Homeschool Lunch Ideas

Summer is officially over now that school has started up BUT here in Douglas County (Colorado) we are on a "hybrid" school schedule with kids spending 2 days a week in the school and the remainder at home doing virtual learning sessions. Essentially parents now are homeschooling their kids a few days a week, which is certainly not the easiest especially for working parents! On top of making sure kids are doing their "zoom" sessions, parents now have to provide lunch during the week so I'm here to bring you quick easy lunch ideas!

Main Entree Ideas:

• Chicken nuggets or the store bought grilled chicken (it’s a hit with my kids and I feel it’s healthier than chicken nuggets)

• Hot dogs or corn dogs

• Pizzas are always a fan favorite but you can get adventurous with pizza bagels, tortilla pizzas, zucchini pizzas, etc.

• Hummus with veggies

• Cheese, crackers, & fruit

• Quesadillas: plain cheese, cold cuts, pepperoni, or veggie additions are all great choices to change things up!

• Roll-ups: lunch meat and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter with banana and honey, tuna salad, egg salad

• Peanut butter crackers with fruit and cheese

• Ravioli/pasta: these are great leftover dinner items!

• Muffins/bread and smoothies: pair a hearty bread with a fruit & veggie smoothy

• Tuna salad or egg salad

• Nachos: these can be as quick/light or heavy as you want depending on how hungry the kids are

• Hot sandwiches or paninis in the panini press

• Baked potatoes: plain, BLT, taco, sweet potatoes, etc.

• Hard-boiled eggs: they take a little longer but you can always do them ahead of time!

• Bagel sandwiches, or just bagels with cream cheese

• Grilled cheese: plain cheese or add additional items such as pepperoni, lunch meat, tomato, avocado, etc.

• Lettuce wraps – anything you can put on bread, you can put on lettuce to make it slightly healthier!

• Macaroni and cheese is always a winner

• Lettuce salads (if your kids will eat them.. mine wont! haha)

• Pasta salad or potato salad

• Leftover breakfast: make extra waffles, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, egg muffins, regular muffins, or sausage gravy for breakfast and just reheat it for lunch

• Soup is always easy and you can even do a canned chili with chips, cheese, etc.

Side Ideas:

• Fruit: berries, watermelon, apples, bananas, peaches, pears, etc. My kids can’t get enough fruit!

• Cheese: sticks, slices, cubes, etc. You can buy individually wrapped items, which is convenient or buy a block and cut it down when you have time.

• Crackers/chips – veggie chips/fries, pretzels, cheese crackers, chex-mix, goldfish, and graham crackers are some of our favorites

• Veggies – carrots, celery, sweet peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, etc.

• Cottage cheese

• Applesauce

• Yogurt: plain or topped with granola, honey, and/or fruit

• Seeds or nuts

• Chips and salsa/guacamole

• Trail mix

• Fruit snacks