After a year of packing lunches for James to take to school, I now get why moms on Instagram are always complaining about packing lunches and sharing what they’re feeding their kids. It is such a pain — and not something I factored in when we signed James up for summer camp. Now don’t get me wrong, there is an option to buy the lunch at camp each day, and the menu isn’t the healthiest but it’s filled with things my kid will eat (save for grilled cheese sandwiches, which for some reason he detests). But after one day of eating the camp lunch, he came home upset because everyone else in his group had brought their lunch and he wanted mom to make his lunch too in the Bento Boxes we had for school. And so now here I am every morning, trying to get everyone dressed and fed while stressing over what I’m going to fill those little squares with and furiously googling “easy summer camp lunch ideas”. Sadly, there has not been tons written on the subjects, so alas, here I am sharing what I have found works after a few weeks on the job.
Now, it’s not just thinking up healthy lunch ideas, which can be hard enough — it’s all the restrictions. Everything has to be tree nut free, but it also has to last out in the heat. I can pack an ice pack to keep the lunch cool, but it’s typically so hot and humid that I don’t feel good about including anything that could get yucky or make the kids sick from sitting out too long. I am also a little paranoid probably, but hey, this is my first rodeo. So I’ve been leaning toward putting little bits of different types of food in the kids’ lunch boxes each day and seeing how it goes. I love Bento Boxes (we use these nontoxic ones) because it allows me to experiment with different foods each day and I know I have like five slots to fill so it feels less overwhelming. It’s also a good opportunity to drop in some foods that the kids maybe haven’t tried or historically don’t love to give them a chance to try it in a new setting without worrying they won’t have anything else to eat or that it’ll touch and “infect” another food. After a few weeks of packing lunches, I have created a solid list of easy summer camp lunch ideas, and I promise you don’t have to be a whiz in the kitchen to create them (reminder: I can’t cook).
I have a strategy that has really worked. I have a main dish and then a list of fruits and veggies I use for the 2-3 other spaces and a list of snack-y type foods I’ll use to fill out the remaining 1-2 spaces. That way I know they have a variety of foods they’ll eat and I’ve attempted to ensure a well-balanced healthy meal. So if you’re struggling with the whole camp lunch thing too, here are easy summer camp lunch ideas that I’ve found my kids will eat, won’t melt in the heat, and follow all the allergen rules.
Main Item
Veggie Muffin
Multigrain Waffles
Multigrain French Toast Sticks
Chicken Sticks
Sun Butter + Jelly Sandwich
Bagels + Cream Cheese
Crackers or Pita and Hummus
Turkey Sandwich
Lunch Meat + Cheese
Turkey Rolls
Quesadillas
Cream Cheese + Jelly Sandwich
Sun Butter + Apples
Ants on a Log with Sun Butter
Sesame Noodles
Butternut Squash Mac + Cheese
Chickpea Pasta
Veggie Burger (full disclosure: James has yet to eat this even with Ketchup on the side)
Spinach Tortellinis
Leftover Pizza
Yogurt + Granola
Avocado Toast
Fruits and Veggies
Cut grapes (love this tool to easily cut grapes in minutes)
Apple slices
Baby carrots
Cucumber slices
Grape tomatoes
Cherries (de-pitted and cut into small pieces, which is kind of a pain but the kids love)
Clementines (I peel them and divvy them up for him and his wife will hate me for that one day)
Berry medley (I’ll do blueberries, strawberries and raspberries or blackberries depending on what I have in the fridge)
Celery and Hummus (Hummus goes in separate container because he doesn’t like it)
Sliced peaches (I take off the skin to be safe and because I also still wipe my kids’ butts)
Watermelon slices (I saw someone cut these into cute shapes and thought about doing it)
Mango slices
Cantalope and Honeydew slices
Peer Slices (again, I take the skin off)
Avocado Slices (James doesn’t eat avocado but I will pack this for Char one day)
Sides
Trader Joe’s Organic Animal Crackers
And those are my summer camp lunch ideas, but I would love to hear yours as well. I am always on the lookout for new things I can give my kids that they’ll be excited to eat!
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