I’m wondering what others usually do for lunch. By the time lunch time rolls around my kids are usually too hungry for me to have much time to prepare a meal. What quick lunch ideas do you guys do? Do you usually have the same thing most days?
A newbie here (my first post), but for during school we either have sandwiches or leftovers. I personally like a hot lunch and leftovers, but it all depends on what we have in the fridge. Maybe you could make yourself a weekly lunch menu to take the stress off your day/week.
I make a large stockpot of chili, lentil soup, or split peas on most Saturdays to freeze in gallon ziplock portions. We check to see if we have any dinner leftovers, and if not, we put one bag of frozen beans in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. The next morning we heat up in a crockpot for lunch (start crockpot at breakfast). Being both yummy and filling, legumes are hard to beat. I also wash and spin most of our lettuce ahead of time for fast salads. Raw veggies are a hit around here. Hard-boiled eggs are handy too. Since we got our order of 50 pounds of wheatberries and a new grain mill two weeks ago, we have made 22 loaves of bread. I don’t usually buy bread, but our homemade variety is growing into a staple. I have been using the bread as our emergency we-are-hungry-NOW! snack.
Welcome Melissa, hope you really enjoy the forum. We also eat leftovers or soup which I usually have a big pot of for a quick lunch. Even in summer we enjoy soup and crusty bread….Linda
Often we have smoothies and fresh fruit, maybe some veggies with or without dip. Soup. Sandwiches w/homemade bread (we alternate with peanut butter, almond butter, tuna, cheese, etc). Leftovers (although we usually don’t have many of those). Pancake sandwiches (I make extra with breakfast and they eat them cold for lunch or with peanut butter). Homemade chicken or fish nuggets – if I remember to get it in the oven 30 minutes before lunch time. Nuts and dried fruits. Scrambled eggs & toast. Pasta w/butter and parmesan. Rice – either plain, with some eggs, meat and veggies stirred in or as rice pudding (I always cook 2 or 3 times the rice I need so I can use it for lunches over the next few days).
We also do leftovers and soups. When it is hot we have been known to do protein smoothies for lunch as well as breakfast – though not necessarily on the same day. Eggs are also a quick meal that is filling. When I’m on the ball, I boil eggs 2 time/ week so there are eggs for snacks as well as meals and they are so convenient for egg salad if they are already boiled up. I just store them in the frig either in marked cartons. I also have a child who insists that her tuna salad has egg in it, so having them boiled helps tremendously when a tuna salad craving strikes her.
Thanks for the good ideas. I especially like the soups idea and the protien smoothies idea. We always have raw veggies around (that’s all I allow for between meals snacks) I also should mention that we don’t eat wheat. Thanks for the suggestions so far!
To break the monotony of the same ole thing. We do what my friend calls suprise plates! We take a divided plate and put small amounts of foods on it. Such as a handful of raisins, a couple of carrots, a few slices of cucumber, a piece of cheese, and a wholesome cracker or cookie. Sometimes we give a gluten free banana muffin w/ the others. The point is give only a few of each while yet making it wholesome. Some other ideas are almond butter crackers, sunflower seeds, half of a banana, and a yogurt cup! My kids love the variety and I feel good that they are getting some good food!
Of course my kids love the good ole ABJ..that is almond butter and jelly sandwiches! We also do curly pasta or bowties w/ just parmesean cheese. We do scrambled eggs if they didn’t eat them for breakfast. And we do smoothies too! So easy!
can i tell you how much i hate lunch? it’s the only meal that i have picky eaters for. everyone likes/dislikes different things for that meal. plus everyone can’t eat the same stuff. i am doing a no-flour, low starch/grain thing now, plus i am GF and low-dairy. my son is GF/CF and and my one kid hates sandwiches unless there’s potato bread or good crusty rolls, plus she won’t eat lunch meat…only PB on soft bread, tomato sandwiches, or melted cheese. she’s my oldest and can be self sufficient at 13, so i don’t stress over her. if there’s something she likes, she’ll make and eat it. but providing for the other 4 can be tough!
some idea are quick refried beans from canned or previously cooked beans and we make them into quesadillas. sometimes we turn it into a hot beat dip and use baked corn tortillas or tortilla chips to scoop. sometimes, we have burritos. we do all make and manner of sandwiches. sometimes rice pasta. ugh. i hate lunch. i’m out of idea.
Ha ha Amy! I have one picky eater too! Very picky!! But thankfully he eats raw veggies..he doesn’t like cooked! He doesn’t like mixed things either! It is frustrating!!
Another idea…although my kids won’t eat it LOL..are baked potatoes w/ toppings! So many possibilities w/ toppings! Steamed veggies, beef, chicken, cheese, chili, butter, sour cream, salsa, tomato sauce on the veggies..and on and on!! YUM…I am getting hungry just thinking about it! 🙂