School is back in full force and lunches take up far more time than they should. I feel that every September, and some mornings I am flat out of ideas for a healthy lunch that will actually come home eaten. So here are 40 back to school lunches and snacks worth stealing, and almost all of them get made the night before. There are wraps and pinwheels that do not flatten in a bag, bento box lunches built from four small things instead of one big sandwich, no bake energy bites and granola bars for the snack slot, hot options for a thermos when it turns cold, and plenty for vegetarian and vegan eaters. Perfect for grade schoolers, teenagers, a packed work lunch or the Sunday hour you spend getting ahead of the week!
1. Vegan Taco Salad Wrap
Everything good about a taco salad, rolled so it survives a backpack. That is the real problem with a packed lunch, not the flavor: a sandwich gets sat on and arrives flat, and a wrap does not. This one is vegan and built to be made ahead, which is the other half of the job. Roll it tight, wrap it in parchment or foil, and cut it on the diagonal so the filling shows. A good first thing to try on a kid who has eaten turkey and cheese all year.
Get the full tutorial at This Mess is Ours.
2. No Bake Oatmeal Energy Bites
A cup of oatmeal, half a cup of peanut butter and a third of a cup of honey, mixed with a cup of coconut flakes, half a cup of ground flaxseed, half a cup of mini chocolate chips and a teaspoon of vanilla. Roll into balls. That is the entire recipe, with no oven anywhere in it. Dried cranberries or blueberries go in if you want them. Swap sunflower seed butter for the peanut butter if the classroom has a nut rule, and the flaxseed is what keeps them from tasting like candy.
Get the full tutorial at iSaveA2Z.
3. Homemade Strawberry Fruit Leather
Four to four and a half cups of hulled strawberries, half a cup of sugar and two tablespoons of lemon juice, blended smooth and strained if you would rather skip the seeds. It goes onto two twelve by seventeen rimmed sheets lined with silicone mats and bakes at 170 degrees for three hours, rotating the pans and swapping racks halfway. Low and slow is not optional here, it is the whole method. Done is when the surface is no longer tacky, then you slice and roll.
Get the full tutorial at Baked by Rachel.
4. Ham and Cheese Pockets
Homemade dough, and it is worth the extra step. A teaspoon of yeast with a tablespoon of sugar and two thirds of a cup of lukewarm water, left ten minutes to bubble, then three cups of flour, salt, half a cup of melted butter and two eggs. Two cups of shredded cheddar and eight slices of ham go in, then one big rectangle gets folded and cut into eight pockets with a parmesan top. They freeze well, which is the sentence that matters. If the yeast does not foam, it is dead.
Get the full tutorial at Jo Cooks.
5. Sloppy Joe Cornbread Muffins
A whole sloppy joe baked inside a cornbread muffin, so nothing drips and nothing needs a bun. Half a pound of ground beef and diced onion go into a batter of flour, cornmeal, baking powder and cream corn, with ketchup, Worcestershire, Dijon and a teaspoon of brown sugar doing the sloppy joe part. Fill the tins three quarters full and bake at 400 degrees for twelve minutes. Cheddar on top is optional and always correct. They reheat well and travel better than the original ever did.
Get the full tutorial at Amanda's Cookin'.
6. Tortilla Pinwheel Bites
Six cups of baby spinach get wilted in a quarter cup of water for two or three minutes, cooled fast under cold water, squeezed absolutely dry and chopped fine. That squeeze is the step that decides whether your pinwheels hold together or weep. It mixes with eight ounces of cream cheese or soft goat cheese, a third of a cup of sun dried tomatoes, dried basil, oregano, garlic powder and three quarters of a cup of mozzarella, then rolls up in ten inch tortillas and slices.
Get the full tutorial at A Couple Cooks.
7. Grilled Chili Lime Sweet Corn Salad
Eight ears of corn go onto a 400 degree grill for three to four minutes a side until they char in patches, then the kernels come off the cob into a bowl with diced piquillo peppers, three quarters of a cup of cilantro, half a cup of crumbled queso fresco, smoked paprika, chipotle chili powder, the juice of two limes and olive oil. Grilling first is the whole difference between this and every other corn salad. It keeps for days and gets better on day two.
Get the full tutorial at Joyful Healthy Eats.
8. Ants on an Apple
Ants on a log, except the celery is gone and an apple wedge has taken its place. Peanut butter down the middle, raisins pressed in as the ants. It is barely a recipe and that is the appeal, since it solves the three thirty problem in the time it takes to get shoes off. The apple makes it sweeter than the celery version, so it lands with kids who were never going to eat the log. Slice thick wedges rather than thin so they hold the peanut butter.
Get the full tutorial at Crazy for Crust.
9. Healthy Veggie Wrap
A fifteen ounce can of chickpeas smashed with a fork and mixed with sliced celery, green onions, three tablespoons of mayonnaise, half a tablespoon each of Dijon and apple cider vinegar, celery seed and salt. Hummus or flavored cream cheese goes onto the tortilla first, leaving an inch border so nothing escapes, then the chickpea mixture, shredded carrot, red cabbage, red pepper and lettuce. The smashed chickpeas behave like tuna salad, which is why this one works on people who are not trying to eat vegetarian.
Get the full tutorial at A Couple Cooks.
10. Cheesesteak Crescent Braid
Twelve ounces of cooked thinly sliced steak with diced red bell pepper and six green onions sauteed soft in butter, then rolled into two cans of crescent dough with a cup and a half of mozzarella, braided over the top and brushed with beaten egg. Bakes at 350. It is a dinner recipe that happens to slice into perfect cold portions, which is the useful part: make it Sunday night and the leftovers are lunch on Monday. Let it rest before you cut or the filling runs.
Get the full tutorial at Six Sisters' Stuff.
11. Lunch Box Quesadillas With Dipping Sauces
Quesadillas cut into wedges and packed cold with a little pot of dipping sauce, which is the part that makes a kid eat them. Salsa, ranch, guacamole, whatever gets used in your house. They stay crisp far better than a sandwich stays soft, and they reheat in twenty seconds if the school allows it. Cook them ahead and cool them completely on a rack before packing, because a warm quesadilla sealed in a container steams itself limp by lunchtime.
Get the full tutorial at Shaken Together.
12. Mini Tuna Balls
Three ingredients: two six ounce cans of tuna, drained well, a quarter cup of bread crumbs and one whisked egg. Roll, put them on a lined or greased sheet and bake at 350. They are allergy friendly and they work hot or cold, which is unusual and genuinely useful when you do not know whether the thermos will still be warm at noon. Drain the tuna harder than you think is necessary, because wet tuna will not hold a ball no matter how much crumb you add.
Get the full tutorial at MOMables.
13. Chopped Italian Dip
Chopped Italian dip is an oil based dip, and that is exactly why it belongs in a packed lunch. Chopped pepperoni, Genoa salami, banana pepper rings, scallions and black olives get tossed with olive oil whisked with garlic powder, oregano, basil, rosemary, salt and pepper. There is no cheese in it and no mayo either, so it travels in a lunch box without an ice pack standing guard over it. Whisk the oil and the dry seasonings together in a separate bowl before they ever meet the meat, or the herbs clump instead of coating everything. Chill it an hour or up to a day, then pack pita chips, tortilla chips or a bed of lettuce.
Get the full tutorial at Simple Hacks Living.
14. Beef Mushroom Burrito
Mushrooms chopped small and cooked down with the beef, which is an old restaurant trick for stretching meat and, honestly, for improving it. Mushrooms bring savory depth and moisture that lean ground beef simply does not have on its own. Rolled into a burrito with rice and cheese, wrapped in parchment and tied, it travels well and eats cold without complaint. Make a batch and freeze them individually, then pull one out the night before.
Get the full tutorial at The Yum Yum Factor.
15. No Bake Oatmeal Granola Bars
Two cups of old fashioned oats with half a cup of fruit juice sweetened dried cranberries, a third of a cup of mini dark chocolate chips or cacao nibs, two teaspoons of cinnamon and a pinch of salt, bound with a third of a cup each of coconut oil and honey, a tablespoon of vanilla and three quarters of a cup of raw creamy almond butter. No oven. Press them into the pan much harder than feels right, because loose pressing is why homemade bars crumble.
Get the full tutorial at The Gracious Pantry.
16. Back To School Sugar Wafer Pencil Cookies
Four ingredients turn a sugar wafer into a pencil: twenty wafers, a ten ounce bag of white melting wafers, red gel food coloring and twenty mini chocolate chips for the pencil points. Trim one end of each wafer with a sharp knife to make the tip, dip the other end in pink for the eraser. Set up both bowls of melted chocolate and the chips before you start, because melted candy coating sets while you are looking for something. A first day of school treat that costs almost nothing.
Get the full tutorial at Shaken Together.
17. Healthy Zucchini Muffins with Chocolate Chips
Two cups of shredded unpeeled zucchini squeezed dry in a paper towel, half a cup of mashed banana, a quarter cup each of coconut oil, honey and brown sugar, two room temperature eggs, cinnamon and two cups of white whole wheat flour, baked at 375. Squeeze that zucchini and then squeeze it again, since excess water is the only reason a zucchini muffin turns out gummy. Nobody will ask what the green flecks are, because the chocolate chips are doing the talking.
Get the full tutorial at Well Plated.
18. Homemade Spaghetti Os
A fifteen ounce can of no salt added tomato sauce with two tablespoons of milk, onion powder, paprika, salt, a tablespoon of butter, a quarter cup of nutritional yeast or Parmesan and a little sweetener, poured over a cup of cooked tiny pasta. No corn syrup anywhere. Drain the pasta and pat it dry before it meets the sauce, which keeps it from thinning out. Into a warm thermos this is the lunch that gets requested all year, and it costs a fraction of the can.
Get the full tutorial at Chocolate Covered Katie.
19. Peanut Butter Banana Roll-Ups
Thin whole grain crepes rather than tortillas, made from a cup of milk, an egg, a cup of whole grain flour, baking powder, maple syrup and a little vanilla, blended and cooked in a six inch nonstick pan. Peanut butter goes on, a banana goes in, it rolls up and gets a cacao drizzle. Add water if the batter is too thick, because a thick crepe cracks when you roll it. Breakfast, a snack or a lunchbox sweet, and it is real food rather than a wrapper.
Get the full tutorial at Natalie's Health.
20. Grilled Lemon Chicken Flatbread Wraps
Grilled chicken seasoned with warm spices, wrapped in flatbread with a spicy garlic sauce, and the lemon is what keeps the whole thing from being heavy. This is a grown up lunch as much as a kid one, so it earns a spot if you are packing for yourself at the same time. Grill the chicken the night before and slice it cold in the morning, which is faster and gives you cleaner slices than hot chicken ever will. Keep the sauce separate until you build it.
Get the full tutorial at The Cozy Apron.
21. Sandwich Kabobs
Sandwich ingredients threaded onto a skewer instead of stacked between bread: cubes of ham, cheese, cherry tomato, cucumber, pretzel twists. It is the same lunch, and children eat it at a completely different rate, which is either encouraging or infuriating depending on the morning. Cut the bread into cubes rather than slices so it stays on the stick. Snip the sharp end off each skewer before it goes in the box, and pack them lying flat in a shallow container.
Get the full tutorial at Simple as That.
22. Berry Brunch Kabobs
Six strawberries cut lengthwise, twelve cheese rounds, twelve donut holes and six strips of thick cut bacon halved, onto twelve six inch bamboo skewers. The order matters: cheese first so you have somewhere to hold, then the donut hole, then the bacon, then the strawberry on top. Sweet and savory on the same stick is a combination people either love instantly or refuse outright, and there is no middle ground. Refrigerate until they go to the table.
Get the full tutorial at Shaken Together.
23. Bulgogi Onigirazu
A Japanese rice sandwich wrapped in nori, filled here with Korean bulgogi: a pound of beef marinated in soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, brown sugar, grated Asian pear and garlic, with onion, carrot and scallions. The pear is not a garnish, the enzymes in it tenderize the beef. A cup and a half of uncooked short grain rice yields four and a third cups cooked, which is the number you need before you start. Cut it in half and the cross section is the whole point.
Get the full tutorial at Just One Cookbook.
24. Mocha Zucchini Muffins
Mocha zucchini muffins are dark, deeply chocolate and far more moist than they look, and that moisture comes from a cup of grated zucchini. Do not squeeze it dry, the water is the whole point, and the zucchini adds no flavor you can taste. A cup of cold brewed coffee goes in with the eggs and yogurt, which deepens the cocoa instead of making the muffins taste like coffee. Fold the zucchini and the chocolate chips in by hand rather than letting the mixer beat the batter flat, then fill the papers only two thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 22 minutes for 12 large muffins or 18 regular ones.
Get the full tutorial at Simple Hacks Living.
25. Turkey Roll Ups
One avocado mashed with half a teaspoon of lemon juice and a quarter teaspoon of salt, spread across two large tortillas, then half a pound of thinly sliced smoked turkey, a cup and a quarter of spinach, four slices of Swiss and three slices of crumbled cooked bacon. Roll tight and slice into pinwheels. The lemon juice is doing two jobs, seasoning and keeping the avocado green, which is the only reason avocado belongs in a lunch packed twelve hours early.
Get the full tutorial at Dinner at the Zoo.
26. Meat, Cheese and Veggie Wraps
Deli meat, cheese and whatever vegetables are in the drawer, rolled in a tortilla and cut into two short logs rather than pinwheels, so small hands can hold them. Packed alongside carrot sticks and a handful of crackers, it is a complete lunch assembled in about four minutes. Spread something across the whole tortilla before anything else goes on, cream cheese or hummus or mustard, because a dry wrap unrolls itself in the bag and arrives in pieces.
Get the full tutorial at Simple as That.
27. Cold Noodles With Shredded Chicken
The poaching method here is worth learning on its own. Bring a small pot of water to a boil with ginger and scallion, add a room temperature chicken breast, return it to a boil, then cover the pot, turn the heat off entirely and leave it twenty two to twenty five minutes. It comes out tender every single time. Shred it over noodles with julienned cucumber, bean sprouts, peanuts, scallion and cilantro. Genuinely better cold, which is rare and very useful.
Get the full tutorial at The Woks of Life.
28. Avocado Chicken Salad
No mayonnaise at all. Two cups of cooked shredded chicken with two thirds of a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt, two tablespoons of lemon juice, a tablespoon of Dijon, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then two ripe avocados broken into rough pieces straight into the bowl with the tip of a small spoon. Halved red grapes, a cup and a half of diced celery, dill or tarragon and toasted almonds finish it. Breaking the avocado in rather than mashing it keeps actual pieces in the salad.
Get the full tutorial at Well Plated.
29. Baked Veggie Taquitos
Onion, two cups of diced cremini mushrooms and chopped Swiss chard sauteed three or four minutes, then bell pepper and black beans for another three or four, then chili powder, cumin and a heaping cup and a quarter of roasted mashed butternut squash. Rolled into ten to twelve whole wheat tortillas with Monterey Jack and baked at 400. The squash is the binder as much as the flavor, which is why these hold their roll instead of unwinding on the sheet pan.
Get the full tutorial at Hip Foodie Mom.
30. Broccoli, Grape, and Pasta Salad
Half a cup of pecans toasted at 350 for five to seven minutes with a stir halfway, eight ounces of farfalle cooked al dente, three cups of finely chopped broccoli florets, two cups of halved red grapes and six slices of crumbled bacon, in a dressing of a cup of mayonnaise, a quarter cup of sugar, a quarter cup of red wine vinegar, diced red onion and salt. Finely chopped is the instruction that matters, because big florets make it a broccoli salad with pasta in it.
Get the full tutorial at Spicy Southern Kitchen.
31. Spicy Smoked Sausage Alfredo Bake
Sixteen ounces of pasta, a sauce built from three tablespoons of butter, garlic, three tablespoons of flour, a cup of chicken broth and two cups of half and half, with cayenne and red pepper flakes for the heat, half a cup of Parmesan, two cups of mozzarella and a twelve ounce smoked sausage. Whisk the broth in until completely smooth before the half and half goes anywhere near it, or you will be picking lumps out of your alfredo. A dinner that reheats into lunch.
Get the full tutorial at Let's Dish.
32. Creamy Turkey Pinwheels
Two to three ounces of light cream cheese mixed with a tablespoon of drained diced green chilies and a sprinkle of garlic salt, spread across two whole wheat tortillas, then cheddar and sliced deli turkey laid as flat as you can get them. Roll tight, wrap in plastic and put it in the fridge overnight. That chill is what makes the slices clean rather than squashed, and the green chilies are the small thing that stops it tasting like every other pinwheel.
Get the full tutorial at Yummy Healthy Easy.
33. Baked Chicken Nuggets
A pound of chicken cut into one inch pieces, tossed in half a cup of flour, dipped in egg beaten with two tablespoons of milk, then coated in a cup of panko mixed with a quarter cup of cornmeal, a teaspoon and a half of paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Baked at 400 on a parchment lined sheet. The cornmeal is why these crisp in the oven instead of going pale and soft, and it is the detail most baked nugget recipes leave out.
Get the full tutorial at Well Plated.
34. Easy Turkey-Bacon Tortilla Roll-Ups
Turkey, bacon and cream cheese rolled in a tortilla and sliced, which is about as close to a no recipe recipe as this list gets. Ranch seasoning stirred into the cream cheese is the variation worth making. Chill the whole roll before slicing, always, because a room temperature roll squashes into an oval under the knife.
Get the full tutorial at Faithful Provisions.
35. BBQ Chopped Chicken Sandwich
Two grilled chicken breasts chopped small, two cups of romaine, halved grape tomatoes, corn, black beans, diced onion and half a cup of cheddar, bound with a quarter cup of ranch and a quarter cup of honey barbecue sauce, piled onto hearty bread. The source gives the exact instruction a packed lunch needs: put the filling in its own container and slather it on the bread at lunchtime, unless your bread is sturdy enough to sit in it for four hours.
Get the full tutorial at Chew Out Loud.
36. Aloha Subs
Meatballs from a pound and a half of lean ground beef with a third of a cup of dry minced onion, an egg, milk, two tablespoons each of soy sauce and pineapple juice, a quarter cup of panko, ground ginger and garlic powder. Sixteen meatballs, baked at 450 for about twelve minutes. They go into hoagie rolls with pineapple rings cut in half lengthwise and shredded pepper jack. Cutting the rings lengthwise rather than into chunks is what keeps the pineapple in the sandwich.
Get the full tutorial at Carlsbad Cravings.
37. Bacon Chicken Penne Pasta
Bacon, chicken and penne in a cream sauce, which is the sort of dinner that makes a better lunch the next day than it did the night before. Cook the pasta a minute short of the package time, because it keeps absorbing sauce in the fridge and a properly al dente noodle turns soft overnight while an overcooked one turns to mush. Cook the bacon separately and add it at the very end so it keeps some snap.
Get the full tutorial at Printable Crush.
38. Easy Beef Taco Salad
A pound of lean ground beef browned eight to ten minutes with chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika and cumin, then a three ingredient dressing of three quarters of a cup each of sour cream and salsa with lime juice to taste. Over six cups of romaine with halved little tomatoes, red onion, shredded cheese and crushed Doritos. Spoon the fat out of the pan before the spices go in, or the dressing will not cling to anything.
Get the full tutorial at Salt & Lavender.
39. Ham and Cheese Pinwheels
One sheet of thawed puff pastry rolled out on floured parchment to ten by twelve inches, spread with eight ounces of cream cheese mixed with a tablespoon of mustard, six ounces of chopped ham, a cup of shredded sharp cheddar and black pepper, leaving a quarter inch border on both long edges. Rolled and baked. That border is what lets the seam seal instead of erupting cheese onto the sheet pan, and it is the step everybody skips once.
Get the full tutorial at Plated Cravings.
40. Lunch Box Kabobs
Cubes of cheddar, folded ham and cherry tomatoes on short skewers, and that is the entire lunch. What makes it work is that nothing on the stick needs cooking, nothing goes soggy and it can be built in three minutes while you are looking for a permission slip. Fold the ham into quarters rather than threading it flat so it stays plump. Grapes, olives or cucumber swap in for the tomato depending on who is eating it.
Get the full tutorial at It Is a Keeper.
