Looking for cold lunch ideas for kids? Here are real-life ideas packed by a Registered Dietitian mom for her elementary school kids.

Hi friends!
It’s hard to believe we’re already 2 months into another year of packing school lunches over here. A lot of you have my Easy Lunch Box Ideas for Kids post super helpful and have asked for more ideas.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ll definitely want to check out my Month of Easy Packed Lunches ebook that comes with full-color pages with ideas as well as a bonus PDF.
I also have two other posts that might be helpful:
- Sandwich Ideas For Kids – some fun sandwich and sandwich alternative ideas for lunch boxes
- High Protein Kids Lunch Box Ideas – where I breakdown exactly how much protein is in the lunch box ideas!
This year I’m packing lunches for my first and third grader. We don’t do any hot lunches so everything I pack for them is cold/room temperature. A lot of people are surprised that my kids eat things like pizza, chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese cold, but neither of them have ever had an issue with it.
If you haven’t tried serving of some of these things cold to your kiddos, it’s definitely worth a shot!
Bento Box Lunch Ideas
I pack their lunches using these Bentgo Fresh Lunch Boxes. The middle divider is removable if you want to include a full sandwich or something larger and the two compartments on the right are totally leakproof.
I put the Bentgo boxes in these Artic Zone Insulated Lunch Boxes with an ice pack. These are my favorite ice packs. I put them in at 7am and they get home from school at 4pm still half frozen. (Affiliate links)
I don’t pack any drinks other than water but we love these Owala water bottles.
I wanted to share some more real-life lunch boxes that I’ve packed for my kids this year. Hopefully this will give you some new ideas for cold lunch boxes!

Kids Cold Lunch Ideas
#1 – Pizza
- Leftover pizza (This is our homemade pizza recipe)
- Chicken taco for some extra protein
- Strawberries
- Roasted sweet potatoes/Doritos
#2 – Smoked Salmon
- Smoked Salmon (we love Honey Smoked Fish Co)
- Crackers
- Yogurt – we like Chobani Less Sugar – or a cheese stick
- Cereal or Made Good Granola Minis

Cold Lunch Box Ideas
#3 – Quesadillas
- Cheese quesadillas (Sometimes I add smashed beans, chicken or pepperoni)
- Chicken sausage (Al Fresco is our favorite because it’s fairly low in sodium)
- Fruit salad
- Cheeto puffs (or another crunchy snack)
#4 Homemade Lunchables
- Fruit
- Lentil Banana Muffin
- Cottage cheese
- Crackers + Cheese + lunch meat/pepperoni/salami

Cold Lunch Ideas for Kindergarteners
#5 Chicken Nuggets
- Chicken Nuggets (+ketchup) (Here are some of the Best Frozen Chicken Nuggets)
- Crunchy snack like goldfish or sun chips
- Hard-boiled egg or Black Bean Brownie
- Canned Fruit
#6 Peanut Butter & Jelly Rollups
- PBJ Rollups (Smash a piece of bread flat, add pb & J and rollup, then cut into pieces
- Potato chips
- Fruit Salad
- Mini cucumbers and carrots
- Turkey cheese and pepperoni sandwich for the one that doesn’t like pbj

Cold Kids School Lunch Ideas – Chopped Italian Subs & Egg Wraps
#7 – Chopped Italian Subs
- Chopped Italian Sub – Chopped up turkey or ham, salami, pepperoni, lettuce, cheese and banana peppers
- Strawberries
- Cheeto Puffs
- Pepperoni Bread
#8 – Egg Wraps
- Egg wraps – leave them plain or add pepperoni and cheese or turkey and avocado
- Animal Crackers
- Strawberries
- Pickles

Healthy Cold School Lunch Ideas
#9 – Pancakes
- Mini pancakes – we use Kodiak Cakes or make homemade whole wheat pancakes!
- Cottage cheese or cheese sticks
- Grapes
- Pretzels or chips
#10 – Hamburgers
- Cheeseburger (we eat them for dinner and pack the extra for lunch
- Ants on a log
- Strawberries
- Granola bar

Kids School Lunch Ideas
#11 Hot Dogs
- Hot Dogs – We always cook extras when we make them for dinner
- Zucchini Bread
- Mini peppers and carrots
- Frui
#12 Tacos
- Tacos – we use chicken, ground turkey etc plus their favorite fillings
- Fruit
- Carrots
- Animal crackers
- Mini Sweet potato muffins
Cold Lunch Ideas for Kids
Need more ideas? Here are a few other suggestions for cold lunches:
- BBQ pulled pork sliders
- Chicken salad
- Hummus or ranch with veggies for dipping
- Mini bagel with cream cheese
- Cheese cubes + jerky bites
- Pasta salad
- Apple with peanut butter

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!
This was so incredibly helpful! I have no imagination and needed some inspiration, Thank you so much!
i’m so glad!
Do your kids eat the chicken nuggets, burgers, etc cold? I feel like mine wouldn’t but maybe I need to just try and see what they say.
yep! definitely worth a try!