Easy School Lunch Ideas

Let’s face it, packing school lunches can be a lot of work. But decision-making can be the hardest part! At Cook Smarts, we have over a decade of experience in meal planning simple, healthy dinners that the whole family love. We put all of that knowledge to use to create a simple guide packed with easy school lunch ideas. Click the link below to download the free guide or read on for all of our tips!

  • By Brittany Yamamoto-Taylor
  • September 24, 2024

100 Mix and Match School Lunch and Snack Ideas

We’ve been running a meal plan service since 2013, and have dinners down pat. But when lunches have to be toted off to school, and when the kids’ meal may look wildly different than the parents’ lunch? That can be overwhelming.

Luckily, we’ve found a few ways around the challenges of planning and packing food for school so it doesn’t feel as painful as it used to. That’s why we put together our Guide to Awesome School Lunches that’s full of easy mix and match lunch ideas for kids (warning: adults may love them, too!), as well as tips for choosing the right lunchbox containers for your family. Most importantly, our guide contains helpful frameworks and formulas to make planning and packing lunches require less mental energy. That’s what every parent is really in shortage of.

Grab our guide below and keep reading for more easy school lunch considerations!

Guide to Awesome School Lunches

100+ School Lunch and Snack Ideas

Our favorite ways to make planning and packing lunch require way less mental energy.


This guide to school lunches resource covers everything from strategy to process to recipes, focusing on how to make it work for you. Thank you for continuing to make the food-prep part of this busy working mom’s life so much better!” – Meg K.


Choose the Right Container

Packing food for school is always quicker when you have the right containers and don’t have to be a Tetris pro to make everything fit.

Here are three key questions to ask yourself when searching for good lunchbox containers that match your family’s needs…

1. Will you be packing hot lunches, cold lunches, or both?

A thermos is a must for hot lunches and there are all sorts of sizes to choose from (we particularly love Hydroflask). So get a small size if it’s for a younger kiddo or if the hot dish will only be a portion of your kid’s lunch. If you want to be able to pack a whole pasta dish with veggies for a kid on a growth spurt, opt for a bigger size thermos.

A container with multiple compartments is great for cold lunches that include sides of fruit, veggies, chips, and / or dessert. Check out our quick video reviews on Instagram here:

2. Do you need to pack both lunch and snacks?

If your kiddo needs extra snacks to get them through after-school activities, getting additional snack containers is a great idea. Snack packs are convenient, but usually pricier than making use of your market’s bulk bins. There are many small containers (including thermoses for cold snacks like yogurt) that are a great size for holding grapes, pretzels, or any favorite snacks.

3. Will you put them into the dishwasher?

If you’ll be using a dishwasher, look for one that specifically says it’s dishwasher-safe and make sure there aren’t crevices that a dishwasher will struggle to get completely clean. If your budget has the room to buy 2 containers per kid, it’s great to have a spare to use while the other is in the dishwasher. Our eBook also dives into 5 additional considerations: size, cleanability, openability, stackability, and budget

Our Guide to Awesome School Lunches also looks at additional types of containers like Stasher Bags and gives extra consideration to these 5 elements: size, cleanability, openability, stackability, and budget.

Choose a Lunch Bag

If you search Amazon for school lunch bags, over 10,000 results pop up. And that’s just Amazon. It doesn’t include all the other retailers – L.L. Bean, Pottery Barn, even Crate and Barrel – who have all gotten into the lucrative lunch bag game.

But the good thing is that it would be hard to go wrong, no matter which you pick – especially if you look at the star ratings. Most of the lunch bags you’d be considering are already insulated so the big criteria checked off. The other things to consider are easy cleanability and size. Will the bag fit all the combinations of containers / food you plan on packing for your child, plus an ice pack (if you need one)?

After those features are met, it comes to the fun part: picking a fun design your kid will love carrying around…at least for a couple years!

Start with a Template for Simple School Lunches

The reason we started a meal plan service was because so many people were struggling less with the cooking part of dinner and more with the haunting “What’s for dinner?” question that’s on repeat every day of every week, year after year. Now multiply that by however many different lunches you need to pack for you and the kids.

How could that not be overwhelming?

That’s why we all need a formula that takes the burdensome questions out of the equation. By picking a template that you start with every week, you can ease into a school lunch routine without the anxiety. A school lunch template can take many forms, but here are three examples:

1. Theme by day

Pick a different theme for each day of the week. For example…

M – Sandwiches

T – Tacos

W – Leftovers

Th – Lunchables-like lunch

Fr – Pasta

It keeps lunch fresh while still removing the mental load of planning from scratch.

2. Theme by week

A lot of kids don’t mind repetition as much as adults do. If your kids can eat something they love over and over, you can plan out a whole month’s worth of easy school lunches in a flash. Week 1 could be pasta salad and Week 2 could be turkey, cheese, and avocado wraps. You can then vary up the snacks to supplement the main so that it’s not the exact same lunch every day.

Since this means buying fewer ingredients each week, this template is a great option if you’re on a budget or want to reduce food waste.

3. Paint by bento compartment

You don’t have to use a bento-type container to choose this one, you simply need to dedicate a compartment (or small container) to different food groups. Think of it as DIY Lunchables. This is a great way to make sure your kids are getting a balanced meal and can also help teach them about food groups.

Look at Your Dinner Plan

Your lunch plan and corresponding grocery list should piggyback off of your dinner plan. This will help you save on time, money, and chaos.

Here are three ways to create synergies:

1. Scale up dinners that your kids like

Packing leftovers at least once (but more like two or three times) is a classic easy school lunch idea for a reason. It’s one less thing to decide on and make! If you’re a member of our meal plan service, it’s super easy to add a few servings and get an updated grocery list. Plus, a part of every week’s menu are suggestions for easy ways to repurpose leftovers. We know – convenient.

2. Scale up components of dinner for freezing

Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to scale up an entire dinner because certain parts just won’t hold up. But, it can still make sense to scale up components of dinners that work well as part of a lunch.

Let’s say you’re making meatballs one night. Make a few extra and store them in the freezer. They reheat beautifully in an air-fryer and can be eaten on their own, as part of a kebab, or paired with something else. If you’re baking chicken breasts, make an extra for an easy protein to include. If rice is on your dinner plan for the week, add an extra cup or two to make a grain bowl or turn into an easy fried rice.

3. Include ingredients you’re already buying

If you’re buying celery for a soup and know you probably won’t use it all, cut up the rest for veggie crudite to include in lunches. If you’re buying potatoes for a baked potato night, buy a whole bag and add some roasted potatoes or wedges to lunch.

Tips for Packing Easy and Balanced Lunches for Your Child’s Day at School

Every parent wants school lunches that are easy. But ease doesn’t always come with balance. So, when packing food for school, try these methods to help your kid get the essential nutrients they need each day.

Pick from these Categories (or let your kids pick)

Picking foods from each of these categories will help your kid get nutrients from multiple food groups while keeping lunch interesting and inviting. Our guide goes in depth with each category with ideas and prep tips, but here’s a quick list:

  • Veggies
  • Fruits
  • Grains and pastas
  • Proteins (vegetarian or not)
  • Crunchies
  • Baked goods
  • Packaged foods
  • Sweets

Letting them get involved in the process by picking from options you’ve pre-selected can help with picky eaters. If they aren’t a big veggie fan, giving them the choice between carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, and celery sticks and see if that helps them be more receptive to the one they choose.

Also, getting multi-compartment lunchboxes like we mentioned above will make packing all these foods super easy!

Add familiar foods along with one or two new things

Pairing loved foods with new foods you’re not sure if your kid will like is a great way to increase the variety of foods your kid eats. For example, you can pair a new veggie with a sauce they love. Some kids will eat just about anything if ketchup is on it.

It’s not about hiding anything from them, it’s just about increasing the likelihood of them actually trying a new (or even not-loved) food. If your kid is all about white rice, throw a new ingredient into fried rice and they’ll be much more likely to enjoy it than if you served it on its own..

In our Awesome Guide to School Lunches, we have a whole section on how to choose and pack lunches for picky eaters, so be sure to check that out.

Pack leftovers whenever possible (if your child will eat them)

Packing dinner leftovers is one of the quickest and easiest lunch ideas for kids. Leftovers from a home-cooked dinner are also a great option because they are more likely to have a balance of food groups (especially veggies!) than a plain slice of pizza at the cafeteria.

But, since kids of course won’t enjoy every dinner that you make for them, only pack meals that they did like and are therefore more likely to eat a second time. The last thing you want is your child to skip lunch because it’s leftovers they struggled with the first time around.

Here are some full meals that keep well and travel well to school:

  • Burritos
  • Casseroles
  • Curries
  • Dumplings
  • Fried rice
  • Enchiladas
  • Pasta
  • Pizza
  • Risotto
  • Salads (pack dressing separately)
  • Sandwiches
  • Soups and stews
  • Stir-fries

If you’re short on time or having an extra busy week, all of these meals can be bought pre-made from the grocery store. Keeping a few in your freezer always comes in handy when you need an emergency backup option.

Get hundreds of ideas and recipes in our free guide

Now it’s time to download our complete guide and say goodbye to late-night school lunch panic. Our free guide includes a printable weekly school lunch planner, lunchbox packing tips, mix-and-match combos, and super simple recipes for energy balls, chicken, chickpea salads, chia pudding, and simple frittatas.

Guide to School Lunches

100+ Mix and Match School Lunch & Snack Ideas

Our favorite ways to make planning and packing lunch require way less mental energy.


Want more lunch ideas for kids? Get our School Sandwiches Guide or go to our parenting resources.

You can also be ready with all the balanced meal leftovers you can possibly use when you join our meal plan service that offers 4 easy and healthy meals per week with the choice of original, gluten-free, paleo, and vegetarian versions. Plus you’ll get one-click grocery lists and serving size customization, an extensive archive of past recipes, and the ability to create your own meal plan that fits your family’s needs for the week.

For more info and to get a taste test with a free 14-day trial, sign up here

Overwhelmed?

Try our award winning meal plan service for free

Get our Meal Plans

The convenience of meal kits without the waste

Share the love!

Join our community

Enjoy free tips and tricks in your inbox

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
How can we help you in the kitchen?

Join our community

Enjoy free tips and tricks in your inbox

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Sign up for the Cook Smarts Newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Cancel

Privacy Policy: We hate SPAM & promise to keep your email address safe.

Skip to content
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.