35 Non-Sandwich Lunch Ideas

When I was a kid, I used to hate sandwiches. My poor mom. Every morning, she’d go downstairs at the crack of dawn, and with the sound of flourescent lights buzzing overhead, she’d drink a cup of instant coffee and pack me (and my brother and sister) a non-sandwich lunch. That was back in the days of no internet, no Amazon, and no Walmart, so she’d have to come up with creative lunch ideas all on her own. Then she’d pack them in nothing but sandwich bags and thermoses in my super cool 1980’s denim lunch bag. (Actually, I don’t remember if I had a denim lunch bag, but it sounds very 80’s doesn’t it?)

Do you remember what you ate for lunch when you were in elementary school? I know I ate tons of crackers and cheese? And every once in awhile my mom would pack a hot dog in a thermos, and it was like I had won the lunch time lottery!

Since I still don’t love sandwiches, I tend not to pack very many in my 5 year old’s school lunches. Sandwiches are just, well.. they’re kind of boring? And these non-sandwich lunch ideas are… well, let’s just say that if someone was willing to make me any one of these recipes for lunch, I would throw down the dish towel, jump onto the coffee table, and break into song. And then they can do the dishes too while they’re at it. Any takers? No? Darn.

I know we aren’t all going to go out and try every one of the lunches on this list, but I challenge you to try just one of them. I find that when I find one idea I like, I repeat it over and over and over again (do you do that too?), and seeing that we personally only have 3 school lunch ideas on repeat in our household, a new recipe would be pretty awesome right about now!

From deep dish pizza cupcakes to silly snake dogs this list has tons of yummy ideas you need to try!