The Lunchbox Homestretch

Packing lunchboxes at the end of the school year sometimes feels like the worst. chore. ever. Am I right? Unfortunately those lunchboxes can't pack themselves, so here are some recent lunchboxes that I hope will give you some inspiration to help you through the lunchbox homestretch. If you're looking for more frequent ideas, be sure to follow along on Instagram. And of course, if you want to take the guesswork out of packing lunch, download the LaLa Lunchbox app (free on iOS), hand the phone over to your kids and empower them to make choices -- all within a list of available options that you control. 

Anyway, below are 5 lunchboxes, all with a slightly different approach, but with a common theme: they all have an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, they're all nut free and they all took less than 10 minutes to put together. 

1. Leftovers! My kids had tortellini one night recently for dinner and I made much more than I needed for dinner so that I could pack it in the lunchboxes. Easy peasy. Toss that in the bento with some fruit and a veggie and you're good to go. This lunch is nut free and vegetarian. 

2. The Big Dipper. This lunchbox has two dipping options: sunflower seed butter and hummus. There are veggies, corn chips and apple slices for dipping and a fun little polka dotted banana with the sweet treat of mini chocolate chips. It's a finger-friendly lunchbox. This lunch is dairy free, nut free, gluten free and vegetarian. 

3. The New Outfit. I don't know about you, but I've packed pretty much this same lunch a thousand times. Look closely and let's break it down: it's a cheese sandwich, with fruit, carrots, lettuce and a brownie. But here I've used a different bread (these are bistro buns) and I popped the raspberries on top of the baby carrots. It's old familiar foods, dressed up in a new outfit, and sometimes that's all the jazzing up that's needed. This lunch is nut free, gluten free, dairy free and vegan. 
 

4. The Crunchy Bruncher. This lunch is half brunch, half crunch. There are wafflewiches with sunflower seed butter (aka: frozen mini waffles made into sandwiches with sunflower seed butter - and any nut butter will do here), and dates for that creamy sweet appeal, plus pretzels, crunchy veggies and guacamole for dipping. There's a sunflower seed butter and chocolate cup for a treat. A fun lunch to eat! This lunch is nut free and vegetarian. 

5. The DIY. Do you have Taco Tuesday at your house? We frequently do, and my kids love to make their own tacos for lunch the next day with leftovers. Here we've got corn tortillas with chicken (seasoned with my homemade taco seasoning) with lettuce and peppers. Kids can put their fixins on at lunch and gobble it up. On the sweet side, we've got watermelon with mint and some dye free gummy bears. This lunch is nut free, dairy free, gluten free and vegan. 

What's your lunchbox homestretch strategy? Email me, I'd love to hear it! 

Back To School Lunches

So here we are at the end of September. I don't know about you, but for me, September is always a nightmare. Here's something that I hear all the time: "the kids are back to school, we're getting into a routine, things feel a little easier but omg. I can't believe I have to pack lunches every.single.day." 

Yeah, I get it. Lunches don't pack themselves, and it can feel like a chore. I designed the LaLa Lunchbox app to make that chore easier for parents (more about that here) but I also understand that some parents don't want to get kids involved in the lunch packing process. Handing over the reins doesn't mean you let your kid choose from everything under the sun. With the app, there's still division of responsibility; parents control what's available and kids choose from that selection. But of course, there isn't one way to pack school lunch and the world is big enough for all of us. 

Over on The feedfeed, I'm curating the school lunch feed designed to inspire all types of lunch packers. Below is a little sneak peak of what's new there... Hop on over, check it out and share with your fellow lunch packers! We're all in this together. 

Don't forget to follow along on Instagram where I share lunches and other food adventures daily. 

Leftover Pancakes

Antipasto from @happykidlunches

Deconstructed Taco from @onmykidsplate

Camp Lunches

Summer is in full swing here and I've been enjoying the glorious sunny days, feasting on farmer's market gems and generally trying to slow down and smell the roses. 

In the meantime, I'm still packing lunches daily. If you missed our post about making summer lunches easier, have no fear, here you go. The kids are still picking their foods with the LaLa Lunchbox app, (FREE to download!) making my busy life easier, and we're incorporating loads of delicious summer produce. We post daily pics on Instagram, so go ahead and check that out for some fresh ideas every day. If you're here looking for a little inspiration, take a peek below at some of the recent camp lunches: 

hummus with celery, cukes and radishes, black olives, turkey jerky, crackers, coconut chips, cherries and fig

mango and cherries, wafflewiches with sunflower seed butter, raspberries, yogurt and cereal, green beans and a thumbprint cookie

eggs, wax beans, cherries, apricot, raspberries, strawberries, kiwi and chocolate chips

Leftover chicken drumettes, cherries, watermelon with mint, salad, sunflower seed cookies

tortellini, plum, nectarine, blueberries, leftover corn and a brownie bite

Want more camp lunch inspiration? Right this way... 

Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #8

Rice paper wraps can be a great way to jazz up lunch! This lunch has salad wraps with rice noodles, lettuce, carrot, avocado and gomasio, with baked purple sweet potato (topped with sesame seeds), hummus with gluten free crackers (see Top 8 Allergy Safe lunch #5 for more info on the hummus and crackers). This lunch also has mango and raspberries with a piece of dairy free dark chocolate as a snack. Naturally, if your family cannot eat sesame, just leave that out. 

Here's how to roll those rice paper wraps: 

Top 8 Allergy Safe Lunch #6

This lunch has vitamins, fiber, protein, good fat and absolute deliciousness. Here we've got hummus (made with just chickpeas, tahini, garlic, olive oil, lemon and salt - this recipe is my favorite) with loads of veggies to dip plus gluten free crackers. That plus avocado and apple (make sure to rub both with lemon or lime juice to prevent browning), with popcorn and dairy free chocolate chips as a snack. 

There are several brands of hummus that are free of soy. Be sure to check the label. This one and this one are the two that we use when I don't make my own. The crackers are from Mary's Gone Crackers and they're the Super Seed Classic. They are free of gluten, dairy and soy but they are produced in a facility that also produces items with soy, so if that's an issue for you, take note.