Vegetarian Lunches for Kids

It's that time of the year again...school is back in. For the majority of vegetarian and vegan families
who send their children to school it means that it is time to pack some lunches. The school lunche program in American is really lacking in offering daily vegetarian options. Here is a list of vegetarian and vegan lunch ideas for packing school lunches:

• Peanut butter and jelly (sandwich or roll up in a tortilla)
• Roll ups - take veggie deli slices, vegan cheese, veggies, and roll it up
• Soy yogurt with fresh fruit
• Vegan macaroni and cheese
• Shell noodles (this is one of my son's FAVORITE's... I cook whole wheat shell noodles and mix it with some vegan butter, and some nutritional yeast)
• Vegan quesadillas - Either cheese, or bean and cheese, made on carb balance tortillas so they have fiber (even cooled off at at lunch time the kids still love them)
• Vegan grilled cheese - Yes, make it in the morning, let it cool off on the counter, wrap it in natural wax paper. Even cooled off at lunch they love it!
• Veggie chick nuggets - I buy some frozen chick nuggets, and bake them in the oven in the morning, then put them in a natural wax paper sandwich bag. Add in a little container of ketchup, and they love it.
• Veggie corn dogs - Just like above - prepare them in the oven, wrap in natural wax paper, add in some ketchup/mustard for dipping. Even with these items cooled off by lunch they still love them. I put them in their cooler, along with a cold pack, and all turns out well.
• Vegan cream cheese and jelly sandwich
• Cold pasta salad - Mix a small whole wheat pasta with diced veggies, raisins, kidney beans, and mix with some Italian dressing.
• Salad - My kids love salad. Add in some greens, diced veggies, and a kidney bean or chick pea for protein.
• Bagel with topping - Either top it with hummus or peanut butter and jelly.
• Chickpea salad or tofu salad - Either put it on a sandwich, or give them a small dish of it with crackers, so they can top the crackers with it.
• Baked tofu cubes and crackers
• Dinner leftovers - There are many options that will work here. If you have leftover spaghetti, for example, save some in a dish, heat it up in the morning, and put it in their stay-warm thermos.
• Soup and crackers - Heat the soup up and put it in their stay-warm thermos.

When it comes to the sides to serve with these items, there are many! Fresh fruit is always a solid choice. Kids love to eat fresh strawberries, blueberries, melon, peaches, bananas, nectarines, etc. Other options are crackers, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, celery, cherry tomatoes, pickles, and homemade trail mix.