1 Month Sample Lunch Menu

This is a sample lunch menu for a whole month. Some of the meals include nuts or nut butters, so please take that into account if your child's class is nut free. The blue meals are suitable for vegetarian families and the pink ones are suitable for vegan families, assuming that they've purchased or made vegan bread products.

Some children don't mind eating last night's leftovers cold, or even prefer it that way, but even if they want their food warm there's a solution. You can always pack hot food in a thermos and keep it un-refrigerated until lunch. Four hours in a thermos leaves food that is exactly as warm as most children like it!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
A hard-boiled egg with two slices of homemade French toast spread with pureed raspberries, and peas	Diced chicken, bow-tie pasta, and small pieces of broccoli tossed in olive oil, with apple slices	Rice noodles in chicken broth with carrots and broccoli, a roll, and watermelon chunks	Homemade macaroni and cheese with peas and/or carrots mixed in, and orange slices	Baked tofu strips (marinated in soy sauce and garlic, then breaded), strawberries, and cauliflower
Slices of grilled steak, raw baby carrots, multi-grain crackers, and blueberries.	Bean and rice burrito on small wheat tortilla, green beans, and pitted cherries	Celery with peanut butter and raisins, mixed nuts, an apple, and buttered tri-colored pasta	quinoa cooked in pineapple juice with chunks of pineapple and cashews; sugar snap peas	Egg salad sandwich with vegan mayonnaise, bell pepper strips, and halved grapes
Beef stew with potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion, with dried or fresh mango	An apple with almond butter, cornbread, and broccoli with melted cheddar	Chicken quesadilla, pear slices, and cooked carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower medley	Plain yogurt mixed with fresh or frozen berries, lightly salted green beans, pear slices, and crackers	Roast beef sandwich with melted provolone, cooked zucchini spears, and fresh mango chunks
Small whole grain tortilla rolls filled with plain yogurt, applesauce, and peanut butter, and (separately) cucumbers	Fresh spinach salad with pecans, strawberries, and low-fat raspberry vinaigrette dressing and a roll	Berries mixed in cottage cheese, butter tossed pasta with parmesan, and lightly salted green beans	Thin crispy crackers, spread with almond butter and decorated with raisins, apple bits, and celery moons	Turkey roll-ups, with unsweetened cranberry-apple spread, cooked and sliced yellow squash, and a dinner roll
Beans and rice, raw sugar snap peas, a roll, and dried pineapples	Cheese tortellini with tiny chunks of broccoli and red sauce (or pesto), and strips of red bell peppers	Tuna salad made with cucumber, garbanzo beans, tomato, salt, pepper and lemon juice, on crackers; halved grapes	Chicken soup, (with potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, and pasta) with orange slices	Homemade egg fried rice with broccoli and carrots, and kiwi
vegetarian meal		any of these meals can be made gluten-free by using gluten free pastas or bread products
vegan meal (if using vegan bread products)