Are your kids asking for those fancy boxed lunches every time you go to the grocery? You are not alone.
Let MOMables help you make healthier versions and so many more!
A certain popular boxed lunch company has created a line of “cooler” lunches for the bigger kids with bigger appetites. But instead of filling out their chemical-laden fare with fruits and vegetables, or even making the entree slightly larger, they just add more treats!
Related: Top 5 Lunchboxes We’ve Tested
“More choices for lunch time, with more of the stuff they love.” Indeed. Who wouldn’t love a junky snack, plus dessert, plus sugar water? Blarg.
Save your money, and pack your own healthier MOMables version! You can still include treats, but this way you’re in control of the ingredients and serving sizes! And you can even use up some leftovers in the process!
MOM-Loaded DIY Chicken Soft Tacos Lunch
- 2-4 small soft whole-grain tortillas, depending on appetite
- ½ to 1 cup leftover cooked white chicken meat chunks or shreds
- 2-4 tablespoons grated cheese blend (mozzarella and cheddar, or Mexican style)
- 2-4 tablespoons MOMables Fresh Italian Salsa
- ⅛ to ¼ cup whole-grain store-bought or MOMables Homemade Cheese Crackers
Dessert treat. (The store-bought version includes two popular sandwich cookies filled with artificial chemicals—there are many healthier brands out there to choose from!)
Reusable water bottle plus water and some 100% real juice—OR MOMables Aguas Frescas.
Serving of fruit and/or vegetables.
Making Chicken Soft Tacos is a way to creatively use up some leftover chicken (or turkey!) from dinner. And while an assemble-yourself lunch is popular with the kids, it’s a hit with the grown-ups as well! Unlike other kiddie fare (like nuggets, pizza, or PBJs,) this lunch can “grow” with you! As always, pack for your audience—older kids and adults need larger servings. And maybe some more “mature” treats. Roasted chickpeas, seasoned nuts, and homemade snack mix all make healthy, yummy, and crunchy alternatives to the kid-friendly cookies and cheese crackers!
Check out lots of fun snack ideas on the MOMables blog!
What your kids WILL be getting with the MOMables version:
Fresh chicken, whole grain tortillas and crackers, fresh fruits and vegetables, healthier treats.
What your kids (hopefully) WON’T be getting: Artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, or sugars; added nitrates; “enriched” products with vitamins added back in after being over-processed out; potentially harmful ingredients banned in other countries; mystery ingredients.
Boxed Lunch Ingredients:
Rotisserie Seasoned Chicken Breast—Cured—Browned With Caramel Color: Chicken Breast, Water, Contains Less Than 2% of Modified Cornstarch, Salt, Sugar, Rotisserie Chicken Flavor (Yeast Extract, Salt, Flavor), Sodium Phosphates, Potassium Chloride, Carrageenan, Sodium Propionate, Sodium Diacetate, Sodium Benzoate, Lemon Juice Solids, Sodium Ascorbate, Sodium Nitrite, Caramel Color.
Tortilla: Wheat Flour (Whole Wheat Flour, Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour [Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid]), Water, Sugar, Vegetable Shortening (Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil), Glycerin, Contains 2% Or Less of: Baking Powder (Sodium Bicarbonate, Corn Starch, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Calcium Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Salt, Monoglycerides, Potassium Sorbate, Calcium Propionate, Fumaric Acid, Dough Conditioner (Sodium Metabisulfite).
Chocolate Sandwich Cookies: Sugar, Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), High Oleic Canola And/Or Palm Oil, Cocoa (Processed With Alkali), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Cornstarch, Leavening (Baking Soda And/Or Calcium Phosphate), Salt, Soy Lecithin, Vanillin—An Artificial Flavor, Chocolate.
Baked Snack Crackers: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil (Soybean And Palm Oil With TBHQ For Freshness), Cheese Made With Skim Milk (Skim Milk, Whey Protein, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes, Annatto Extract For Color), Contains Two Percent Or Less of Salt, Paprika, Yeast, Paprika Oleoresin For Color, Soy Lecithin.
Drink Powder: Sugar, Fructose, Citric Acid, Contains Less Than 2% of Natural and Artificial Flavor, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C,) Vitamin E Acetate, Calcium Phosphate (Prevents Caking,) Acesulfame Potassium and Sucralose (Sweeteners,) Artificial Color, Red 40, Blue 1, BHA (Preserves Freshness.)
Make it a MOMables Lunch!
Rashelle
The little silicon containers you use look really cute and a great way to separate the foods you place inside from the rest (sprinkled cheese), however, I know for my kids, the containers don’t stay straight in their lunch box, it does go sideways or upside down, how do you prevent the contents in the small silicone containers from leaking onto the other foods or falling out once you close it and it gets meshed around all over the place. For example, the orange silicone cup doesn’t reach the top, so the shredded cheese will inevitably fall around the other food.
Thank you.
Kendra Peterson
I pack a folded cloth napkin on top in the larger compartment, and it fills the space. Works great for “dry” ingredients like small crackers or cheese. Not so good for really tiny stuff like sunflower seeds, but then I fold the napkin smaller and just put it over that area. :)
Arelis Keszthelyi
I just want to make sure… When I pack the chicken it’s cold, right? Is it going to be ok cold..it’s not going to go bad?
I love this idea. Something different than the plain old pb&J or ham and cheese sandwich.
Thank you for all your wonderful ideas.
MOMables
The chicken is cold. Given that you throughly cooked the chicken; No, it won’t go bad for the 3-4hours that it’s packed inside an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack or two.
Jamie
So I made this tonight for my son (dry run/sample) before packing it in his lunch. It was AMAZING! My son immediately asked for more. The only change I made was adding a little (homemade) taco seasoning to the chicken just to give it a little kick. Yum!!! So glad for another addition to our lunch rotation!
Kendra Peterson
Awesome! Thanks for sharing! And yeah. Plain chicken, seasoning is a great idea! Or for those who can tolerate stronger flavors. But often leftovers are from already seasoned chicken, and the salsa should add a little “kick,” so I didn’t mention it here. ;)
My kids are still “deconstructionist” eaters, so eat everything separately. And salsa is “too spicy” for my older one. So I just packed the meat and cheese with other stuff for them. But I bulked this up for my husband and he looooved it! (He got roasted chickpeas instead of cookies and crackers though! Haha!)