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Round out any lunch—whether yours or the kids—with one of our top picks for lunch snacks. These ideas require minimal effort, can be added to a lunch at home or packed for on the go, and are a perfect way to add an extra dose of nutrition (and yumminess) to lunch.
Lunch Snacks
The easiest way to ensure the kids have enough to eat at lunch is to add on a snack or two to the main meal. This can be as simple as tucking in a piece of fruit or a veggie pouch, or adding a snack bar on the side. This helps to hit more food groups and can be a nice safety net if you aren’t sure if the kids will eat the main part of the lunch.
Below you’ll find 50 ideas for what you include with a lunch and each works at home or packed for daycare, preschool, or school.
Use this to help you come up with ideas for filling that lunch box and to limit the amount of minutes you spend staring into the fridge wondering what on earth to pack!
With just 3 simple and nutritious ingredients, these No-Bake Energy Bites are super easy to make and eat. They store so well in the fridge for weeks and are a perfect snack to share with the kids (and eat yourself).
Learn how to make the best fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt with all kinds of fruit flavors—and with less sugar and for less money than buying it at the store. Scale this up or down according to how many servings you're planning to make. The directions here are for one small toddler-size serving.
Learn to customize yummy smoothies for your toddler by starting with one simple recipe, then adjusting based on which fruit and veggies you'd like to use.
If you use larger cookie cutters, you may need to bake on the longer end of the baking time—and mini cookie cutters on the shorter end. This makes a relatively small batch, so double it if you want extras to last all week!
We like to have these granola bars as a snack or toddler breakfast with milk or a smoothie—and they're an excellent lunch box component too. You can make them plain or choose a flavor to add!
These healthy little soft-baked cookies are a yummy treat or snack to share. Rolling the shredded zucchini in a towel helps ensure that the excess moisture is absorbed—and doesn’t wind up in the batter.
Make a batch of these healthy oatmeal cookies for dessert, snack time, or a special breakfast. You can make these half the size using 1-tablespoon batter for each cookie and reducing the baking time to about 16-18 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown.
Fruit, vegetables, simple proteins like cheese, yogurt, shredded chicken, and beans, carbohydrates including whole grain crackers, muffins, and bread, and any foods that fill in food groups that may not be in the main dish.
Can I replace lunch with snacks?
We love doing snack meals, where you essentially build lunch from an assortment of snacks. It’s super kid-friendly and is a great way to use ingredients you have on hand.
i see a shell pasta with peas in this link is there a recipe for it?
It’s boxed Annies Mac and Cheese with peas stirred in.