quick & easy non-sandwich lunches

[caedmyn]

Feeding kids is the bane of my existence.  It is SO hard to constantly come up with wheat-free, healthy, and filling meals.  They all eat a ton.   I need some suggestions for quick and easy lunches that are not sandwiches.  

[HomeAgain]

Ds's usual lunches this time of year are something like this:

Grilled chicken, some sort of rice, greek yogurt with honey and a piece of fruit.  The chicken is cold, I reheat the rice in the microwave, and put a large spoon of yogurt in a bowl.

Otherwise, he eats leftovers/frozen foods: tamales, chili, tacos...things that stretch for a few days.

[Clemsondana]

I cook for leftovers - casseroles, chili, taco filling (meat or refried beans - you could use corn chips or corn tortillas instead of wheat), pasta sauce, etc heat quickly.  If I soak the beans overnight, I can instapot refried beans in 15 minutes or so.  Stir fry is very popular-  cook steak or chicken in a skillet, toss in a bag of chopped broccoli, onion, and some shredded carrots (or a bag of precut stirfry veggies), cook a bit, add some sauce, and put over rice (made ahead or fresh in the instapot).  Egg scrambles or frittata is also popular - I cook lots of bacon or sausage at once to have ready for meals, or use black beans, along with peppers, onions, etc.  I sometimes bake a lot of potatoes, cut into halves, scoop, and mix the potato with butter, sour cream, chives, etc and restuff to have twice-baked potato halves to freeze that just need to be popped in the oven.  My kids are fine with something simple like BBQ chicken, potato, and green beans in a pot, so the chicken and potato go in the oven at the same time.  I keep boxed beans and rice mix in the pantry as an emergency all in one meal.  We keep frozen fruit on hand for smoothies or to use in parfaits with yogurt.  

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

This month's GF lunches have included:

Leftover black beans/corn/rice/fixings eaten with corn chips

Leftover lentil curry on rice or polenta

GF chicken nuggets

Tuna salad on anything, usually GF toast or crackers

Breakfast burritos on GF tortillas

Leftover tacos, gf pizza, potato gratin, cottage pie

Basically, I aim for leftovers.  If there isn't enough, I stretch it with cold cut meats and cheese.  No matter what, we add veggie sticks with vairous high calorie dips (herbed cheese spreads, hummus, French onion dip, ranch...) and cut up fruit.  

I haven't found a way to make lunch quite as easy as I'd like, but feeding them a BIG breakfast really helps make lunch less of a crazed shark feeding frenzy type ordeal.  So my kids have eggs pretty much every single morning.  This week, they've been having huevos rancheros, so an egg over a plate of Mexican black beans.  That has REALLY kept them full!  

[Chris in VA]

I've been so into avocados lately. I cut in half, scoop, and sprinkle with lemon juice, garlic powder and salt, then mash with a fork. I've been lifting the top slice of bread from a toasted turkey and cheese and spreading almost the whole avo right onto the sammie while it is still in the pan. Keeps me full for 6 hours, no lie. 

If you don't want sammies, just try adding a side of avo to anything else. Wonderful to keep hunger at bay. 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Chris in VA

[Lori D.]

Mid morning snacks that include a protein really helped lunch not be SUCH an emergency feeding frenzy, and helped with homeschool brain concentration/focus all morning. We did things like trail mix with nuts; peanut butter on something (celery; crackers; banana slices; etc..); little cup of peanuts or pecans or almonds and raisins; cheese cubes that they skewered with toothpicks; yogurt & fruit.

Below are some lunch ideas -- getting kids involved in the making will help reduce stress on you. BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

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Roll-ups -- have kids take a cheese stick and roll it up in a slice of lunch meat, then roll both up in a lettuce or spinach leaf (optional: a squeeze of flavored mustard down the cheese stick before rolling up)

Hummus and veggie sticks -- purchased tubs of hummus, and have kids make an assembly line, each cutting up a bunch of one type of veggie -- enough to last several days; store each in a baggie in the fridge, and kids can choose their own assortment

Boiled eggs -- at breakfast, bring enough water to cover a dozen eggs to boil then turn off heat; put eggs in hot water, cover with lid, and let sit till lunch; drain and let everyone peel their own egg or two for lunch

Baked Potato Bar -- mid morning, take 5 minutes to prep potatoes and put them in the oven to bake; pull out at lunch, and have everyone chop/grate/prepare toppings -- anything from just salt and butter, to grated cheese, to onion, tomato, broccoli florets, avocado, to left over taco meat and toppings to make "spud-tacos"

Zoodles and Sauce -- have kids make zucchini noodles with a "zoodler"; cook briefly; top with a heated-up jar of sauce that works for your family; optional: cook frozen meatballs that are friendly to your family's dietary needs and add to the noodles and sauce

Mini Dogs in Blankets -- wrap a little purchased gluten free pizza dough around a purchased Paleo mini-hotdog, bake, serve; kids can do the wrapping

Bunny Salad -- put out ingredients (canned pear halves, cottage cheese, almonds, raisins, lettuce, carrot) and let kids make their own

Our Paleo Life: Kids Paleo Lunches -- in addition to her lunch food ideas, her idea of the small-size divided plastic storage containers as a make-your-own Bento box might make it more fun as your kids transition into making their own lunches

Edited March 26, 2019 by Lori D.

[Emba]

We eat salads pretty often with leftover chopped or shredded chicken, grated cheese, chopped ham etc. If you have the components all ready it’s fast.

[medawyn]

I’ve been working on moving the lunch prep to another time (weekend, while I’m making dinner, etc).  Once a week I make tuna salad the night before, which I serve with cut up veggies, crackers, and a hard boiled egg.  I also try to keep “salad bar” fixings for me, so one day a week the kids get deconstructed salad: dressing for dipping, some kind of meat, cubed cheese or halved eggs, avocado or nuts, plus roasted + raw veggies.  This sounds like a lot of work, but I just roast a huge bunch of veggies, prep a protein and a dressing on Sunday for me for the week.  Lunch is just assembly.  

I plan leftovers a few days a week; I’ll triple batch chili or stew and freeze it to reheat a few weeks later.  I also make big batches of meatballs in different flavors and serve with dipping sauce and fruit/veggies.

This is all hit and miss with my kids eating it, but I try to serve at least two protein options + fat at lunch so at least something will stick to them for a few hours.

[Starfish]

We're like most on the thread and plan for leftovers at least a couple times a week.  For winter days, we have some sort of bean soup in the instapot and have veggies on the side. Some days we'll add a green smoothie that everyone gets a glass of.   Other quick things we enjoy are veggie or cheese quesadillas ( maybe these would work with corn tortillas) , frittatas. and sautéed veggies in a rice or cauliflower rice bowl with an egg on top.  We  have a "salad bar" shelf in the fridge so salad is a popular choice too.   We don't eat much meat so the protein in the salads is usually black beans or chickpeas along with nuts for the fats.  I've also done casseroles in the oven when we had four littles at home.  I'd put it in to cook when we had morning snack, and it would be ready by lunchtime.  

Edited March 26, 2019 by Starfish