I need lunch ideas...

[MrsMe]

DD is driving me crazy with food. She eats all the time. She'll be 10 next month. I'm ready to lock the pantry. She wants junk. Then it's "if I eat an apple, can I have a (insert any junk here)". I'm so sick of this battle.

 

We only have one kid. I don't know what to make. We live in the boonies, so it's not like we can always grab fresh stuff daily. I just need some healthy ideas that won't rot in my fridge because we have a small family. I'm just done listing ideas and going to just say, "Here's lunch. Take it or leave it." But I'm not going through a summer of this. I just need some ideas.

 

Thanks.

[ProudGrandma]

some lunch things my kids love are wraps of all sorts...or quesidillas (ham and cheese, pizza fillings, taco fillings, turkey and cheese...).

 

but if it were me, the first thing I would do is get rid of all of the kind of foods you don't want her to eat (the junk as you called it)...then the only options would be "the good stuff"...yes, she will fuss, she will crab, she will try everything in her power to get what she wants...BUT you MUST be strong...you are RIGHT...believe me...I have been down this road before (but I have 3 kids crabbing at me)....I always have fruits and veggies available (no, I don't and can't buy fresh daily...but stuff does keep for a while in the fridge)...they love to dip their fruits and veggies...so I have ranch or peanut butter available too...

 

One of the problems too is that junk doesn't fill you up for very long, so that is why she is hungry all of the time...crackers and cheese would be a better options...especially if you can slip in ham or summer sausage with it.

 

Did that help at all?? I hope so. Good luck!

[NanceXToo]

My kids like when I put out stuff for tacos and they can make their own, ham and cheese melts/grilled cheese, egg salad, tuna sandwiches, putting toppings on pizza bagels/pizza muffins, good old PB&J, pierogies, fish sticks/chicken nuggets. Sometimes they like having what amounts to a snack tray- when I give them plates full of different cheeses, cold cuts, fruits, crackers and stuff like that. They like soup, sometimes they like just yogurt and fruit or some such. Sometimes we eat leftovers from whatever was for dinner the night before.

[PineFarmMom]

I used to feel the way you do. I realized the other day that we have moved completely away from that and I don't really know when it happened. We aren't health nuts, but we do eat much better than we used to. I just do NOT keep chips, soft drinks, cookies, crackers, etc. in the house. We had a party here last week and we have candy, chips, etc. still in the house and it makes me want to scream because they do know it's there and do choose it if I have it, but I just don't keep it anymore!! A normal food day now would be:

 

Breakfast: yogurt/fruit granola or bagel & cream cheese or maybe oatmeal topped with granola and a fruit

 

Lunch: Homemade pizza with veggies & cheese for toppings (spinach, tomatoes, jalapenos) or BLTs on homemade bread or fish sticks, veggies & hummus

 

Snacks: popcorn, smoothies, veggies & hummus, cereal, fruit, left-over bagels

 

I would love more lunch ideas, though. I'm trying to create a 2-week breakfast/lunch/snack menu that I can have to make things easier.

[LibraryLover]

Every family is different, so I will share what we do.

 

I only buy what I can stand to see them eat. This is not to say that they don't eat other kinds of food at friends' homes, parties etc. Our hsing group is very health conscious, in general, but there are brownies sometimes etc. My kids also bake. I don't care. Once a week our hsing playgroup goes to a local ice cream place for small ice cream cones.

 

At home I don't even think about what they might be making for a mid morning snack or for their lunches. They are old enough to prepare their own lunch, to get their own snack. (My kids have been able to do this without assistance since around age 8 or so). If someone wants an avocado sandwich, they can make an avocado sandwich, if someone wants leftover soup, they can have soup. We'll sit down to eat together, but I don't have any cares about what they are eating. Sometimes it's all the same thing, sometimes it's not. There is nothing to ask about/argue about. You can eat what you want. You want 3 apples. Have 3 apples. You want nut butter and jelly, have nut butter and jelly. You want a piece of the banana bread you made, eat it.

 

My 11 yr old had yogurt for breakfast along with some chicken soup. We haven't had lunch yet. My teens had chicken soup for breakfast.

 

I make one dinner in the eveing and we all eat the same thing. Afternoon snack is also whatever they want. I don't have anything in the house that I would need to police. I do sometimes say 'That block of cheese in the fridge is for baked mac & cheese, not snacks". They get that.

 

 

Our kitchen is the main livng area-- our dinning area is attached...it's one large room. We are in there a lot and I don't close down the kitchen or think about what they might be wanting for a snack.

 

This has always worked for us. I don't know that it can work for others.

Edited May 18, 2010 by LibraryLover

[mysticamethyst]

This is a tough battle. I have tried many things with my youngest she is a foodaholic. Once when she was 5 she took her brothers box of baseball candy that he had to sell and ate the entire box; she got such a tummy ache. I have tried many things just short of the locks on doors. What we are doing now, if she wants a candy she has to walk a lap around the block. I would also suggest that you don't have any snacks in the house that she just can't go grab. I like saltines, cheese cube, carrots, cucumber slices, peanutbutter spoons/bread, jelly bread, raisins, dried fruit popcorn. Not all snacks have to be fresh fruit, the dehydrated fruits are tasty too. I have found that the Tupperware Fridgesmarts do make my fresh foods last a bit longer than just fridge. Good Luck

 

Sorry forgot to add the lunch ideas. Some of my favorites are grilled cheese, tuna salad stuffed in a cherry tomatoes(total finger food), wraps are a new thing for us but kids really enjoy them. BLT's are good MIY(make it yourself) I keep cooked bacon in fridge. Egg salad is another one that can be made ahead and she can later put on bread or in wrap. I also like to keep some kind of muffins around for a quick snack, you can get the mini muffins so she can have 3 and it seems like more.

Edited May 18, 2010 by mysticamethyst
Forgot to add lunch ideas.

[Orthodox6]

I'm glad not to be the first "Mean Mom" to reply in this vein ! As the mantram for dieters states, "If it is not in the house to begin with, one cannot eat it."

 

This, too, was mentioned (implied) -- the "crash" from stoking on highly refined carbohydrates (the cracker/cookie/candy type) triggers a wicked cycle of craving more of the same because hunger never was satisfied in the first place. The right kind of carbs prevents this from happening.

 

Your dd may well be in a growth spurt, and truly needing a lot of carefully-chosen foods.