Help! I try to make healthy food for my family, but recently it seems that I have no lunch ideas and end up making frozen pizza, canned soup, etc. Does anyone have ideas for relatively quick, healthy lunches? Thanks!!
Salads are always good. My husband uses the prescription bottles for dressing. You can buy salads in bags or a head of lettuce and add other things, such as grated carrots (either grated by you or from the grocery salad bar) and grape tomatos. Put the salad in a covered container, and put the dressing in the prescription bottle. and slip it in the bag. Voila healthy side dish.
Hi!
I bought a little thermos at Target and will make macaroni and cheese in the morning and put it in the thermos to keep it warm.
I also put a little hummus in a tupperware and put carrots/celery etc. in a baggie for dipping.
For a sandwhich I use strawberry cream cheese to mix it up or regular cream cheese with jelly.
With the thermos you can put left-overs, spaghetti etc. Any hot food I just microwave in the morning.
I hope this helps! I remember I couldn't think of anything for a long time until I started asking other moms too! Good luck!
Today for lunch we had grilled cheese with carrot sticks and dip. It only took about 12 minutes to make and clean up was really easy.
We had stir fry dinner. Again very easy. What's time consuming is cutting up the veggies. Of course, you could always use frozen.
Pasta salad is quick and easy. Just cook up some pasta and add whatever you like. Toss with your favorite salad dressing.
Grill up some chicken and keep it on hand. It's great to make a quick sandwich, add to a pasta salad, toss in with a garden salad for a complete meal.
Keep some hard boiled eggs on hand. You can cut up and toss into a garden salad, eat as it as part of a meal, or make some egg salad.
Other ideas...
omelettes
manwhich/sloppy joes
stuffed baked potatoe
Keep cut up fresh veggies on hand to use as a quck side dish. You can eat raw, steam, or throw on the grill.
I also find that keeping fresh fruit (especially watermelon) all cleaned and cut up makes a nice side dish or a great snack.
One of my favorite breakfast/lunch/snack. Slice up an apple and spread with peanut butter.
Makeover your leftovers from supper. Leftover roast, steak or chicken can be shredded and mixed with BBQ sauce for sandwiches or BBQ pizza. Last night's taco can be today's taco salad or taco pizza or even a tortilla soup. I usually use tortillas for pizza crusts or make homemade-- I make and prebake a bunch of small pizza crusts and keep in the freezer (think homemade Boboli) They fit in the toaster oven which doesn't heat up the house as bad!
Pizza is awesome for lunch/ to use up leftovers. If it's got a crust under it and cheese over it and you call it pizza kids will eat it!
Quesadillas are a nice switch from grilled cheese and are fun to dip in salsa (or use mozzarela cheese and throw on some pepperoni and dip in marinara).
Last nights steak can be sliced and made over for fajita's or philly cheesesteaks.
Mac and Cheese can be dressed up with tuna or ham and broccoli or peas.
Ramen is good too-- my son love's "noodles" , only use part of the seasoning packet and add an egg and whatever leftovers would be good in it!
And breakfast/brunch is good ANYTIME of day! And instead of buying frozen waffles/pancakes make them for scratch on a day you have time, making a HUGE batch makes the same amount of mess as making a small batch, you can freeze the extras and on a day when you don't have time you pop them in the toaster to reheat! WAY, WAY cheaper-- toaster waffles have got to be the single most overpriced item in the grocery store!
we do a lot of wraps specifically hummus and turkey (my son's favorite) and it takes 2 seconds to make. Or quesadillas - so easy just black beans and a bit of cheese. Of course you could add whatever else too. Sometimes we have breakfast for lunch. I buy those van's whole wheat toaster waffles. Yummy, healthier than your average toaster waffle and I skip the syrup and top it with peanut butter and a berry smiley face. :)
Or just sorta eat sides. Like I will make a sweet potato (in microwave wrapped in plastic wrap for 5 mintues if you're in a rush) and then have cheese and crackers and some fruit or something. Random, but it gets the job done and my son likes it!
Bagels, cream cheese, lox
Bertolli ravioli or tortellini, with the sauce on the side
Grilled chicken legs (we make a ton at one time, then freeze for future use)
Fruit salad
Omlettes
Pita sandwiches
Leftovers from the night before
Steamed Zucchini boats filled with rice, ground turkey and seasoning..
Lettuce wraps filled with rice and shredded veggies
Burritos with beans and cheese
One of my favorites is microwaving a baked potato and topping it with salsa, chili, veggies, a little ground beef or ground turkey.
Instead of frozen pizza try making your own pizza. I buy either whole wheat deli thins or bagel thins and top them with sauce and cheese, just put them in the toaster oven. Quick and easy!
It helps me to make a quick lunch wraps if I keep a variety of prepared veggies in the fridge. I keep sliced tomatoes, cucumber, cheese, celery and green pepper in containers. Easy dips like hummus, sour cream, spread butter, and ranch dressing. Easy way to make quick soup is to boil water, add slice vegetables and a big table spoon of vegetable powder, you can add to it a handful of elbow macaroni or short rice. Top it with fresh herb like parsley, voila!
My new favorite recipe is this sweet potato and black bean burrito. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/addictive-sweet-potato-burri...
The recipe makes a ton and you can freeze the leftovers really well. I used black beans instead of kidney after reading reviews. To freeze I made the burritos but didn't bake them. Then I took them out frozen and popped them in the microwave (skipped the oven). I think one of the reviews said you can take it from the freezer to the oven w/o defrosting. It was so nice to come home from running errands to have these - like Jose Ole frozen, but SO much healthier. They taste great with whole wheat tortillas too. It isn't a huge wow, but it's good, healthy, cheap, and (if frozen) fast too. I promise, it sounds like a weird combo, but it's good.
Fruit smoothies
Sandwich of turkey on wheat bread or pita bread, with applesauce & yogurt
Cheese quesadillas
Fruit salad (grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe) with a side of cheese cubes
Sliced apple with peanut butter and a cup of milk
Mac & Cheese can have lots of options added to it - broccoli, tomatoes, cold cuts, to make it interesting & more nutritious. Sandwiches or wraps - turkey, roast beef, chicken, chicken salad, tuna salad, the list is pretty endless, and you can add vegatables, too. Plus, there are stuffed tomatoes - we stuff ours with tuna salad or chicken salad. There are quesadillas - sort of a mexican grilled cheese, or even chicken/beef/vegetarian tacos where everyone makes their own from the options put on the table. And, don't forget any of the standard breakfast options - served as a brunch make for a quick, nutritious lunch.
I'm there with you. I am a teacher so I get to stay home in the summer and it seems like every year I have to relearn how to deal with daily lunch! These are my lunch-rut go-tos.
My son love "mac n cheese with tuna and peas" (also fun to say). I buy the organic mac n cheese box, but you can use whatever brand you like. Throw in frozen peas when the pasta is almost cooked. Add a can of tuna with the butter milk and cheese mix.
Sandwich wraps. Spread a tortilla with greek yogurt, then sliced turkey or chicken, tomato, lettuce, sliced cheese, thinly sliced apple, dried cranberries, then roll it up. Can be easily adapted to younger pallets with the things THEY like... although my son LOVES these as I described :)
Fruit salad and sandwiches.
Hidden hotdogs and melon slices. (Only healthy if you start out with healthy dogs and dough, but it can be done). My son loves to make these because he gets to be in charge of rolling the dogs.
Hope this helps, I'll be looking for ideas as others post as well!
T.
Something that my mom used to do on sundays when I was a kid..
Cold Keilbasa sliced with cheese, crackers and lots of fruit. (apples, grapes, oranges, etc) It looked more of a snack tray or deli tray that you would get from the store, but was whatever we had on hand for that particular morning.
vegtable sushi rolls, bean burritos, hummus roll ups, veggie dumplings, are all favorites for my 6 and 9 year olds. I use a bento box for presentation. good luck.
rice, feta, red peppers, vinaigrette (or other light dressing/liquid), black beans. throw it in a bowl and stir. serve it hot. serve it cold. straight up or on a tortilla. it's an amazing, flavorful, easy-to-make-bunches-of-it dish.
