Get the recipes
No parent wants to open their kid’s lunchbox at the end of the day to find that they’ve returned home with half the stuff they left with! The good news: You can pack a lunch that gets eaten without having to wake up before sunrise to cut fruit into wacky shapes or make sandwiches that look like cartoon characters. We’ve rounded up five remixed midday meals that are sure to please. Even better, they can all be made in advance. Yay for cutting out the frenzy that is daily lunch prep!
Air-Fried Taquitos
The air fryer makes it easy to mix and match all sorts of fillings inside these DIY, two-bite taquitos. Start with mini flour tortillas and stuff with tasty ingredients like refried beans, shredded Mexican cheese, rotisserie chicken, and beyond. Tip: Have your kid help pick out and shop for the ingredients. Kids are more likely to eat foods they chose themselves.
Pizza goes palm-sized with these adorable pizza cups that bake inside a muffin pan. (Mini food is always a hit!) You’ll start with refrigerated dough and jarred tomato sauce—and then your little learner can customize each cup with toppings like pepperoni, bacon, or shredded BBQ chicken.
Keep your lunchbox victories on a roll with these sandwich-inspired roll-ups. Turns out, whole wheat tortillas are the perfect canvas for hummus, slices of turkey, and cheddar. For added crunch, pile on some shredded carrots before you roll everything up.
No one can resist a meal on a stick! You’ll just need some wooden craft sticks and you can easily transform any sandwich into a kid-friendly mini kabob. Here, we have the always-popular ham and cheese … on a stick.
We took the best part of a cheeseburger and wrapped it in a flaky pocket. All it takes to make these meaty turnovers? Five ingredients and five minutes of prep.
