DIY Homemade Lunchables : Quick & Easy Tips

While store-bought Lunchables offer taste and convenience on the go, the experience becomes even better when you craft your own. In just a few minutes, personalize your lunchbox with your favorite foods or cater to specific dietary preferences. With complete control, your DIY Lunchables can be the freshest, most delicious, and even more cost-effective than store-bought options. Take an extra minute to cut them into fun shapes, add a touch of decoration, and arrange them neatly in your lunchbox for a meal that's both tasty and visually appealing.

Why DIY Homemade Lunchables?

• Customization: One of the main advantages of making your own lunchables is the freedom to choose what goes into them. Tailor your meal to fit your dietary preferences, ensuring a healthier and more enjoyable experience.
• Cost-Effective: Creating your lunchables can be more budget-friendly than purchasing pre-packaged options. Buying ingredients in bulk allows you to save money while also reducing single-use packaging waste.
• Freshness: Enjoy the satisfaction of using fresh and quality ingredients. This not only enhances the taste but also ensures that you are consuming wholesome, nutritious foods.

Ingredients:

Protein: Start with a base of your favorite protein – think deli meats, chicken nuggets, or even tofu for a vegetarian option.

Cheese: Choose a variety of cheeses such as cheddar, mozzarella, or Swiss. Cube, slice them or cut into cute shapes for easy snacking. 

Crackers or Bread: Include a selection of crackers, breadsticks, or even mini pitas.

Fresh Vegetables: Add color and crunch with fresh vegetables like cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, or baby carrots.

Dips and Spreads: Elevate your lunchable by including hummus, guacamole, or your favorite dip. Small containers or compartments work well for keeping them separate.

Fruits: Incorporate sweetness with fruit slices or berries. Grapes, apple slices, or melon cubes are some choices.

Assembly Tips:

Bento Boxes: Invest in a bento box or compartmentalized container to keep each component separate and visually appealing. Some of our favorite lunchboxes are: Easylunchboxes, Planetbox, Bentgo Kids and more.

Portion Control: Be mindful of portion sizes to create a balanced and satisfying meal.

Variety is Key: Rotate your choices to prevent lunchtime boredom. Experiment with different combinations to discover your favorite mix.

Temperature Considerations: If you're packing lunchables for school lunch or work, consider using an insulated lunch bag or adding an ice pack to keep items fresh.

We have packed many DIY Lunchables over the years, and the joy of crafting our personalized meals never gets old. If you're ready to take control of your lunchbox experience, check out more ideas and tips HERE. 

Here's to delicious, customizable lunches that fit your taste, budget, and style! 

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How to Make A Thanksgiving School Lunch With Cookie Cutter

Every year, the Thanksgiving holiday brings with it a whirlwind of festivities and celebrations, but for our family, it holds a double significance. That's because Thanksgiving Day marks the birthday of our son, Nikolai, who was born almost nineteen years ago. While our Thanksgiving is always a time of joyful gatherings and party preparations, creating a festive turkey-themed school lunch has often taken a backseat in the midst of all the excitement.

Unable to find a turkey shaped cookie cutter? No problem! I fortunately remembered an idea I had seen on Pinterest using a hand shaped cookie cutter for a turkey! Here is what I came up with.

In this bento school lunch:

• Turkey shaped sandwich (cut using a hand shaped cookie cutter), sweet peppers for feather (free hand cut), icing eyes, sweet red pepper wattle, yellow sweet pepper beak and cheddar feet.
• Bugles.
• Cucumber slices with a turkey cupcake pick.
• Seedless red grapes and strawberries. This lunch is packed in an Easylunchboxes container.

You can find more Thanksgiving school lunch ideas that I've created over the years here.

As we wrap up our journey through creating the perfect Thanksgiving turkey school lunch, remember that it's not just about the food; it's about the love and effort you put into it. These festive lunches can create wonderful memories and add a touch of magic to the Thanksgiving season. Happy Thanksgiving and happy lunch-making! 🦃🍂🎉

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Easy Pumpkin Pancake Muffins Recipe : A Delicious School Lunch Treat

As you may already know, fall is my favorite time of year. I love the striking colors of the leaves and the cooler temperatures. Of course, it is also the season of pumpkin.

We found some pumpkin pancake and waffle mix during a recent visit to our grocery store and my wonderful hubby made some pancakes with it for breakfast the other day. I used the same mix and made some of our favorite pancake muffins! These bite-sized pancake muffins are not only delicious but also quick and easy to prepare.

I love the idea of baking several batches at a time and freezing the extras for those super busy mornings when we need to grab and go. These particular ones were baked the day before and I'd left some out for the next morning, the rest went into the freezer. They are very simple to make, and you get the ease of a muffin with the deliciousness of a pancake. They make for a portable, nutritious, and tasty treat.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Pumpkin Pancake mix
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• Pam non-stick cooking spray or muffin cups.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix until moistened. Do not over-mix.
3. Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pan, filling ¾ full.
4. There is enough batter to fill one dozen muffin wells.
5. Bake at 350º for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
6. Enjoy!!

In this school lunch: A pumpkin pancake muffin, string cheese, granola bar, crackers, nitrate free ham roll-ups in my favorite silicone cup, organic baby carrots and an organic apple. Packed in an Easylunchboxes container.

Happy baking, and happy fall season!

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How To Cut String Cheese Ghosts For Halloween

We are back and it's almost October which is my favorite month of the year. This will be a short post, but I'll have another longer post coming up soon. We are doing well and I hope the same for you :-) It's "College Time" for Nikolai and many others. We are naturally very proud of our son's achievements as he goes off for his junior year.

I've created several ghost themed lunches over the years that are very easy and great fun. Cutting the string cheese to look like ghosts is my favorite part. I'll be sharing with you the method I used for the string cheese.

You can make some cute ghosts similar to the ones I made quite easily.

You will need:

• String cheese
• Paring knife
• Toothpick, food safe marker or sunflower seeds

Method:

1. Cut the string cheese into half.
2. Using a knife, make a slit in the middle and almost 3/4 way down.
3. Make a few more additional slits till you get 8 legs or less.
4. I used a toothpick for these particular face accents. Just poke the toothpick on the cheese to create the eyes and mouth. I've used food safe marker before and I've seen sunflower seeds being used. These are just some ideas, you might have others.

Below are just a few Halloween lunchbox ideas with these string cheese ghosts.

In this bento lunch (packed in a Planetbox): I used a ghost shaped cookie cutter for the sandwich and raisins for the facial details. Honey was used as glue for the raisins. Sides were dye free choc sunflower seeds, Annie's organic crackers topped with a couple of ghost string cheese, seedless green grapes with a ghost cupcake pick, organic baby carrots, organic granola bar and seedless red grapes.

In this bento lunch:

• Grapes and strawberry slices watched over by a ghost pick.
• Sweet bell peppers carved into jack-o-lanterns above bed of lettuce.
• Ghost shaped sandwich topped with provolone cheese, eyes and nose are made from nori with fruit leather letters. Smaller ghosts are from mozzarella string cheese cut into half with sharp paring knife and food safe marker for eyes and nose. Packed in an Easylunchboxes container.

BOO is the first word of the Halloween season and the theme of this lunch. The main compartment of this lunch contains three mini pumpkin shaped sandwiches which I used a small pumpkin cookie cutter to cut out. I used the letter cutters to cut mild cheddar cheese to put on top of these and a couple pieces of string cheese to make the ghosts by first cutting it into half and then making cuts lengthwise for perhaps a little more than half their length and then spreading them apart to give a bit of a spooky look. I simply used a toothpick to make some indentations for the eyes and mouth, but you could also use a food safe marker. I included a piece of granola bar upon which I added letter cookies from IKEA, and in the smaller sections below I have celery sticks and organic baby carrots on the right and a silicone pumpkin shaped cup holding some grapes and a ghost pick. This lunch was packed in an Easylunchboxes container.

Below is my first ever string cheese creation in 2011 (12 years ago)! Wow, how quickly time flies.

In this bento lunch:

• Ghost shaped sandwich with turkey ham and Colby cheese. Topped with Asiago cheese and candy eyes
• Ghost shaped string cheese
• Seedless black grapes
• Cheddar crackers behind ghost marshmallow
• Organic baby carrots

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

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5 Snacky Lunch Ideas For School

Snacky lunches are fun to make, easy to pack and easy to eat. Lately, besides leftovers, most of Nikolai's lunches are snacky lunches which I often times refer to as homemade lunchables. With the short school lunch time, and of course the need to talk at lunch, snacky lunches are convenient and most welcome. It contains foods that he loves to eat, and we have the foods on hand most of the time.

These lunches are also easy for us to assemble with variety of fruits, vegetables, crackers, cheese, meats, breads, etc.

Our snacky lunches mostly contains any of the following:

• Bread, crackers, croissant, bagel, tortilla wraps, muffins, pretzels.
• A variety of cheese either in slices, sticks, wheels and at times cut into fun shapes from block cheese.
• Sliced deli ham, turkey, roast beef, salami.
• Fruits such as apple slices, seedless grapes, berries, peaches, watermelon, orange slices, and at times apple sauce.
• Vegetables and dips (ranch or hummus).
• Extra treat - Granola bar, rice krispies, popcorn, chips.

Here are 5 snacky lunches which Nikolai enjoyed recently.

Lunch 1: Cheese and ham roll ups, peach slices, seedless grapes in our favorite square silicone cup and tortilla chips in his leak-proof Ecolunchbox bento splash box. 

Lunch 2: Croissants, lefse with cinnamon and butter ( hubby is part Norwegian so we enjoy lefse occasionally), grapes, crackers and elderberry vitamin gummy. Packed in our Planetbox rover.

Lunch 3: Nitrate free pepperoni and crackers in the main compartment. Sides are apple slices, celery sticks with dip in the small container, a yogurt covered star, cheese stick above a granola bar. Packed in our Planetbox rover.

Lunch 4: A couple of turkey and cheese wraps secured with cute food picks, a granola bar, apple slices with cinnamon and crackers. Packed in our Easylunchboxes urban.

Lunch 5: This was packed by dad a.k.a my awesome husband. Sandwich cut into half, crackers, orange slices, cheese slices and I believe he hand cut the N for Nikolai's initial. 

You can always assemble a snacky lunch with what you have on hand, and include foods that your kids love to eat. They are quick and easy to pack! For ideas on DIY homemade lunchables, you can find them here.

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4 Grab and Go Muffins For School Lunch Box (with Recipe)

This school year I've been packing muffins quite often for Nikolai's school lunch. I'm definitely not a morning person, and we have to wake up way earlier since school starts earlier. You'll never find me waking up earlier than I have to, standing in the kitchen baking or cooking in the wee hours of the morning. Most days I'll pack his lunches the night before or he has to pack them in the mornings.

We usually make a batch of muffins during the weekend ( sometimes from scratch and sometimes from the box), eat some and freeze the remaining. They are super portable and will last in the fridge for days or in the freezer for months. They are especially great for busy mornings when you have to race out the door and need a grab and go breakfast, and perfect for the lunchbox, after school snacks or for anytime of the day. These lunches are packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Below are just a few lunch ideas with muffins included.

These ham and cheese casserole muffins are our favorite muffins lately, we have made them so many times that I remember the recipe by heart now, lol.

Ingredients:

3–4 pieces whole wheat bread, torn into small pieces
3–4 slices deli ham, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin tin well.
• Drop bread pieces evenly in muffin tins until they come about 2/3 of the way up the tin.
• Sprinkle ham pieces evenly in each tin.
• Sprinkle cheese evenly in each tin.
• Whisk together eggs, milk, ground mustard, and pepper.
• Pour egg mixture evenly in each muffin tin.
• Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown on top and cooked through the middle.
• Enjoy!!

Bento lunch 1: A couple of ham and cheese muffins from the fridge
(Nikolai doesn't mind eating them cold, but you can also heat them up and drop them into a thermos if you prefer them hot), a granola bar, organic baby carrots and seedless grapes. Packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

These blueberry muffins are from the box, follow the instructions on the box and it's so easy and turned out tasty.

Bento lunch 2: A couple of blueberry muffins from the fridge, just pop them in the lunchbox with a granola bar and a cheese stick in the main compartment. Sides are apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon ( Nikolai's favorite way of eating apples) and seedless green grapes. Packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

It's pumpkin season once again, and we love everything pumpkin! Of course we had to make some pumpkin muffins.
There are so many recipes out there, almost all are quite similar, but this one works for me, it's simple and I usually have most of the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:

2 cups Pumpkin Pancake mix
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
Pam non-stick cooking spray or muffin cups.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350º.
• In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix until moistened. Do not over-mix.
• Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pan, filling ¾ full.
• There is enough batter to fill one dozen muffin wells.
• Bake at 350º for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
• Enjoy!!

Bento lunch 3: A pumpkin pancake muffin, string cheese, granola bar, crackers, nitrate free ham roll-ups in my favorite silicone cup, organic baby carrots and an organic apple. Packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Bento lunch 4: Turkey and cheese wrap, a couple of blueberry muffins, a granola bar, apple slices with sprinkle of cinnamon, grapes and crackers.
All of these lunches are packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Do you have a favorite muffin recipe?

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10 Non-Sandwich School Lunch Ideas In Easylunchboxes

Well, hello there! I hope everyone is doing well. We are in fantastic good cheer, though it has been just a little hectic like everyone else, especially during the holidays. Now we are planning a fun trip to Disney; it's high time that we use the free tickets which we received from them last year.

I'm still been packing lunches daily, with Nikolai packing his own at times, though often I don't bother to snap photos of them. To be sure, not ALL of them are wildly photogenic if you know what I mean!
I have combined several of Nikolai's lunches which were packed in his Easylunchboxes in this one post. They are non-sandwich lunches which he had enjoyed a while back. You can see that Easylunchboxes is one of the lunchboxes that we used quite often and it's one of our favorites. It's easy to pack, easy to wash and they are still in great condition after all these years.

I'll try to describe what we included in each of these lunches.

Bento lunch 1: Main compartment contains a cream cheese bagel which I added a couple of eye picks to look like a face and a cheese stick.  Sides are cucumber slices and orange slices.

Bento lunch 2: French toast from our freezer stash (Eggo brand) with a dragonfly pick and a spoon for his applesauce. Yes, there are hectic days or low on grocery days and we pack what we can find on hand. Sides are Babybel cheese on cheddar crackers and organic apple sauce in our leak-proof mini dipper.

Bento lunch 3: Mickey and Friends kebabs, crackers and organic granola bar in the main compartment. Sides are cucumber and apple slices.

Bento lunch 4: Main compartment contains ham roll ups topped with a baran sheet, cheese stick and crackers. Sides are seedless grapes and organic baby carrots.

Bento lunch 5: Homemade choc chip pancake muffin, baby carrots and I forgot what is in the small container (raisins maybe?). Sides are ham roll ups and watermelon chunks with a cute pick.

Bento lunch 6: Main section contains a cream cheese bagel, cheddar crackers and a granola bar. Sides are grapes and baby carrots.

Bento lunch 7: DIY homemade lunchables. I've been packing similar ones lately. Main compartment contains cheese slices and crackers in my favorite square silicone cups, nitrate free pepperoni slices and granola bar cut into half. Sides are blueberries and grapes.

Bento lunch 8: Pita (stacked) with a cute panda baran sheet, granola bar and cheese crackers in the main compartment. Sides are applesauce and grapes.

Bento lunch 9: Breakfast for lunch - Mini waffles, a cheese stick and a couple of eye picks...does this look like a butterfly? Sides are cheese crackers and grapes.

Bento lunch 10: A large crescent with eye picks and a granola bar in the main section. Sides are some crackers and apple slices.

These lunches are also quick and easy to pack!

Below is a collage that I made for those who might like to pin.

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10 Fall School Lunchbox Ideas

First Day of Fall is around the corner. It's one of my favorite seasons of the year where food is concerned, lol. I love all fall flavors from pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin pie to pumpkin soup! It's also time to create some fun fall themed lunches for Nikolai.

It was great fun looking through all of the lunches which I've posted over the years. Here are 10 Fall School Lunchbox Ideas.

These lunches are not in any particular order. I love them all because they were packed with love, and Nikolai enjoyed them!

Fall leaves themed lunch is easy to create, all you need are a few cookie cutters. This lunch is packed in our leak-proof Bentgo Lunchbox. 

Details of this lunch can be found HERE.

Mouth watering looking at this lunch now. Couscous and shu mai lunch of which you can find the details HERE.

Fall acorns and leaf bento lunch. Packed in our Easylunchboxes container. The details of this lunch can be found HERE.

Maple leaves themed lunch, the cutter/ stamp is so easy to use and I love how the sandwiches turned out. This lunch is packed in a stainless steel Planetbox.

 Find the details of this lunch HERE.

Here is a squirrel and acorns themed lunch. Nikolai told me that the tail looked like a skunk tail! LOL! It's sometimes fun listening to his feedback. This lunch is packed in our Laptop lunches, now Bentology lunchbox. Details for this lunch can be found HERE.

Here is a fall leaves and acorns themed lunch for which you can find the details HERE.

I love how the pumpkin sandwich turned out with the pumpernickel and rye bread. This lunch is packed in Easylunchboxes container.

 Details for this lunch can be found HERE.

What a friendly scarecrow! I think it's cute and not a bit scary! This lunch is packed in our Easyluncboxes.

Details can be found HERE.

Here is a simple FALL themed lunch for which you can find the details HERE. This lunch is packed in our Ecolunchboxes stainless steel lunchbox.

Squirrels, acorns and leaves, all in this cute fall themed lunch. Packed in bentology lunchbox.

The details can be found HERE.

Happy Autumn, y'all!

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10 First Day Back To School Lunches

It's the time of the year when we transition from sleeping late to adjusting back our alarm clocks to school days wake up time. It always feels that summer passes by quicker each year....I guess time flies when you are having so much fun.

Our school here in FL starts this coming Friday, and since it's TGIF, I'll be packing Nikolai a simple first day of school lunch, maybe recreate something from a previous year, I'm not sure for now. It's always nice to make a fun and special lunch for the first day of school, it's just one more way of letting Nikolai know that I'm thinking of him.

Here are 10 first day back to school lunchbox ideas. You can view the description of each HERE.

I hope y'all had a great summer, wish all of you a great start to another school year and your children great success with their studies!!

Below is a collage that I made for those who might like to pin.

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200+ Lunches In Easylunchboxes & Features That We Like

Easylunchboxes, the name says it all! Their user friendly design makes them a family favorite lunchbox. It's one that you will be happy to have when it is time to grab, pack and go.

The Easylunchboxes containers provide three sections for food which makes packing lunches easy. The proportions of these sections is well thought out and, as you can see from the lunches I've packed in them, they seem perfect for a wide variety with enough capacity for a great meal. We own all three sets; the classic, brights and urban colors. In case you are wondering whether these are similar to those disposable ones sold in stores or imitations sold online, the answer is NO. The Easylunchboxes sets are much higher quality, more durable and the lids are not flimsy.

These are features that we like:

- The containers are microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe and they are made from BPA free, FDA approved, food-safe polypropylene plastic.
- The lids come in fun colors.
- Easy to open and close for small hands.
- They are quite economical, a set of four for around $14.
- The insulated lunch bag is great and I have even used it for carrying other boxes.

You can view my gallery of lunches packed in Easylunchboxes by clicking HERE.

Below is a collage that I made for those who might like to pin.

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10 Easy Sandwich Lunches Packed In 5 Minutes Or Less

I hope everyone is doing great. We are doing fantastic although life is a little hectic with many after school practices. Have I mentioned that Nikolai has ventured into acting, which is yet another activity. The current play which they are rehearsing is Beauty and The Beast in which he will be playing Maurice, Belle's dad, and we can't wait to watch! I personally LOVE Beauty and The Beast  in movies and songs, and I hope that I'll be able to pull myself together during the end of the show, lol! I'm still packing lunches every single day, though they are just very simple ones.

The other day, I was listening to my favorite pastor speak on Sirius XM while driving. He said that some moms may be packing a simple lunch and feel it's just simple, nothing special, BUT, we may be packing for someone special in the future, our kid could be the next doctor, the next President, the next Bill Gates, etc. That message really inspired me to share these lunches which I initially thought of not posting! All of these lunches were packed in our Easylunchboxes.

These lunches were packed in a flash, less than 5 minutes or so, because some days that has to be enough! I suspect others find themselves in a similar circumstance.

Last year I've shared a post  of easy lunches packed in 10 minutes or less which can be found HERE.

Keep reading for the description of each lunch.

Bento lunch 1: Main compartment contains bread roll-ups, sweet red and yellow pepper slices and a babybel cheese in my favorite square silicone cups. Sides are seedless green grapes and organic granola bar.

Bento lunch 2: Sandwich cut into half and stacked with a pick, crackers, with laughing cow cheese and a granola bar in the main compartment. The sides are apple sauce and strawberries with cute eye picks.

Bento lunch 3: Sandwich made with Pumpernickel bread and a cute ladybug baran sheet, laughing cow cheese and crackers. Sides are seedless grapes with a ladybug pick and granola bar cut into half.

Bento lunch 4: Main compartment contains sandwich with rye bread cut into half and apple sauce. Sides are organic baby carrots, cheese crackers and granola bar. Of course I had to add the little penguin pick!

Bento lunch 5: Pumpernickel bread with a star cut-out for the sandwich with an organic granola bar make up the main section. Sides are Babybel cheese, Annie's organic crackers and peach slices in a silicone cup.

Bento lunch 6: Sandwich cut into half with a string cheese divider. Organic apple slices and seedless grapes populate the smaller sections.

Bento lunch 7: Need to go grocery shopping day! Sandwich, string cheese, apple sauce and seedless grapes.

Bento lunch 8: Sandwich topped with a cute baran sheet, and string cheese in the main section, orange and apple slices are in the others.

Bento lunch 9: Sandwich cut into half (stacked) with a cute hat pick, cheese crackers, cucumber slices share the main part, seedless grapes and apple sauce occupy the others.

Bento lunch 10: The main section has cheese cut into tea-pots, shaped with my mini cutter,  topping the stacks of quartered sandwich sharing space with sugar snap peas and baby carrots in my favorite square silicone cups. The other sections have grapes and a fiber one lemon bar.

Besides me, is anyone else losing their lunch packing mojo, and thinking of summer break?

Below is a collage that I made for those who might like to pin.

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