It’s lunchtime and you have hungry mouths to feed!  Do you ever open up the pantry and wonder what to fix that’s quick and easy?  Nothing worse than lunch taking forever when you have ravenous kiddos!

Luckily there are plenty of options to help you get lunch on the table.  We have you covered with these quick and easy lunch ideas for littles!

What’s For Lunch?

Do you struggle with coming up with a new lunch 7 days a week? Or are you in a lunch rut serving up the same thing? What’s a parent to do? Make mid-day meal prep a breeze with these six quick and easy school lunch ideas.

These lunch ideas are not only convenient to make they are healthy and include a variety of foods that kids typically like.  Littles will eat them up! 

Quesadillas

A great alternative to sandwiches, quesadillas are quick and easy to make and easy to eat for little hands. Keep it simple with shredded cheese and tortillas.  Simply sandwich shredded cheese between two tortillas.  Pop it in the microwave for 30-60 seconds, slice into wedges and lunch is ready!  There are so many other options to add too!

Here are some ideas:

• A dollop of refried beans
• Add some salsa
• Lunchmeat
• Sliced avocado

Serve with a side of salsa, fresh fruit and veggie, and lunch is served.

Pasta or Noodle Bowls

Pasta and noodle bowls are a quick and easy lunch idea. Make a pot of plain pasta early in the week.  Then throughout the week load it up with various vegetables and sauces for healthy lunches.

Here are some ideas:

• Pair macaroni noodles with green peas and parmesan
• Heat up frozen broccoli and tomato sauce with pasta shells
• Combine rice, carrot slices, bell peppers, and cucumbers with a splash of soy sauce or other preferred salad dressing 
• Add life to leftover mac and cheese with diced up lunchmeat or bacon

Pasta and rice bowls are quick and easy lunch because you combine the starch, protein, and veggies into one meal.  Your littles will eat them up! 

 

Bagels

Bagels offer a great foundation to make a quick and easy lunch!  Pile on the toppings and your littles will be gobbling up healthy all-in-one lunches.

Here are some ideas:

• Spread some cream cheese and top with strawberries, blueberries or raspberries
• Use peanut butter or other nut butter and sliced apples
• Top with store bought or homemade guacamole and top with fresh veggies of choice
• Make a hot ham and cheese with lunch meat and melted cheese

Serve with fresh veggies, yogurt, or other fruit for a well-rounded meal!

Creative Sandwiches

Sandwiches are a lunchtime standard.  Breath some new life into the old PB&J with these ideas.  They are still quick and easy and kiddos will love them!

Here are some ideas:

• Sliced bananas with peanut butter
• Instead of standard peanut butter swap out another nut butter or cream cheese to pair with jelly
• Apple and peanut butter sandwich, slice apples and use in place of bread.  Spread peanut butter in the middle
• Waffle or pancake sandwich, cut up fruit like strawberries, or bananas with jam and place in-between the pancake or waffle 

Other Quick and Easy Ideas

Here are a few other quick and easy lunch ideas!  They are healthy and yummy too!

Here are some ideas:

• Hummus with pitas and fresh veggies
• Roll-ups/wraps with tortillas, meat, cheese or veggies
• Fruit kabobs
• Yogurt cup with fresh fruit

When the noon bell hits your littles stomachs are grumbling!  And more than likely they might be crumbling because they need food and need it now!  Scrambling to get them fed is stressful.  Try out these quick and easy lunch ideas for your littles.  Get them fed.  Get them happy.  Keep them healthy.  Keep your day running smoothly!