Easy Back to School Lunch Ideas (eegee’s Approved!)  

When it comes to back-to-school lunches, it’s easy to become frustrated. You may want a balanced meal, but you also need something that is easy to eat while you are busy and on the go. That’s really important for many UArizona and ASU students.

We know that your favorite lunch stop is probably eegee’s and we welcome you to visit any time. But when you cannot make it in for lunch, we want to provide you with a few options that can work well no matter how busy your day is.

Back to School Lunch Ideas to Appreciate

Finding the best type of back-to-school lunch for you means knowing what you like, whether it’s cold or hot, or just a no-cook solution that you do not have to worry about in the morning. It does not have to be a struggle. With these ideas, you are sure to find something that works for just about every day.

Pick Up Your Favorite the Night Before

One of the best options is just to plan ahead. Stop in to see us at eegee’s the evening before and pick up a couple of your favorite subs. They do well in the fridge for a few days. We can even do sauce on the side to make sure your bread stays extra fresh. Pick out a few of your favorites to use for a couple of lunches throughout the week.

A veggie grinder is a perfect choice for this, or if you want to wake up your tastebuds, you may appreciate the spicy grinder instead. On the other hand, any of our subs can work well, from the hot meatball sub to the hot spicy chicken bacon sub. Pick up what you love, take them home, keep them in the fridge, and then take them with you as you go through your day.

Make Your Own Bowl

If you are making dinner for yourself, consider making your own bowl to take with you. For example, an easy option that you can customize each day to fit your needs is a simple rice bowl. Cook rice at the start of the week. Then, top it with the ingredients you want in a takeout container. That could be your favorite beans, turkey, cheese, and other veggies. You can use any meat and veggie combo that you want here, and it is sure to be a perfect choice.

A Good Salad

There is nothing quite like a great salad, especially if you are a vegetarian looking for a hearty salad that keeps you full well into the long days of studying you have to manage. You can always make your own by picking up a few ingredients from the store that you love. This is a simple solution – just bring the dressing along with you in the morning, and you are good to go.

Do you want it to be even easier than that? Even for adults, it helps to be able to have ready-to-go meals. You can stop by eegee’s and pick up one of our salads (or a couple to eat throughout the week). Our Southwest chipotle ranch chicken salad is a favorite, but you can choose any that you love. There, we’ve got you covered for a couple more meals this week!

Make Some Wraps

Whether you stuff them full of breakfast foods or lunchmeats, wraps are a simple option and one of the best school lunch ideas when you are on a budget. You can make numerous wraps out of a few ingredients.

You can even turn the meal you had for dinner last night into a wrap depending on what it is – even Thai or the Chinese food you bought. This is a great way for you to get in some vegetables, and it does well in a simple lunch box or cooler that you take with you for your day.

Pack the Snacks

Let’s say you don’t have time to pull together a formal meal each day, but you want to have on-the-go items you can easily take with you that do not have to be kept cold or hot. There are a lot of things you can make that work well here.

For example, load up on the foods you love that are typically considered snacks. That could include things like baby carrots and cucumbers for those who want to be healthy. Grapes and oranges are a fantastic option, too. You may want to have some cookies that you love, a few crackers, and some cheese on hand to pack up, perhaps with a bit of hummus to make it a bit more enjoyable.

For an inexpensive protein choice, boil some eggs. Hard-boiled eggs are a great way to get a boost of protein before a hard class or even before your workout, and they take just about no time to prepare.

Go for the Pasta

This is not a good idea if you really want a no-cook option (remember, you can always stop in at eegee’s for a quick bite, too). However, if you have some time the night before, boil some pasta. Toss it with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Then, the next day you can add in a few items that you have on hand to make this more of a meal.

You can choose some cut-up tomatoes or cubes of cheese, for example. Add some lunch meat you have on hand or perhaps some roasted chicken that you picked up from the deli. You can make it just about anything you want.

Take the Leftovers With You

Let’s face it. The easiest option for a healthy lunch is leftovers, assuming you ate a good meal the night before. If you come in to see us at eegee’s we can help you with this. Pick up one of our subs or grinders. You can always take half of that with you the next day and have a fantastic lunch.

You can do that same thing with any other type of meal you have. The key here is just to make enough so that you have some extras for the next day. Pop it in a cooler with some ice, and you are ready to go. It’s likely that the cafeteria has a microwave to help you warm things up, too.

These back-to-school lunch ideas are just meant to get you started. There are a lot of ways that you can really have fun with this meal planning.