Help your child pack a good school lunch with my step-by-step packing lunch tips! Encourage healthy school lunches, easier mornings, and independence.

You usually have two options to make sure your child eats a healthy lunch at school: teach your child to make healthy choices at school or do the daily grind of making a sack lunch yourself. But there’s another option: Let your child pack their own lunch!

Taking a box lunch to school doesn’t always have to be created by mom or dad. Lunch packing promotes autonomy while teaching your child how to choose healthy foods and how foods can go together to make a satisfying, nutritious lunch at school. And it saves time for the family during the hectic morning routine.

Here’s my top tips for getting your child to pack their own school lunch.

5 Tips for Packing Lunch for School

As a pediatric nutritionist and mom, I’ve packed TONS of lunches. And like most moms, I needed an occasional break. I came up with these guidelines for my own kids to help keep nutrition front and center.

1. Add Most Food Groups

Although food groups may seem boring, they are helpful for kids. Teach your child the 5 food groups: Whole grains, fruit, vegetables, meat and alternatives, dairy and dairy products and have them include a minimum of 3 or 4 food groups in their lunch box.

Here are some balanced and nutritious packed lunch ideas for kids:

• Hard-boiled eggs, toast with nut-free butter like Wow Butter (cut into fingers and wrapped in foil to maintain crunchiness), red pepper slices, and grapes.
• Tuna wrap with lettuce, baby carrots, applesauce, and milk to drink
• Whole grain bagel with cream cheese and turkey, fresh berries, and a frozen vanilla yogurt stick (wrapped in tinfoil to prevent “sweating”)

2. Use Leftovers and Cook Food in Bulk 

When you have some extra time on weekends or evenings, bake a big batch of whole grain muffins or oatmeal cookies and freeze in plastic zipper bags.

[Check out my Oat, Flax & Raisin Cookies]

When you’re cooking the evening meal, try to make extra for the child who enjoys a leftover lunch. Cooking in bulk not only saves you time when packing a sack lunch, it also adds some great variety to the usual lunch choices.

3. Plan and Prepare the Lunch Menu in Advance 

As much as possible, cut up vegetables on the weekend, clean fruit when you purchase it, portion out yogurt or leftovers into individual containers, or fill drink containers the night before. 

The more you can prepare in advance, the easier it will be for your child to pack healthy foods.

4. Ensure Food Safety 

Use an insulated lunch bag with ice packs to keep cold food cold. If your child wants to pack something warm like chili, soups, spaghetti or scrambled eggs, don’t forget to warm up both the food and the thermos in which the food will be stored.

5. Discuss Food Choices with Your Child

Not all children are ready to take on the task of lunch packing. However, you can get your child involved in packing lunch in a way that is age appropriate.

For instance, younger children can help portion things like yogurt or trail mix; older kids can make their own sandwiches or wraps.

Keep a list of nutritious food options your child would enjoy at school. Your child can refer to this list for lunch box ideas. Revise and update it often with your child as the year progresses along.

Step-by-Step Lunch Packing for Kids

Here’s an easy step-by-step process to help kids pack a good lunch for school.

1. Choose at least 4 food groups to pack for lunch. Example: turkey and cheese on whole grain bread + grapes + chickpea puffs
2. When negotiating foods for the school lunch box, let your child choose between two options. For instance, strawberries or a clementine; popcorn or pretzels; turkey or ham.
3. Let your child do the work! This will encourage their independence, engage with hands-on tasks, and learn while doing.
4. Take advantage of after-school snack time for discussing, planning and preparing for the next day’s lunch ideas.
5. Use a school lunch planner. From a piece of paper to something more formal, a planner can help you map out the week of food with input from your child, and make the process of lunch packing easier.

Can Young School Age Children Help with Packing Lunch?

Kindergarten, first-, and second-graders are at a great age to help with packing lunch. But they need some help, because they don’t really know what goes into a balanced, healthy lunch. And, it’s still hard for them to prepare food quickly, so they may need some assistance.

No matter your child’s age, you can support them by setting the guidelines of what goes into a lunch and let then make the choice from the food options you lay out. For example:

• Protein: Turkey or yogurt
• Grain: Bread or crackers
• Fruit: Grapes or applesauce
• Veggie: Carrot coins or celery sticks (you can alternate fruit and veggies or if he will eat both, do both)
• Dairy: Cheese or milk

This lets you determine the nutritional quality and balance of the lunch, and allows your child more say in what goes into the lunch box.

Does your child pack his own lunch? How do you make sure it’s nutritious?

Resources

• Check out our child development mini-training.
• Lunch Ideas for 1-Year-Olds
• Kids Thrive at Every Size
• Teen Not Eating Lunch at School