This time of year, when the fresh food is finally flowing again, it can be easy to rely on that abundance of produce to comprise the bulk of our childrens’ school lunches. And it makes sense! Fresh fruits are full of easily-assimilated energy (simple carbs), healthy vitamins, and of course, hydration hydration hydration. And vegetables are an excellent source of so many nutritious minerals and micronutrients, not to mention fiber. I mean, what’s not to love?

Well, my fellow veg parents, this is your friendly mom-to-mom reminder, from my kitchen to yours. Because I see veg parents making this mistake a lot, both online and in real life. Fruits and veggies are healthy, and delicious, and kids love them, and they are just so pretty! A rainbow lunch is beautiful, and it makes us feel like we’re giving our kids the very best. Especially since we know that most American children do not meet their minimum requirements for fruits and vegetables.

But . . . most vegan children? Well, they don’t need to load up on more fruits and veggies. They’re already getting plenty! So before you pack on the extra produce, please keep in mind that there are other macronutrients which are equally essential: protein and fat! Growing bodies need both of these, and while fruits and veggies are super high in micronutrients, they tend to be very low (*too* low) in calories, and almost entirely lacking in these oh-so-essential macronutrients.

So, make sure your weegan school lunch packs a super protein punch, with concentrated sources of plant-based protein like tofu, beans, lentils, seitan, peanut butter, and pistachios.

And ensure your weegans are getting healthy fats for long-lasting energy and satiating calorie density, with delicious favorites like avocados, nuts and seeds, coconut, and healthy oils like olive, hemp, or flax.

Around our house, we tend to eat very dense dinners, so as you’ll see in the following lunches, I often rely on leftovers to provide the protein and fat that I know my growing vegan needs. Here’s a few examples of what our lunches have looked like lately, as we’ve moved through spring and started to glimpse the abundance of the coming summer bounty:

• Leftover spaghetti! Organic brown rice pasta with organic marinara and Beyond Meat crumbles.
• Trail mix with almonds, cashews, dried pineapple and dried cranberry.
• Organic apple slices.
• Organic corn chips.
• His treat — a few chlorella tablets which he pops like candy. Those vegan kids, man!
• Strawberry + peanut butter + kale protein smoothie, in the Panda Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch.
• The lunch box is our new absolute fave! It’s the Planet Box Rover and we use it almost every day. Waits adores it and I love that it’s reusable, long-lasting, and it’s super easy to clean. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

• Leftover chia pudding! I like to make it in large batches. It’s high in protein as well as omega-3 fatty acids, and Waits just loves it. This one was made with oat milk and blueberries.
• A small hand full of organic shredded wheat cereal.
• A wee tin of organic cinnamon almonds from our local farmer’s market.
• Organic carrots and sugar snap peas from the CSA.
• Local organic blood oranges, also from the CSA.
• His treat — 2 locally grown dates. They taste just like carmel!
• Same amazing Planet Box lunch box.

• Leftover burrito! Simple refried beans, brown rice, and cheeze.
• Organic strawberries from our CSA (I use these adorable picks).
• A slice of homemade zucchini bread. SO good!
• Local organic snap peas and tangerines from our farm box.
• His treat — cinnamon & sugar almonds from the farmer’s market.
• Strawberry & kale protein smoothie, in the Penguin Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch.
• Same super fly stainless steel Planet Box Rover.

• Leftover lentils, made Magic Beans style, sent in the smallest of the Kids Conserve nesting trio containers.
• Tofurkey and cheeze sammie on whole grain bread, sent in the Lunchskins reusable snack bag.
• Raspberry + peanut butter + spinach + protein smoothie, in the Penguin Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch.
• Local cucumbers and celery, both from our CSA box, and organic corn chips. All packed in the Lunchbots Duo stainless steel bento.
• That same amazing Planet Box lunch box. Oh how we love it so!

• Leftover spaghetti bolognese. Organic brown rice pasta with organic marinara, vegan cheese, and Beyond Meat crumbles.
• Organic strawberries from our farm box, sprinkled with hemp seeds.
• Leftover savory baked tofu strips.
• Organic carrots, cucumbers, and celery.
• His treat — dried wild blueberries.

And there you have it — another round of healthy, seasonal, plant-powered and eco-friendly lunches. Each including a miniature rainbow, but also centered around a calorie-dense, protein-packed main staple, to keep my little vegan going long and strong till dinner time.

So don’t forget those leftovers! ♥

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And who knew that packing up lunches would become such a pure little pleasure for me? It may sound strange, but I truly do enjoy those quiet moments in the kitchen, late at night after Waits has gone to bed, with a podcast on and alone in my thoughts, preparing a nutritious and delicious little lunch for my weegan. It only takes me a short time, probably 10 minutes or less, and I try to use as much fresh local/seasonal food as possible (easier to do here in California, I know).

I also make sure to include a healthy dose of plant-based protein. Overall my lunches usually follow the formula: plant protein/main dish + veggie side + fruit side + and some sort of energy-dense side, like carby chips or pretzels, or fatty nuts or seeds. It’s a solid equation that seems to be working well so far, and having those loose guidelines really helps me to be able to crank out lunches on the quick, which is important for a busy working mama like myself.

So anyway, here’s what a handful of our lunches have looked like over this past winter:

• “Pizza bread” with tofu, marinara, cheese, and olives on whole grain bread, sent in the “Tangerine Orange” Lunch Skins full-size sandwich bag.
• A simple salad of shredded romaine and kalamata olives, with an olive oil dressing, sent int he largest of the Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Carrot sticks and cuties, both from our local organic CSA box, sent in the middle-sized Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Cinnamon-covered almonds sent in the smallest of the Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• I’m sure I sent him a beverage of some sort, but it’s not pictured. Oops!

• A peanut butter, strawberry, and kale smoothie in our adorable Penguin Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch. True story: I am in LOVE with these pouches!
• Whole wheat crackers in the half-size “Aqua Elephant” Lunch Skins reusable baggie.
• Three local organic tangerines from our CSA box.
• Leftover pasta bake (rice noodles, marinara, spinach, beyond meat crumbles, and vegan cheese on top) in the Steeltainer compact container.

• Cinnamon almonds in an inherited plastic mini container (brand unknown).
• Snap peas from our local organic CSA, washed and trimmed and sent in the smallest Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Leftover baked tofu cubes and oven-baked potato “chips”, in the Thinkbaby bento.
• Oat milk in the pretty blue Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Organic “corn puffs” (Waits begged me for these and I caved. They tasted pretty meh and I won’t buy them again) in the large “Tangerine Orange” Lunch Skins full-size sandwich bag.
• The inimitable Magic Beans, in the large-sized Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Organic tangerines and red bell peppers in the Lunchbots Duo divided steel container.
• Leftover homemade mac ‘n “cheese” in the small-sized Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio (you can see I get a lot of use out of this trio!).
• I’m sure I sent a drink, but again – unpictured.

• Leftover pizza (yes, we do a lot of leftovers! sometimes I specifically make extra dinner so I’ll have some to send in lunch the next day) in the Thinkbaby bento.
• More tangerines (like I said – California winter) as well as star fruit, in the Steeltainer compact container.
• Olive Oil popcorn in the large Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Oat milk in the Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Peach smoothie with protein powder and spinach, probiotics and vitamins, in the Panda Squooshi reusable squeeze pouch.
• Dried coconut strips and dehydrated mango in the Lunchbots Duo two-compartment container.
• Boxed mac ‘n cheese (don’t hate the player, just hate the game) in the medium Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.
• Magic Beans in the smallest Kids Konserve stainless steel nesting trio.

And there you have it — another round of healthy, seasonal, plant-powered and eco-friendly lunches. Winter is finally over, spring has sprung, and just this week we received the very first strawberries of the season in our CSA box! Waits was pretty stoked, and I’m also looking forward to the coming bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Viva la spring!

Until next time. ♥

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Okay so it’s not quite acting like autumn around here. We’re still getting temps in the high 80s and even into the 90s, and our local produce is still pouring in like it’s midsummer. I’m not complaining though. Farmer’s Market strawberries in October? Yes please!

So here’s what our weather-crazy California lunches have been looking like lately:

• Tofu shapes! Waits loves these – Jeremy makes a nooch-battered pan-fried tofu recipe, and cuts the pieces in star wars themed shapes. These were left over from a beach dinner picnic the night before. ♥ Sent in the Steeltainer compact container.
• Organic cucumbers and local CSA carrots, in our super-cute “Aqua Elephant” Lunch Skins reusable baggie.
• A gluten-free blueberry muffin from our favorite gluten-free vegan bakery in LA. We were able to stock up recently when Jeremy picked me up at LAX, so now we have a freezer stockpiled with all the gluten-free goodness!
• Local organic CSA strawberries with organic hemp seeds, sent in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.
• Oat milk in the Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Organic cucumbers and kalamata olives (two of his favorites) in the Steeltainer compact container, with the rarely-used divider insert.
• Local organic CSA grapes in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.
• The new Daiya yogurt! Cherry flavor. We’ve tried all the flavors and Waits loves them all. I’m so-so on my feelings about these yogurts — I like that they have probiotics and that he likes them, and I like that they are higher in protein than other vegan yogurts. But, they are essentially just starch and gums and fillers with flavoring, and not much actual real food. So I’ll buy them occasionally, but they’re not my first choice for vegan yogurts.
• Sandwich time. This one was grilled tofu with Vegenaise and red leaf lettuce, sent in the Lunch Skins full-size sandwich bag in “Tangerine Orange”.
• Oat milk as always, in the Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Burrrrito, made with Taco Tuesday leftovers (refried pinto beans, grilled peppers + onions, black olives) sent in the ECOlunchbox oval.
• Small container of Magic Beans leftover from dinner with my godparents, in the little tupperware they sent us home with.
• Gluten-free blueberry muffin.
• Organic cucumbers and organic CSA strawberries in the Steeltainer compact container, again with the divider insert.
• Water in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Peanut butter filled pretzels in our Steeltainer compact container.
• Taco! Blue corn taco with refried beans and vegan cheese, cut in half and sent in the small-size Lunch Skins in “Aqua Elephant”.
• Sliced kiwi fruit in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.
• Another Daiya yogurt, strawberry I think it was.
• Water in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top. We switched to water mid-week because he wasn’t drinking the oat milk and I felt like too much was being wasted. It’s better for hydrating in this crazy heat, anyways.

• Ahhh, the new Kite Hill yogurt. Now this stuff is great. Delicious, rich, and REAL. Almond-based but with much more protein than other almond milk yogurts (I think because they use the whole almonds and not just the milk). The ingredients list is quite short, so yeah — this is my new fave vegan yogurt!
• Magic Beans with kidney beans this time, in the Steeltainer compact container.
• Herbed popcorn in the extra-large ECOlunchbox oval.
• Local organic CSA grapes in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.
• Water in the Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

And there it is, another week of healthy, vegan, eco-friendly lunches. As I finish this post up, I am sitting on my couch and it is 90 degrees in my living room. Autumn? Any time now. Please?

Until next time. ♥

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Waits eats almost everything I send, but it’s all throughout the day. These “lunches” cover his morning snack (during recess) at school, as well as his actual sit-down lunch at school. I pick him up in the early afternoon, and we usually go through his lunch and see what he ate. After that I drop him off at his afternoon child care provider, and I usually send him with an additional snack to share with the other children. So he eats the rest of his un-eaten lunch in the afternoon, plus an additional little something, which he’s sharing with the other kiddos.

So yes, mostly it all gets eaten, but not all at one big meal. And now — onto the lunches!

• Organic strawberries and organic heirloom melon, both from our weekly CSA box. Sent in the trusty LunchBots Duo stainless steel container that we’ve been using for almost 5 years.
• Oven-baked french fries (leftover from the night before) in our super-cute “Aqua Elephant” Lunch Skins snack bag.
• Sandwich! Tofurkey and Follow Your Heart cheddar-style slices on whole wheat sourdough. Packed in our “Green Pear” Lunch Skins full-size sandwich bag. I’m really loving these reusable bags — they are durable, practical, and super easy to clean. I’m a big fan of stainless steel, but man these bags are awesome!
• Oat milk in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Oat milk! I’ve said before that I feel bad using these little single-serving cartons, but man they come in handy for days like this one, when the dishes had piled up and the Klean Kanteen wasn’t so, ahem . . . Klean.
• Local organic CSA strawberries in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.
• Magic Beans (recipe here) in the Steeltainer compact container. I love this bento even though I’m a bit torn on it. I prefer to be 100% plastic-free, but the snap down lid is so convenient!
• “Pizza bread” is one of Waits’s absolute favorite lunches. This one is topped with kalamata olives, cut to look like the Millennium Falcon, and sent in the Lunch Skins “Green Pear” sandwich bag.
• A Mama Chia chia squeeze pouch – another big favorite around here.

• Baguette mini sammies, with Tofurkey slices and Follow Your Heart cheddar. Held together with a toothpick, with a black olive on top. Served in our Steeltainer compact container.
• Snapea Crisps in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper. I love this little steel container – it’s the perfect lunch box size. And y’all know how much we loooove our Snapea Crisps around here!
• Kite Hill yogurt! This is a new product and I was so excited to try it. Vegan yogurts can be pretty hit-or-miss, but this new almond-based offering is rich and creamy, high in protein, and relatively low in gums/starches/thickeners. Waits loved it and I did too. It’s a bit pricier, which is a downside, but other than that I’d say this is my new favorite vegan yogurt.
• Organic strawberries and organic red bell peppers from our CSA box, in the LunchBots Duo stainless steel container.
• Oat milk in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

• Oat milk in the ever-present Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.
• Two Tofurkey roll-ups and a handful of kalamata olives, in some old plastic tupperware of Jeremy’s. This day made me realize I needed a few much smaller steel containers.
• Herbed popcorn in the extra-large ECOlunchbox oval.
• Two slices of leftover pizza from a local vegan-friendly pizza parlor. This was a simple pie with vegan cheese and marinated tofu cubes. The two pieces were a tight fit, but they worked out quite nicely in the “Tangerine Orange” “Lunch Skins full-size sandwich bag“
• Chia pudding made the night before with oat milk, maple syrup, and frozen blueberries, left to gel up in the fridge over night, and sent in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper.

• Peanut butter filled pretzels in our Steeltainer compact container. These pretzels are the Trader Joe’s brand, not the healthiest thing, but they’re filling and he loves them. Plus peanut butter = protein which is so important for growing kiddos!
• Almond butter and sugar-free raspberry jam sandwich pocket on multigrain “power seed” bread. I used a cookie cutter to create the flower shape. Packed in the Lunch Skins “Green Pear” sandwich bag.
• Organic persian cucumber slices and organic CSA strawberries packed in the LunchBots Duo steel bento.
• Oat milk in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.

And that, my friends, is that! Another week of healthy, vegan, eco-friendly lunches. I have to say, I’m excited to see how the foods I’ll be packing will evolve through early fall, late fall, and into winter . . . then into spring, and summer again. So much of my lunch inspiration comes directly from our weekly CSA box, which means of course that the lunches will change with the seasons. A fun challenge for me, and one that I really look forward to sharing!

Until next time. ♥

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• Vegan cheesy crackers (special occasion for the first week of school because he loves them! we buy these ones) and green olives, in the Steeltainer compact container. I love this little bento; the snap-on lid is a great fit and it never leaks. However the divider piece is removable, and it doesn’t really stay put. I’ve mostly taken to using this container for single-items. And for that, I love it.
• Hummus + cucumber pinwheels on whole wheat flatbread in the Eco Lunch Box oval.
• Homemade blueberry kombucha in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.
• Two gluten-free blueberry mini muffins. I sent these in the LunchBots Rounds leak-proof containers, but a word of warning – this is a set of 2 and BOTH of them came to me with broken seals. I’ve since returned them and won’t be buying them again. So – I don’t recommend LunchBots Rounds!
• Local organic grapes from my CSA box. These are literally the crispest, juiciest grapes I have ever tasted. They are soooo good!

• Oat milk! Our fave, and I try not to use the single-serving cartons very often for lunches, but they sure are handy to have around. I try keep a few in our snack box in the car, since they’re shelf stable. Life savers, they are!
• Half an apple with almond butter, in the Steeltainer compact container. The almond butter did not stay where it was supposed to, which is my one and only gripe with this container (and if you need it to separate foods, that’s a pretty big gripe!)
• Local strawberries from our CSA box and organic cucumbers, in the LunchBots Duo stainless steel container. I have had this bento for a loooong time, since way back in Portland, and it has held up so well. And definitely keeps food separate — so if you’re looking for a split container, this one is ace!
• Homemade blueberry kombucha in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.
• A taco! Leftover refried beans + grilled peppers taco, in an adorable Lunch Skins snack bag. I love these reusable baggies THEY ARE SO CUTE.

• Herbed popcorn in the trusty Eco Lunch Box oval. I like this container because it has the snap-down lid, but a word of warning – it’s really big. So if you use it *for* a lunch box, it’s great. If you want to put it *in* your lunch box, it takes up too much space. But I usually just put it in Waits’s back pack alongside his lunch box, and that works well for us. I’ve had this thing for years and its held up great!
• Tofu shapes! Flowers and leaves and acorns, pan-sautéed in olive oil, Braggs, and nutritional yeast. Sent in a Lunch Skins sandwich bag.
• Oat milk, in his Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.
• Olive hummus with celery + bell pepper + cucumber sticks, in the Steeltainer compact container. This was the last time I used it with the divider. Now I use it as a singles container and I like it so much better that way.
• Them amazing grapes.

• Still working through those local strawberries from our CSA, plus organic cucumbers, in the LunchBots Duo stainless steel container.
• Chocolate smoothie! Oat milk + banana + cashew butter + kale + chocolate protein powder, with vitamins and probiotics added (zinc, K2, D3, bone-builder complex — see this post for why and how I supplement the way I do for vegan kiddos) sent in the Little Green Pouch reusable squeeze pouch. Our school is glass-free for lunches, so I love sending his smoothie in this reusable squeezey pouch. It’s a perfect “snack-size” smoothie, it’s dishwasher safe for easier clean-up, and so far no leaks!
• Peanut butter and banana roll-ups on whole wheat flat bread. These were a hit, especially since I added a drizzle of his absolute favorite – Bee-Free Honee! (vegan “honey” made from apples) I used the Steeltainer compact container without the divider, and it was perfect.
• Herbed popcorn in the trusty Eco Lunch Box oval. This is popcorn from Whole Foods, non-GMO, super inexpensive, and the seasoning contains powdered mushrooms. We LOVE this stuff and I always keep a big bag in our car snack box for emergency transit munching.

• Chia pudding made with oat milk, maple syrup, and strawberries, sent in the ECOlunchbox Eco Dipper. This one doesn’t have a snap lid and I was a little worried about spillage, but it stayed perfectly sealed. Chia pudding was a big lunch hit!
• Oat milk in the Klean Kanteen 12-ounce stainless steel sport top.
• His first school lunch sammie. ♥ With Tofurkey smoked “turkey” and Follow Your Heart cheddar slices, on whole-wheat sourdough. I wasn’t sure how this would be received, but he really liked it. Sent in the oh-so-adorable Lunch Skins “Green Pear” sandwich bag.
• Half a local heirloom mini melon from our CSA box, cubed, sent in the Steeltainer compact container, sans divider.
• Homemade “cheesy chips”. Jeremy and I came up with this late at night brainstorming something fun for lunch. Corn chips by themselves are boring . . . but corn chips sprayed with a light misting of coconut oil, then dusted with salt and nutritional yeast? YUMMY! He loved these. (Also sent in a Lunch Skins sandwich bag – the “Tangerine Orange” pattern this time.

And that, my friends, is that! A whole week’s worth of lunches. I hope that you enjoyed this new series, because I sure am having fun putting together these little lunches!

Until next time. ♥

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So you guys — I’ve been having SO MUCH FUN planning and preparing for this exciting new lunchboxing adventure! And of course, I want to share all of my findings and creations with you. My 2 main criteria for Waits’s lunches are:

1) Healthy
2) Sustainably Packaged

I’m aiming for homemade, whole-foods-based vegan lunches (with some snacky stuff thrown in there – this is real life after all, and we’re all busy people!) packed in re-usable, earth-friendly containers. My plan is to share his lunches with you guys in periodical round-ups, featuring both the food I send and the containers I send it in.

Here’s a horrible cell pone pic of the very first lunch I packed, for his very first day of kindergarten. I promise the pictures in future posts will be better!



I sent:

• A banana + berry + kale smoothie in a Little Green Pouch reusable squeeze pouch
• Celery sticks, green olives, and olive hummus (his favorite) in a Lunchbots Duo stainless steel container
• Pizza bread! Cut into the shape of a Star Wars TIE Fighter plane, because Star Wars
• Oat milk mini. This is a temporary solution until we get our stainless steel bottle
• Organic grapes
• 2 healthier “oreo” cookies, because it’s the first day of school!

I’m really looking forward to sharing this new series with you guys. I’ve also created a Pinterest board where I’m pinning ideas, inspiration, healthy lunch foods, and eco-friendly lunch containers. Follow the board to see everything I find!

♥ This post contains affiliate links. If you like my blog and want to support what I do here, using my affiliate links is a great way to do that. But, if affiliate link squick you out, no problemo. Just use my word descriptions to locate the item of interest via a search engine of your choice. ♥