Delicious Bento Box Lunch Ideas Your Kids Will Love

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Published by 
Jess Miller
Last updated: 
March 22, 2023
Expanded Double Bento Box by Takenaka (Pink)

Looking for some delicious bento box lunch ideas to spice up your child's school lunch? Gone are the days of sandwiches and chips as a staple in the lunchroom. These days, children are enjoying healthy and elaborate lunches that even make some teachers envious.

These bento box lunch ideas are the complete package, with the perfect blend of healthy and delicious food that's easy to assemble. Prepare to be known as the parent who packs the best lunches.

What Is a Bento Box?

A bento box is a reusable box used to package a single portion of a meal. These nifty boxes have been popular in Japan for centuries, but have recently found their way around the world.

Children everywhere enjoy eating lunch from bento boxes of all shapes and sizes. They are an excellent way to provide your child with a healthy and well-balanced meal that offers a variety of flavors.

Every parent wants to pack their child a healthy lunch full of nutrients to keep them going. With bento boxes, you can make healthy eating fun and flavorful.

Not to mention, bento box lunch ideas cut down on the number of plastic and paper bags and containers used each year. So, using bento boxes is a great way to reduce your impact on the environment, making the world a better place.

Sandwich-Centered Bento Box Lunch Ideas

Sandwich Cutters for Kids
Image source: amazon

We kick off our list of bento box lunch ideas with some of the best sandwich-centered lunches. Kick the classic sandwich up a notch with these creative ideas your kids will be begging you to pack them again.

Create a fall flavors bento box to capture all the tasty treats that come with the season. Pack your child a turkey sandwich in the largest compartment, adding a little cranberry flavored jelly.

Then, compliment this sandwich with popular fall fruits and vegetables like apple slices, pomegranate seeds, and rainbow carrots sticks. Also, try adding some pumpkin-flavored pudding or cookies for dessert.

Kids will go crazy for a bento box filled with homemade bagel bites. Add a little pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and your child's favorite pizza toppings to some mini bagels. Round out the meal with fruits and vegetables such as carrots and celery sticks or cucumbers and apple slices.

Mini quesadillas are one of the best bento box lunch ideas. Using small, fajita-sized tortillas, melt a little cheese and add any additional filling you'd like. You can even sneak in veggies such as fresh bell peppers or tomatoes.

To complement this dish, add in some avocado cubes drizzled with lime to prevent browning and some strawberries for a delicious sweet treat.

Sandwich Cutters for Kids

Even the traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich can be fun. For example, try cutting your sandwich into fun animal shapes to get into the spirit of bento. Also, add goldfish crackers, snap peas, and berries for additional crunchy and sweet treats.

headSalad-Centered Bento Box Lunch Ideas

It's possible for your child to even enjoy a veggie-filled salad with these creative bento box lunch ideas.

Make a pasta salad bento box loaded with your child's favorite fruits and veggies. For example, some popular pasta salad ingredients include tomatoes, carrots, green peppers, cucumbers, and peas. You can even add mandarin oranges or strawberry slices for a fruity surprise.

Fill the rest of the bento box with other yummy treats like fruit and yogurt or crackers and cheese.

Taco salads are one of those bento box lunch ideas that everyone can enjoy. Customize the taco salad to your child's taste by adding ingredients like taco meat, avocados, tomatoes, corn, beans, lettuce, and cheese.

Add a little salsa, sour cream, or guacamole as a side dish. Also, some tortilla chips or carrots and celery would be great to dip into this delicious Mexican fiesta.

These salad-centered bento box lunch ideas do not need to be made with lettuce alone. Try making a tasty chicken salad loaded with fruits and vegetables. In addition to shredded chicken, add grapes, nuts, celery, and apples to your chicken salad.

Then, add plenty of foods for scooping to the other compartments. For example, crackers, carrots, celery sticks, and apples all work very well.

Likewise, a fruit salad is one of the yummiest bento box lunch ideas. Try making one with a fruit of every rainbow color -- strawberries, oranges, bananas, kiwi, blueberries, and grapes work well.

Also, add a punch of protein to this fruity lunch. For example, snacks such as cheese sticks, peanut butter crackers, and yogurt work well.

Unique Bento Box Lunch Ideas

Of course, the beauty of bento box lunch ideas is that they don't need to conform to traditional lunch standards. Think outside the box with these unique bento box lunch ideas.

Try making a breakfast bento box for lunch! Load up those compartments with all the tastiest breakfast treats. For example, fruits, mini waffles or pancakes, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, and mini quiches make a great addition to this box.

Make lunch even more appetizing with a bento box full of dips. For instance, encircle hummus or ranch dip with pretzels, pita, carrots, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber slices for a dippable lunch that's fun to eat and easy to prepare.

Roll-ups are another favorite lunch idea that uses traditional sandwich ingredients in a fun new way. Simply roll lunch meat such as turkey, ham, salami or roast beef around cheese sticks. These roll-ups are easy, delicious, and full of protein to give your kid energy for the whole day.

Pair these roll-ups with other traditional lunch treats such as applesauce, yogurt, bell pepper sticks, or berries. In addition, pack fig cookies or graham crackers for a yummy dessert.

Finally, try sending chicken nuggets in your child's bento box. Also, include their favorite nugget dipping sauce and other dippable treats such as carrots, celery, peppers, or pea pods. Add some fruit to round out this tasty meal.

What’s for Lunch?

Sandwich Cutters for Kids
Image source: amazon

Making your child's lunch every day does not have to be difficult. With these bento box lunch ideas, you've got a dozen new and exciting ways to pack lunch for your child.

Each includes plenty of fruits and vegetables as well as other tasty treats no child can resist. Whether your child enjoys sandwiches, salads, or something unique, they will have full bellies and happy hearts after eating these bento box lunch ideas lovingly prepared by you.

What's your favorite bento box treat? Let us know in the comments.

Featured image source: amazon

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