EmilyGF Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I need to get lunch under control! It needs to keep us satisfied until dinner with only one snack. I hate PBJs, but am willing to eat them once a week. I felt terrible yesterday until I ate a satisfying dinner and then reflected on how icky my lunch had been - bagel, some yogurt, half an apple, and a heaping spoonful of peanut butter. Of course I wasn't nourished! Any lunch ideas that don't take forever? Ideally I'd stock up once a week on the ingredients. Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I don't think your lunch was bad at all. You had a carb, a filling protein/fat, some fruit, dairy....?? Lots of folks eat leftovers for lunch. Would it work for you to make extra at dinners and reserve, maybe changed up a bit? I'm thinking of things like make a whole chicken, then serve chicken tacos for lunch, or soup with a sandwich, or that sort of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I make soup once or twice a week: lentil and vegetable is very satisfying, for example, and keeps me full for a long time. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 I don't think your lunch was bad at all. You had a carb, a filling protein/fat, some fruit, dairy....?? That's what I thought at the time, too, but I felt super-nasty all afternoon and didn't feel good again until eating about 4/5 of a burrito at Chipotle - beans, brown rice, cheese, pork, lettuce, tomatoes. Then I realized something had been funky! Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I often make dinner extra big to serve leftovers the next day. We also love grilled cheese and soup this time of year :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolt. Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I have a subatsntial protein (usually cold sliced meat), 1 or 2 veggies, 1 or 2 fruit, and a grain/starch which I try to keep minimal (for myself, my body type does best this way) on more days than not, with effort towards whole grains. Plus any "helper foods" (dips, spreads, etc) and a small treat. This leaves me ready for a substantial snack in the mid afternoon (pickles/veggie, cheese or almonds, fruit/dry fruit, grain/starch). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 We do a lot of leftovers for lunch. I will often make extra rice at dinner time and use it for fried rice with egg and veggies the next day. Leftover chicken is used for chicken salad with apples and celery. Sometimes we will have lunch meat (lean ham or turkey) and cheese sandwiches on whole wheat with tomato and baby spinach leaves. Instead of the meat and cheese we also do tuna salad or egg salad. I will also make bean burritoes, salad wraps, and quesadillas for the kids. For myself I will make a layered bean dip with refried beans, tomatoes, cheese, olives, greens and plain yogurt on top instead of sour cream. I usually eat it with Triscuits. As far as your lunch, a whole bagel would be too much bread for me. Was the yogurt the kind with fruit? They have a lot of sugar in them. You might have felt better with only half the bagel and some cheese or an egg on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Mostly, I just make extra for supper every night and then we eat the leftovers for lunch. Other times I make a huge pot of soup (3-4 gallons) on Sunday or Monday and we eat soup for lunches every day. I don't have the energy to make lunch and supper every day so lunch has to be something of minimal effort and no one here likes sandwiches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
applethyme Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 We have leftovers often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 We almost always eat leftovers for lunch---my mom called them "planned-overs" :D In warmer weather I eat a lot of salads with leftover grilled protein-of-the-day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 If we are home, we eat our cooked warm main meal at mid day. Dinner is sandwiches or leftovers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashfern Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 DH works from home & doesn't like cold sandwiches. I can get away with sandwiches 1-2 times a week. The days that we have late afternoon/early evening plans we have our largest meal at lunch. Other times we have soup, burritos (make ahead & freeze), chicken or fish sandwiches, pasta, and leftovers. Most of the meals that I make take 30 min or less. I also have taught the older two how to make most of the dinners that we eat so they can do the prep as long as I have the ingredients available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 We do leftovers too. I do my main cooking for dinners and only rarely put much effort into lunch. It's just my son and me for lunch most days, so I let him have whatever he wants that's quick or already cooked. I have a higher tolerance for leftovers than the rest of my family, so I sometimes package and freeze individual portions for my lunch. I have a stash of everything burritos in my freezer now that I made from taco night leftovers. I also have lunch-sized portions of chili in the freezer. I'll probably do salad-bar prep today so I'll have salad stuff ready to go for the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Soups, salads or leftovers for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Today for all of us it's black beans (1 can feeds three kids and myself), three hass avocados with lemon and salt, cheese quesadillas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 These are some great ideas. I went to start lentil soup for lunch, couldn't find lentils, made pea soup instead, and realized I need a quick dinner tonight so I'm no better off than before. Maybe I'll make quesadillas with two cans of beans or sardine sandwiches. I think I skimped on yogurt yesterday (definitely less than half a cup) and I just dipped the apples in PB, so It can't have been much protein. Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 You could try eatting the biggest, hottest meal of the day for lunch and letting something lighter be dinner. It could just be you have something off in your diet. What did you eat for breakfast? Can you recall the last 10-15 meals you had OP? It could be that you needed some fiber supplement. (Sometimes I need to eat/drink a little more to move things along.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 If we are home, we eat our cooked warm main meal at mid day. Dinner is sandwiches or leftovers. This is what we do too. Ds and I are morning people, neither one of us likes heavy meals at night. We eat a large breakfast and lunch. Dh works long hours, if he happens to get home early enough to eat something, he just eats leftovers from our lunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bensonduck Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 We eat a lot of reheated leftovers, whole wheat bread with peanut butter, fruit, veggie sticks, hummus and pita bread, stuff like that. I have one child that does not eat very much at all and is very picky. For her, she might eat 5 grapes and a slice of bread. :confused1: Another one of mine is a human vaccuum cleaner and eats whatever is put in front of him, then starts scavenging off everyone else's plates and checking the pantry to see what else is available. (And no, he is not a teenage boy, he is a tiny 2 year old - but I fear for my food budget in the teenage years with this one!) And I'm pregnant and nothing sounds good. I'm eating blueberries right now. :closedeyes: So, basically, we end up eating 3 different things for lunch a lot right now. Picky bird food, hungry baboon food, and pregnant person food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdrinca Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 We've been eating a lot of quiche for lunch lately. It's super easy, especially if you do a crustless quiche. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 We mostly eat leftovers. Occasionally grilled cheese sandwiches or some other quick-fix meal. But I just saw this blog post today that had some great lunch ideas -- http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/10-quick-and-healthy-lunches/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior! Academy Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Crockpot spaghetti, tacos, hummus and pita with vegetable sticks, soup, a big salad with lots of added protein. Lighter lunches usually don't hold us over, so if we eat something light I make sure to add extra protein like a boiled egg or cheese stick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tohru Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 :bigear: The young ones eat a light snack-style breakfast at 7:30, then everyone has a full 2nd breakfast around 10:30 or 11, a snack about 2:00 or so, dinner around 5:00-5:30. I'd love to switch it up and actually have lunch at lunchtime. So for "lunch", we eat a typical breakfast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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