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 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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10 Non-Sandwich School Lunch Ideas In Planetbox

It has been a couple of weeks since we started back to school, and it looks like we made it! We are, however, still getting used to our new sleeping schedules, waking up schedules. Nikolai has been quite cooperative open to compromise. We offered an arrangement  accepting a later bedtime but with the agreement that each grade on a report card that was less than 95%, would adjust the time earlier by half an hour.  He took the deal, and I am hopeful that it will work out well. I don't expect he would have any difficulty as he has always done better than that.

I've combined several of Nikolai's lunches packed in his Planetbox in this one post. They are non-sandwich lunches which he had enjoyed a while back.
You can see that Planetbox 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, very durable and will last for many years to come!

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

Bento lunch 1: Main compartment contains nitrate free ham and string cheese cut into pieces for kebabs with an organic granola bar. Sides are grapes, sugar snap peas, hummus in the small dipper, a Yogurt covered star and organic cheese crackers.

Bento lunch 2: Lunchables style lunch with 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.

Bento lunch 3: Another lunchables style lunch with nitrate free pepperoni, string cheese and crackers in the main compartment. Sides are Annie's organic crackers, celery sticks and baby carrots, a yogurt covered star and organic apple slices. I thought the 'eye' picks made it fun!

Bento lunch 4: Main compartment contains a bagel with cream cheese and a granola bar. Sides are goldfish crackers, chocolate chips, grapes and orange slices. I'm pretty sure that this was one day that I needed to go grocery shopping.

Bento lunch 5: Mini waffle sandwiches with cream cheese in the main compartment. Sides are red and green grapes, baby carrots, chocolate chips and goldfish crackers. Packed in our Planetbox.

Bento lunch 6: Crackers and cheese for the main section with ham roll-ups above. In the other sections I included organic fruit snack, rice krispies bar and grapes.

Bento lunch 7: An English muffin with eye picks and carrot mouth (a little like Hubby after too much T.V. ... Just kidding!), orange slices, chocolate chips (What a combination!), celery sticks, baby carrots, and Annie's organic crackers.

Bento lunch 8: Main compartment contains waffle sandwiches with cream cheese. Sides are a ham kebab, orange slices, chocolate chips, organic granola bar and Annie's organic crackers.

Bento lunch 9: Tortilla wrap cut into half with eye picks and an organic granola bar in the main compartment. Sides are grapes, orange slices, baby carrots, fruit snacks, Babybel cheese and crackers.

Bento lunch 10: Mac and cheese in the main compartment, Nikolai doesn't mind eating it at room temperature...works for me!. Sugar snap peas with a cute bear pick, pretzels, yogurt covered raisins, cantaloupe and grapes.

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

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4 Easy Lunches in Leak-Proof Bentgo Kids Lunchbox

It's already May and this will be the last month of school for this year. Where did the time go? I've still been packing school lunches daily, but have not been snapping the pictures since they are real simple lunches with mostly leftovers or simple sandwiches. It's also time to start discussing and planning for our vacations! Yippie!

Blogging has to be put on the back burner now since there are back to back activities, concerts, award ceremony and more. All are great fun, but time consuming. Good news flash: Nikolai's exams are over and everything is back to normal, especially the sleep schedule, so I don't expect to be hearing "why do I need to go to bed so early, mom?"

Here are four easy lunches, all packed in our leak-proof Bentgo lunchbox. Some are simple but still cute, they were brightened up by cute cupcake picks and mini cookie cutters.

Bento lunch 1: A couple of circle shaped sandwiches cut with my circle cookie cutter, topped with a couple of Cheddar bears for which I used our mini cutter to create. The sides were cheddar crackers, fruit snacks, grapes, a large strawberry and sugar snap peas.

Bento lunch 2: Sandwiches, Rice Krispie bar, organic baby carrots, celery sticks, fruit snacks, Annie's organic crackers and grapes with a cute Snoopy cupcake ring.

Bento lunch 3: A couple of circle shaped sandwiches with cute panda face cut-outs created with my cutter/ stamper set. Sides were cheddar crackers, rice krispie, fruit snacks, baby carrots, grapes with a Panda pick.

Bento lunch 4: Roll up ham and cheese. These were made by rolling the ham around slices of Gouda cheese. Sides were baby carrots, Ritz crackers, fruit snacks and grapes.

When does Summer break start for your kids?

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2 Non Sandwich Lunches In Leak Proof Yumbox

Nikolai loves lunchables style lunches and I'm guessing that he likes to assemble them at school.:) Lately, he has been asking for Ritz crackers almost daily and according to him, a majority of his friends also pack them for their lunches. Of course, I'm always happy to oblige.

Both of these lunches were packed in his leak-proof Yumbox panino.

In this bento lunch: Main compartment contains nitrate free salami topped with a butterfly shaped smoked Gouda cheese, slices of mozzarella string cheese in our favorite square silicone cup, Ritz crackers and a small pecan pie. His sides were sugar snap peas topped with another slice of butterfly shaped cheese, fruit snacks, and seedless grapes.

I've been using these eye picks a lot lately. It brightens up any simple lunch and they are super adorable.

In this bento lunch: A couple of tortilla roll-ups secured with cute eye picks, Pirate's booty, fruit snacks, goldfish crackers and organic apple sauce. Apple sauce is one of those foods that require a leak-proof container like this Yumbox. Fun lunch! Easy peasy!

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Ham and Cheese Crescents Roll-Ups For Lunch With Recipe

This seems like a good time for me to post this amazing recipe that I found on pinterest, and have used so many times. Our entire family, our friends, co-workers all loved them, and I've made them for many parties as well. This recipe only requires three ingredients which makes it totally my kind of easy recipe! You can have them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea time or really anytime of the day. They are so tasty!

I baked some the other day for breakfast and packed a couple of them into Nikolai's Easylunchboxes for this school lunch.

Here is the recipe which I used.

Ingredients:

• 8-oz can refrigerated crescent roll dough. I used Pillsbury brand 
• 8 slices of deli ham 
• 8 slices of cheddar cheese (you can use any other cheese that you prefer)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Separate dough into 8 equal pieces (they usually separate into triangles)
3. Place 1 slice of ham and 1 slice of cheese (folded in half) on the larger end of the triangle.
4. Roll the crescent up with the ham and cheese inside, and place it tip side down on a baking sheet ( I line it with aluminum foil for easy clean-up).
5. Bake for 15 minutes, until tops are golden brown.
6. Enjoy! 

Nikolai doesn't mind eating lunch foods at room temp or cold , thus, I send some in his lunchbox. In the above lunchbox I have used some of my eyes picks to give them a fun appearance and added goldfish crackers and some seedless grapes in the other sections.

In the lunch shown below, I have also included a couple of tasty Ham and Cheese Crescent Roll-ups, this time choosing airplane and truck picks. This time I have cheddar bunnies and orange slices in the other sections. This lunch was also packed in our Easylunchboxes.

Seldom do I follow a recipe exactly as I find it. I like to add a tweak here or there to suit my own taste, and I think this recipe is perfect for that. Try something different in place of the ham, perhaps smoked turkey, try it with Swiss or Asiago cheeses. At home you might enjoy experimenting with different dips or side dish combinations. Be adventurous and have fun!

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4 Pumpkin Muffins For Lunch with Pancake Muffin Recipe

We are well into Fall season now, and this is my favorite time of year! We have been enjoying the flavors of pumpkin, apples and other fall favorites! I've also gotten into experimenting with some new fall recipes and have pressed my family into food tester service, lol.
These lunches are quite similar, but they were made with different sides and were enjoyed on different days. The English Muffins are Thomas' limited edition pumpkin spice. All of us like these very much.

We found some pumpkin pancake and waffle mix during a recent visit to Trader Joe's 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 were simple and are very tasty without any toppings.

I usually add frozen organic blueberries, strawberries and chocolate chips. You can also use bacon, ham and sausage pieces if you prefer adding meat. 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.

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 bento 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.

The photos below show some Thomas' limited edition pumpkin spice English muffins.

In this bento lunch: English muffin with pumpkin cream cheese spread topped with an angry bird cupcake ring, granola bar, Babybel cheese, seedless red and green grapes, Annie's organic crackers and pumpkin cookies from Trader Joe's

In this bento lunch: English muffin topped with a pumpkin shaped gummy candy, yogurt covered pumpkin shaped cookies from Trader Joe's, Babybel cheese, organic kiwi slices and baby carrots.

This is the easiest bento lunch of all: English muffin with a cute alien pick, granola bar, string cheese applesauce, a smiley face spoon and Annie's organic crackers. This is typical of the type of lunch that I pack whenever I'm low on groceries.

These fours lunches are almost similar, but with different sides. Most importantly, Nikolai loved his lunches. Yay to mom! All of these lunches were packed in our Easylunchboxes.

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