50 school lunchbox ideas!

Do you hate making the school lunches for your kids? Are you always looking for ways to make healthy school lunches? Are you wondering “what should go in a school lunch”? Here’s 50 easy, healthy lunchbox ideas for the kids to get you inspired! Feel free to mix and match depending on what your child will eat in their school lunchbox.

School lunches don’t have to be complicated. Remember the essentials for the lunchboxes - carbs for energy, protein to keep them full and varied fruits and veggies for all the essential vitamins and minerals.

Get the kids involved in helping to make their packed school lunches or let them make them by themselves!

We’ve name checked some of our favourite Irish producers that we use on repeat for school lunches.

cheddar cheese and ham sandwich (we always use Brady’s) on wholemeal bread with an apple and cucumber slices
cheddar cheese sandwich on wholemeal roll with cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks and chopped pineapple
cheddar cheese and hummus sandwich on wholemeal bread with mandarins and a yoghurt
cheddar cheese on wholemeal bread with a banana (to eat together - bring a safe knife for chopping the banana!), breadsticks and hummus, kiwi and apple
cream cheese and diced red pepper and cucumber mixed on roll with grapes and flapjack
cream cheese mixed with grated carrot and spring onion and dried spices like oregano, spread on a wrap and cut into pinwheels, apple and popcorn
goats cheese with carmelized onion and rocket on baguette, boiled egg and blueberries
goats cheese and pear on bagel, carrot sticks and pot of hummus, apple
ham and lettuce on a bagel (we love these ones from Fitzgeralds Family Bakery) with chopped melon and yoghurt
chopped ham and cheese DIY lunchables - served with crackers, tomatoes, grapes
ham and cream cheese with lettuce on a wrap, pretzels, apple and chopped carrot sticks
ham and butter on wholemeal bread with cherry tomatoes, pepper sticks, hummus and an orange (peeled)
sausage and lettuce sandwich on wholemeal with tomatoes on the side, popcorn and a pear
turkey rashers and cucumber on a roll, pepper sticks, pear and mandarin
turkey rashers with rocket and tomato in a pita bread, banana muffin and kiwi and apple
turkey kebab - pieces of turkey, cherry tomatoes and chunks of cucumber on a Pick Stick with a dipping sauce, blueberries and strawberries, yoghurt
leftover turkey meatballs in a roll with lettuce and mayonnaise, handful of popcorn, strawberries and blueberries
turkey and cheese on soda bread, cherry tomatoes and radish, apple
turkey, lettuce, pickles and cucumber in a pita with mandarin orange and homemade flapjack
roast chicken on a wholemeal roll with natural yoghurt flavoured with raspberries, pretzels
roast chicken and salad in a sandwich, strawberries and pepper slices with hummus
roast chicken chopped up with cubes of cheese, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and wholemeal pasta (don’t forget a fork!) add mayonnaise for dipping, apple
chicken fajita wrap - leftover chicken or veggie fajitas in a wrap with grated cheese and sour cream, carrot and celery sticks, grapes
chicken, rocket and grapes chopped in curry mayonnaise in a pita with plain yoghurt, blueberries and strawberries
poached chicken, sweetcorn and mayonnaise on wholemeal bread, oat cakes with hummus, pineapple chunks
chicken drumsticks (warm in a flask), home made tortilla chips with dip, blueberries and strawberries on a pick stick
shredded chicken in a quesadilla with cheese and spinach, pear and pretzels
leftover chicken pizza, olives and 2 oranges
Cooked chicken mixed with finely chopped celery, chopped apples and mayonnaise in a sandwich with a plain yoghurt, toasted seeds and coconut on the side and blueberries
tuna (it’s always Shines in our gaff) and sweetcorn on wholemeal wrap, cucumber and pepper slices, orange and kiwi
tuna, cheese and diced red pepper with mayo bagel, sugar snaps, melon pieces
tuna and tinned salmon mixed with mayo in a pita with shredded lettuce, cherry tomatoes, apple
hummus ( we make our own or use The Happy Pear hummus) and roasted peppers in a wrap with mixed fruit salad and yoghurt
hummus, grated carrot and shredded lettuce with mayo on a wholemeal bagel with popcorn and chopped mango
hummus, grated carrot, sweetcorn, diced radish, shredded lettuce in a wrap, rolled tight and cut into sushi pieces, grapes and flapjack
2 x boiled egg, cubes of cheese, cherry tomatoes, mayo for dipping, crackers and apple
egg mayonnaise with lettuce on wholemeal bread, side of wholemeal pasta with tomato dipping sauce, kiwi
egg muffins, Weetabix power balls (see recipe in Chop, Cook, Yum) 2 oranges
scrambled egg (in flask), soda bread (like McCambridges), cherry tomatoes, homemade smoothie
egg roll ups (thin egg omelette with cheese and sweetcorn, rolled up and cut in 2), wholegrain crackers, mixed fruit salad
egg and banana pancakes, chia seed jam for dipping (recipes in Chop, Cook, Yum), cheese and crackers, grapes
ham on wholemeal, cucumber and pepper sticks, dipping sauce, grapes and kiwi
ham, cheese and avocado (used as a spread) on wrap, cherry tomatoes, apple
ham, cheese and diced apple in a pita, healthy muffin, pear, toasted pumpkin seeds
ham and pineapple leftover pizza, plain yoghurt (always Glenisk for us) with berries and toasted seeds to top
tomato soup (see Mummy Cooks food flask), wholegrain crackers, cheese cubed, oranges
vegetable soup, half wholemeal sandwich with chicken, blueberries and grapes on a Pick Stick, handful popcorn
chicken noodle soup, wholegrain roll and butter, carrot sticks, pear
fruit and oat muffins (see recipe from My Fussy Eater), Greek yoghurt (like Glenisk), orange and pear
leftover spag bol, oat and banana cookie, apple and orange