If you’re the sort of parent who regularly packs school lunches that look like these, read no further. But the rest of us mere mortals sometimes need a little help getting out of the dreaded lunch box rut. Here are some of my favorite books and blogs on packing healthy, creative school lunches:
- Best Lunch Box Ever: Ideas and Recipes for School Lunches Kids Will Love, a cookbook by Katie Morford, a registered dietitian and blogger at Mom’s Kitchen Handbook. Approachable, creative and healthy recipes to suit every kid’s taste.
- Lisa Leake’s 100 Days of Real Food blog is a great resource for all kinds of “real food” recipes, and that includes lunch box meals. All of her tips, ideas and recipes for packed school lunches can be found here.
- Chef Ann Cooper, aka the “Renegade Lunch Lady,” is a leading force in improving cafeteria school meals around the country. But on her foundation’s website she also offers resources for parents who pack their children’s lunches. Check out her easy and healthful lunch (and breakfast and snack) recipes here.
- The Cooking with Trader Joe’s Cookbook: Easy Lunch Boxes, compiled by Kelly Lester, the owner, creator, and mom behind Easylunchboxes.com, This cookbook is devoted exclusively to lunchbox packing and features recipes from 32 bloggers around the Internet — with a foreword by yours truly!
TLT’s “It Takes a Village to Pack a Lunch” Series
Between 2010 and 2015, I ran a series of posts every September under the heading, “It Takes a Village to Pack a Lunch.” It included guest blog posts from lunch-packing experts, as well as recipes, tips and news about the latest in eco-friendly lunch gear. I discontinued the series in 2016 but you can find a round-up of all the best “It Takes a Village” content here.
By the way, one of the all-time-most-popular posts ever on The Lunch Tray was this one, written for the “It Takes a Village” series back in 2012. It’s a list of my tips and tricks for using a Thermos to pack school lunch.