School Lunch Ideas For Busy Kitchens

 This time of year many busy moms and dads find themselves printing out cafeteria menus, mulling them over, and then hitting the grocery store to stock up on school lunch supplies! If your child helps to pack their own lunch, dedicating some cabinetry space or a pantry shelf to displaying their options may help with your kitchen organization & avoiding the "what do you mean 3 fruit snacks and a granola bar is not a lunch" argument. 

  The internet is full of school lunch ideas, for the Paleo diet, vegetarians, picky-eaters and time-crunched parents...someone has written a list for it all! There is still nothing better than sharing ideas with your friends, so here are some of our favorite ideas for school lunches and our wishes for a wonderful new school year!

Sandwiches Can Still Be Cool

• Try a Sandwich on a Stick

• Strawberry & Cream Cheese Sandwich

• Mozzarella and Tomato

•  Ham and Cheese Pitas 

Try A "Laptop" Lunch

•  The simplest and healthiest foods look extra-yummy when they're tucked inside colorful little compartments. That's the idea behind Laptop Lunches, the company that sells these cute plastic sets (starting at $21; laptoplunches.com). We filled the containers with a protein, some fruit, a vegetable, and a small treat -- all in perfect-size portions for kids 5 to 8.
  
  "All Dressed Up"
  * 1 cup bow-tie pasta salad with veggies
  * 1 cup baby greens salad with 2 tablespoons low-fat dressing
  * 3/4 cup watermelon
  * 2 fig cookies

•  Find this and lots more lunch combo ideas on parents.com - It's the best resource we've seen for thinking "outside the (lunch) box!"

Think DIP!

• Consider chips & salsa instead of a sandwich & chips!
• Get this recipe: Black Bean Dip For Chips & Veggies