Easy Plant-Based Lunchbox Ideas!
As summer winds down and school time approaches it means, for most families, life goes back to our standard weekday routines which include prepping and packing our kids lunchboxes.
This can sometimes feel like a daunting project for a busy parent! Perhaps we run out of ideas on what to pack, perhaps our kids don’t want the food we had planned for, perhaps we struggle with time in the morning, or perhaps we had good intentions to prep the lunchbox the night before but simply forgot to do it, and we end up standing there by the door in the morning ready to leave just to realize the lunchbox is empty! On top of that comes peer pressure to always offer healthy, nourishing meals for our kids. We’ve all been there, or felt this way at some point.
Luckily, there are many things you can do as parents to simplify this routine and make it more enjoyable, while ensuring your kids gets healthy and nourishing lunches every day. Here are my top tips on how to easily and quickly pack varied plant-based lunches for your kids!
A Little Bit {Of Each Group} Goes A Long Way…
When it is time to prep your child’s lunch box, it helps to have an idea about where to start and to know what’s actually good to have in it. An easy way to get a nutritionally balanced whole food plant-based meal is to include at least one food from each of the four groups below.
- A Starchy Food
This could be a starchy veggie such as potato or sweet potato, or a grain such as rice, bulgur, quinoa or a pasta or bread.
Tip: Always cook extra grains and pasta or bake potatoes when you can, this way you can use the leftovers for lunchboxes during the week. A good idea is also to keep a couple of different healthy breads in the freezer so you can quickly defrost them when needed.
- A Protein Rich Food
This includes beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, quinoa, whole nuts, nut butters or seeds.
Tip: Always keep canned legumes at home (unless you like batch cooking them), as well as your child’s favorite nuts and seeds. Having a ready made trail mix is also smart as this can be a perfect extra energy boost to add to your child’s lunch box. Ready baked tofu is also a hit when time is limited!
- A Vegetable
Include at least one vegetable every day. Easy ones are carrot sticks, bell peppers, cucumber, whole baby tomatoes, green peas, sweet corn or half an avocado.
Tip: Green peas and sweet corn are easy to always keep in the freezer, and carrots last a long time in the refrigerator!
- A Fruit Or Berry
The simplest option is to pack a whole apple, pear, banana or clementine on the side, or add a few grapes or berries to the box. You can also quickly slice a melon, pack a few orange wedges, or simply put a few pieces of dried apricots, raisins or figs in the box if you run out of fresh produce.
Tip: Fresh berries work best in lunch boxes, but otherwise frozen berries work just as well. Frozen berries last much longer and are less expensive so use them in smoothies and desserts etc. Dried fruit is always good to have at home as well.
Depending on the type of food you are packing, the meal can be served in different parts, “taco style”, or somewhat mixed. There are many practical lunchboxes to buy today that come with separated (bento) sections. It may be worth investing in one of those.
The plant-based lunch box guide below can help you with ideas. Pick and choose at least one food from each column and mix and match the foods as you like!