Tohru Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 I know I used to feed my kids lunch, but since the baby, I just can't figure out what to feed them anymore. I don't have any problem with dinner. I've got menu plans. It helps with shopping and cooking, but for lunch my mind goes blank. I've never been a lunch eater and coffee is my breakfast, so everyone else has been coasting from their pathetic self-made breakfast, munching on whatever they can find throughout the day, until I cook dinner. It's pretty sad. I don't even know what to buy when I go to the grocery store. Please tell me, what do you normally have for lunch? What's a staple in your pantry for lunch stuff? Leftovers are not an option for us because it never lasts to the next day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicAnn Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 We do a lot of rice and vegetables. 2 cups of rice, bag of stir fry veggies..done. :) Tuna on crackers is also a big one here because Dd can make it herself. I also like bento or snack style lunches- carrots with hummus, apples and pb, trail mix and rolled up turkey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassoonaroo Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 A few years back I got really tired of thinking about lunch. I am happy eating sandwiches every day but that's me. I LIKE sandwiches. My kids don't like them that often. What I did was take our old pocket calendar (the big one you get at Oriental Trading or the school supply store), the one with the clear pockets for each day that you used to teach your littlest to read a calendar. And I got a bunch of cardstock and cut it into several dozen cards that fit in the calendar pockets. Then I had the kids come up with lunch ideas. We didn't have a bunch at first but we've collected quite a few (and we've "retired" some too). They wrote each (approved by me!) lunch idea on a card. If it's a simple recipe, they wrote the recipe on the back (and if the recipe is too long to go on the back, then it is not a simple recipe). They were quite creative (bread waving a French flag to the "French Toast" card). We've got four kids and I assigned a weekday to each of them, Monday through Thursday. On Monday, for example, Mary will prepare the lunch that she chose the week before and she will also choose next Monday's lunch. She will take out the card of the lunch she just made and put the calendar number in it. So, on December 12, she took out the "veggie stew" card, put a "12" card in the pocket in its place and put the "grilled cheese" card in the pocket below it. She'll then make grilled cheese on December 19.0 A few rules: you cannot do the same lunch two weeks in a row and since there is only one card for each meal, we cannot have the same meal within the same week. And, they do need to pick their next week's meal a week in advance so I have time to add things to the grocery list and so that I can consider lunches when planning dinner (if we have spaghetti for lunch, I will not plan lasagna for dinner). To make cooking easier and quicker, I keep cooked shredded chicken breast and cooked ground beef in the freezer, so that's one less step. As we prepare dinners, if something new is deemed yummy, often the kids will ask "can we make a lunch card for it?" If it is easy and not too messy, I usually say yes. Oh, if your kids are drawing blanks, check out some kid cookbooks from the library for easy and new ideas. Some of the meals we have on cards: Grilled cheese Frito pie Burritos Tacos Spaghetti Waffles Pancakes Bagels Sloppy joes Hamburgers Hot dogs Sandwiches (a card for each different type) Salad with meat Shrimp and pasta Hamburger Helper Frozen pizza Chili Homemade pizza (oh, I keep dough in the freezer to thaw overnight) Soup (a card for each kind) Mac and Cheese Quesadillas Tater Tot casserole Chicken breast on a bun (we use a Foreman grill for that) Fish sticks Nachos So, four days a week, the kids handle the planning and preparing. Fridays are co-op days and the kids get to choose between sandwiches, leftovers, etc. for that day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 We just have the same thing every Monday, Tuesday, etc. So... we do: Monday: fruit, cheese, bread or crackers Tuesday: weekend leftovers Wednesday: miso soup w/tofu, yogurt, fruit Thursday: tuna, fruit, bread or crackers Friday: hot dogs I like not having to think too much! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior! Academy Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Monday-spaghetti in the crockpot, parm. cheese, salad Tuesday-tacos, spanish rice Wednesday-White chicken chili topped with cheese, chips Thursday-pbj, hard boiled eggs and vegetable sticks or apples with cheese sticks, some type of dessert like cookies Friday-hummus, pita bread, vegetable sticks. Each of these is either a crockpot meal or a whip up in 5 minutes meal. Easy and enough variety for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 We really like Uncle Bens rice in a bag, that you microwave for 90 seconds. We often have Tuna Sensations Sweet & Spicy tuna with either rice or crackers (we use the brown rice, and triscuts for crackers so we get whole grain). I also like tortilla soup (last week we had Wolfgang Puck because it was on sale) with a big spoon of the rice in the middle served with some chips. That was REALLY yummy and fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 I'll be :bigear: for this thread. I've really been in a rut for lunch for months (dinner too the last few weeks) and I don't even have a baby or anything that could be a real reason. The biggest problem is that unless it's grilled cheese my kids won't touch a sandwich. We also can't do any kind of fish due to allergies. How do you do spaghetti in a crockpot, I can't even get the crockpot lasagna recipes to work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 We have sandwiches and fruit every day. Various nut butters, cream cheese and marmalade, or if I'm feeling all Supermom, maybe a grilled cheese and tomato. This all works out very nicely and everyone is perfectly happy UNLESS DH happens to be home for lunch. He feels that sandwiches are snack food, not 'real food,' and will rummage through the fridge asking piteously, "Is there anything else? Any hot food?" Unfortunately for him, I have unilaterally decided that making a hot lunch just because he happens to be home is Not My Job, so he usually winds up making himself some spaghetti or something. But generally, he is not home for lunch, and we are all content with our sandwiches and fruit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZooRho Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Paula's archives has a list of lots of ideas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tohru Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 Fantastic! Thanks for the suggestions. The menu calendar idea is amazing! I might try that when the girls are older. Right now my son is the only one capable of cooking and he just shares whatever he's found with his sister. I vaguely remember doing the same food every weekday thing. Thanks for sharing those lists. But how do you do lunch in a slow cooker? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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