What I Pack in My Kids’ Lunches

If you’re a health-minded parent or caretaker, today’s school lunches might sadly leave you looking for other easy options. Here are just a few of the reasons I’ll be making my children quick and easy lunches instead of what’s served at school:

School lunches…

• Often contain added dyes and food colorings
• Include all sorts of packaged, processed, and premade foods
• Are sorely lacking high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables
• Typically contain added sugars, preservatives, flavorings, excitotoxins, and other chemicals
• Are typically high in inflammatory vegetable and seed oils

Regular consumption of your standard American school lunch simply isn’t the best way to nourish a child and promote his or her best health. 

Every Healthy, Homemade Lunch Starts with Good Ingredients

A healthy “shopping list” of options can make lunch planning and prepping so much easier. Here are some of my staples:

Proteins

• TDW Bone Broth Protein Powder
• Applegate breakfast sausages, lunch meat (we love to order from Thrive Market)
• True Story lunch meat
• Primal Pastures for organic, pasture-raised meats (use code TAYLORDUKESWELLNESS)
• Wild Planet for wild-caught fish (can also order from Thrive Market)
• Safe Catch for wild-caught fish (can also order from Thrive Market)
• Paleovalley jerky (use code TAYLORDUKES)

Healthy Fats

• Chosen Foods or Primal Kitchen mayo (can also order from Thrive Market)
• Olives (we love the individual packets from Thrive Market)
• Raw mixed nuts
• Nut butters (Artisana is my all-time fave)
• Coconut yogurt – Culina, Cocoyo, Coconut Culture
• Ghee, grass-fed butter, or coconut oil
• Olive oil-based dressings (check out these that I like to batch make!)
• Primal Kitchen dressings and dips – these are inflammatory vegetable/seed oil free and sugar free (can also order from Thrive Market)
• Sunnie hummus dipper (use code TAYLORDUKES20)
• Avocados

Fruits and Veggies

• Good ole washed and chopped whole fruits and veggies – broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, snap peas, celery, tomatoes, leafy greens, cucumbers, berries, bananas, apples, oranges, clementines, grapes, pears, kiwis, mangos, and more!
• Poshii packs (I get mine from Thrive Market)
• Once Upon a Farm packs

Extras

• Primal Kitchen condiments (can also order from Thrive Market)
• Base Culture bread (you can find this in the frozen section of many grocery stores)
• AWG Bakery bread and Buns (use code TAYLORDUKES10)
• Siete tortillas (my fave are the almond)
• Grillo’s pickles

Treats

• Solely Fruit roll ups or gummy packs (can also order from Thrive Market)
• Skout Organic cookies (use code TAYLORDUKES)
• Siete chips and cookies (can also order from Thrive Market)
• Bear fruit rolls and snacks
• Unreal sweets (can also order from Thrive Market)
• Simple Mills crackers (can order from Thrive Market)

Drinks

• TDW Electrolytes
• Olipop
• Spindrift
• Uncle Matt’s organic juice boxes

Also shoutout Thrive Market for healthy essentials conveniently delivered to your door! Y’all, I have my go-to products on subscription, and it saves me all the time! I always have healthy necessities on hand (for a discount) thanks to Thrive. 

Healthy Lunch Formula

After I’m stocked up on healthy ingredients, it’s really pretty simple to throw together a balanced, delicious, and well-rounded lunch. Just follow my easy formula to hit your marks. I’m always ensuring a clean protein and healthy fat. Include fresh fruits and veggies. Then, all the extra fun!

Real-Life Lunch Ideas

Can you show us pictures of the lunches you pack for your boys?

Y’all, I’ve had so many moms ask me to post more pics on social media of lunch ideas, but now, I’m serving them up in an easy list. Print it out for inspo and tape it to your fridge if that eases the burden of your lunch-making duties!

#1 

Clean Protein: TDW High Protein Muffins

Veggie: Carrot sticks

Fruit: Blueberries

Healthy Fat: Avocado slices

#2

Clean Protein: TDW Chicken Salad 

Veggie: Celery sticks

Fruit: Strawberries

Healthy Fat: Mayo from chicken salad

Extras: Simple Mills crackers

#3

Clean Protein: Turkey cheese roll-up (use Siete tortilla, Applegate turkey, and raw, grass-fed cheese if they can tolerate dairy – if not, omit or go with a dairy-free option. Add whatever other toppings)

add whatever toppings!)

Veggie: Pickle slice

Fruit: Oranges

Healthy Fat: Olives

#4

Clean Protein: TDW Fish Sticks

Veggie: Cucumbers

Fruit: Mangos (my kids love the frozen chunks)

Healthy Fat: Dairy-free ranch dip like Primal Kitchen

#5

Clean Protein: Callie Salls’ Grain-free Chicken Bites

Veggie: Carrot sticks

Fruit: Raspberries

Healthy Fat: Raw cashews

#6

Clean Protein: TDW Taquitos

Veggie: Carrots

Fruit: Kiwi slices

Healthy Fat: Avocado chunks

Siete Cookie for a treat!

#7

Clean Protein: Ham and cheese quesadilla (use Siete tortilla, Applegate ham, and raw, grass-fed cheese if they can tolerate dairy – if not, omit or go with a dairy-free option.)

Veggie: Seaweed snacks

Fruit: Apple slices

Healthy Fat: Walnuts

#8

Clean Protein: Hard-boiled Eggs

Veggie: Snap peas

Fruit: Apple slices

Healthy Fat: Nut butter

Extras: Simple Mills Crackers

#9

Clean Protein: Healthy lunchable – Applegate or True Story organic lunch meat

Veggie: Bell peppers

Fruit: Apple slices

Healthy fat: Cheese or Nuts

#10

Clean Protein: Defined Dish Pigs in Blanket (from The Comfortable Kitchen)

Veggie: Raw broccoli

Fruit: Pineapple

Healthy Fat: Coconut yogurt

#11

Clean Protein: ½ sandwich – Base Culture bread with Applegate or True Story organic lunch meat

Veggie: Carrots and celery with hummus

Fruit: Clementine

Healthy Fat: Primal Kitchen mayo from sandwich

#12

Clean Protein: “Pepperoni Pizza” quesadilla (raw, grass-fed cheese + Applegate pepperoni on Siete tortilla)

Veggie: Cucumbers

Fruit: Berries

Healthy Fat: Mixed nuts

#13

Clean Protein: Avocado Egg Salad with Mary’s Gone Crackers or homemade crackers

Veggie: Snap peas

Fruit: Apple

Healthy Fat: Avocado (in egg salad)

#14

Clean Protein: Chia pudding mixed with TDW Bone Broth Protein, optional to sprinkle with Purely Elizabeth Grain-Free Granola

Veggie: Poshii packs – any kind!

Fruit: Berries

Healthy Fat: Full fat coconut milk (from pudding)

Extra Resources

You’ve got this! Back to school food-prep is no joke, but you can nourish your child in an easy, attainable, and healthy way. If you’re looking for more back-to-school resources, you might consider the following

• TDW Ultimate Illness Guide for both kids and adults
• Good Supplements to Have on Hand for Kids
• 10 Tips on How to Keep Kids Healthy During the School Year
• Healthy Back to School Checklist