Easy Zero Waste Back-to-School Lunch Ideas

I can’t believe the first week school has come and gone, luckily my kids were actually exited to get back to it. Hopefully you are surviving the flood of back to school emails, rushing to catch bus and the chore of making lunches every day. In the last post I wrote about everything you need for a zero waste back-to-school lunch kit. It’s been mentioned to me that getting the right lunch kit supplies is the easy part and that actually making a zero waste lunch is the hard part. Here’s the dilemma, you want your kid to eat well and you only have so much time to pack their lunches. No kid does well on an empty stomach and you want convenience without the waste. Let’s look at some easy zero waste back to school lunch ideas, because let’s face it, we are all busy!

The Problem

It’s so easy to create a huge amount of waste with pre-packaged lunch food and snacks. Who doesn’t like the convenience? But what really gets me is how bad they are for our kids with all the added sugar and preservatives. Not to mention how bad all the packaging is for the environment. Let’s look a little closer at a better lunch for our kids and the planet.

The Solution

Make really simple food with whole and fresh ingredients. Top it up with some snacks like fruit and veggies and a few treats from the bulk section. As simple as that!

What is a zero waste back to school lunch?

Before we dig deeper into lunches let’s wrap our heads around what a zero waste back to school lunch looks like. For me, It’s a lunch without packaging, plastic baggies, single use cutlery, paper napkins, apple sauce cups, yoghurt tubes… You know, a lunch that doesn’t create more waste.

When my kid’s are finished lunch they shouldn’t need a recycling bin or a thrash can, just a compost bin for some scraps. Luckily enough, our local schools have a composting program. Maybe your kids will have to bring their scraps home for composting.

If you really want to dig deeper into low waste lunches, consider the packaging the food comes in from the store and how it’s shipped and handled before that. That’s beyond the scope of this post but if your looking into a zero waste lunch ideas your probably already thinking of that. We strive to eliminate packaging early in the supply chain as well. We buy in bulk where we can, use reusable bags and containers for grocery shopping, and generally cook from scratch as much as we can. Our goal is to do our best without feeling overwhelmed. We know that every little bit helps..

Easy Zero Waste Back-to-School Lunch Ideas

Start with Snacks

We typically pack three to five snacks with a main or two. A healthy lunch will help your kids do their best at school.

Fresh Fruit

A classic lunch staple like the apple is good for you and pretty travel resilient. Bananas are more of a gamble unless you like them squished and black. I find that my kids do better with fruit when it’s cut up or closer to bite size. I noticed that if you were to put out a bowl of fruit vs cut fruit, the cut fruit always gets eaten.

If they can go brown like cut apples do, a little lemon juice does the trick. Get creative and change it up so they don’t always have the same thing, think apples, oranges, grapes, cherries, berries, pineapples… Depending on the season and where you live, you should be able to get these plastic free. I live in the northern hemisphere so I buy more when it’s in season and freeze it. If you are really keen, you can take up canning too.

Chopped Veggies

In our house, carrots are the go-to everyday veggie. They’re great for you and easy to find unpackaged, the organic ones don’t even need pealing, simply wash and cut. Store the chopped carrots in a sealed container with a bit of water and you’ll have them on hand all week.

As far as other veggies, what ever you can think of and that your kids will actually eat. Cucumber, celery, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes… We have more success when they are cut and there is some dip to go along with them.

Roasted or boiled new potatoes with salt and butter are pretty easy and get eaten up in a flash.

Dried Fruit

Raisins, cranberries, apricots, dates just to name a few. We try to buy these in bulk as much as we can and store them in glass jars and containers. If you don’t have good bulk options available, buy large packages and divvy them up daily into small containers. The goal is to avoid packaging as much as you can.

Nuts

Another item you can find in bulk. We tend to mix them as the kids seam to prefer trail mix. I tend to mix unsalted nuts with a few salted ones to keep the salt intake down. Our younger daughter’s school is nut free, so a seed mix sometimes works.

Popcorn

You should be able to find popcorn kernels in bulk and if stored properly they have a very long shelf life. Cook it in a pot with a bit oil on the stove top and a little goes a long way. My kids like the classic butter and salt.

You can also mix things up with a nutritional yeast topping. I get it, it sounds weird if you’ve never tried it but it actually tastes good. I am sure I made some funny faces when my wife was putting it on for the first time.

Pretzels

Not really sure why but pretzels seem to be a staple in the bulk section. My kids like them and it’s a bit of a tradeoff for them to eat their veggies. They’re also pretty tasty with a healthy dip like hummus. Keep an eye out for other snack ideas in the bulk section like sesame sticks, rice crackers… It’s always good to switch things up.

Homemade Baking

This I won’t lie, is certainly more time intensive, even bake-free energy balls. If your kids are like mine they’ll like baking more than other kitchen chores. They’ll learn new skills and you’ll get some bonding time. Energy balls, granola bars, cookies, muffins… What ever you can think of, there’s a cookbook or a website with good recipes.

Homemade Dips

So many options here, whether it’s a basic yoghurt and spice dip, tzatziki, hummus, or something fancier. They can be healthy and increase the chances that your kids will eat all their veggies. They’re easy to whip up and pretty tasty with veggies, bread and crackers too.

Move on to Mains

One substantial main or two smaller ones should do the trick. That and the side snacks will keep your kid’s hunger at bay.

Sandwiches

Always my go-to, you can’t go wrong with sandwiches. From simple PB & J, PB & banana (assuming your kids are allowed nuts at school) to grilled cheese and beyond, sandwiches will please your kids. If they are getting tired of the same thing, french toast can be a welcome change.

You should have no problem finding fresh bread without the plastic bags at a local bakery. We often get them to handover a fresh loaf and put in our own cloth bag.

As for low waste ingredients you can generally get them without the packaging with a bit of a system. Peanut butter in bulk or at least reusable glass jars, meat and cheese at a deli with your own container or simply wrapped in paper, eggs in reusable paper cartons. As for veggies, they’re easy to find without packaging, especially at farmers markets.

Wraps

Wraps are quick and easy, my kids love scrambled egg and cheese wraps. The only issue here is finding low waste options. Some bakeries offer pita wraps without the packaging but it’s certainly harder to find tortilla wraps. The Zero Waste Chef has a recipe but we haven’t made it there yet in our journey. Maybe a local Mexican restaurant can sell you some with out the packaging, at a minimum buy them in a large pack and reuse the ziploc style bag. Remember don’t let perfect get in the way of good.

Leftovers

Leftovers can be packed in a microwavable glass container or in a thermos faster than you can say lunch is ready. You also avoid wasting food. Make something they like for dinner and they will be happy to have it at lunch during the week, maybe not the day after. I always make sure they have their own cutlery to avoid the single use stuff.

Soups

Make these in advance and have them ready in the fridge or freezer. Lots of great recipes in the Zero Waste Chef, Oh She Glows and One Pot One Pan One Planet cookbooks/websites. I find that with soup, my kids need another small main like a half sandwich to get them through the day.

Salads

Likely more for mom and dad’s lunches but some kids might actually like this. Think potato salad with pickles or a taco salad, as a spinach salad probably won’t go over super well.

In the End

I hope this post has helped you reduce the stress of packing school lunches, never mind the waste.

Most of the lunch ideas here are quite simple. I believe that lunches should be easy, simple, fresh and healthy.

With a good lunch kit and ingredients you already know, you can give your kids a zero waste lunch!

If I missed anything in the list of easy zero waste back-to-school lunch, please let me know. Feel free to drop a comment.

Not only are you saving the planet but you are probably saving money too.

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Thanks for reading,

Pat