i need LUNCH IDEAS.

[made4more]

so far all we make is grilled c heese, beanutbutter and jelly, tuna salad sandwiches and lunchmeat sandwiches.. it's getting REEEEALLY old. what do you do?

[LoveIsGentle]

Fajitas, quesadillas, black bean dip with tortillas or tortilla chips, tacos, soups, spaghetti (I freeze leftover soups and spaghetti from dinners and thaw them for lunches), salads with different things added into them (almond chicken salad, caesar salad, pasta salads).

Lunch ideas do get old quickly, though!

[made4more]

you cook a lot for lunch! :clap I hate cooking lunch. Even grilled cheese is pushin it. :giggle those salads sound good though.







Fajitas, quesadillas, black bean dip with tortillas or tortilla chips, tacos, soups, spaghetti (I freeze leftover soups and spaghetti from dinners and thaw them for lunches), salads with different things added into them (almond chicken salad, caesar salad, pasta salads).

Lunch ideas do get old quickly, though!
:clap :yes

[LoveIsGentle]

:giggle Not really. I do things ahead -- when I cook chicken for dinner, I throw in an extra chicken breast, cut it into strips, and freeze it. My tacos involve mixing meat, taco seasoning, and water and stirring it around a little bit until it's cooked. :shifty Then I have a few days of leftovers after that. A lot of quesadillas are just heated in the microwave or I just toss some black beans and cheese onto tortillas and let the tortillas get crispy in the oven. If I planned to go all out and cook a lot for lunch, it'd never happen, because I lose all motivation around noon.

Oh, my standby, although it's not exactly healthy...I put pepperoni, salsa (yes, it sounds weird), and cheese on a tortilla, then microwave it until the cheese melts and roll it up. I saw someone suggest it once, and it's surprisingly good.

[RealLifeMama]

chicken salad (canned chicken instead of tuna)
hummus w/ pepper strips and pita
tortilla pizzas or english muffin pizzas
mac and cheese
instead of a lunch meat sandwich, you can serve it rolled up around a cut raw veggies and serve with cheese and crackers
my kids favorite lunch used to be when I would open a can of beans, a can of corn, and a can of peaches and serve them on their little divided plates.

[WI Mama05]

WE like to heat refried beans and cheese on tortillas

or heat some refried beans with mild salsa and eat them with chips.

[illinoismommy]

I'll add homemade pizza

Actually my preferred method is to cook for lunch, then eat leftovers for dinner

[Marsha]

that's a lot more than my kids will eat. OUrs is usually hot dogs or chicken nuggets and if I can force them, some grapes or carrots. Actually, spekaing of my oldest. The younger will eat grapes, carrots, raisins, boiled eggs or whatever. WE aren't very good at meals, we just eat food mostly. A snack of crackers and peanut butter, followed by chicken nuggets and grapes followed by............you get the picture.

I hate cooking dinner, but dh likes real food and not grazey stuff, so I do.

My kids eat lunchemeat plain, but not with bread or tortillas. We can't do dairy so anything with cheese is out. It gets kind of tough.

Oh, let's not forget the staple, Ramen noodles. Mine also eat raw, crunchy pasta. They like it cooked, but some days prefer it crunchy.

[made4more]

that's a lot more than my kids will eat. OUrs is usually hot dogs or chicken nuggets and if I can force them, some grapes or carrots. Actually, spekaing of my oldest. The younger will eat grapes, carrots, raisins, boiled eggs or whatever. WE aren't very good at meals, we just eat food mostly. A snack of crackers and peanut butter, followed by chicken nuggets and grapes followed by............you get the picture.

I hate cooking dinner, but dh likes real food and not grazey stuff, so I do.

My kids eat lunchemeat plain, but not with bread or tortillas. We can't do dairy so anything with cheese is out. It gets kind of tough.

Oh, let's not forget the staple, Ramen noodles. Mine also eat raw, crunchy pasta. They like it cooked, but some days prefer it crunchy.
I bet they are very thirsty. :O :shifty
I'm trying to steer away from salty, packaged, unhealthy stuff ;) sometimes my kids won't eat something, so I just let them get hungry enough that they have to eat it later. They usually end up appreciating the natural goodness of veggies, and if not oh well. :shrug It's good for them.

[Marsha]

My oldest has huge meltdowns if she doesn't eat. Since she has huge meltdowns about many other things as well, I try to eliminate the few I can.

She does have an extremely limited repertoire of foods. She will try a bite or two of other stuff, but at some point I just need her to eat.

Sorry for interjecting into a lunch thread though. I realize my comment was off topic.

[mom2chrisnluke]

Our favortie lunch is a tray lunch. I bought two plastic divided trays from Target and I put whole wheat crackers, blue tortilla chips, cut up veggies, fruit, cheese, lunch meat, some dips! They LOVE to do this, it take a few minutes to make, is very healthy and fun for the kids! They each get a plate and get to serve themselves the things they want.
This is the back up plan whenever I don't feel like cooking or making lunch!

[blessedwithboys]

We do tray lunch too- cut up veggies, fruit, crackers or toast, and hardboiled eggs. :yes Cheap (because I can use bits and pieces of leftovers) and easy.

[made4more]

marsha- I didn't mean to offend. :( I do understand wanting them to just settle down and shhh. :)

I am loving the tray ideas! :rockon

[Marsha]

marsha- I didn't mean to offend. :( I do understand wanting them to just settle down and shhh. :)

I am loving the tray ideas! :rockon


Me, too. Though in effect, that's what I'm donig, just spread out: crackers, then lunchmeat, then grapes, etc.

[mandieolivia]

you can really get creative with lunch without it being a huge headache (cause that's what's we want, right? less stress!)

quesadillas ( you can do just bean, bean and cheese, cheese with pizza sauce and pepperoni, etc.)

cheese and crackers, grapes, deli meat

use cookie cutters to make fun shapes out of your same old boring pb &j and grilled cheese sandwiches.

use variety. like a small amount of four or five choices of something (friut, cheese and crackers, celery and pb, yogurt, raisins, etc.)

pb and banana sandwiches with a drizzle of honey

i also try to make extra of dinners thatthe kids really like and have it for lunch the next day.

i'll post more ideas later...

[made4more]

:popcorn :rockon
you can really get creative with lunch without it being a huge headache (cause that's what's we want, right? less stress!)

quesadillas ( you can do just bean, bean and cheese, cheese with pizza sauce and pepperoni, etc.)

cheese and crackers, grapes, deli meat

use cookie cutters to make fun shapes out of your same old boring pb &j and grilled cheese sandwiches.

use variety. like a small amount of four or five choices of something (friut, cheese and crackers, celery and pb, yogurt, raisins, etc.)

pb and banana sandwiches with a drizzle of honey

i also try to make extra of dinners thatthe kids really like and have it for lunch the next day.

i'll post more ideas later...

[illinoismommy]

yes when I say what "we" do you can basically assume its the whole family except david :rolleyes he doesn't eat food, it feels like.

Cheese and crackers and peanut butter and crackers are popular with David..... Maya looooooves cheese... she tries to constipate herself :giggle

[made4more]

lol that's funny. Julia looooves cheese too.


yes when I say what "we" do you can basically assume its the whole family except david :rolleyes he doesn't eat food, it feels like.

Cheese and crackers and peanut butter and crackers are popular with David..... Maya looooooves cheese... she tries to constipate herself :giggle

[Marielle]

by far MY favorite is leftovers from dinner because I'm not a sandwich person and I get a hot meal by just nuking the leftovers. I plan extras often.

But when we don't have leftovers I serve a mishmash of stuff.

-hummus with pretzel sticks and a piece of fruit. They love hummus, even more if it's homemade.

-boiled eggs cut into wedges served with crackers and some hunks of good cheese. I actually enjoy this one as simple as it sounds.

-quesadillas made simply from cheddar cheese maybe a bit of salsa (I'll add hot sauce to mine) and then the wedges dipped into sour cream.

-I'll take a simple ham & cheese sandwich and toast it open faced before sandwiching. Cut it into triangles.

-I just put up ice cubes of pesto in the freezer. Boil some whole wheat pasta along with frozen veggies (broccoli or peas) then toss it hot & drained with the yummy pesto.

[mamaKristin]

I like quesadillas with cheese and either apple or pear slices, dipped in vanilla yogurt. My kids like it too.

[musicmama]

Sophia's newest word is "hot dog" :rolleyes We buy the Coleman ones at Costco, no nitrites/nitrates, no abx, no hormones. She'll eat a whole one and ask for more (no bun, she's not a bun person). We can't do eggs or dairy so she eats cut up chicken, lunchmeat (we get the hormel natural), hummus (she only uses dipping stuff like carrots to eat the hummus, she licks it off and goes for more :giggle), lots of fruit and veggies. Sometimes she'll eat PB&J but she usually just takes the sandwich apart, eats off the PB&J and tosses the mangly bread.

[Myrtle]

:)

[LadybugSam]

homemade "lunchable" type boxes. Great for when you have other kids over :tu

[Sign Of The Fish Burger]

Well I'm trying to compile lists of possible ideas to help cut down on our eating out habits. So here are some of my favorites.

Chicken Salad
From: Aunt Emily

1 can chicken
Mayo
Green grapes
Granny smith apples
Almond slivers
Celery (if desired)

Mix together, serve on a bed of lettuce with cantaloupe.



Cheese Quesadilla

Flour tortillas
Grated cheese
Chicken (if desired or if there is left over chicken in the fridge)
Salsa
Sour Cream
Veggies of your choice

Take a medium tortilla and place grated cheese on one half of tortilla (imagine a half moon). Include any veggies you desire. Flip over other half of tortilla and grill until cheese is melted.

Serve with salsa and sour cream, as desired.


Tortilla/English Muffin Mini Pizzas

1 medium sized whole wheat tortilla
Pizza Sauce
Fat Free Turkey pepperoni
Skim Milk mozzarella cheese.
Veggies as desired (onion, mushrooms, green peppers)

Use enough pizza sauce to thinly cover tortilla. Add your turkey pep and veggies, cover with cheese. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted and golden.

Serve with cut up veggies and dip.

[made4more]

hehe, is your hubby a bun person? :lol sorry, couldn't help it!


Sophia's newest word is "hot dog" :rolleyes We buy the Coleman ones at Costco, no nitrites/nitrates, no abx, no hormones. She'll eat a whole one and ask for more (no bun, she's not a bun person). We can't do eggs or dairy so she eats cut up chicken, lunchmeat (we get the hormel natural), hummus (she only uses dipping stuff like carrots to eat the hummus, she licks it off and goes for more :giggle), lots of fruit and veggies. Sometimes she'll eat PB&J but she usually just takes the sandwich apart, eats off the PB&J and tosses the mangly bread.

[RealLifeMama]

Homemade Pimento Cheese! I am craving that so badly now. :yum
Good on celery, raw veggies, with crackers, or of course, a good sandwich.

Boil-in-bag rice with some frozen stir fry veggies.

[made4more]

pimento cheese, mmmmm. it's not cheap though is it? :think
Homemade Pimento Cheese! I am craving that so badly now. :yum
Good on celery, raw veggies, with crackers, or of course, a good sandwich.

Boil-in-bag rice with some frozen stir fry veggies.