and there’s not many ways you can go wrong! Cooking up grilled chicken bites or a grilled chicken sandwich is one way to provide the correct amount of protein, or if your child prefers the chicken in a different form you can create a chicken quesadilla or a grilled chicken wrap as well. Other healthy lunch alternatives include your choice of pasta, tacos, lunch meat sandwiches, rolls & tuna, bagels, or cheese and crackers. Any of these choices offers a wide variety of main courses for your child to choose from and enjoy.
Alongside the main course comes the fruits and veggies! If your child despises fruits or vegetables, try to make it fun and switch it up to find out which fruits and veggies they enjoy consuming. A few fruits and vegetable that many children are known to enjoy are bananas, apples, carrots, peaches, applesauce, grapes, edamame, and celery. If possible, try to cut the food into shapes or objects that your child will love to look at and relate to. My personal favorite ever since I was a child has been ants on a log made from peanut butter and raisins on top of a log of celery. Children love it and it’s super easy to make in the morning!
Snacks and treats are a necessity for any child attempting to make it through the school day and unhealthy snacks can only slow them down. Instead of chips, cookies, or candy, try stuffing their lunchboxes with nuts, trail mix, string cheese, hummus, cheese crackers, fruit snacks, popcorn, yogurt, fig bars, or pretzels. Healthier snacks and treats are better for your child to consume and are important for them to have throughout the duration of the day. If you want to change it up a little bit, try covering fruit like blueberries or raspberries in yogurt and freezing them overnight, providing your child with a cool, refreshing snack.
All the recipes created in this article make sure to include most, if not all, of the main necessities needed for a healthy lunch. It’s okay to include items in the lunch that may consist of some salt, sugar, or fat. When this is the case, just make sure to balance it out with food like yogurt that is lower in sugars or fruits covered in yogurt instead of candy as a treat. As you can see, not all of this is unrealistic and hard to recreate. These recipes are delicious and offer a wide variety of choices, many of which your
children will love and want repeated day after day. If that’s the case, do not stress! If the lunches are healthy, you shouldn’t be ashamed to offer the same foods repeatedly because you know the food will for sure be eaten up and not wasted! Take control and provide healthy lunches for your child, they will benefit from it and thank you for it later! 
