Healthy lunch box round up

Here is what I have packed lately

Create your own lunchable. Ham and cheese slices, whole wheat crackers, organic Oreo, strawberries, grapes, yogurt.

Same for my boy…with popcorn too

Oranges, ham, carrots, strawberries, grapes, chocolate covered pecan.

Pizza quesadilla, pears, strawberries, carrots, kiwi.

Same for my son.

Pizza quesadilla once more, kiwi, oranges, strawberry, pecans.

Pancake peanut butter and jelly sandwich, kale chips, grapes and kiwi.

Yogurt, granola, carrots, apple slices and peanut butter

Turkey on homemade whole wheat roll, red Bartlett pear slices, tangerine slices and Annie’s bunny Graham’s (from Halloween).

My son had mostly the same but with avocado and tomato on his turkey sandwich.

Peanut butter and jelly sushi rolls (used lavash), blueberries, pineapples, pears.

Same as above for my son only added cucumbers too. He loves them!

Pumpkin waffle sandwich with cream cheese and strawberry fruit spread, boiled egg, pineapple, and kiwi, oh and raspberry yogurt covered pretzels. She asked me to pack this lunch for her every day. 🙂

Son didn’t think he’d like the sandwich (not much he doesn’t like, so surprising), so I gave him a sample sandwich and cut his pumpkin waffles up and gave a little container of syrup.

Healthy lunch box round up

So I was tired and lazy and have not posted each lunch daily, so here are the ones I have missed…

Ham & romaine lettuce rolled in whole wheat tortilla, yogurt with granola, apple slices with peanut butter and water. Oh and a couple M&Ms my parents got the kids against my request (we are about to be hit with Halloween candy.)

Peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat cut into hearts, orange slices, grapes and homemade sweet potato chips.

My son also had a PB&J on whole wheat but I cut his into a Mickey Mouse shape. And I ate the extras off their sandwiches… No waste! 🙂

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Keep checking back daily for more healthy lunch ideas.

Today’s healthy lunch box: do it yourself lunchable

Lunchables are a fairly popular item for quick lunch boxes, but contain ingredients I don’t care to offer my kids, not to mention you can make these a lot cheaper on your own! Men’s Health listed the turkey lunchable meal the kids meal with the most sugar and a group of dietitians for the non profit Cancer Project reviewed 60 pre packaged kids lunches and listed the 5 worst here. Bottom line is that pre packaged, processed foods are convenient, but not good for you.

Making your own lunchable with healthier options of real, minimally processed cheese, no hormone and nitrate-free meat (organic is possible), and whole wheat crackers make a better option. Certainly, a lunchable style lunch is a little more fun too.

It’s actually easy and not as time consuming as you would think. My DIY lunchable was Canadian bacon (ham) cut into triangles, cheese slices and whole wheat crackers. I also included yogurt, granola, strawberries, grapes and an organic “Oreo” for our special treat. Our drink was a treat too, took a break from our usual water and offered raspberry lemonade.

My son had the same, no granola, but I gave him a little popcorn.

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Keep checking back daily for more healthy lunch ideas.

Today’s healthy bento lunch box: egg wrap

My daughter would eat breakfast all day if I let her, so I try to occasionally incorporate breakfast into her lunch. Eggs really get a bad rap. They have nutritional benefits, especially if you can get local yard eggs (what most would think of as cage free, but the cage free term is misleading. Chickens only need to have access to the outside, even if its a measly opening in the giant coop.) Eggs offer protein, vitamins, minerals and iron. Yard eggs also are a good source of Omega-3.

OK, enough about egg benefits. Today’s lunch box contained a scrambled egg wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla with a little Earth Balance “butter,” watermelon flower on bed of pineapple and grapes, fresh peach slices and carrot sticks.

The yummy treat is a pumpkin donut for her snack. The recipe is here.

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Keep checking back daily for more healthy lunch ideas.

Today’s bento lunch box: ham in pita pocket

There is nothing wrong with a sandwich now and then, but I like to keep it interesting and not use too much bread. So today was a ham pita pocket. Normally, I would add romaine, tomatoes and mayo, but my daughter is slightly picky at certain things and just wants ham and mustard, much like her mommy at that age! 🙂

With her pita pocket, I included grapes, a gingerbread man shaped watermelon slice, some fresh green beans and marinates asparagus. Our treat was a bit of pumpkin pie. She LOVES the asparagus. You can easily cut the asparagus into 1 inch sections and marinate in Garlic Expression dressing, however, I didn’t have time to go get this, so I created my own knock off version. I used roughly 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tbls olive oil (canola may be better), 1 large minced garlic clove, salt, pepper, onion powder and celery seed to taste. I whisked it all together and let the asparagus marinate until we were ready to eat. She loves it!!

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Keep checking back daily for more healthy lunch ideas.

Today’s (and yesterday’s) healthy bento lunch box: breakfast for lunch & PB and banana

I forgot to post yesterday’s lunch. Such a busy day! I think it was her favorite lunch – breakfast for lunch. She LOVES breakfast!

I packed her pumpkin waffles, maple syrup, boiled egg, Canadian bacon rolls and mixed berries. Pumpkin waffle recipe here. They are soooo good.

Today’s lunch was by request, it was a peanut butter and banana roll up, blueberry yogurt, pineapple and Pirate Booty. Pirate Booty you ask? It’s an all natural “popcorn” style snack with aged cheddar cheese flavor. Pretty good and no icky stuff, even if it is processed, but it’s an occasional treat so I don’t fret. Oh her little treat is chocolate covered almonds.

My son had the same only strawberry yogurt and no chocolate covered almonds.

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Keep checking back daily for more healthy lunch ideas.

Today’s healthy bento box lunch: pizza bagel!

Today my daughters school served pizza bagels for lunch, so I thought I would send one in her lunch box too!

Pizza bagel with all natural pepperoni on whole wheat bagel, orange slices, fresh pineapple chunks, honey Dijon almonds and a few chocolate chips as a treat. I made the pizza bagel with a whole wheat bagel, used a heaping tablespoon of natural pizza sauce, arranged pepperoni on top, then shredded desired amount of mozzarella on top of that. I put in the toaster oven on 400 for a few minutes until cheese was melted. Whaalaa! Lunch!

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Keep checking back daily for more healthy lunch ideas.

Today’s healthy bento box lunch

I didn’t post my daughters lunch yesterday. Time just got away from me and I forgot!

She had rice and beans (rice, black beans, onions, with bits of sausage and bacon). Plus peanut butter and strawberry jelly roll ups. The apple was her snack.

Today my son packed daddy’s “concoction,” cucumber and cream cheese roll ups, tomato slices and plum slices. So you are wondering what concoction is? Something my husband invented after learning more about the Paleo diet. He (OK, I) take romaine (or other dark leafy green like kale), carrots, onion, bell pepper, cucumber and broccoli and run it through the food processor. Just use your desired amount of each item. We top that with sun dried tomatoes, sun flower seeds, apple cider vinegar, tobacco and sometimes extra virgin olive oil. My son usually prefers it without the ACV, so basically just eats a bowl of shredded veggies! And he absolutely LOVES it.

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Keep checking back daily for more healthy lunch ideas.

Today’s healthy lunch box: hummus pinwheels, veggies

Today my daughter had organic black cherry yogurt, granola, plums, and hummus pinwheels. I put a few chocolate chips for dessert in the center as well. I typically use lavash for the pinwheels (flat, rectangle bread), but it can be hard to find, so I used another flat bread and cut off the round ends, spread a semi thin layer of hummus and rolled it up! And forgive me for lidding the dippers, got a cold going on and had a cloudy head!

My son really loves the cherry type tomatoes, so he had organic grape tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, boiled egg, sliced avocado and yogurt. I squeezed a bit of lemon juice on the avocado and sprayed a bit of pure EVOO on it to help prevent it from going brown. So thankful my boy eats like this. It’s his dream lunch!

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Keep checking back daily for more healthy lunch ideas.

Today’s healthy lunch box

Today’s lunch is yogurt with granola, nectarine slices, and a peanut butter and banana roll up sandwich. I had planned on a hard boiled egg as well, but she opted to eat it for breakfast with her whole wheat pancakes. Her snack is a fresh plum.

The banana roll up is easy to make. I grabbed a whole wheat tortilla, spread peanut butter all over it, placed. A banana in the middle, then wrapped it all up.

See other lunch box ideas.

Keep checking back daily for more healthy lunch ideas.