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Homeschool lunches


SamanthaCarter
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I'm trying to plan out my first week of homeschool to go as smoothly as possible next week and when I was thinking about what to have on hand for lunch, I began to wonder what other homeschool lunches look like. My kiddos are really prone to falling in a rut. Their current "we only want":

 

Macaroni and Cheese

Grilled Cheese

Spaghetti

 

plus fruit

 

:(

 

What do your kiddos eat for schoolday lunch?

 

Edited by SamanthaCarter
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I keep cut up chicken or shredded pork, black beans, and shredded cheese in the fridge for tortilla wraps or nachos. I also keep baby carrots, rice cakes, fresh fruit, sliced cucumbers, lettuce or spinach (the kind that is pre washed and ready to eat), grape tomatoes, cheese sticks, nuts, PB, and smoothie ingredients stocked. If we don't have leftovers from the previous night's dinner, lunch can usually be made quickly with these things. Once every couple weeks, lunch is a hot dog or pizza on our Costco shopping trip.

Edited by TX native
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Whatever they wanted...... there are always sandwich fixings around as well as canned soup, pizza fixings (pita bread, mozzarella, pizza sauce, pepperoni), and usually leftovers. Lunch is whenever it works in your schedule. If we were out and about, we sometimes went out, usually with other homeschoolers. Did that about once a week.

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I use lunch trays during the school year.  It helps me keep the meal more balanced....with what a 6yo would eat willingly.  Today it was cheese, triscuits, cold grilled chicken, and a banana.  Often it's leftovers with a new veggie side, fruit and a dairy(if not included in the main).  Main dishes I know he'll eat:

 

Tortellini w/pesto

Shredded beef tacos

tamales (I cook up huge batches, throw them in the freezer, and reheat as needed)

grilled chicken

thai noodles w/peanut sauce and a beef kabob

potstickers

beef stew

pork fried rice (I use leftover pork chops)

pita pocket w/chicken and yogurt sauce

burrito

 

 

On the upside most of that travels well so we can pack it in bento boxes when necessary.  I try not to buy special lunch food, so really it's how can I rework last night's dinner?  :lol:

 

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I packed us lunches for the days that stuff takes us out of the house and I found that the kids were way more likely to eat a lunch (vs. endless apples and tortillas) if I "packed" them even when we were home. Only thing I do differently now is drafting them make their own.

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leftovers.  I always cook a big supper so there is enough for lunch the next day.  On the weekend we have dabs and doodles meals where I randomly hand out the bits of leftovers that survived lunches during the week.  But my kids are used to eating whatever I put on the plate and hand to them so we have almost no complaints with this system (and the rare times they complain they still get to eat what is on the plate handed to them)

Edited by cjzimmer1
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I choose the lunch menu, most of the time. Or I give them a couple of choices. Free for alls take too much time at my house. Aside from leftovers and sandwiches, we have pre made quesadillas of broccoli, cheese, and chicken for one and black beans and chicken for the other, pre made spinach lasagna, pre made taquitos, sometimes pre made enchiladas, of a pot of dried beans.

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Mine usually get stuck in a rut too. Mostly because it needs to be quick to prepare, and they like the same old stuff. :) One DS eats a pb&j daily. The other two prefer turkey, pepperoni, cheese, and crackers. We'll usually have some fruit and raw veggies.

I'll be following this thread for inspiration though!

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Mostly leftovers.  I try to  cook extra for supper with plans of using for lunch.

 

If no leftovers it is

Sandwiches - usually grilled cheese or pb&j

Ramen noodles -- I know not good but it is what it is

Pancakes

Anything we can find

 

Sometimes I will try a new easy recipe that I know dh won't eat.  Dc aren't quiet as picky.

 

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Leftovers here. I love to cook and seriously make a feast every night. My kids have never been picky; they usually love whatever I put on the table. The homeschoolers get their own food during lunch. I do make the public schooler her lunch, though. I am growing very tired of that!

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Recent lunches at our house:

 

pizza

fish sandwiches

taquitos

soup (chicken noodle, tomato) and sandwiches (ham, bologna, whatever)

pancakes with bacon

scrambled eggs with bacon

sausage biscuits

spaghetti-os

chicken nuggets

chicken salad

 

We usually have canned or fresh fruit with lunch.  Sides are potato chips, goldfish, pretzels, salad.

 

 

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Leftovers or:

Burritos

Hummus sandwiches with cucumber and lettuce

Veggies

Fruit

Veggie burger

Chili

Soup

Mini veggie pizzas

Potato wedges

Bean and rice bowls

Tostadas, quesadillas, tacos

 

My kids are teens bit I still make their lunches. I like doing it and they appreciate it. :)

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We're in a rut, since my children won't eat sandwiches without complaint.  Right now, we're eating a lot of leftovers for lunch, but some days we have:
 

frozen mozzarella sticks + fruit & veggies

hotdog/corndog

soup with crackers (PB or cheese) or a frozen soft pretzel

homemade lunchables (pepperoni, mozzarella, crackers)

grilled cheese or quesadilla 

noodles & parmesan 

Ramen

Greek plate:  pita/hummus, olives, feta, veggies

Party food (like sausage balls or pigs in a blanket or party meatballs)

ham & cream cheese rolled up in a tortilla, sometimes with a dill pickle

peanut butter/flax meal "energy" balls

yogurt parfaits

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On karate days, they eat a microwave meal, like a Hungry Man meal.

Other days they alternate: homemade chicken tenders OR leftovers OR sauted shrimp

They usually round out the meal with a 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt and that V8 juice with a full serving of fruit and veggies in it. (They don't like fruit or veggies.)

 

The boys can make those things themselves. I mostly eat leftovers or a fresh salad. I'm thinking I need to pre-cut the salad stuff on the weekends and store it all in different containers (if you mix salad stuff it gets soggy and bad). It takes too long to chop at lunchtime.

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I'm trying to plan out my first week of homeschool to go as smoothly as possible next week and when I was thinking about what to have on hand for lunch, I began to wonder what other homeschool lunches look like. My kiddos are really prone to falling in a rut. Their current "we only want":

 

Macaroni and Cheese

Grilled Cheese

Spaghetti

 

plus fruit

 

:(

 

What do your kiddos eat for schoolday lunch?

 

I say count your blessings, lol.  A lunch rut makes your life easier. You know what to buy and what they will eat. I think we rotate through three or four things and call it good. I always serve a fruit and a veg along side some entree and it's done. And they can get it themselves.

 

I like to put a little effort into dinner, so I keep breakfast and lunches very simple. What some call a rut, we call a groove.

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I made a commitment to make more hot lunches more than a year ago. I tend to pep up quickie foods a lot during lunch, but I also make mostly from scratch sometimes. Some typical meals here...

 

spaghetti and frozen meatballs

homemade fried rice (I keep leftover bits of ham in the freezer cut up for this)

stir fry

frozen potstickers and green beans

hamburgers or turkey burgers

homemade soup or chili reheated from the freezer with cornbread or sandwiches

pizza and salad - sometimes frozen from the store, sometimes English muffin "pizzas" or the like

sausage and eggs and fruit (aka. breakfast for lunch - can also be eggs and homemade hash browns)

sausage and veggies sauteed together - I call this "American stir fry" sometimes

bean quesadillas with pico and lettuce

nachos - I put black beans, cheese, onions, tomatoes on tortilla chips on foil in the broiler and serve with a little salad

chicken and rice and veggies

 

 

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We eat a regular warm cooked meal, whatever you'd eat for dinner. Lunch is our main meal of the day. 

Nothing elaborate, everything that takes no more than 30 minutes from prep to table.

 

Pasta or rice with

meat sauce

salmon in cream sauce

chicken

tomato sauce 

stir fried beef

 

plus veggies stir fry or salad

 

Or crepes.

Or stew in winter.

Edited by regentrude
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