8 Easy Summer Lunch Ideas for Adults and Kids

Regardless of if you’re throwing together a meal for littles, bigs or simply just yourself, you need these easy, healthy, kid-friendly and low/no-cook lunches in your life! 

I get it. You walk in the door around noon after a full morning in the sun at the splash pad, park or pool. And right away you hear the question being thrown around – “Mom, I’m hungry. Can we have lunch? Is it ready yet?!”

You’re as tired as the kiddos, and don’t feel like standing over a hot stove after baking in the sun. Enter, easy lunches. 

These are my go-to summer lunches for me and my boys. I feel great about them because they hit all the marks. Easy to assemble. Healthy and nourishing for our bodies. Quick to the table. And let’s not forget…delicious!

1. Smoothies

The quintessential summer meal. Throw all the things in the blender and you’ve got a healthy and cooling meal in a matter of a couple minutes. 

When it comes to smoothies, I don’t really go by recipes as much as what I have on hand in my kitchen. I do, however, have a favorite protein powder and add it to all our smoothies. It has 20 grams of clean protein and 0 grams of sugar per serving.

The thing I love about smoothies is you can truly disguise almost anything in them! Greens, frozen zucchini or cauliflower, superfood powders, greens powders…It’s the easiest way for me to give all the good stuff to my boys without them really even noticing!

If you’re looking for some delicious recipes to follow or simply to inspire, try My Favorite Smoothie or TDW Protein Date Shake. 

2. Tuna (or salmon, sardine, mackerel, etc) Salad + Raw Veggies 

One of the easiest throw-together lunches has to be the tuna salad! It’s a nourishing meal without being overly heavy. Plus, you get the great benefits of all those Omega 3’s from the fish! 

Serve the salad alongside your favorite crackers – Simple Mills, Mary’s Gone Crackers and Flackers are all great options. Add some raw, cut up veggies such as carrots, celery, cucumber or pepper. You’ve got a five minute meal!

I love this Salmon Salad! It’s great to meal prep for an easy lunch all week. But you can totally go for a classic like The Defined Dish’s Classic Tuna Salad or switch things up with even Sardine Salad!

3. “Snack” Trays 

These are a total hit with any kid! But let’s be honest, what adult doesn’t love a good snack tray, too?! Think charcuterie, but a little less fancy. 

If your kids are older, you can throw everything on a big tray and let them create their own meal. If your kids are younger, serving the food items in little muffin trays makes for a fun and novel “presentation.” 

When it comes to the food, don’t worry about getting fancy! Just throw a bunch of healthy options out there! Here are some of my kids (and my own!) favorites:

• Olives
• Raw, grass fed cheese
• Fruit – any berries, sliced melons, kiwi, apples, clementines, etc. 
• Lunch meat slices
• Raw nuts
• Garbanzo beans
• Raw veggies – carrots, cucumber, celery, pepper
• Dips – hummus, guacamole, salsa
• Crackers – Simple Mills, Mary’s Gone Crackers and Flackers

I recently discovered Sunnie (use code TAYLORDUKES20), which are like healthy lunchables. My boys and even I love them!

4. Hard Boiled Eggs

Make a huge batch at the beginning of the week and you’ve got a couple lunches ready to go. Serve them up as simple hard-boiled eggs alongside a high-quality toast (use code TAYLORDUKES). Turn them into egg salad. Get fancy and make some bacon-deviled eggs. 

I love this tried-and-true recipe for boiling eggs according to your preferred doneness: How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs. 

5. Protein Pancakes

These protein pancakes make breakfast-for-lunch the EASIEST option out there. And, with the addition of protein powder, they’re filling and nutritious.

Top the pancakes with a nut butter, raw honey, coconut whipped cream, unsweetened coconut flakes, cacao nibs, berries, banana slices, grass fed butter, DIY chia seed jam or anything else that strikes your fancy. If you want to be super fun, let the kids choose their own toppings!

6. Yogurt Bowls

Fast, easy, fun. Yogurt bowls hit all the marks when it comes to my summertime easy lunch list of requirements. 

My one suggestion is to start with a high-quality unflavored yogurt as the base. No need to choose a yogurt that has tons of added sugars or extra ingredients. You can add the fun on top or mix it in yourself instead! Every bit as delicious and much better for your body. 

You can choose a non-dairy yogurt like Cocoyo, Coco June, Coconut Cult or Culina. Or you can go with a high-quality grass-fed Greek or whole fat yogurt if you tolerate dairy. Then, go crazy from there!

Similarly to your protein pancake toppings, you can top your yogurt bowl with all the fun: raw honey, unsweetened coconut flakes, cacao nibs, Lovebird cereal (use code TAYLORDUKES), berries, banana slices, DIY chia seed jam or anything else that sounds good to you!

One quick note on coconut yogurt… Coconut yogurt is high in healthy fats and good probiotics, but it tends to be much lower in protein than its dairy counterpart. If you’re looking to up the protein of your coconut yogurt for a meal with a little more staying power, try adding a scoop of TDW Bone Broth Protein Powder and whisking it in! 

7. Avocado Toast

Avocado toast is a health trend worth keeping around. Another easy, fast and healthy meal. I love smashing my avocado on my all-time favorite bread – AWG Bakery (use code TAYLORDUKES). Or use another high-quality toast. 

Top with poached egg, Everything But The Bagel seasoning, smoked salmon, sauerkraut, lunch meat, tomato, etc. For some fun ideas on switching up your avocado toast, let yourself be inspired by these articles:

• 11 Easy Ways to Fancy Up Your Avocado Toast
• Avocado Toast 5 Ways

8. Nourishing Bowls

Use last night’s grain to make you and your little one a kitchen-sink bowl with whatever you have on hand. I always start with some sort of a green (arugula, spinach, kale, etc.) mixed with some sort of a grain (quinoa, rice, millet, couscous, etc.). 

From there, you can add raw or roasted veggies and clean proteins such as leftover chicken, eggs, canned or smoked fish or legumes. Add healthy fats like avocado, olives, pesto, nuts or seeds. Make a quick homemade dressing with extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon or apple cider vinegar. Add a dollop of hummus, guacamole or salsa. 

These bowls are the easiest because they literally require you to open your fridge and pull out whatever you have. Ask your child what he would like to try in his bowl. You might be surprised at his willingness to try something new when he’s the one who initiates and adds it!

Here are several bowl recipes I am currently loving: Quinoa Salad, Fajita Chicken Bowls and Greek Bowls with Lamb Meatballs.

Bonus: Leftovers

You’re typically either a “leftovers person” or not at all a “leftovers person.” I, for one, am a leftovers girl! I love reheating soup from the night before (or honestly, just eating it cold) for lunch. I’m also game for last night’s meat, roasted veggies or anything else thrown together on top of a huge salad. Deconstruct the salad for your kiddos and throw it into a Siete tortilla to make a lunch wrap. Or just serve it separately on his plate. 

Consider how you might creatively serve leftovers: in a wrap, on a quesadilla, in an omelet, on a salad, in a “kitchen sink” bowl or on a sandwich. The possibilities are endless if you think outside the box. Oftentimes adding a little Primal Kitchen dressing or something like a pesto, hummus or guacamole is all the food needs to be reimagined into something delicious again!

A final note on children, picky-ness and food exposure:

I want to leave you with a final note on serving kiddos who are a little picky about what they eat. My encouragement is this – continue to serve a variety of healthy foods, including the ones they “don’t like.” We know that acquisition of taste can take many, many exposures for children. It’s important to not just relegate yourself to serving what you think your child likes. In doing so, you’ll likely find their palate continually being honed down to a select group of foods like crackers, plain pasta and a few fruits. 

Instead, serve the broccoli and side salad! You don’t need to serve a mound of it. Just enough for your child to try a bite. And find creative and new ways to present it. Broccoli can be served raw with a dipping sauce. It can be roasted and seasoned. It can be “riced” and mixed into a whole bunch of different things! You can serve it in tiny pieces or bigger pieces. The whole point is to continually and gently push your child to enjoy the more nourishing and healthful foods! Don’t get discouraged. Just keep at it!

I hope this list leaves you feeling inspired, if not just a little more prepared for the next time you hear those little voices hungry for their lunch. Happy, healthy meal-making!

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