Back to School Lunchbox Ideas

If you haven’t heard of The Organised Housewife, then your life is about to change!  The Organised Housewife is Katrina (Kat) Springer from Gold Coast, QLD.  She is exactly what the name suggests – organised – and she shares all her wisdom on her extremely popular blog. From general home organisation to cleaning hacks, budgeting to printable charts, Kat has every part of the home (and beyond) covered.

And because Kat is such a whizz, we got in touch with her to get her recommendations for healthy, interesting school lunches that the kids will eat!  She didn’t disappoint.

Kat does have a few tips for packing school lunches, starting with these:

1. Purchase a lunchbox that is age appropriate and with separate compartments
2. Start with a Plan
3. Avoid the ‘packet lunchbox’
4. Make lunch interesting
5. Love and encouragement matters

You can see the full list and further details here.

In terms of what to pack, Kat breaks it down into four sections:

Fruit + Vegetables – Always pack two pieces of fruit and include a mixture of vegetable items

Baking – Katrina loves to bake so often bulk bakes, placing items in the freezer until required. 

Snacks – Katrina refers to these as something with crunch or texture.  This is just a little something should they still be peckish after lunch

Sandwich, Wrap or Salad – this is the key lunch option

Kat has 100s of lunchbox ideas and recipes on her website.  We found our top 10 to share with you here.

Lunchbox Idea 1

• Apple
• Chocolate Rice Bubble Bars & Apricot Balls
• Ham, lettuce and cheese wrap
• Rice crackers with avocado horseradish spread

 

Lunchbox Idea 2

• Banana, Strawberries and Grapes
• Banana & Honey Muffins
• Beef and Vegetables Sausage Rolls 
• Capsicum and carrot sticks and cheese cube

Lunchbox Idea 3

• Grapes
• 100+ cookies from 1 mix
• Sausage Salad (sausages, lettuce, capsicum, celery, cucumber and cheese)
• Vegemite Sandwich

Lunchbox Idea 4

• Chocolate Chip Cookies 
• Banana
• Cheesy Zucchini and Ham Bread with cherry tomato, cucumber and capsicum
• Mixed nuts and yoghurt covered sultanas

Lunchbox Idea 5

• Popcorn
• Fruit Salad
• Pasta, capsicum, tomato, cucumber and a boiled egg with a spoonful of mayonnaise
• Apricot, coconut & muesli balls

Lunchbox Idea 6

• Capsicum, carrot and celery sticks with hummus
• Cinnamon muffin
• Roast beef and lettuce sandwich
• Grapes

Lunchbox Idea 7

• Chocolate Banana Muffins
• Fruit Salad (Kiwifruit, orange, peach)
• Beef and Vegetable Sausage Rolls
• Healthy Chocolate Coconut Bliss Balls

Lunchbox Idea 8

• Apricot Coconut Bliss Balls
• Strawberries + Cheese Cubes
• Cheese and Bacon Mini Quiche
• Cherry Tomato and Grapes

Lunchbox Idea 9

• Grapes and Oranges
• Human Bean Co Aussie BBQ Faba Beans
• Banana Bread
• Little Vegemite Sandwiches
• Cucumber, Cherry Tomato, Cheese Cubes

Lunchbox Idea 10

• Harvest Snap Baked Pea Crisps
• Raspberries
• Ham and Corn Muffins
• Corn Cob
• Kiwi Fruit

In addition to those staples, a few other interesting lunch ideas could include meals such as:

• Mac & Cheese
• Frittata Bites
• Pizza Scrolls
• Vegemite Scrolls
• Ricotta and Chives Scrolls
• Pikelets
• Sushi
• Quesadillas
• Zucchini and Sweet Potato Slice
• Salads in a Mason Jar
• And so much more!

Kat has her own cookbook full of easy, affordable and freezer-friendly lunchbox recipes that are geared towards making school mornings a stress-free affair. The cookbook comes packed with over 50 nut-free recipes and is available for purchase on her website.