Easy Lunchbox Ideas: A Five-Point Plan to Snack and Go!

Lunchtime often sneaks up on me. Either we’re just arriving home from a morning out and I’m wrangling children and diaper bags and frantic races to the potty and changing table… or we’re home in our world of reading and playing and before you know it: high noon!

I am always looking for easy lunchbox ideas that keep me from scrambling. Definitely love foods that are great for snack and go purposes!

One thing I’ve learned from creating bento lunchboxes for my children is… there’s kind of a system to it.

Many bento boxes for kids have several sections – generally three to five. When I realized I was essentially putting the same types of food in each section, I thought: Maybe this is a plan?

(If you bulletpoint it, it’s a plan!).

My five-point plan for easy lunches!

• Protein
• Vegetable
• Fruit
• Starch / Grain
• Drink

Um. Did I just rip off the five food groups? I think a little!

To create an easy lunch, I just grab food / snacks / leftovers from each category and chop or assemble it into a plate or sandwich.

Sure it helps if I have time (and a cute cutter tool) to match our fall theme of apples… but you don’t have to go crazy making lunch.

Here’s what my five-point plan for easy lunchboxes looks like:

• Protein: Pepperoni & Cheese
• Vegetable: Cucumber & Tomatoes
• Fruit: Mott’s® Snack & Go applesauce pouches
• Starch / Grain: Mini Rice Cakes
• Drink: Mott’s® For Tots juice drink boxes

This plate – doesn’t it look fab!? – took me only a few minutes to assemble. EVEN with cutting the cheese slices into apple shapes to fit our apple-y theme!

Every item on this plate is a great snack and go choice, especially the Mott’s®. Snack & Go applesauce pouch. It needs no refrigeration and can be eaten with no utensils! Plus it’s made from apples – it’s the perfect convenience snack, and I’ll freely admit to tossing a few in my purse just “in case” we’re out longer than we expected!

I know all the little finger food brought a smile to my son’s face when he saw his plate loaded up with various shapes and colors. But since he adores food in pouches, he grabbed the applesauce pouch first!

Oh and shocked me by knowing how to open and insert the straw all by himself on his apple juice drink box! I always add water to regular juice – which is hard to do with a juice box on the go, so I like knowing Mott’s® For Tots juice drink boxes already have 40% less sugar than Mott’s 100% Apple Juice.

Well, there you have it! My five-point plan for easy lunchbox ideas. No more hemming and hawing in front of an open fridge! Just easy and nutritious lunchbox ideas for home or on-the-go!

What are you doing to keep lunchtime easy-peasy mac-and-cheesy? 

Thank you Mott’s® and Technorati for being sponsors of this article. All opinions expressed here are my own.