In this article, I’ll share a week’s worth of vegan lunch ideas for kids that aren’t sandwiches. As a bonus, they each took less than 5 minutes to put together and are both dietitian- and child-approved.
Vegan lunch ideas for kids can be as intricate or as simple as you wish to make them. Some parents enjoy cutting sandwiches in interesting shapes, or making edible animal shapes out of fruits and vegetables.
I am not that parent.
Not that there’s anything wrong with being that parent. I simply prefer to spend that time on something else.
When it comes to school lunches, I have three criteria I keep in mind. They should be quick, well-balanced, and include foods that my kids will hopefully want to eat!
Read on to get a week’s worth of vegan lunch ideas for kids that fit all three of these criteria for my family.
I live in the Netherlands, which has a rampant sandwich culture. Kids here tend to eat bread-based meals for both breakfast and lunch.
Although I love a good sandwich, I personally like my kids to have a little more variety in their meals.So although they do get sandwiches on some days, I try to also provide them with non sandwich-based lunches as well.
One way to do so, without spending much more time putting a lunch together is by incorporating leftovers in their lunches.
Here’s the base formula I rely on to assemble a nutritious vegan school lunch for my child.
Plant protein + grain or starchy veggie + fruit/vegetable + plant fat
This is actually the formula I use to plan all of our vegan meals, for adults and children alike. It’s not the only possible way to meet a vegan family’s nutrition needs. It’s just the way that works best for my family (and many of my nutrition clients as well).
In addition to lunch, both of my children also have to bring a snack to (pre)-school. For this snack, I often combine a fruit with a plant-based yogurt, nut, nut butter, seed, or shredded coconut. If your school is a nut-free school, feel free to use a nut-free spread.
Once these basics are met, anything else I add is considered an “extra”!
In this article, I’ll show you 5 simple ideas on how you can use leftovers to supplement your child’s vegan lunch.
A week’s worth vegan lunch ideas for kids
Here’s a sneak peak of one week’s worth of vegan school lunches for my kids.
I prep these as soon as we’re done having dinner, and place them in the refrigerator for the next day. I simply make a slightly larger portion at dinner, so I can have some left to add to my child’s lunch.
When there aren’t enough leftovers of a certain food left, I replace whatever is missing by one of the vegan staples I try to always have on hand in my pantry, refrigerator, or freezer.
The lunchboxes get sent to school together with an ice pack in an insulated lunch bag. This helps keep foods at the right temperatures until they are eaten.
Day 1: Vegan lunch ideas for kids
Sunday night, we had vegan tomato soup on the menu. This was a special request from my son, who really wanted to eat tomato soup this week.
To make this tomato soup a meal rather than an entree, I blended some white beans into it and added some cooked whole grain penne to it.
This lunch was topped up with some sliced red pepper and frozen mango and rounded off with a handful of cashew nuts and fortified plant-based yogurt topped with hempseeds.
Day 2: Vegan lunch ideas for kids
My children love raw tofu. So for this lunch, they requested raw tofu fingers instead of the leftover vegan shoarma sandwiches we had for dinner the previous day.
I reused the pita bread from the shawarma sandwiches to make little pita fingers. Afterwards, I added some peanut butter so they could dip both tofu and bread in.
I added some frozen raspberries and sliced apples dipped in lemon water to prevent them from browning. I rounded this lunch off with a portion of fortified plant-based yogurt topped with hempseeds.
Day 3: Vegan lunch ideas for kids
On Tuesday, we had stamppot for dinner.
For those of you not familiar with this Dutch meal, it consists of mashed potatoes, mixed with shredded endive leaves, topped with a smoked sausage. In our case, it was a vegan smoked sausage. We also added some sundried tomatoes to the mix, to up the nutrition content of this meal. .
This lunch features some leftover stamppot with a very small bit of leftover vegan smoked sausage.
I added a handful of frozen edamame beans to round-off the plant-based protein component of this meal.
Sliced carrots, a handful of frozen blueberries, and a few sliced apples were added as sides. I rounded this lunch off with a tablespoon or two of shredded coconut, to be sprinkled on top of the fruit or edamame beans.
Day 4: Vegan lunch ideas for kids
The evening before, we had vegan sloppy joes for dinner. These were requested by my daughter and were simple yet super delicious. We served the white bean stew on bread buns, with vegan mayo and topped with fresh arugula.
For lunch, I sliced the bread buns into sticks so they could fit into our lunchbox more easily. The sloppy joe filling was served on its own, with a side of sliced carrots. The shredded coconut was meant to be sprinkled on the frozen raspberries for snack time.
Day 5: Vegan lunch ideas for kids
On Thursday evening, we enjoyed an easy meal of vegan schnitzels, potato wedges and creamy spinach.
For lunch, I combined some leftover spinach and potato wedges with refried beans.
The schnitzel is always a hit, so there’s seldom any leftovers left. Refried beans are a staple in my vegan pantry, and provided a fuss-free source of protein for this lunch.
I added a portion of fortified plant-based flavored yogurt, and a handful of hempseeds. I rounded off this lunch with some sliced apples, dipped in lemon water to prevent them from browning.
In sum: Vegan lunches for kids don’t have to be overly complicated. These 5-minute options repurpose our leftovers from the previous days, with a few fresh vegan sides and snacks.
A few additional vegan school lunch ideas
Here are a few additional vegan school lunch ideas you can use in the weeks to come.
Lunch-compatible vegan mains
These include both the vegan protein and whole grain / starchy vegetable component of my vegan formula for kid lunches.
Black bean quesadillas.
English muffin pizzas topped with marinated tempeh.
Corn and black bean pancakes with salsa and guacamole.
Vegan lasagna.
Vegetable soups with beans mixed (or blended) in and crackers or sliced bread sticks.
Pasta with marinara sauce and vegan meatballs.
Falafel pitas.
Vegan proteins for school lunches
Edamame beans
Tofu / smoked tofu
Marinated tempeh
Refried beans
White beans in tomato sauce
Roasted chickpeas
Ground flax or chia seeds
Hempseeds
Nut or seed butters
Fortified soy yogurt
Green peas
School lunch friendly vegan whole grains or starchy veggies
Sweet potato wedges
Mashed potato
Crackers
Tortilla pieces
Homeade popcorn (for children above 5 years old)
Cooked whole grain pasta
Puffed quinoa
Cooked rice
Fruit & veggie ideas for school lunches
Dried mango or dried apple slices
Tangerines
Frozen fruit: blueberries, raspberries, mango, pineapple, etc.
Grapes (sliced in quarters if your child is younger than 5 years old).
Carrot sticks
Red, orange, or yellow pepper slices
Sliced cucumber
Spiralized zucchini
Kale chips
Pickles
Plant-based fats to add to your child’s lunchbox
Nuts, seeds, or their butters
Olives
Shredded coconut
Hummus
Pesto
Cashew sour cream
Coconut yogurt
Vegan school snack ideas
Fortified yogurt, dried fruit and/or granola.
Homemade fruit or veggie muffins.
Hummus with carrot sticks.
Chia pudding.
Dates stuffed with nut/seed butter.
Trail mix.
Homemade smoothie (send it in an insulated bottle).
Vegan sandwich ideas for school lunches
Peanut butter and blueberries, raspberries, peppers, or cucumber.
Hummus rolls topped with shredded red cabbage and ground flaxseeds.
Sandwich with smoked tofu, vegan mayo, lettuce, and tomato.
Hazelnut butter and jelly rollup with banana and a sprinkle of ground chia seeds.
Falafel pita.
White bean in tomato sauce tortilla wrap.
In sum: Mix and match from the suggestions above to come up with your own child-approved vegan school lunch combination.
Winning tips fuss-free vegan kid lunches
I’m not a fan of seeing my kid’s lunchbox come back home nearly as full as it was in the morning. Luckily, this doesn’t happen very often. I attribute this in part to some of the tips below.
Picky eaters
At the beginning of each week, I ask my whole family what they would like to eat that week. Both children and adults get involved in this process. By the end of it, we have a list of meals that everyone is excited about.
I’ve found that this increases the likelihood my kids will eat their lunches when I use leftovers in them.
That said, I try not to make a big deal about whether they ate all of their lunch or not.
Maybe I’ll ask them why they didn’t eat it, so that I know what to adjust for next time. I also may remind them that when they don’t eat enough, they risk not having enough energy to play in the afternoon, or becoming grumpy.
I then give them the option to finish their lunch as an afternoon snack. However, if they don’t want to, I leave it at that.
While I try to minimize food waste, I’m also conscious that what and how much food my child decides to eat is within their realm of responsibilities, not mine. I’ve found that keeping the focus on my own responsibilities helps minimize picky eating.
Pick the right lunchbox for your needs
The main tip I can give you when planning meals for your child is to strive for variety. This can be within the same meal, or from meal to meal.
Offering them a variety of foods equals offering a variety of nutrients. This helps increase the likelihood of them eating a combination of foods that will, together, help your child meet their nutrition needs.
Variety is the main reason why I love bento-box like lunchboxes. Yes, they to tend to be more expensive. But I notice that my children are more likely to eat their lunches when they have a variety of foods to pick from.
The little compartments makes it easy to offer a variety of foods, without them getting all mixed up together. The ones I won are from Yumbox, but there are various alternatives out there. Ours have a stainless steel bottom with a silicone leak-proof lid.
Be mindful of food safety
I keep cold foods at the right temperature by keeping the kids’ lunchboxes in an insulated lunch bag together with an ice pack.
I seldom pack hot items for lunch. However, when I do, I use a thermos to keep foods hot.
For children under 5 years old, I make sure to cut round foods like cherry tomatoes, vegan sausages, carrots, and grapes in quarters. I also roughly slice nuts. This helps reduce the risk of choking.
In sum: Keep pressure around food low, opt for the right lunchbox for your needs, be mindful of choking hazards, and make sure to keep foods at the right temperature.
To sum it all up
I hope that the tips above inspire you to come up with interesting lunch ideas without spending hours in the kitchen.
Fun sandwich cut-outs and veggie animal shapes are optional!
If you have any vegan school lunch favorites of your own, feel free to share them below so readers (and myself) can give it a try with our own kiddos.
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