Summer Grazing Boards: The Lazy (But Actually Brilliant) Way to Feed Your Kids All Summer Long
You know what nobody warned you about before summer break? That you are now the full-time, no-days-off, open-kitchen chef for approximately 47 meals and snacks per week. And somehow "I'm hungry" starts exactly 40 minutes after breakfast.
So let me introduce you to your new best friend: the summer grazing board. No cooking, no plating, and plenty of fun.
Keeping things novel with kids is a must, and honestly it helps you avoid burnout too. I do a lunch like this at least two to three times a week, and my kids are starting to build their own boards now — which takes work off my plate and makes them way more likely to actually eat what's in front of them. Fun fact I learned while writing Naturally Nourished Kids: kids are five times more likely to eat something they had a hand in making, growing, or selecting. For smaller kids, that looks like guided choices: "would you like grapes or blueberries for your fruit today?" For older kids, it looks like: "go grab a vegetable from the fridge to add to our board."
Why the Grazing Board Works (Beyond Just Saving Your Sanity)
What your child eats at lunch directly shapes their mood, energy, focus, and behavior for the rest of the afternoon. That 2pm meltdown, the car ride whining, the total collapse before dinner — a lot of that traces back to blood sugar. Lunches built around refined carbs and sugar spike them fast and crash them hard.
The grazing board naturally solves this because you're building around protein and fat first, which keeps blood sugar steady, supports brain function, and keeps them satisfied longer. The visual variety does something powerful with kids too — when food looks fun and approachable and they can see all their options laid out, they eat more of it with a lot less resistance. Add in the fact that they helped build it, and you've basically already won lunch.
How to Build It
The framework is simple. Anchor with protein, add fat, bring in color from produce, and round it out with a fruit or whole food carb. You don't need every category to be perfect every single day — just make sure protein and fat are always covered. Those two are non-negotiable for keeping kids grounded, focused, and out of the snack cabinet an hour later.
Aim for roughly 20 grams of protein, one to two fat sources, as much color and crunch as your kid will tolerate that day, and one to two real whole food carb choices to round things out.
Kids heading to camp or out for the day? Use this same philosophy to build their bento box
Powerful Protein (choose 1-2)
Hard-boiled eggs / Rotisserie chicken / No additive deli turkey (uncured, no fillers) / Uncured ham / Uncured salami or pepperoni / In-house roast beef / Leftover burger patty / Sausage bites or patties / Leftover bacon / Beef sticks or jerky (PaleoValley, Chomps, Epic, New Primal) / Smoked Salmon / Chicken skewers or satay / Almond flour chicken tenders / Meatballs / Quesadilla strips / Perfect Bar or RX Bar cut into squares / Yeehaw Brisket Chips (pictured here)
Healthy Whole Fat (choose 1-2)
Guacamole / Olives / Nut butter / Sunflower seed butter / Full-fat organic Greek yogurt as a dip / Culina coconut yogurt / Pork rinds / Parmesan crisps / Raw aged cheese cubes or string cheese / Toasted coconut chips / Avocado slices (coat with lime or lemon) / Cheese roll-ups with deli meat / Tahini for dipping / Cashew butter (great with apple slices) / Macadamia nuts / Pumpkin seeds / Sunflower seeds / Greek yogurt ranch dip / Primal Kitchen dressing for dipping
Color and Crunch: non-starchy veggies (choose 1-2)
Cucumber rounds / Bell pepper strips/ Cherry tomatoes / Snap peas / Celery (great with nut butter or cream cheese) / Carrot sticks / Zucchini sticks / Broccoli or florets (raw or leftover roasted) / Cauliflower florets / Kale chips / Seaweed snacks (SeaSnax) / Fermented pickles (Bubbies or Farmhouse Cultures) / Jicama sticks / Radishes / Endive leaves as a scoop
Whole food Carbs (choose 1-2)
Berries: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries / Watermelon or cantaloupe cubes / Apple slices (coat with lemon juice to prevent browning) / Grapes / Kiwi / Peach or nectarine slices / Mango chunks / Cherries / Leftover roasted sweet potato / Leftover roasted butternut squash / Hummus / Simple Mills grain-free crackers / Jackson's sweet potato chips / Siete Chips / Lesser Evil Popcorn / Sourdough crackers / Dried mango / Dehydrated apple slices / That's It fruit bars / Bear fruit rolls / Frozen grapes / Brami Lupini Beans (pictured here)/ Happy Wolf Bars / Dried Persimmon Slices / Mary's Gone Crackers / Solely Fruit Jerky / Siete Grain Free Cookies / Simple Mills Sweet Thins / MadeGood Granola Bites
Lots of snack ideas on my Amazon Store here
5 Summer Board Combos to Get You Started
Hard-boiled eggs, sliced rotisserie chicken, cucumber rounds with guacamole, strawberries and blueberries, pork rinds
Salami roll-ups with provolone, cherry tomatoes, snap peas with hummus, apple slices, olives
Yeehaw Snacks, bell pepper strips with Primal Kitchen ranch, parm crisps, grapes, avocado slices
Leftover burger patty sliced up, fermented pickles, carrot sticks with tahini, watermelon cubes, toasted coconut chips
String cheese, smoked salmon bites, jicama sticks with guacamole, frozen mango chunks, seaweed snacks
A Few Notes on Camp Lunches
The grazing board translates perfectly to a packed lunch — you're just swapping the cutting board for a bento box or a 3-tier stainless container, you can find my favorite non-toxic containers here.
A few things that make camp lunches specifically easier: Pack an ice pack or use a freezable lunch bag so cold proteins and yogurt dips stay safe in the heat. Pre-portion everything so morning is just assembly. Avoid single-use plastics where you can — stainless steel and silicone hold up better and don't leach anything into food sitting in a hot backpack. If your camp has a no-nut policy, swap nut butters for sunflower seed butter and replace any mixed nuts with pork rinds, parm crisps, or seeds.
Print this list and put it on your fridge or let your child mark up their choices and you will never stand looking at an open refrigerator wondering what the heck to feed them for lunch again!
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