A Real School Lunch- cute eco friendly lunch boxes and simple meal ideas

A real school lunch starts with a cute, safe lunch box that your child will love! Check out our family favorites:



You are looking at the super cool, eco-friendly lunch boxes my kids are using this school year. The > waste-free, Jolly Roger Go Green Lunch box is so great. It comes with a reusable bento-style container and a stainless steel water bottle to fit inside can be found > here. The cute puppy dog, lead-free bag is by Built-NY and I got it from one of my favorite online eco shops, > Reusable Bags. The awesome skateboarder bag is perfect for your little skater, I found it at > Four Peas.

Once you've picked the perfect bag for your kiddos, find some handy containers like > Lunchbots, a sandwich wrap such as > Lunchskins, and a couple reusable snack bags, like the ones made by > Snack Taxi pictured next to the lunch boxes (the sushi design is so cute!), and you are now armed with the goods to pack a delicious, simple lunch that will fuel your children through out a busy school day.

What To Pack

Some easy school lunch suggestion for kids, which can be prepared in less then 15 minutes are;

tuna salad sandwich made with just three ingredients- good quality tuna (my personal favorite is Flott tuna which is from Italy and canned in olive oil, found at the > Wedge Co-op), soy and canola oil-free > mayonnaise and a bit of yellow mustard.

almond butter and local honey on whole wheat bread or sourdough bread. If you're in the Twin Cities I love the Whole Wheat sandwich bread by Bread Art, delivered strait to my door every week by > Simple Provisions.

homemade yogurt cups (I use a BPA-free plastic snack cup with a well-fitting lid)-plain whole milk yogurt, a dash of dehydrated blueberries (> Just Tomatoes makes great dehydrated fruit of all kinds), maple syrup or honey and a small handful of granola or chopped nuts.

String cheese or nitrate-free beef sticks are also good, quick sources of protein.

fruit is usually a hit, just whatever you do, cut it into manageable pieces, my kids never touch whole fruit in school though they'll gladly eat an entire apple or plum at home.

For treats I might pack fruit leather (I like > these because they are organic and less then 50 calories so I know my kids won't get full if they choose to eat dessert first!), a homemade cookie or a couple of my kid's favorites, > chocolate earth balls.

For nourishing ideas on what to pack yourself read > this post about what I make for my husband's lunch.

I hope you and your family have many happy, delicious lunches in the future!

For more real food ideas please check out this week's > Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop!

This post has also been shared with > the Nourishing Gourmet's wonderful Pennywise Platter Thursday. Please check it out!