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Kids Paleo Lunches

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Paleo Lunch Inspiration

After you’re done here, click on the image to see more paleo lunch ideas.

Paleo Lunch Inspiration (Quick & Easy Lunches)

Kid Friendly Paleo Box Lunches

When we decided to switch the entire family to a Paleo diet, my first concern was “What the heck do I make my kids for lunch?” “Does Paleo Kids lunches even exist?”. I mean, the only way a kid will eat lunch is if it’s served between two slices of bread, right? The first solution was to make “paleo” bread. Basically, tasteless quick bread. It satisfied their need for a sandwich, especially when served open-face and covered in egg salad. But I didn’t really like it and didn’t want to have to make bread all the time (not that it was hard). Plus, that’s really just paleo-fying something, not truly paleo. So I came up with other ideas.

Luckily, our kids have always liked fruits and veggies. They never have been too much on the junk food side. We have never had to hide them in other foods or trick them to eat their greens. But I didn’t want them to miss their sandwiches and I wanted them to have a nice variety of foods every day in every meal.

I try to balance out their lunches with a protein (usually eggs, meat, or egg/chicken/tuna salad), some fruits and veggies, and then a little snack (like dates, homemade Larabars, trail mix, applesauce, etc). It’s never really the same and I think they really love it that way. And the lunch boxes always come back empty so I know they really do love it and can wait until dinner without starving.

Paleo Lunches

These box lunch ideas aren’t just for kids, it’s easy to have a paleo lunch at work now.

Tuna Salad; Applesauce; Carrot Sticks; Cucumbers; Plum Tomato; Strawberry; Blueberries; Dates; Nuts

Turkey BLTA Roll-Ups; Dates; Strawberries; Carrot Sticks; ApplesauceChocolate Chia Pudding

Tuna Salad; Applesauce; Carrot Sticks; Cucumbers; Plum Tomato; Strawberry; Blueberries; Dates; Nuts

Tuna Salad; Mango Chunks; Carrots; Plum Tomatoes; Strawberries; Chocolate Brownie Bites

Turkey BLTA Roll-Ups; Strawberries; Carrot Sticks; Cucumber; Grapes; Chocolate Brownie Bites

Turkey BLTA Roll-Ups; Strawberries; Dates; Grapes; Sugar Snap Peas

Mango; Hard-Boiled Eggs; Cucumber Sticks; Carrot Sticks; Tomatoes; Paleo Ranch Dressing

Turkey BLTA Roll-Ups; Date; Strawberries; Mango; Carrot Sticks; Cucumber Sticks

Also, I really love these little divided Ziploc tupperware containers. They come in a 2-pack at the grocery store for under $4. I need to get more because I’d really like to prepare a few days worth of lunches at the same time (of course some stuff would have to wait until the day of to add to the paleo lunch box).

Occasionally I’ll add a full grain free salad with cherry tomatoes or some vegetables in the main part, with a small container of paleo friendly dressing on the side. That’s also a hit. Especially when there’s bacon involved. Just sayin’…

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Melanie Cook

Tuesday 30th of May 2017

Hi, Your photos are great of the lunches. I am looking for healthy lunch ideas for my two teen boys. I am not on a type of diet, but we are eating less on processed food and sugar. We are eating whole foods more too. When I look closely at the boxes of food and their contents, I am concerned of the amount of food that are sugar food (natural yes), but berries, papaya, plums and mango are very high.The lack of fibre or foods that are energy dense to keep us from having a sugar spike an hour later, is missing.The fruit chosen has a high water content also.I can see why one of your comments from a Mum with a teenage daughter lacked concentration at school. A well known fact that eating food that does not keep you full for longer or provides energy (complex carbs) will make you loose concentration. Teenagers need these the most at this age. Plus we need to eat lots of fibre or they will get constipated and bowel cancer is high because of this also. Could you come up with some other ideas to make these more balanced?

Shawna

Thursday 11th of January 2018

Hi Melanie, I'm interested to know if you've come up with some ideas since writing this. I have a rapidly growing 10 year old boy who plays sports and needs some calories. He's not a fan of avacado. We're staying away from grains and dairy, which were previously staples in school lunches. I have trouble coming up with ideas when we don't have appetizing leftovers!

Jan

Monday 8th of August 2016

Thank you! I'm looking for adult lunch ideas for ME and these are great Our school day has been lengthened this coming year to 8+ hours for teachers. Should I just pack a snack of two as well?

ME

Saturday 10th of December 2016

Hi Jan, I too am a teacher. I eat my fruits for snacks. Like someone said, it's best to eat your fruit alone. If you're behind on protein, nuts, almond butter on celery is good. Grapes are good to walk around class and still teach. Bananas and apples cut in bite sizes mix in cinnamon to stop browning is good too. Hope this helps.

SK Bell

Thursday 21st of April 2016

So happy to have come across these! Some for the kids, some for me! Thanks for sharing =]

Jamie

Monday 4th of January 2016

Thanks so much for this. As weird as this sounds, I hate condiments so there are many things (dressing, mayo, mustard, vingear, etc.) that I don't eat. So finding a way to make simple food exciting has really spurred my movement to eat healthier.

Amy

Monday 23rd of November 2015

thank you so much for these ideas! I'm four months pregnant and haven't been eating very healthy. I'm always working at other people's houses and couldn't think of things that didn't need to be heated up, besides a sandwich. This will help me be healthier, thank you sooo much!