20 Make Ahead Lunch Ideas
Once school is back in session, we are back to non-stop activities. Between homework, scouts, cheer, and other commitments, by the time we get home at the end of the day, I am ready to kick my feet up and relax.
That means I need a plan to get everything done like make dinner, organize paperwork for the next day, and make lunches for the next day. When you are busy it’s so easy to get into a boring lunch rut. That’s why I have found that by planning ahead, you can add a little bit of excitement to lunch.
One of my favorite tips? Meal plan with the kids! Ask them what they like the best and the least. I try to make a big batch of lunches on Sundays. This way not only the kids have lunch, but my husband and I do too! Here are some of our favorites:
- Pasta Salad
- Vegetable Soup
- Chili
- Chicken Salad
- Slider Burgers
- Pizza Roll Ups
- Ham & Cheese Wraps
- Quesadillas
- Apple & Peanut Butter Sandwiches
- Hummus & Veggie Wraps
- Yogurt Parfaits
- Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
- Spaghetti & Meatballs
- Macaroni & Cheese
- Chicken Nuggets
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Hearts
- DIY Pizza
For a drink, I send a thermos full of Tampico. If they are available at your supermarket, another awesome option for back to school are the Tampico 6-Packs of individual juice drinks, which fit perfectly in most lunchboxes! Plus the kid’s love drinking Tampico because of its delicious flavor, and I love serving it because it’s a great value for a juice drink!
One of our favorites from this list is DIY Pizzas! They’re so easy to make too!
- Cut taco sized tortillas into circles.
- Send mozzarella cheese, pepperoni or any other types of pizza toppings your kids might like and marinara sauce in their lunch box.
Be sure to enter Tampico’s #SchoolIsCool Awww Snap! Promotion this back to school season! With school almost in session, take a thousand pics, feel that pride, and perhaps even win some amazing prizes! All you have to do is upload and share your most memorable back to school photos using Tampico’s fun frames to be entered to win a $1,000 gift card and a Tampico back-to-school pack. Participate during thier Blitz sessions and you also have chance to win a $25 gift card! Don’t miss out, share your favorite #SchoolIsCool moments! For more information about participating, be sure to head over to Tampico’s Facebook Page!
What’s your coolest back to school lunch idea?
These are great! I’m a full time blogger and mom of 3, so I need to shave time wherever I can. Thank you!
I’m bookmarking this. My wife and I are both full-time bloggers, and we have three kids. Which means we have NO time. This is going to be a huge help.
My kids aren’t going to school full time yet but I can totally save these ideas for the future! I love how time saving it is to make lunches ahead!
Is it bad that I use some of these ideas for the other half’s work lunches? Hey, he needs fun and nutritious too!
My son would love this because he does not like sandwiches and his lunch, and I can’t blame him they get old after a while. This gives me some ideas of what to do for his lunch that does not have to do it sandwiches.
Great lunch ideas. Thanks for the tips and tricks.
Back to school is coming fast and these are some AMAZING ideas! These make ahead lunch ideas are GREAT for when school starts soon. I am sure the kids would LOVE them all.
Love that the ideas you have are not only easy to prepare but also seem pretty affordable as well. Will be trying a few of your ideas for sure.
These are great ideas, I’ve tried these myself but mine before was a bit boring. Thanks for these tips.
We homeschool so I no longer pack lunches, but these are great ideas for when we go on field trips with our homeschool group.
Make ahead are two amazing words. This would really help cut down on that dreaded question “what is there to eat?”. Back to school is such a busy time of year that anything to save time earns an “A” from me!
Looks great! I wish I had all of this in my lunch box as a kid. haha
Your lunches look so perfect. I’m afraid once my kids are in school I’ll just be slinging food into bags and hoping it survives the trip! Guess I need to start saving all these ideas for the future.
My kids take their lunch to school, so I am always looking for new ideas. Thank you for such a great list!
Back to school time is here for us in the next few weeks. Thanks for the ideas, I always want different ideas for the kids.
I am honestly not creative enough to come up with “cool” back to school lunch ideas. Ha! I’ll just hit Pinterest and send the links to my friends with school age kids. Thanks for the heads up on the giveaway, too.
My oldest would love to make her own mini-pizzas! I’ll have to set that up with the baby sitter for all of the kids, it’s an edible craft time!
Hummus and veggie wraps sound so good! I bet they would be really good with a side of apples and a fresh cup of milk. I like the rest of your list, too. I may make these for my lunch at work.
I totally like when I can make lunch the night before. Right now my niece is on a PB&J kind of run for lunch. I definitely love a good pasta salad though.
I am going to refer to this when I need a fresh start. My kids call me boring so I need the new lunch ideas. Love the tortilla pizza.
These are great ideas! I’m always looking for easy lunches my kids will eat! I can’t wait to try some of these
It is almost that time of the year again. I have been looking for some new lunch ideas for school. I will have to try a few of these starting with the Peanut Butter & Jelly Hearts.
These are perfect now that it is back to school. I love the idea of mini pizzas – delicious and simple to come together, and tastes great either hot or cold!
Now these are going to come in handy! I always liked surprising my kids with special treats and sandwich shapes in their lunch boxes.
These are awesome recipes! I don’t have kids but I also bring lunch to work especially since it’s easier and it’s healthier. Making lunches ahead is going to save me time!
My kids went back today, these are all great ideas! Totally saving this for when I’m out of our usual ideas!
My kids sometimes will not eating anything I make them. I could use some make-ahead lunch idea they would eat.
These are great! I love how you used the silicone cupcake liners to hold dips and small snacks. Genius! Oh and we love Tampico around here. I’ll be using these tips soon! Thanks 🙂
I love make ahead meals especially lunch! These ideas look perfect to add to my list!
I’m homeschooling this year but between school schedules, sports, church, co op, and friend time it’s about to get crazy! I love that these would help save time!
I think planning the lunches for the week is a great time saver. I like the variety of ideas you have supplied as well.
What a great idea. Mornings can get so hectic and being able to have lunches ready to go ahead of time would be terrific.
These are great ideas! I always need help with ideas for lunch!
I love these ideas. Especially the pizza one. My 2nd grader would be super excited to take that for lunch sometime
Now that every child in the house is going to school, it’s tough to keep track of their lunches and it would be nice to just make everything ahead! These are great ideas, thanks!
These are so great! My daughter eats lunch at school, and we actually aren’t permitted to send them anything but next year I will have to start packing her lunch for Kindergarten so this will come in handy! These would actually be nice just to keep at home when she gets hungry too!
It’s been such a long time since I had to make a school lunch, but I love how creative these ideas are. Letting kids create their own taco or mini pizza sounds like so much fun.
Thanks for the suggestions. Anyone can get tired of having sandwiches for lunch. The best way to keep kids interested in their lunch is variety. I love this make ahead lunch ideas you listed. These will be in my sons’ lunchboxes when school starts.
These are all such great ideas. I know that I start to run out of ideas when it hits part way through the school year.
My kids have always loved to take their lunch to school. These are some great ideas!
I am going to bookmark this as my son is going to be having lunches made for school this year. Great ideas!
This will totally save our mornings. I am going to have to get my kids on board.
Great lunch ideas! I especially love the the DIY pizza! I would’ve loved having that for lunch as a kid!
This is some great ideas especially when you have a busy schedule. This’ll surely be a load off our shoulder since you can save time in preparing and know that your child gets to eat properly as well.
These are some great lunch ideas! Its good to keep the lunches varied and its important that your children are involved in the process. Those DIY pizzas sound fab!
I love these ideas! I ‘m not going to lie: my husband and I might use more than one of these for our own lunches, lol
I got this great stainless steel bento box for my eldest for the school. These ideas are just perfect for them. Thanks!
My son has decided he doesn’t like what is served for lunch at school, so these ideas will definitely come in handy. Thanks for sharing!
I almost always pack my lunch for work and have been running out of ideas. This may have been meant for kids but I’ll definitely be using a few of these for my own, haha!
Our kids love taking their lunches to school. These are some great lunch ideas. We have bento boxes in our kids’ lunch boxes and will making some of those this school year.
I love that homemade lunchable! Really can’t go wrong