Healthy, easy, vegetarian lunch-box ideas for kids

Amongst the thousand chores that we achieve every day, packing school lunches for our kids is one of the most significant ones—ah, yes—healthy lunches of course!

The challenge is to pack not only a yummy lunch but also a nutritious one, which is quick to pack in the morning rush. (In my effort to spend the least amount of time in the kitchen, I make very quick meals that don’t compromise on taste and nutrition.)

Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist or a dietician. I try to provide nutritious and yummy meals to my kids. Rest is all trial and error. 🙂

When my kids first started going to preschool, I was quite nervous and overwhelmed about packing lunches every day. What would I pack in their lunch? Will they eat it? How much time will I need to allocate in the morning rush to pack their lunch-box?

Well, after the first six months of school, I felt like I had finally got it and could pack their lunches without a huh! sigh. Few lessons I learnt along the way:

Packing delicious and healthy lunches doesn’t have to be a time-consuming process. You can have it all with a bit of meal planning over the weekend – just 10-15 minutes is all you need and you are sorted for the entire week for all your meals and snacks!
Don’t underestimate the value of left-over curries, veggies or dal from the night before. You could use them as delicious fillings in pastry sheets to make yummy pasties or knead them along with atta (wheat flour) to make the softest paranthas.
As much as possible, prep the night before, to save precious time in the morning. My mind works better, faster and more productive when I am not in that morning rush.
Include a variety of choices to ensure your little munchkins don’t get bored with ‘everyday’ food.
Divide food into categories (see below) to include in the lunch box every day. Not only does it make it easier to come up with new ideas, it also ensures a balanced lunch.

I broadly divide my kids’ lunches into the following categories:

Main item
Fruit
Vegetable
Snack

I have put together some simple, tasty, and mostly healthy lunch box ideas, following the categories above. Feel free to integrate them into your routine if it helps:

Lunchbox idea #1: Quick vermicelli poha, strawberries, cucumber, crackers and dry-roasted makhaane (fox nuts).

Lunchbox idea #2: Three-layer sandwich on gluten-free bread, strawberries and grapes, carrot and cucumber sticks, cheese stars and healthy, banana-oat muffin.

The three-layer sandwich has a layer each of coriander chutney, tomato chutney and butter.

Lunch box idea #3: Chickpea salad, sliced nectarine, easy chargrilled soy nuggets, healthy banana, oat and chocolate energy balls and popcorn.

Lunch box idea #4: Quick pasties from left-over veggies, strawberries and sliced apricot, cucumber sticks, and 2 ingredient coconut-apricot balls;

Lunch box idea #5: Fried rice, mandarin and banana, yellow bell pepper and cucumber sticks, and healthy 3-ingredient almond cookies.

Lunchbox idea #6: Easy and quick vegetable pulao, mango, cherry tomatoes, roasted paneer with and atta-ajwain biscuits.

Lunch box idea #7: Fast and easy veggie paranthas from left-over veggies, sliced pear, cherry tomatoes, and veggie straws

I often knead my dough along with left-over curries from dinner. It does not take more than 10 mins and *paranthas* remain very soft when kids eat them at school. I pretty much knead any left-over curry into my *atta* such as *matar-paneer* or *palak* or *kaddu* or *dal*, etc.

Lunch box idea #8 Quick veggie and paneer uthappam, mandarin, celery, cucumber with yogurt dip, makhaane, bour-bon biscuits

For the yogurt dip, I just add 1/2 tsp chopped garlic, 1/2 tsp parsley or coariander, and pinch of *kaala namak* (rock salt). It’s really yummy! For *makhaane* (bought from the local Indian store), I just dry roast them for 7-10 mins and sprinkle some salt or *chaat masala* on top

Hope these ideas help make your life a little easier when you think about packing lunches. You can mix-n-match or rotate these ideas through the week for variety.

Do you have any favourite, easy and healthy lunch box ideas? I would love to hear your solutions. I am sure other parents reading this space would like to hear from you too.