Do you bring your lunch to school? Keep reading for some make-ahead Easy Salad Lunch Ideas For Teachers.

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I wanted to share with you these awesome salad containers that I’ve been using for the last few months. They are called Bentgo® Salad – Stackable Lunch Container. It has a salad bowl, a 4 part compartment tray for toppings, a dressing container, and a reusable fork.

I bought it on a whim one day and boy am I sure glad I did! It has quickly become my favorite! After using the first week, I actually went back and bought two more so I now pre-make three salads for each week.

This bowl makes it so easy to make the salads ahead of time. I buy a big container of the spring mix greens and a rotisserie chicken from Costco to make my salads. (feta cheese is a great deal at Costo too FYI) I always try to mix my salads up each week so I don’t get bored of them, and then have something else for lunch the other two days. Here are some great teacher lunchbox ideas if you need some.

Salad Ideas

I don’t claim to be a great food blogger, but these are my favorite easy-to-make salads that have worked great for me using these salad boxes.

Garden Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, shredded or chopped carrots, and croutons. A container of ranch or thousand island on the side.

Chicken Caesar Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, shaved parmesan cheese, and croutons. A container of caesar dressing on the side.

Southwest Chicken Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include black beans, corn, diced rotisserie chicken, red onions, and grape tomatoes. A container of cilantro avocado dressing on the side.

BBQ Chicken Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken mixed with bbq sauce, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped green onion, and chopped tomato. A container of ranch dressing on the side.

Antipasta Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include two-quartered artichoke hearts, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, ham, and salami chopped, and some diced cucumber. A container of balsamic dressing on the side.

Taco Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include ground beef, shredded cheese, pinto beans, sliced pickled jalapenos, and crushed tortilla chips. A container of salsa as the dressing on the side.

Chicken Caprese Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, fresh basil chopped, fresh mozzarella cheese pearls, and diced tomatoes. A container of balsamic vinaigrette on the side.

Chicken, Apple, and Cranberry Salad

– This is my favorite one!

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, green apples chopped, dried cranberries, crumbled feta, or blue cheese roasted pecans. A container of balsamic vinegar or Panera Fuji Apple dressing that you can find at the grocery store.

Asian Chicken Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, ramen noodles lightly crushed, sliced almonds, green onion, an orange peeled and sectioned or you can use canned mandarin oranges. A container of Asian sesame dressing on the side.

Greek Chicken Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, diced cucumber, grape tomatoes halved, chopped red onion, and crumbled feta cheese. A container of olive oil vinaigrette on the side.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken tossed with buffalo wing sauce, crumbled blue cheese, and shredded carrots. A container of ranch dressing on the side.

Chicken and Fruit Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, canned mandarin oranges, sliced strawberries, chopped apples, and blueberries. A container of olive oil vinaigrette on the side.

So those are all of my favorite tried and true salads that I pack in these awesome containers. 12 different salads that I make 3 per week leave me a different salad for each time I make them throughout the month so I don’t get tired of them! Great easy make-ahead lunch ideas for busy people!

Do you have any other favorite salads you like to make for lunch? Let us know below in the comments!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Easy Salad Lunch Ideas For Teachers appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Have you seen these amazing little personal-sized mini crock-pots? It is on my list of must-haves for school! This little guy is perfect for your school lunches. It does not cook, it just reheats. Today I have 6 Mini Crock-Pot Lunch Ideas for you!

Take the mini crock pot home with you and fill it with your lunch. Bring it to school with you the next day and plug it in in the morning and by lunchtime, you have a nice hot lunch ready and waiting for you!

The mini crock-pot comes with an insert with a lid so you can take that home and bring it back with your food in it if you’d like.

Here are 6 ideas for lunches that you can bring in your mini crock-pot.

Soup

• Let’s keep this simple and quick here, a can of soup. Simply empty the soup into the mini-crock when you get to school and you have a nice and hot lunch ready and waiting for you.

Leftovers-freezer meals

• I don’t know about you, but I’m the only one that ever seems to eat leftovers in our house. I totally don’t mind because they make the best lunches! Just pot your leftover casserole you made the night before into your crock-pot, plug it in when you get to school and you’re all set for a hot lunch and no waiting for a turn at the microwave at lunch!

Tacos

• Everyone loves taco Tuesday right?! Add some cooked ground beef to your mini crock-pot to warm up and make yourself tacos for lunch! The already cooked shredded beef and pork that you can buy at the grocery store or Costco work great in here for making tacos too!

Chili

• What better way to warm up on a chilly day than a bowl of chili. Keep a few extra cans on hand in your room in case you forget your lunch one day. Always great to have a backup plan! If you rather, make a batch at home and freeze it in portion sizes for your mini crock-pot and then reheat once you get to school for a nice hot lunch. Quick and easy lunch to go!

Macaroni and Cheese or Spaghetti

• Another one of my favorites!  Bring your favorite macaroni and cheese that’s already made at home in your crock-pot and just rewarm for lunch. The same goes for spaghetti! Does anyone like spaghetti better the second time around than I do? Maybe I’m just weird!

Rice and Beans

Living in Arizona, rice and beans are a staple for us. Bring it to school in your crock-pot, plug it in and it’ll be ready for lunch. Any type of rice reheats well. Chicken and rice is another great one to bring along in your mini crock-pot.

Bonus idea – Oatmeal

It may not exactly be a “lunch” idea, but oatmeal is fantastic rewarmed in your mini crock-pot. Such comfort food any time of the day.

The only other tip I have is that I like to keep a small carton of milk in the fridge. When reheating things such as the macaroni and cheese and the oatmeal, it’s nice to add a bit more liquid to help it all come together as it reheats.

So what do you think? Are you ready to try one of these awesome mini crock-pots? Or if you already have a mini crockpot share with us any other ideas that you have for lunch in the comments below!

If you’re looking for more of my lunch must-haves you’ll want to check out this post here where I share my favorite lunch bags, lunch containers, and my newest favorite salad container!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post 6 Mini Crock-Pot Lunch Ideas appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

As the new school year approaches, one thing on my list, along with a million others, is to think about easy lunches I can make. Our family chooses to bring our lunch to school each day. As teachers, you know you do not get a nice long lunch so you need your lunches to be healthy and quick. So today I’m sharing some of my favorite Easy Teacher Lunchbox Ideas.

Planning lunches

Just like at school, I’m a big planner. I plan all of my lunches the best I can for the week. On Sunday, I prep anything that I can, chop veggies and fruit, etc and pre-pack anything that I can that will be good through the week in the refrigerator. I also try to make something to put in the freezer like a soup and portion it into thermos size for easy lunches.

These are some of my go to lunch packing books for new ideas.

The Best Homemade Kids’ Lunches On the Planet

Weelicious Lunches

Best Lunch Box Ever

100 Days of Real Food

This one has a chapter on lunches that are all very yummy!

If books are overwhelming for you to look through for ideas, I also use the Healthy Lunch Plan from emeals.com.

They provide you a weeks worth of lunch recipes/lunches including a shopping list. There is also usually a bonus packable treat because everyone needs a little dessert! This makes packing lunches a no brainer and you can easily prep a lot of the ingredients and lunches ahead of time. You can sign up for the emeals lunches here.

Favorite Quick Teacher Lunches

These are some of my favorite lunches to pack. They all will work to take to school whether you have a small refrigerator in your classroom or just adding an ice pack to your bag.

Mediterranean Sampler – Hummus, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, carrots, and multi-grain crackers. On the side are strawberries, grapes, and melon chunks.

Pepperoni Pasta Salad – pasta with mozzarella cheese cubes, chopped broccoli, pepperoni slices, and Italian dressing. On the side, a sliced apple.

Southwest Quinoa – quinoa, salsa, black beans, corn, cilantro. On the side cherry tomatoes and tortilla chips.

Crockpot potato soup from the freezer. On the side corn bread muffin from the freezer and carrot sticks.

Chicken salad sliders – On the side peach slices and pretzel sticks.

Cheddar and pear quesadilla – tortilla, pear, cheese On the side grapes and celery sticks.

Build your own parfait- yogurt, berries, granola.

Leftovers! I’m the only one that eats them in my house!

Salads are another one of my favorite lunch options. They are easy to pre-make for the week. You can get all of the details of my favorite salads here.

And have you seen these amazing little crockpots? Perfect for heating up your food so lunch is ready to go. No waiting to warm up your food or even a need to go to the lounge, just sit back and relax for a few in the quiet of your classroom. We share 6 mini crockpot lunch ideas here. 

And if you’re looking for a new lunch bag, I share all of my favorites along with our favorite lunchbox supplies too. Come and see our favorites here. 

I even have a Pinterest board for lunchbox ideas that has a ton of easy ideas that you can check out here.

Hopefully, these lunch ideas help to make back to school a little easier and take one thing off of your plate. Do you normally pack your lunches every day?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Easy Teacher Lunchbox Ideas appeared first on Primary Playground.