School is ending. This means that we need a Summer Lunch List. Why? Because children cannot live on sandwiches alone. We’re sure to lose our meal-planning brains by June. And we all just need a cheat sheet. Here it is!
Summer Lunch List of Ideas
- Bean and Cheese Burritos – Make a big batch and freeze them to rewarm quickly as needed.
- Meat and Cheese Burritos – Make a big batch and freeze them to rewarm quickly as needed.
- Black Bean Salsa – Take a few minutes to put this together, refrigerate, then pull it out and serve with chips.
- Cheesy Salsa Enchiladas – These only take about 15 minutes to put together from start to finish. Make them ahead and bake as needed.
- Chicken Salad – Serve on bread, crackers, or tortillas.
- Tuna Salad – Serve on bread, crackers, or tortillas.
- Sloppy Joes – Serve on buns or with tortilla chips.
- Taco Salad – Let everyone build their own as they like.
- Simple Chicken Cheeseballs with a Kick – Perfect with these smoothies.
- Black Bean Chicken Nachos – These come together surprisingly fast.
- Grilled Pizza Tortillas – Fast and easy!
- Quesadillas – Add torn spinach to these to “sneak in veggies.“
- Easy Cheesy Bean Dip – I love it when lunch includes a chip and a dip.
- Pizza Boats – You can grill these if you want to avoid the oven. :)
- Creamy Mac and Cheese – Have you tried making it this way? Amazing.
- Beanie Weanies – A kid favorite at our house.
- Guacamole – With chips. And smoothies. It’s lunch and I love it.
- Simple Last Minute Nacho Plate – Perfect when they’ve played outside all morning and come in starving.
- Sliced Ham – Tastes so good with potato salad.
- Simple Crock Pot Pizza Casserole – Take 5 minutes to put this together in your crock pot during breakfast; then serve it at lunchtime!
- Turkey and Cheese Melts – Use leftover bread or buns, top them with lunch meat and cheese, then melt them under a broiler for 2-3 minutes.
Convenience food back-up ideas:
At this point in my life, I try to keep some of these on hand for super quick meals:
- Hotdogs
- Frozen pizza
- Chicken nuggets
- Sandwich makings
Keep any or all of these on hand for easy lunch sides:
- Baby carrots (I like the petite carrots – they are sweeter and easier to eat!)
- Grape tomatoes
- Mini sweet peppers
- Sugar snap peas
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- Raspberries
- Unsweetened Applesauce
- Bananas
- Grapes
- Oranges
- Clementines
- Fresh Spinach or Mixed Greens
- Sliced apples
- Sliced peaches or nectarines
- Steamed peas (frozen peas cook very quickly!)
- Sliced cucumbers
- Sliced sweet peppers
- Raw broccoli “trees”
- Cut cantaloupe
- Watermelon wedges
- Sliced pears
- Pineapple chunks
- Steamed green beans (frozen green beans take just a few minutes, but can cook themselves while you get the remainder of lunch ready)
Bonus Tips:
If you have Homemade Ranch Dip (storebought works too!) or Hummus on hand, these can be thrown onto the table quickly to help get the veggies down!
These smoothies go with just about any lunch and are super refreshing in the summer.
What are your favorite lunch ideas for summertime?
