Make Your Own Tacos Recipe - Lunch for Kids

I send my girls to school with lunch each day and have been looking for some new options besides the standard mac and cheese I typically pack. They love eating tacos at home and I started to wonder if there was a way to send tacos to school without them getting all soggy. I decided to try a Make Your Own Tacos lunch. I headed to Smart & Final to purchase all the ingredients I needed.

I love shopping at Smart & Final as they carry warehouse sized items without the membership fee. But what if you don't need 20 onions? No problem. Smart & Final lets me #ChooseSmart and also carries items in smaller quantities. For instance, I was able to purchase a single tomato that I needed for this recipe. As a matter of fact, I was able to find everything there that I needed to create this brown bag lunch. I found the tortillas, lettuce, ground turkey, tomato, Kraft Four Cheese Mexican and even Capri Sun drinks all at great prices.

We go through a lot of cheese in our house, so I was happy to find these two one pound bags of Kraft cheese in the cheese aisle. They had lots of varieties of Kraft cheese such as Sharp Cheddar and Colby & Monterey Jack. 

I wanted the tacos to have a great Mexican taste, so I purchased the Mexican cheese which is a perfect mix of Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Asadero, and Queso Quesadilla cheeses.

This recipe is easy to put together in the morning when you are getting your kids' lunch ready.

You can use ground beef or turkey. We prefer ground turkey in our house. Brown the turkey and place in a thermos. My kids are not fans of spices, so we only seasoned with salt and pepper. If your kids are more adventurous, I would suggest using some taco seasoning on the ground turkey. Wrap two flour tortillas in foil. If your child has a bigger appetite, you can certainly add more tortillas and increase the other ingredients. You can use corn tortillas if your prefer. Place the Kraft Four Cheese Mexican blend, chopped tomatoes and shredded lettuce in separate containers with lids. Add a spoon and a refreshing Capri Sun to create the perfect brown bag lunch.

The kids really love this lunch because it's not only yummy to eat, but fun to make. Since I couldn't get any photos of my daughter making her tacos at school, I set up a taco station at home so you can see how even a five year old can do this.

First, she started by scooping some spoonfuls of ground turkey onto her tortilla.

Then she topped with some shredded lettuce,

added a couple of spoonfuls of chopped tomatoes

and finally topped with some shredded Kraft cheese.

And there you have it! A filling, healthy lunch that can take the mundane out of school lunch.

Make Your Own Tacos

Prep time and cook time: 10 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 2 small flour or corn tortillas
• 3 oz ground beef or turkey
• 1/3 cup of shredded lettuce
• 3 tablespoons of chopped tomato
• 3 tablespoons of Kraft Four Cheese Mexican

Directions

1. Brown 3 oz of ground beef or turkey. Drain and place in thermos.
2. Cut up 1/3 cup of lettuce and place in small covered container.
3. Chop a section of tomato into small pieces and add 3 tablespoons to a small container.
4. Add 3 tablespoons of shredded cheese to a small container. 
5. Divide the ingredients between two flour tortillas and enjoy!

Be sure to visit Smart & Final and take advantage of the Kraft foods promo: Buy 4, Save $4 from  February 19 - March 4.  You can find more recipe inspiration in the Smart and Final Social Circular

Thanks to #CollectiveBias for the opportunity to create a fun lunch for my kids.

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