School mornings can be chaotic, and deciding what everyone is taking for lunch shouldn’t add more stress. After years of packing plant-based lunches for my kids, I learned that keeping things simple and planning ahead made mornings much easier.
You don’t need to create a completely different lunch every day. I like to start with a simple main dish, then add fruits, vegetables and easy sides we already have on hand. This mix-and-match approach makes it easy to build plant-based lunch boxes your family will actually eat.
Below I’ll show you some of the combinations we’ve packed over the years, along with my favorite tips for making school lunches easier.
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My Simple Plant-Based Lunch Box Formula
When my kids were younger, I found it much easier to think about lunch in a few simple parts instead of trying to come up with an entirely new meal every day:
Main + Fruit or Vegetable + Easy Side
Start with something filling that you know your child will eat, then use whatever fruits, vegetables and simple sides you already have available.
Main
- Hummus wrap
- Bean burrito
- Vegan tuna salad sandwich
- Chickpea nuggets
- Peanut butter or seed-butter sandwich
- Rainbow veggie pinwheels
- Leftovers that pack well
Fruit or Vegetable
- Apple slices
- Grapes
- Berries
- Orange/clementine
- Carrot sticks
- Cucumber
- Bell pepper
- Whatever produce your child reliably eats
Easy Side
- Pretzels
- Popcorn
- Crackers
- Applesauce
- Banana bread
- Energy balls
- Baked oatmeal
And don’t worry if a child wants the same lunch repeatedly. Current parent-focused guidance also recognizes that familiar, repeated lunches can be perfectly workable; variety can happen across the rest of the day or week.
Bean Burrito Lunch Box
My kids love bean burritos and beans and chips! We use this oil-free refried bean recipe in the Instant Pot! Here is the regular version. You can also make the burrito ahead of time if making it feels like too much trouble, or use chips instead. My kids like to make their own, so we do a lot of deconstructed lunches.
Hummus and Veggie Wrap Lunch Box
This plant-based lunch box is perfect for a day trip lunch! Carrot and cucumber sticks, cut long for easy dipping, are perfect for packing. This lunch has a Mediterranean flare, including veggie wraps with oil-free hummus. You could use your favorite fresh veggies and add olives on the side. We opt for popcorn since our whole family loves it.
Everyone can choose their own hummus and their own veggies. Instead of a wrap, make it in a pita pocket.
Peanut Butter and Banana Lunch Box
You could also try a good old fashioned peanut butter and banana sandwich with mixed veggies and mixed fruit with pretzels. This one may be my favorite. I’ve been on a peanut butter kick!
Use your favorite bread or even a tortilla to mix it up a bit. We use whichever fruit and veggies we have and everyone can pick their own.
If you can’t use peanut butter at your school or daycare, try Sunbutter made from sunflower seeds, or Wowbutter made from soybeans.
Rainbow Veggie Pinwheel Lunch Box
We love these Rainbow Veggie Pinwheels! They are perfect for exposing kids to veggie variety. We make them with hummus. You can choose your favorite flavor of hummus.
Having fresh fruit as an accompaniment is always a winning choice! We all love apples dipped in peanut butter. We’ll often grab a granola bar or baked oatmeal to add to this.
Pack Foods Your Kids Will Actually Eat
School lunch isn’t usually the best time to introduce an entirely unfamiliar meal. Kids often have a short amount of time to eat, they’re surrounded by friends, and they may be more interested in talking than finishing lunch.
I learned to pack familiar foods I knew my kids could eat easily and save most experimenting with new foods for home.
Choose Containers Kids Can Open
Lunchtime, and especially for the first few days of school, can be overwhelming for some students. Make sure your child can use containers without adult help. Often, there is one teacher overseeing a whole table of children. If you child has to wait for help, they will lose valuable eating time.
- lids they can open independently
- reusable containers that they can open and close
- bags/zippers that still work
- thermoses if applicable can be difficult to open with warm contents
- condiment/dip containers
Lunchbox Recommendations
I’ve used these stackable, dishwasher-safe lunch boxes since my kids started school. We’ve also used the smaller, snack-size boxes. They are easy to store and stack, and my kids can open them easily. Since they are so inexpensive, if we forget something in them over a long break, I just throw them out. There was a pickle incident many, many years ago.
We used silicone muffin liners and food picks to keep food organized and keep the wrong foods from touching! An insulated bag helps keep food hot or cold. We used bags with removable ice packs, but some bags can go in the freezer.
We’ve also used the Omiebox for our youngest. He loved taking soups and hot food, and this has a built-in thermos that keeps food hot until lunchtime. I had the office ladies asking for my soup recipe because it smelled so good.
What Can I Pack the Night Before?
Good to prep ahead:
Washed/cut produce, energy balls, banana bread, hummus, vegan tuna salad, etc. can be prepacked. Anything deconstructed for lunchtime assembly is fine to pack the night before.
Better assembled in the morning:
Anything you’ve found gets soggy overnight, like sandwiches, wraps, or anything dry that touches something wet. Pack anything that needs to stay warm in a thermos in the morning.
More Plant-Based School Lunch Help
- 10 Easy Plant-Based Lunch Box Recipes for Kids — Need more ideas for the main part of the lunch? Start with these easy, kid-friendly plant-based recipes.
- 7 Tips for Simple School Lunches — My practical tips for making school lunches easier on busy mornings.
- Easy Plant-Based Lunch Box Sides for Kids — Simple ideas for filling those extra spaces in the lunch box with fruits, veggies, snacks and other easy sides.
- Oil-Free Hummus Without Tahini — One of our longtime lunch-box staples that’s great as a dip or spread for wraps and sandwiches.
What are your favorite lunch box tips?
What are the cute & colorful cups you use in the lunch box as dip holders? Muffin cups?? Some look round and some look square. Thanks!
Yes, I use silicone muffin cups. You can get them in different shapes like squares, rectangles, hearts and stars. They work really well to keep things separate and are washable.