What's for lunch today?

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We’re in a lunchtime rut right now at our house. Picky eaters combined with a lack of time for cooking and being creative makes for boring lunches, and the kids are getting cranky. The other day DS said to me dejectedly after lunch, “Mommy, I sad.” “Why are you sad?” I ask. He hangs his head: “Why you not make me yummy lunch?” Wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry! (I had served turkey and melted cheese on whole wheat pitas.)

Anyhow, here’s what we had yesterday and what we’ll probably have again today (kids are 2 and 4):

Peanuts, strawberries, blueberries, half a banana, yogurt, dried plums, turkey. And 5 m&ms for good behavior. 😃 Sometimes we do pita pizzas or PB&J, but we’re all tired of those, and chicken nuggets to.

Maybe I can be inspired by you guys. What are you having?
 
I have a very inspiring Special K “Chocolatey Chip” meal bar for lunch because campus food is expensive.
 
Grilled cheese on whole wheat bread and a cup of tomato soup.

Tortilla roll ups (mince that turkey up and mix with salsa and cream cheese to spread on the tortilla).

Pot pies (take your left over veg from suppers and mix with some left over meat. Make a quick sauce - white or brown - and top with frozen biscuit, bake serve).

Pasta salad - tri color pasta with veggies, shreadded cheese, some of that turkey with a bit of italian or ranch dressing.

Make that fruit into a smoothie and serve with some sort of sammie.
 
I don’t know if you ever serve hot dogs, but if you do try this…

slice it lengthwise about 2/3 the length…then do a quarter turn and do it again… then boil the hot dog. The “legs” curl up and you have a 4 legged octopus… if you are really good you will put a smiley face on it with ketchup… serve with ants on a log (celery stuffed with pb and raisins on top) we called this octopus day…

another favorite was peaches and cream… a scoop of vanilla ice cream with sliced peaches on top. You can use any fruit.

pancakes for lunch… kids think this is great.

make a dip of sour cream and brown sugar… serve sliced apples, bananas, strawberries with it and let them “dunk” for themselves. it is particularly good with seedless grapes.

I did alot of dipping sauces because kids love them… bleu cheese and cream cheese spread too… carrots and celery are good with those.
 
The Hot Dogs sound fun, I’ll have to do this the next time my brother (10) comes to visit - he’ll think its way cool!

I am going to get grapes and sour cream at the store tonight this sounds really good. And Ice cream and peaches too! 😃
 
Well, my lunch was probably a bit “adult” for your little ones but I had some zucchini in the fridge so I sliced up two of them and gently stir fried them in a little olive oil then chopped up some chicken I had left over from last night, once heated through I added a slice of cheese. Now, I would have added some rice but it was growing (what I had in the fridge) and shredded cheddar but that was out in the freezer in the garage and I didn’t feel like digging it out so I used the 2% deluxe american I had in the house.

I have some weird lunches because I tend to just use what is in the fridge and heat it up. We never have to have left overs for dinner as we all take or make them for our lunches ;).

But for your little ones, how about some spaghetti noodles and sauce? Or fried rice? Use left over rice, some frozen peas (or whatever veggies you have on hand)- add to a fry pan and heat through then add one or two eggs to make them all stick together, use seasonings as you and your little ones like them, salt, garlic, soy sauce etc. This is actually something that can be made ahead of time and heats nicely in a microwave for a fast lunch.

Any sandwich can be grilled. Consider taking a slice of bell or red pepper (red is best for this), two slices of cucumbers, a baby carrot and some shredded vegetable to make a face on the plate. Use the pepper slice for the mouth, shredded veggie as a mustache, carrot for the nose, cucumbers for the eyes (put one olive, green or black on each cucumber), more shredded veggies (or hash browns) for hair, for the ears use 1/4 sandwich each (your choice of filling). You can have your 4 yo help you put this together on their plates.

I have to head out but I can give you more ideas like this.

Brenda V.
 
My kids love smoothies which usually are just frozen fruit(berry mixes are thier fave) and milk. might need a bit of sugar depending on the tartness of the fruit I put this in the freezer and it is a thick consistancy that they eat with a spoon. for protien i often try different nuts or rolled lunchmeat. My kids eat the same thing and like it that way its mommy who gets bored in our house!
 
Yesterday, we had bratwurst sausages with pumkin pie and yogurt.
The pies took time, because making the crusts is a pain, but sometimes I cheat and use instant crusts – although it doesn’t taste as good.

The day before we had spagetti with meatballs (used costco meatballs, put 18 on a
plate and microwaved on high for three minutes. Add tomato sauce and boiled noodles, very, very, popular! Added avacados and (Oregon not Chicago style) blue cheese dressing for the older kids.

I grilled hamburgers the day before, -BUT- putting all condoments together takes so much time. I’m not much for the time consumption of sandwitch making! We had seedless red grapes, and butterscotch pudding (the boiled kind, not instant – but instant is sometimes easier.)

The day before that was lefover brocoli cheese and hamburger cassarole. All the kids love it, and it seems to have gotten the older ones hooked on straight broccoli – sometimes with blue cheese. And we had sliced cling peaches.

The day before that was a down day so we just had grilled cheese (though some days we just use the mexican burrito wraps and make flat casadias(sp?) in the microwave with cheddar because it is much faster… and mixed fruit yogurts.

I’m wondering about today, but I am thinking along the lines of chicken fried steak, sauteed mushrooms (in butter), milk, and peas. Perhaps some sliced peaches again with a little whipped cream this time. 🙂

Tomorrow will probably be Papa murphy’s pizza (sausage, and taco), and grapes. And maybe a glass of a porter beer for myself… milk for the kids.

Now I’m almost drooling, time to get started today. 🙂
 
Rollups are pretty big around here- whatever lunch meat is in the fridge with some cheese on it. Microwaved and topped with lettuce/spinach. I usually jazz it up with some sort of sauce- mustard, salad dressing, bbq.

Grilled PB&J is REALLY good! As is grilled chedder and apple butter. Or grilled swiss and strawberry jam.
 
Ya’ll are making me hungry.

Ohhh what about cottage cheese and fruit?
 
spread some refried beans and shredded cheese on tortillas and bake. cut them up and dip in sour cream.
egg salad
fried eggs and toast
frozen pirogies
 
Quesadillas are really good - I prefer to bake mine though and because of a wheat sensitivity I use corn tortillas instead of wheat. When baked the tortilla gets crispy.

PBJ on a tortilla, rolled up makes a nice finger food.

Cottage cheese and fruit is a good lunch too.

If you like them, the taquitos are good too (all made, you just have to heat them in either the microwave or the oven.

Brenda V.
 
I just knew I’d find inspiration here. 🙂 I read all the posts and made a list to stick on my fridge so I won’t forget anything. The ants on a log, peaches and cream, and quesadillas will be happening within the next few days. And the hot dog octopus – so cute! Someone else had mentioned the red pepper – that kids usually like that – so I want to give that a shot, too.
 
the tortilla roll up reminds me of pinwheels. fill a tortilla with sweet or savory items. you can use ham, turkey and cheese, or spread cream cheese with craisins, jelly or whatever. slice the rollups into bite size pinwheels.
i do this when i’m having company, but i forget this treat on a daily basis.🤷
 
Today we had (two adults, two kids, four different tastes):
  • sunflower butter sandwiches. It is fun to buy something else other than peanut butter.
  • cottage cheese with canned fruit.
  • grilled string cheese, a lot like making saganaki.
  • lettuce roll-ups with chopped tomatoes and ranch dressing.
 
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