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Joelle
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| Posted: Jan 02 2008 at 1:24pm | IP Logged
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Hi there,
I am wondering what others do for lunch. I try to have all food groups at both lunch and dinner, but the sandwich/veggie/fruit scene is getting old for both me and the kids. The problem is there are lots of littles, and little time!! What do some of you do for lunch that is quick, easy, fun and appealing to little folks (oh, and somewhat healthy)?? And do any of you find that by the time lunch is on the table and you all sit down to eat that people still need things and you never end up eating (or eating soggy, cold food 3 hours after it has been prepared ? Just wonderin'!!! 
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JodieLyn
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pasta is a good substitute for sandwiches.. just add stuff to the pasta (chop up the lunch meats and cheese and toss with a bit of mayo or salad dressing for a pasta salad meal) and veggies and fruits on the side.
Also change your breads for the sandwiches.. roll up with tortillas (or make burritos instead) use rolls or biscuits or pitas.. maybe even crackers
even mac and cheese can make a good meal if you have some veggies or fruit with it.. and maybe chop up a bit of leftover meat (like chicken or ham) and sprinkle on top.
homemade pizza is easy (you can make the crust with whole wheat too) and you don't have to have special pizza toppings.. some sauce and cheese and hamburger makes a decent pizza. I even cheat on the sauce.. I just smear tomato sauce over the crust and then sprinkle on italian seasoning 
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asplendidtime
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| Posted: Jan 03 2008 at 8:27am | IP Logged
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I often make a big veggie soup for the week, we'll eat it 3 times for lunch.
We always add veggies to Mac N Cheese too, and often a can of salmon mixed in.
My dc really like Salmon Melts, made just like Tuna melts, with Salmon, mayo, shredded cheese, and bits of dill pickle, spread on bread or buns and broiled in oven for 2-4 minutes.
My dc also really like a fruit/veggie tray, with a little bit of dip in the center.
If I am in a tremendous hurry, and I want them to eat quickly, I serve plain yogurt, and salsa, and Nacho chips, it is kind of messy but they really like it.
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Ruth
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| Posted: Jan 03 2008 at 12:26pm | IP Logged
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We always double our meals and have leftovers for lunch and try to have some sort of fruit with it.
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LucyP
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Well, slacker me will share here too! Gulp! I just tend to do toast [with peanut butter for me and baby; a bit of cheese on the side for ds]; occassionally a couple of eggs scrambled for the little ones and I just have toast; sometimes cheese on toast; sometimes bread with some cheese.
Sometimes we have more - today I had no bread so we had pasta and cheese.
I tend to do a fruit snack or carrot sticks as a midmorning or mid afternoon break.
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lapazfarm
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7smallones wrote:
My dc really like Salmon Melts, made just like Tuna melts, with Salmon, mayo, shredded cheese, and bits of dill pickle, spread on bread or buns and broiled in oven for 2-4 minutes.
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We eat a LOT of salmon since we brought home 150 lbs of King salmon and halibut that ds and dh caught this summer in Alaska. Whenever we have salmon for dinner, I just put in an extra filet to use for making salmon salad for lunches. I prepare it just like tuna but it tastes so much better.
My kids would probably eat PBJ for lunch every day and be happy. But I like to change it up a bit.Here are the favorites:
Sandwiches:
Peanut butter and banana
PB and apple butter
Apple butter and cream cheese
cream cheese and cucumber
fresh mozzarella cheese and tomato
salmon salad
Hot lunches:
Scrambled eggs and toast
grilled cheddar cheese and tomato
leftover soup
cheese and bean tostadas
beans and rice (leftovers) burritos
mac and cheese with hotdogs/sausages
Other:
fruit and yogurt with granola bars
taco salad
boiled eggs and veggie tray
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: Jan 05 2008 at 5:28pm | IP Logged
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Laura had a post about lunches awhile back.
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melanie
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| Posted: March 27 2008 at 11:52am | IP Logged
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I wanted to add a new favorite lunch of ours we stole from a friend of ours...nachos. We take half a bag of tortilla chips (you can use baked ones if you'd like) and spread on a baking sheet. Open up and drain a can of black beans (or whatever beans you like) and sprinkle over the chips. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes until cheese is melted, and top with whatever else your kids will eat, veggie wise,,,we like tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, avacado...ok, I like all those things, and the pickier eaters can pick off what they don't like. :)
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Cay Gibson
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Ruth wrote:
| We always double our meals and have leftovers for lunch and try to have some sort of fruit with it. |
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That's pretty much our daily menu. Or we do sandwiches, grilled cheese, mac and cheese, frozen pizza, frozen chicken patties, that kind of thing.
Lunch is kept very simple because I cook almost every night.
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Cay Gibson
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Ouiz
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| Posted: March 28 2008 at 7:29am | IP Logged
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OK, here's a fairly normal lunch for us:
pasta, with chopped up meat, cheese, and pickles. I dice up everything rather small, add it to a box of cooked pasta, add some salt and oregano, and voila.
I had a friend over and she took one bite and said, "you know, you wouldn't expect this to be good... but it is."
I add tomatoes and crushed red pepper to mine...
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Ouiz
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Joelle
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| Posted: March 31 2008 at 11:05pm | IP Logged
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Ouiz wrote:
| pasta, with chopped up meat, cheese, and pickles. I dice up everything rather small, add it to a box of cooked pasta, add some salt and oregano, and voila |
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Do you serve it hot or cold? Do you use butter or anyting to make a "sauce?" and What kind of meat do use? It sounds good (and easy)! Thanks for the suggestion!
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Mom to 7: Boy (96), Girls (00, 02, 04), Boy (05), Girl (07), Boy (09)
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Ouiz
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| Posted: April 01 2008 at 7:37am | IP Logged
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I cook the pasta and then rinse it off with cold water, so it's "lukewarm" at best... just perfect for little ones.
While it's cooking, I chop up (into cheerio sized pieces... well, not *round,* but you have the general size! ) deli meat (turkey usually... or leftover cold chicken from the night before), pickles, and cheddar cheese. I fill up a large bowl halfway with all of this. I top off the bowl with the pasta, add a little salt and oregano, and have one of them mix it up for me (a big thrill for the little guys!).
Time spent: less than 10 minutes.
My children inhale this, every time.
Another goofy lunch idea is a "face lunch" -- slap a piece of bread down, and start adding cheese eyebrows, pickle eyes (with olive irises), etc etc etc. Goofy, but sometimes its the only way I can get my two-year old to eat!
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Ouiz
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Loren
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I have a rotating lunch menu with every day of the week having a theme. Mondays are Mexican, with taco salads, nachos and bean dip, taquitos, or quesadillas. Tuesdays are pizza/pasta days. Wednesdays we have sandwiches or leftovers. Thursday is hot lunch day, with chicken and rice, chicken tenders (nuggets), hot dogs, or sloppy Joes. I try to keep it meatless on Fridays with tuna or egg salad, fish sticks, Ramen noodles, or sometimes popcorn shrimp.
I add side dishes as necessary for completing the pyramid.
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mrsgranola
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Loren, I love your rotating menu ideas. I needed that inspiration today!
JoAnna
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Barbara C.
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Something I've been making for me that is fairly quick is home-made mini-pizzas. I use whole-wheat pitas as the crust. Then I keep a container with pizza sauce in the fridge (I buy small cans at the store), and of course some mozzarella cheese. Instead of doing pepperonis (I'm trying to cut back on nitrates), I keep some cut up pineapple or mushrooms handy. Then I bake the pizza for ten minutes at 350 degrees.
You could probably fit four on a big cookie sheet, and the kids would probably have fun making their own individual pizza. Plus, I've found that a slice of pizza is something easy to munch on while doing other things.
The other thing I've been doing is pre-cutting certain meats and things before I cook them. For instance, I get a turkey ham every few weeks at the store. I spend some time dicing it up and then I put it in storage baggies in the fridge or freezer. Then I just throw it in the skillet to cook, and I don't have to worry about cutting afterwards.
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Philothea
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Using fresh, high quality ingredients takes the monotony out of sandwiches for me. Instead of packaged turkey on packaged wheat with kraft singles and iceberg lettuce, I'll do freshly sliced deli turkey on ciabatta rolls with field greens or fresh spinach and tomato slices. Olive oil or balsamic vinagrette is way better than mayo.
We also do a lot of canned soup or chicken chili ... we only buy the nicer, slightly healthier brands (Wolfgang Puck, Amy's, etc.) and I mostly use the soup as a base and do a lot of easy doctoring.
Quesadillas are also a favorite.
Also Mac and Cheese with tuna and peas stirred in.
And the 3yo loves it when we just buy some dips (hummus, olive oil, ranch, whatever) and eat veggies and pita bread with it. Because dipping? Is FUN.
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Tina P.
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Philothea wrote:
| Also Mac and Cheese with tuna and peas stirred in. |
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I had to read all the way to the end of this thread to find a family after our own heart! 
When I was single, my most regular lunch was an apple with peanut butter slathered over it. I've never been a very good lunch menu person. Theresa, I love the variety in your sandwiches. Two of my kids especially like cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches. They all like egg salad. I'm really appreciating all the wonderful ideas.
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Philothea
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Tina, I was even worse as a single ... I would sit there at my desk (busy, high pressure job) and dip raisins in peanut butter! I kept both in a drawer in my desk. It was all I would make the time for!
(Just mentioning it has set off a major craving for it, though .... funny how memories work!)
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Philothea
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By the way, Joelle, I didn't see if anyone addressed this yet but:
As for the "everyone needs something and I never get to eat" thing, I only have two kids, but one is a needy baby and the other is the King of High Maintenance.
I just let them fuss to a point. It's important for Mama to be nourished. If I don't eat well, I don't treat them as well. My patience is weaker, my words sharper, my emotions more raw.
It will not scar the baby for life to cry (a little, obviously, never wailing) in his saucer while I scarf down a small bowl of whatever. I am working hard on training the almost-4yo to WAIT. If he does not ask for whatever he wants at the start of the meal, he must wait until I am finished eating (nothing three course or lingering, just wolfing down some basic nutrition while it's still hot) before I will help him. He has a nasty habit of waiting until I'm engrossed in something to ask for random things (mostly for attention) and I am trying to break him of that. Mealtimes are no exception. Waiting five minutes for me to finish eating before I replace his glass of water with the glass of juice he REALLY wanted will not kill him.
So no, cold yucky lunches are not a problem for me except VERY occasionally when the baby is exceptionally fussy and won't be put down without screaming. But I would say 4 out of 5 lunches I eat are still at least lukewarm.
If I were you, I'd just tell the kids that if they don't get their "orders" in before a certain point (say, when everyone sits down at the table), then they will have to wait until Mama eats enough to keep going before she will provide additional stuff. It helps to be organized enough that most things they'd want are already on the table, but for the inevitable random request, this rule works at our house.
Sometimes almost-4yo even forgets what it is he asked for in the five minutes it takes me to swallow my lunch!
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Angie Mc
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Today we had what we call a California Taco (think I got the idea off of a wheat tortilla bag years ago.)
whole grain flour tortilla
cream cheese (spread on in a strip down the middle)
mashed avocado (spread on)
dried cranberries or raisens (spinkle on)
plain or roasted sunflower seeds (sprinkle on)
fresh spinach leaves (a good handful)
shredded cabbage (next layer)
season with rice vinegar
Roll tortilla.
My youngest children like this, at least with some of the ingredients.
Love,
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Angie Mc
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Lunch Ideas!!
