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My Easy Lunch and Snack Boards are such a fun way to feed everyone after school or during the summer months. They can easily be made with little to no cooking and offer a great variety to make everyone happy!
Fun, Filling and Fueling Snacks
I don’t know about y’all, but I get a little tired of hearing “I’m so hungry!” or “May I have another snack, please?!” every 30 minutes after school or during those long summer days. So I try to plan out our meals so that they’re fun, filling and fueling.
These quick and easy lunch and snack boards I’ve created over the years make it so simple to satisfy everyone’s hunger and the best part is that they double as an activity. They’re all made with ingredients that are often staples in our fridge and pantry and offer a good variety of treats and healthy options.
I encourage you to use these boards as inspiration for feeding your family this summer. Build your boards with foods that you have on hand and have fun with them. They’re sure to be a summertime staple!
Welcome home your little scholars in delicious style with an After School Snack Board. Full of nutritious foods, fun snacks, and a sweet treat or two, it’s the perfect way to fuel up after a long school day.
When your crew can’t agree on what to have for lunch, this PB&J and Mini Corndog Snack Tray is sure to please everyone. Just add a little of this and a little of that from your fridge and pantry and ta-da! So easy and makes everyone happy happy!
When the day calls for a snack lunch, this board has you covered! Quartered grilled cheese and PB&J sandwiches, a variety of fruits and veggies, and some yummy crunchy snacks like heart-shaped crackers, goldfish, Pringles, roasted plantain chips, popcorn chips, jumbo Inca corn, yogurt-covered pretzels and honey sesame almonds. So much yum & something for everyone!
I keep our snack stash stocked with lots of goodies from Trader Joe’s to make this board often. Trader Joe’s such a great store to shop for a fun and healthy variety of snack foods to keep on hand. You can get all of the details, including a shopping list here. No cooking required and everyone’s satisfied!
Pizza Toast and a mini fruit and veggie board is such a perfect lunch. Pizza Toast is obviously not real deal pizza, but it’s delicious, easy and certainly satisfies for a quick lunch that we all enjoy! And if you haven’t tried letting your kids serve themselves from a selection of veggies and fruits on a board, it’s worth the try. Our kiddos gobble them up when they get to serve them to themselves.
Hot diggity dog, everyone will go crazy for this Hot Dog Board that offers grilled hot dog halves with an amazing selection of toppings and snacks to go with them. It’s an easy, fun and delicious way to serve hot dogs!
Make it a Hot Dog Tray with chips and dips along with healthy fruits and veggies. So simple yet satisfies everybody!
If your crew is craving the comfort of a grilled cheese with some tomato soup to dip it in, this Grilled Cheese Board from pages 128-129 if my Beautiful Boards cookbook is the ultimate when it comes to comfort food. With classic grilled cheese strips, bacon & cheddar grilled cheese quarters, and brie & fig jam grilled cheese crostinis, it’s so fun to eat and satisfies everyone around it. Perfect for a rainy summer day!
Kids and grown-ups alike will love this PB&J Snack Board with classic peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and an amazing selection of snacks to go with them. I had to include our favorite Peanut Lovers’ Snack Mix on it. It’s a simple mix of pretzels, peanuts, chocolate candies, dried cranberries and peanut butter morsels. We keep a jar of this snack mix on hand at all times. It’s such a treat that satisfies all our snack cravings from sweet to salty and crunchy to chewy.
Top-Your-Own Mac & Cheese, please & thank you! We sure love my Stovetop Mac & Cheese with a variety of toppings to choose from to add to it for a yummy lunch. Makes the meal an experience that we all enjoy.
Use whatever you have on hand in the fridge or pantry to create a fast, simple and healthy snack or lunch board. It’s a great way to reinvent leftovers or introduce foods that might not otherwise be tried. It’s also the best way to feed people without having to cook. A board like this can be ready to serve in 15-20 minutes. This Everyday Snack Board is from my Beautiful Boards cookbook!
Another everyday snack board filled with snacks that can all be found at Trader Joe’s. What can I say, I’m obsessed! Salsa, hummus, ranch, spinach + kale greek yogurt dip, pepperoni, turkey, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, green grapes, red grapes, pita chips, corn chip dippers, pretzel sticks, fig + olive crisps, baby carrots, sugar snap peas, apple slices, sesame honey almonds, candied pecans, dried apricots, dried cherries, yogurt covered pretzels. Yum, yum and more yum!
I can’t stop, won’t stop with the snack tray lunches because we all love them and everyone fills up with a good variety of food so they’re not begging for a snack 30 minutes later. We just put a little of this and a little of that from the fridge and pantry on this tray. And, of course, this one is one of our favorites because the No-Bake Monster Cookie Balls are such a yummy treat!
Another easy Everyday Snack Board to serve for lunch while using what you have on hand. I let the kids help gather foods from the refrigerator and pantry to put on this board. It gives them an activity and gets them even more excited about snacking on it for lunch.
When the kids have friends over to play, I make a snack board with what we have on hand rather than let them raid our pantry for snacks at their own free will. I always keep these adorable and delicious cinnamon storybook cookies on hand for afternoons like this. I just leave this out on the island and let them run by and grab a snack as they’re chasing each other around. Fun times! Yum times!
This Playdate Snack Board is an activity in itself with the build-your-own “ants on a log” or “fish in a river” and the alphabet cookies to spell and play word games with. My crew is obviously obsessed with this board and I am too. So much fun & yum! This snack board is from my Beautiful Boards cookbook…
I hope you and your loved ones have as much fun enjoying these Easy Lunch and Snack boards as much as we do! When you make one, be sure to snap a picture and share it with me on Instagram @thebakermama so I can see. I just love seeing how inspired and creative y’all get with the recipes and ideas I share. Enjoy!
Maegan is the author of her best-selling Beautiful Boards, Spectacular Spreads and Brilliant Bites cookbooks. She started blogging in 2012 and features hundreds of original recipes on The BakerMama. She truly enjoys sharing her easy, family-friendly recipes, creative meal ideas, food board creations, and entertaining spreads to encourage others to get in the kitchen and make something memorable for their loved ones to enjoy together. Learn More
I have a nutrition talk with Pre-Schooler parents and I will be using some of your fabulous board ideas.
Do you see the same result if you make smaller plate/boards with children?
Hi Marilyn! I love that! Such a great way to serve little ones so they can learn to make choices, fill their own plates, share and feed themselves. It’s worked beautifully for our family ever since our kids were able to start feeding themselves. Even if the board is super simple with a handful of options or small with a limited variety of snacks to choose from, it’s the experience that makes it so exciting and enjoyable for them. They really take pride in the process and ownership over what they choose to eat. Offering a variety of healthy choices is key to them trying something new. Hope this helps!
I just love seeing how inspired and creative y’all get with the recipes and ideas I share. Enjoy!
These are all SO FUN!! It’s spring break for us this week, so I will be making some of these for sure!
Hi, Jaren! I can’t wait to hear which ones you make! Enjoy!!❤️
I have a nutrition talk with Pre-Schooler parents and I will be using some of your fabulous board ideas.
Do you see the same result if you make smaller plate/boards with children?
Hi Marilyn! I love that! Such a great way to serve little ones so they can learn to make choices, fill their own plates, share and feed themselves. It’s worked beautifully for our family ever since our kids were able to start feeding themselves. Even if the board is super simple with a handful of options or small with a limited variety of snacks to choose from, it’s the experience that makes it so exciting and enjoyable for them. They really take pride in the process and ownership over what they choose to eat. Offering a variety of healthy choices is key to them trying something new. Hope this helps!