Lunch ideas please

[MyBlueLobsters]

I am looking for some lunch ideas. I am trying to get away from 'convienence' food, both for health issues and for budget reasons. I am looking for some suggestions for easy, tasty, healthy and cheap lunches.....wanna share??

 

:lurk5:

[kewb]

Lunch is pretty casual around here. Sandwiches, eggs, leftovers, salad, soup. I suppose I am a bit of a forager for lunch. What kind of foods do you like?

[Remudamom]

Hmm, next week I'll be making a lot of casseroles- tuna/noodle/cheese, tator tots/hamburger. Sour cream chicken is cheap and easy.

 

Soups are always cheap and good. Potato, chili, veggie soup, and you can put it in the crock pot and walk away. Just come down here and I'll feed you!

[NevadaRabbit]

I like to keep romaine heads, celery, green onion, etc on hand - spend some time one day chopping up a bunch of it, store it in baggies, then it's easy to throw together a quick, healthy salad. Change it up by adding chopped leftover chicken or half an avocado or diced tomato chunks.

 

Our other standby is wraps. You can put just about anything in a tortilla and call it lunch!

[laylamcb]

Big wrap fan here, too. Everyone generally has cut fruit in yogurt. For adults (me and DH, when he is home), I make a sandwich in a wrap with Laughing Cow Light cheese, hummus, and tabouleh (and DH generally adds the meat of his choice). My kids are young, so they still eat "cold cuts": hunk of cheddar cheese, a slice of turkey (ds only; dd doesn't like meat), hard-boiled eggs, raw veggies with a dip of some kind.

 

We also LOVE soup for lunch. Problem is that I prefer lentil or minestrone or some other bean or veggie soup or even chili, and the rest of the crew prefers a cream-based soup.

[kristavws]

We generally have leftovers from dinner the night before. I always cook healthy dinners, which makes lunch healthy as well ;). I usually make a big pot of soup at least one night a week for dinner - it will usually last for a couple of lunches as well. If there are no leftovers to be had, we will often have cottage cheese and fruit, yogurt with fruit and granola, or something like tuna salad sandwiches.

 

Krista

[Dawn in OH]

Our lunches are generally snack plates. The kids and I usually have some combination of things like a wedge of homemade bread with some cubed cheese, black olives, carrot or celery sticks, grape tomatoes, grapes, sliced apples or pears, a handful of nuts, hard boiled eggs, tuna or chicken salad or a bit of lunch meat. I generally put a tray on the table and everyone helps themselves, the only rule is they must eat a bit from each food group.

 

I found out a long time ago that this was the best way to ensure that the kids were getting a healthy lunch covering all the food groups without having to stress out about getting them to eat the healthy things.

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

Other than the usual, English muffin pizzas and mini sandwiches on crackers are a fave here. I also have been known to make big batches of homemade "spaghetti-o's" and freeze them in portion sizes. All you have to do is microwave them and it is really worth the prep work.

[magistramom]

This is a trial for me too...

 

You can make try to add some interest and excitement now an then to standard deli fare (cheese and meats) and produce fare (veggies and fruits) fun with a few condiments (think teriaki sauce, sweet and sour, mayo, salad dressings) extras around:

 

Our all time favorite lunch is nachos.

 

Having tortillas around makes it easy to do tons of different kinds of wraps. More mature eaters will appreciate grilled then frozen veggies (onions, zucchini and peppers) to add with left over meats.

 

Muffins for mini-pizzas.

 

Toothpicks.

 

Theme plates:

eat like a monkey = bananas, grapes, melons, nuts

eat like a tiger = meats

eat like a kitten = soups

 

Make your own lunchables.

 

Premade meatballs and lil's smokies can be heated with jarred marinara, grape jelly and chili sauce, teriaki sauce, etc. and put on buns.

 

Brown up hamburger and package it in 1/2 lb bags. You can quickly add your own fixin's or prepackaged seasonings for tacos, spaghetti, sloppy joes, Maid Rite style burgers, etc.

 

Hope this inspires. It's been a reminder to myself!

[Doran]

Before they started "conventional school", our lunches had become pretty much fend for yourself. But, I realize that's not what you're looking for, so I'll list out some of the fare we have on hand from which to choose.

 

Tortillas (corn or flour)

Bread (usually something crusty vs. soft sandwich types)

Crackers

Rice cakes

Nuts

Cheese

Tuna

Pasta

Jarred sauce

Hot dogs (Applegate all beef)

Fresh fruit and vegetables

Sandwich meat (again, usually Applegate -- spendy but the only kind I'm willing to have around)

Thai Kitchen Rice Noodle instant soups

Peanut Butter & Jelly

Eggs (egg salad is something we enjoy)

Fish sticks (occasionally)

 

I also make beans, chili, soups, and stews in the crock pot which we enjoy for lunch sometimes.

 

Sadly, the older my kids have become, the harder it is for me to actually have any left overs from dinner. I used to count on those as lunch options, but anymore, we may have just enough for dh to take to work with him and that's it! I miss those leftovers! :)