I can’t believe that Charlie is already going into kindergarten, someone please tell me where time has gone!? I get all teary-eyed thinking of him going to school, I’m going to be a complete mess on the first day! Speaking of which, it’s about that time of year when visions of school lunches start popping into mom and dad’s heads!
Before you hit the panic button (you still have tons of time to enjoy the summer, take a deep breath), I thought I would write a post to give you some ideas for healthy snacks to include in lunches to make life that much easier when September rolls around.
Of course, gone are the days where you can throw a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the lunch kit and call it a day. In fact, packing lunches can be such a huge source of stress for parents. We all want our families to eat healthy and since time is at a premium, finding convenient solutions to maintain our sanity is so important!
Snacks in particular can be a challenge. There are a million pre-packaged options on the market, but many of them are loaded with things that we don’t want to feed our families including extra sugar, preservatives or food colouring, and many contain nuts which automatically cross them off of the ‘acceptable’ list as far as school lunches are concerned. Which begs the question, what are parents to pack for a kid’s lunch?
Growing up in the Okanagan with fruit trees on every corner, fresh fruit was a school lunch staple in those early autumn months. SunRype [1] was a household name (and still is, they’ve been around for over 70 years…I’m not THAT old for the record!), which made me really excited to have the opportunity to partner with them at this stage of life when I now have my own kids to nourish! I love that this local company has grown into offering so much more than just a fruit snack, and they now have bars filled with oats, chia, protein, and other good stuff.
The Fruit Source and Fruit to Go bars are made from 100% fruit and nothing else, so there’s no added sugar and no artificial flavours or colours. The Fruit to Go bars are a great option for smaller kids, and are the equivalent of about a ¾ apple in terms of servings sizes. The Fruit Source bars are a bit bigger and provide 2-3 servings of fruit (and veggies for those that have them) while the Energy and Chia bars are packed with additional goodness including plant protein, oats and chia seeds.
SunRype snacks [1] are a great addition to kid’s (and adult’s) lunch boxes and are so easy to throw into a backpack or the car making them perfect for after school activities as well. They are nut free for the classroom (and also happen to be gluten free and vegan) with a wide range of choices from the Fruit and Veggie Bars to Energy Bars, packed with wholesome grains, seeds and plant protein. The best part is that they taste good, so kids will ACTUALLY eat them!
Here’s a list of my top kids lunch snack ideas:
- SunRype bars [1]
- Strawberry halves with Greek yogurt for dipping
- Hummus [2]and whole grain crackers
- Mini muffins (try these ricotta blueberry muffins [3])
- Veggies and Dip [4]
- Black Bean Brownies [5]
- Hardboiled egg
- Grapes and cheese
- Homemade energy balls [6]
- Applesauce in a pouch
- Homemade banana bread or granola bars
- Leftover mini pancake [7]and fruit kababs (on a toothpick)
- Cheese strings
- Pita and tzatziki
- Air popped popcorn
- Edamame
- Tuna salad with whole grain crackers
- Apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon (Charlie’s favourite!)
- Cucumber ‘sandwiches’ (with sliced turkey and cheese)
- Roasted chickpeas
I hope your school year gets off to a fun and healthy start! Would love to hear about your favorite school-friendly snack ideas in the comments section below!
This post was sponsored by SunRype. All opinions are my own.
Photography by MacKenzie Jane Photo [8]