With back to school on the horizon, it is time to start thinking about school lunches and snacks again. I have to admit, packing lunches is not one of my favorite things. I wish I was more into it. There are so many great ideas out there especially on Pinterest.
We usually make a run to Trader Joe’s to stock up on some of our back to school favorites. Now that I am shopping at ALDI, this may change a little for us in the months to come. I love to have convenient snacks available to throw into their backpacks.
Here are some of our favorites to have on hand for back to school:
Bananas
The jury is still out for us on the best price for bananas. I do however buy bananas any time I walk into a food store. We go through about 10 lbs of bananas each week. With school gearing back up, we will be having daily smoothies. Our favorite is a Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Smoothie!
Yogurt Squishers
We love the Yogurt Squishers from Trader Joe’s. They are great to freeze for a packed lunch. They also make a great after school snack.
Fruit Wraps
My son love these fruit wraps! He thinks it is a treat to pick out a few each time we make a trip to Trader Joe’s. They are an easy snack to send to school for a morning or afternoon snack.
Clif Kid Z Bars
He also loves these Clif Kid Organic Z Bars. Again, they are just easy to throw in his backpack for a school snack. I like to make sure I am sending one of these on the days we have soccer practice.
Silver Dollar Pancakes
Along with their morning smoothies, my kids like to have a few of these pancakes. I feel like this is a good combo and helps give them a filling breakfast before they head out the door in the mornings.
Berries
We also go through a lot of berries. My daughter loves all berries and I like to include those in her lunch each day. Trader Joe’s usually has a great selection of berries to choose from.
Vegetable Radiatore
I know this is a strange one to have on a back to school list! My son usually only eats peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. Every. Day. The only other thing that seems to be a hit with him is pasta. I heat this pasta with some marinara sauce and put it in a thermos. I think I need to look for a few new thermos ideas this school year. I would love to be able to add a few more things into our lunch mix!
Popcorn
Popcorn is one of our favorite snacks and luckily Trader Joe’s has lots of variety in this department. These individual bags are fun to have on hand. They made a quick and easy snack!
Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips
These chips are really good! Gavin loves to take these for lunch with his peanut butter sandwiches. I feel like they are a little better than the alternative since they don’t have any artificial colors or flavors.
I hope you enjoyed reading about some of our favorites from Trader Joe’s! We love to shop there and try some of their new things! What are some of your favorite back to school snacks or lunches?
You may also enjoy:
Delicious Trader Joe’s Lunch Prep
Fall Favorites from Trader Joe’s
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That kettlecorn is so good!
It really is! We can go through a big bag in one day! We also really like the Chicago Mix!
These are all my sons favorite snack and first on our grocery list.
That is awesome Jess! He has good taste! ?
There are so many things I love at Tj’s – I don’tk now where to begin. I also love aldi’s though. Did you know that the founders of each are brothers??
Wow! I had no idea! That makes sense though. They are both great places to shop!
My daughter is a huge fan of Z bars. We just love TJ’s!
Trader Joe’s has such a good variety of foods and their produce selection is always very good, too. I haven’t tried any of these things, besides the fruit there so I just added a few more things to my Trader Joe’s list to try next time!
I ADORE Trader Joe’s – they also have fruit pouches that are spot on price wise (apple sauce type).
We love the pouches too! I can’t believe I forgot them on this list!
I love Trader Joes! I love the fruit and kettle corn there. I’ve never tried the fruit wraps, but I will have to pick a few for my girls the next time I’m there.
Love these items! Great round up and now I’m hungry lol
This makes me wish we had a Trader Joe’s closer!
I have a Trader Joes nearby. I literally never shopped there until a blog campaign I had and wished I shopped there sooner. I love all the healthy snacks they offer especially with my four year old. Sugar really riles him up so I try and decrease most of it.
Great list! Thanks for sharing!
Love Trader Joes! We just got those pancakes for my daughter and she loves them!
Honestly, I’m not going back to school, but you sold me on most of this stuff! I LOVE Trader Joe’s and I’m a little kid when it comes to fun snacks, so I’ve added a few of these to my shopping list 🙂
xo, Taylor (thesprinkle.tayloramead.com)
trader joes always has the best things! I had no idea their bananas were that cheap tho! I just paid 39 cents a pound at Albertson’s tonight!
I love TJ’s for all the unique items they carry. The closest one to me is about 30 minutes, but I still make a trip every few months for a few treats!
I’ve been a huge fan of TJs since forever…! My nephew is ten and plays a lot of soccer, so he is always hungry- my sister discovered the Clif Builder bars keep him full a lot longer than the Z bars (more protein) so she buys those and cuts it in half so he has one half as a snack. The crunchy peanut butter flavor is awesome! (And incidentally vegan)
The pb stuffed pretzel nuggets, light kettle corn, freeze dried fruit, frozen meatless balls, sugar snap peas, edamame, and triple ginger cookies are a few of my favorites!
I bet your son would like chilled peanut butter noodles, just poke around the internet for recipes, they’re super easy to make a big batch. I add in frozen edamame to help keep it cold
Ttrockwood
Thanks for the tip! We’ll have to try the Clif Builder bars for soccer days too! I’ll definitely look for that recipe. Sounds like something he would like!
Fruit is always the healthiest option in my opinion. Some items I don’t know heere
OMG I love Trader Joes!