45 Back-to-School Vegan Packed Lunches

These back-to-school vegan lunches for kids will make life easier for busy mums and dads as the new term begins.

When kids head back to school, it's all about the uniform first, then we think about lunches.

There isn't always a great selection of vegan lunches available in schools and even if there are a few options, your children might not want to eat them. Let's face it we all have our likes and dislikes.

That's when lunchboxes come into their own, but we all need new ideas so they aren't eating the same thing every day and it needs to be easy.

• also check out Kid- Friendly School Lunch Plan for Vegan Kids

💭 Lunchbox tips

Before I share some delicious kid-friendly lunch ideas, here are some tips to make lunchtime more successful.

1. Plan, plan, plan! That's the best piece of advice I can give you. If you have a plan there will be less stress and you will feel more organised.
2. Make a lunch meal plan for 2, 3 or 4 weeks and then repeat. Each term you can make a new lunch plan. It will give kids enough variety but make life easier for you.
3. Make a list of the main event (sandwiches, wraps, pasta, pastry etc) and snacks (sweet and savoury), think crunchy veg with dips, fruit, baked goods and easy to add snacks like pretzels, popcorn or breadsticks.
4. Get your children involved. Ask them what they would like to add to the list and talk about what's on the list, then let them help you plan a 2,3 or 4 week schedule.
5. Trying something new in their lunchbox? Make sure there is something familiar there too, so it's not so daunting.
6. Think about bento style boxes. Lots of snack food for a fun lunch, think things like falafel, onion bhaji, tofu popcorn or cooked vegan sausages, along with vegetable sticks, pieces of fruit, a dip and snacks like pretzels or popcorn. Think finger food.
7. Don't give them too much! This is a common mistake, we give them adult size portions and then get annoyed when food comes home. Remember they have wee tummies.
8. Make lunch boxes fun, seperate food with colourful silicone muffin cases, add fun food picks or colourful re-usable cutlery.
9. Add a few note or a joke, to make them smile. You can prepare these ahead and keep them in a jar to add when you make up their lunches.
10. Make sure they have paper napkins or kitchen paper to wipe fingers on or mop up any spills.

🥪 Vegan Sandwiches & Wraps

Try these simple sandwiches and wraps in their lunchbox. If they don't like added extras like salad leaves or tomato slices, leave them out. Tweak the recipes to suit your child.

1. Vegan Cheese & Onion Sandwiches

from The Vegan Lunchbox

2. Kids Pinwheel Sandwiches

from The Vegan Lunchbox

4. Vegan 'Egg' Mayo Sandwiches

from Vegan Punks

5. Vegan 'Tuna' Sandwiches

from Karen Klein

6. Carrot & Spinach Crunch Wraps

from Tinned Tomatoes

7. Mini Peanut Butter & Jelly Waffle Sandwiches (gluten-free)

from Strength and Sunshine

🍝 Vegan Lunchbox Pasta

Pasta is a great choice for kids. If you keep the dressing simple the vegetables chopped small, you can get away with a lot. Check out these recipes and tweak them to suit your children.

8. Cheesy Pasta Salad

from The Vegan Lunchbox

9. Vegan Macaroni Salad

from The Vegan Lunchbox

10. Tomato & Corn Pasta Salad

from Tinned Tomatoes

11. Summer Greek Pasta Salad

from Tinned Tomatoes

🍕 Vegan Lunchbox Pizza

Kids love pizza and there are some really fun twists on pizza you can add to their lunchbox.

12. Vegan Sesame Bagel Pizza

from The Vegan Lunchbox

14. Mini Margherita Puff Pizza Pies

from Tinned Tomatoes

15. Vegan Pizza Rolls

from Nutriciously

16. Vegan Pitta Pizza 3 Ways

from Health My Lifestyle

🥟 Vegan Lunchbox Pastry

If you really want to treat them add some sausage rolls, pies or tarts to their lunchbox. You can always add some fruit and veg on the side.

17. Vegan Pesto & Cheese Swirls

from The Vegan Lunchbox

18. Falafel & Onion Pies

from The Vegan Lunchbox

19. Vegan Cheese & Red Pepper Filo Hand Pies

from The Vegan Lunchbox

20. Mini Tomato Pastry Bites

from The Vegan Lunchbox

21. Scottish Rumbledethump Pies

from Tinned Tomatoes

22. Spicy Tattie Puffs

from Tinned Tomatoes

23. Mushroom & Chestnut Sausage Rolls

from Tinned Tomatoes

24. Spinach & Cream Cheese Parcels

from Tinned Tomatoes

25. Samosa Pinwheels

from Mrs Jones Kitchen

🥯 Vegan Lunchbox Savoury Bites

These savoury bites are perfect in lunch boxes. Serve them with some crunchy veg.

26. Vegan Eggless Bites

from The Vegan Larder

27. Potato & Vegetable Croquettes

from Nutriciously

28. Muffin Tin Sushi Cups

from Rhian's Recipes

29. Baked Popcorn Tofu

from Tinned Tomatoes

30. Kidney Bean Falafel

from Tinned Tomatoes

31. Green Edadame Bean & Pea Falafel

from Tinned Tomatoes

⭐ Pin it for later

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Once you've done that, join my Facebook group Living on the Veg. It's a very friendly community with lots of recipes and chat. I'm in there every day chatting.

🧁 Vegan Bakes & Cakes

It's important to add some healthy fruit and veg to lunchboxes, but do give them a treat sometimes.

It will brighten their day and some of these options are healthier than their shop-bought equivalents.

32. Blueberry Ginger Muffins

from The Vegan Lunchbox

33. Strawberry Milkshake Muffins

from The Vegan Lunchbox

34. Lemon Muffins

from The Vegan Lunchbox

35. Chocolate Pretzel Tiffin

from The Vegan Lunchbox

36. Banana Pancakes

from The Vegan Lunchbox

37. Easy Choc Chip Banana Bread

from Tinned Tomatoes

38. Blueberry Lemon Oat Bars

from Tinned Tomatoes

39. Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

from Tinned Tomatoes

40. Sunbutter Cookies

from My Quiet Kitchen

41. 5 Ingredient No-Bake Granola Bars

from Health My Lifestyle

42. Zucchini (Courgette) Muffins with Choc Chips

from My Goodness Kitchen

43. Blackberry Muffins

from No Sweat Vegan

44. Coconut Ice

from The Vegan Lunchbox

45. Choc Chip Muffins

from Tinned Tomatoes

I hope you have found some inspiration for your children's (or maybe your own) lunches.

You may also want to check out my Packing Lunch Guide.

Remember to make that plan to take the stress out of it.

I hope your children have a great back-to-school experience.