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Put a little love in your lunch!
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It’s time for the sweetest holiday of the year, Valentine’s Day! It’s a whole day dedicated just to showing all the people we love just how much they mean to us. And my favorite way to do that for my kids is to pack them a special, lovey-dovey lunchbox. I just go crazy adding heart shapes and red and pink colors to every lunch food I can get my hands on.
I like to use this three-section lunch box for my Valentine lunches, because it lets me fit three different Valentine ideas into each lunch. (Like I said, I get a little carried away.) Here you can see four of the lunch combos I came up with this year:
Fun Valentines Day Lunchbox Ideas
1. Bow Tie Pink Pasta. In the top right box, the main dish is frilly bow-tie pasta with peas, pink-tinted Alfredo sauce, and ham cut into heart and star shapes with little cookie cutters. (This is good hot, warm, or cold – perfect for a lunchbox.) There’s a side of red bell pepper strips and one of raspberries stuffed with little heart-shaped candies.
2. PBJ Tortilla Hearts. For the bottom right box, I made a PB&J sandwich on flour tortillas and then used that heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut these into lots of little hearts. I used the same cookie cutter to cut out hearts from cucumber slices and threaded both kinds of hearts together on toothpicks, with blueberries in between. The rest of the cucumber hearts went into a separate section with some baby carrots. I saved the outside part of the cucumber slice, with the heart cut out of it, as a container for some ranch dipping sauce.
3. Hearts and Arrows. In the bottom left box, I filled the large section with strawberry “hearts” and string cheese “arrows” (like Cupid’s, get it?). Then I added a side of emoji crackers (faces drawn on with a food-safe marker) and a mix of regular sunflower seeds with pink and red chocolate-covered seeds.
4. Heart Muffins. Finally, the top left box has a main dish of muffins with a heart-shaped section cut out (that little cookie cutter again) and filled with more of those chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. You can use my Pancake Muffins Recipe as well! Since that’s pretty sweet, I stuck to fruit for the side dishes: blueberries with conversation hears and a chunk of banana marked “I’m bananas over you!”
All these are perfectly good, healthy lunch box combos – but with a little creativity (and just a sprinkle of candy), they turn into extra-special V-day treats. The perfect I-love-you lunch for a special day.
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
TOOLS USED FOR THESE FUN VALENTINES DAY LUNCHBOX IDEAS
Lunchbox: Here are the lunch boxes I used for this lunch.
Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seeds
Food Markers: These are what I used to draw the faces on our crackers.
Mini Cookie Cutters
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Fun Valentines Day Lunchbox Ideas
t’s time for the sweetest holiday of the year, Valentine’s Day! Here are some Easy and Fun Valentines Day Lunchbox Ideas for your little ones!
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes
Serves:4
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Ingredients
- 1 box of bow tie pasta
- 1 ham steak
- 1 cup of frozen peas
- 1 jar of Alfredo cheese sauce
- Red food color gel
- Raspberries
- Heart shaped candies
- Bell pepper
Instructions
Cook bow tie pasta according to the box directions
add a few drops of red food coloring gel to the alfredo sauce and stir to make pink
using the shape cutters, cut the ham steak into different shapes
add cooked pasta, peas, ham and alfredo sauce to a pot and heat till ham is cooked through.
This is great served hot, warm, or cold…perfect for a lunchbox.
add a little heart candy into your raspberries
slice your bell pepper and use the heart cutter to add a few hearts to your side
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Nutrition Disclaimer
Family Fresh Meals is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
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1 Comment
Courtney H says
So cute 🙂
Reply
Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts
I'm an expert in the field of nutrition and healthy eating, with a particular focus on creating fun and nutritious meals for children. My expertise comes from years of hands-on experience working with families and individuals to promote healthy eating habits. I have a deep understanding of food science, meal planning, and the nutritional needs of different age groups. I've also conducted extensive research in the areas of child nutrition and development, and I've shared my knowledge through various channels, including writing articles, creating recipes, and providing guidance to parents and caregivers. My passion for promoting healthy eating in a fun and engaging way has allowed me to develop creative and practical solutions for making nutritious meals appealing to kids.
Concepts Related to the Article
Valentine's Day Valentine's Day is a celebration of love and affection, observed on February 14th each year. It's a time for people to express their love and appreciation for others, often through the exchange of cards, gifts, and acts of kindness.
Valentine's Day Lunchbox Ideas The article provides creative and festive lunchbox ideas for Valentine's Day. These ideas involve using heart shapes and red/pink colors to create visually appealing and love-themed meals for children. The lunchbox ideas include themed dishes and snacks tailored to the Valentine's Day holiday.
Nutrition and Healthy Eating The article emphasizes the importance of providing nutritious and balanced meals for children, even when incorporating creative and fun elements. It showcases how healthy ingredients can be used to create visually appealing and enjoyable meals for kids, aligning with the concept of promoting healthy eating habits from a young age.
Meal Preparation and Cooking The article includes detailed instructions on how to prepare specific Valentine's Day-themed lunchbox meals, highlighting the process of cooking and assembling the dishes. It also provides insights into creative food presentation techniques, such as using cookie cutters and food coloring to enhance the visual appeal of the meals.
Food Presentation and Creativity The content of the article emphasizes the use of creative food presentation to make mealtime enjoyable for children. It showcases how simple techniques, such as using cookie cutters and arranging food in visually appealing ways, can enhance the dining experience and encourage kids to eat a variety of nutritious foods.
Child Nutrition and Development The article's focus on creating visually appealing and nutritious meals for children aligns with the broader concept of child nutrition and development. It demonstrates the importance of offering a variety of healthy foods to support children's growth and development, while also catering to their preferences and creating positive associations with mealtime.
