I’ve been thinking about making this post for months, but I’ve been dreading it because the options for lunch boxes are endless and it seemed overwhelming to me.Then I thought, “Why not just share what I do?” So instead of this being a comprehensive list of all lunch box ideas I’ve ever heard or seen, I’m just going to share with you what I normally do for Cameron’s lunches.

The Main Dish

• Chicken Sandwich – When I started reading about the nitrates in lunch meats, I decided that I didn’t want to put that in Cameron’s lunch on a regular basis, so I started buying the more expensive all natural sandwich meat. But for the amount you pay, you get very little meat, that got me thinking of other options. Now I like to marinate some chicken breasts then cook them up and cut them into pieces. When I make Cameron’s sandwich I just grab the already cooked chicken from the fridge and put it in a sandwich. I can get about 3 sandwiches from one chicken breast. To add some extra crunch and nutrients try adding some home-grown sprouts (which reminds, me I haven’t grown any sprouts in months).

Chicken all ready to be put in a sandwich!

• Pasta salad -  Sometimes I make chicken pasta salad and put that in his lunch or a pasta salad with Italian dressing, olives and pepperoni.
• Bean burritos – Of course if you don’t have access to a microwave, they won’t taste as good.
• Chicken or tuna with crackers  – I haven’t done this in a long time, but occasionally I’ll pack some chicken or tuna salad with crackers, like those tuna-to-gos you can buy.

Side Dishes

• Fresh Fruit – Grapes, an apple, tangerine, cantaloupe pieces or whatever!
• Fruit salad
• Veggies and dip
• Cucumber tomato salad
• A tomato cut into wedges and sprinkled with lemon pepper
• Toss salad
• Ants on a log – Celery topped with peanut butter and raisins
• Trail mix
• Tortilla chips and salsa
• Cheese sticks – Occasionally I’ll buy individually wrapped string cheese, but usually I just cut up some sticks from our big block of Sam’s Club cheddar cheese.
• Muffins
• Granola bars
• Power pucks – These are pretty high calorie, but are nice to put in for breakfast, if he hasn’t already eaten.

These are my usual options, but sometimes I get something different to switch it up, like sesame sticks, potato chips or pretzels.

I usually just send water, but occasionally I’ll send some juice, Gatorade or homemade ice coffee.

What do you like to pack in your lunch box?

This post is shared at Good Cheap Eats for Kitchen Tip Tuesdays. Good Cheap Eats is hosting it for Tammy’s Recipes today.