Top Tips & Tricks To Make A Muffin Pan Meal For Kids

Not only is a muffin pan meal for kids exciting to eat, but they are fun to put together. These are the top tips and tricks to making muffin tray meals and snacks for toddlers and bigger kids alike. 

We call it Silly Lunch around here. 

Better known as a muffin pan meal for kids to those who don’t live in our house. 

Whatever you want to call it, the kids absolutely love it (and so do I). 

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I started serving easy muffin tin meals to Zoey when she was about two years old. It was a relaxing way for her and I to slow down over lunch while a newborn William napped after the hustle and bustle of a morning with a new baby and a toddler. 

A simple muffin tin meal gave us time to laugh, chat, and bond over the different foods since this style of lunch lends itself to taking a bit more time. Zoey and I both enjoyed it. 

Having a muffin tin meal here and there has continued since those early days when it was just Zoey and I eating real food lunches. While simple to do, putting one of these silly lunches together does take a touch of planning.

When To Use a Muffin Pan Meal For Kids

I highly recommend you use a muffin pan lunch for the kids when you have just been to the store. With 12 spots to fill, having a wide variety of foods on hand makes it so much easier to do. Otherwise it can be pretty tricky to find enough items to add.

Only use a muffin pan meal when you are not in a hurry. Typically, the kids linger over these muffin tin meals. If we are late to getting lunch on the table and in a bit of a push to nap time, I would not recommend it. I really enjoy doing these types of lunches when we are having an at home day or having a picnic in our backyard.

What To Put In Each Muffin Tin

Lunch around here is pretty standard. There is a main item, like peanut butter and jelly on anything (bread, crackers, tortillas), hummus with Naan, a grilled cheese, or a veggie sandwich. Then there are always two sides: one a fruit and one a vegetable. 

I follow this same format when putting together a muffin pan lunch for the kids. However, with a few more spaces to fill in a muffin pan versus a plate, I tend to include two or more different kinds of fruit and vegetables plus a few “snacky” foods like popcorn, fruit leather, or Almond Joy Energy Bites. 

I always try to create a muffin pan meal without cooking anything, but instead just fill the tins with the more snacky type foods (or at least ones that are easily sliced). Think outside the standard “lunchbox”, if you will, and opt for things like leftover breakfast pancakes in one spot and some cashews in the other. 

There is an extensive list of healthier options to add to your muffin trays at the bottom of this post. 

The goal is to really have fun with what goes into the each spot. Oftentimes, I let the kids help me choose what goes in each tin and other times I like to surprise them. That really depends on how ragey-hungry they are or if they are just running around the house being so excited about having a muffin pan lunch that they can’t concentrate on helping.

Best Muffin Pans For a Muffin Pan Lunch 

Hands down, my favorite muffin pans are these ones. I love that they are made of silicone with structured edges so the pan is not floppy and spilling when you try to move it. These muffin pans work excellently for regular baking, freezing items into muffin tins (which I do for ingredients like broth and sauce), and for muffin pan meals. 

I also like serving muffin pan lunches in mini muffin tins. There is something about the mini factor that makes the kids laugh. I do not recommend the extra large muffin tins that have 24 spots. It just gets to be too much to fill and feels a bit overwhelming for the kids to make choices from. 

You could make one tray that your children share, but I have found they enjoy having their own instead. This prevents fighting over the items everyone wants and gives the kids autonomy over what they personally want to eat from their personal pan.

How To Handle Refills 

No matter what kind of meal we are eating, I let the kids chose what they want to eat from their plate. We do have a no thank you bite rule in which they have to try the item on their plate they are not thrilled about before they can ask for seconds on the foods they really enjoyed. This is how both William and Zoey came to love baked barbeque salmon!

Silly Lunch is the same. They have to try the items in their muffin tins before they can ask for seconds on what they finished. 

Truthfully though, I rarely refill their tins. The kids tend to be full before they get to seconds.

Muffin Pan Meal For Kids Filler Ideas 

I just love how fun a muffin pan lunch can be as you do not have to follow the standard “norms” on what to serve. Here are a few ideas to fill your trays, but have fun with it!

Fruit 

1. Blueberries 
2. Strawberries 
3. Pears – sliced
4. Blackberries 
5. Raspberries
6. Peaches
7. Apples
8. Pears
9. Raisins 
10. Dates – dried
11. Mango – fresh or dried
12. Grapes
13. Pineapple – canned tidbits 
14. Oranges
15. Bananas
16. Cantalope 
17. Honeydew melon
18. Watermelon chunks
19. Kiwi
20. Cherries

Vegetables 

1. Cucumbers 
2. Carrots – steamed for toddlers 
3. Pepper slices 
4. Cherry tomatoes 
5. Celery sticks 
6. Snap peas
7. Peas 
8. Edamame
9. Corn
10. Green beans
11. Olives – sliced for toddlers
12. Pickles

Protein

1. Jerky 
2. Cashews
3. Slivered almonds
4. Hard boiled egg
5. Egg Cups
6. Iron Packed Spinach Balls
7. Easy Cheesy Salsa Broccoli Bites  – Use leftovers from a previous meal.
8. Sunflower seeds 
9. Pumpkin seeds 
10. Cottage cheese
11. Oatmeal – Fill one spot with some oatmeal, or use a premade freezer oatmeal cup.
12. Whole wheat pasta – Just use some leftovers from a previous meal.

Dippers

1. Hummus 
2. Nut butter
3. Guacamole 
4. Greek yogurt 
5. Salsa
6. Chia pudding

Snacks

1. Tortilla strips
2. Tortilla chips
3. Crackers 
4. Naan slices
5. Pretzels 
6. Pita 
7. Whole grain toast
8. Sweet Potato White Bean Bars – These bars from The Lean Green Bean are a family favorite. 
9. Goldfish
10. Fruit leather
11. Fruit Cups in 100% juice
12. Larabar – Use a mini Larabar cut into bits
13. Yogurt tube – We love the Stonyfield Organic yogurt tubes. I freeze the tubes and cut them in half for the kids. They love it!
14. Banana Oat Cookies – Even though it requires a bit of prep work, these are super simple to make with just a mashed banana, oats, and chocolate chips. 
15. Cheese slices 
16. Cheese stick
17. Made Good oat balls 
18. That’s It bars 
19. Yogurt bites
20. Apple sauce pouch
21. Pancakes – Use leftovers from a previous breakfast or pancake muffins from your freezer stash.
22. Puff popcorn – Like Pirate Booty
23. Super Simple Homemade Muesli
24. Half a granola bar – These are my favorites. 

Treats

1. Almond Joy Energy Bites (link)
2. Energy Boosting Trail Mix
3. Heavenly Hunks
4. Popcorn 
5. Dry cereal 
6. Fruit snacks 
7. Muffins
8. Granola

With these tips and tricks for making a muffin pan meal for kids, your children are going to be skipping their way to the lunch table. 

If you want to take your muffin pan meal a step further, you could turn the items you have on hand into a menu and let your kids choose what they would like in their muffin tins. What a fun way to do some imaginative play while getting lunch together.