Lunchables
19th October 2007
It’s Lucy Friday, which means Lucy is dancing around the office with a rattan giraffe the size of her we got at the zoo (the giraffe, not her, although some days it’s questionable…), simultaneously pulling magnets off my filing cabinet and trying to open baby-death-trap drawer with all the paper clips and staples in it.
How does such a small being with tiny hands wreak so much havoc in a blink? Someone needs to bottle toddler energy — lkiuujikjm (hi from Lucy). It would blow Red Bull outta the water.
I’ve no clue how to transition this into food, so just imagine some clever words here. Tra-la!
Some might view working from home as a luxury when it comes to lunch (all your food is here! with a stove and toaster and unlimited fridge space you don’t have to share with your co-worker’s moldy cheese loaf sandwich!), but I’m finding it incredibly difficult to come up with meals come noon. That’s mostly because I do work from home, so I work until my stomach is on the verge of eating itself, then stare blankly at the fridge and end up eating toast for the fourth day in a row.
Having now been on both sides, I think it’s a lot easier to make lunch ahead of time and have it ready at the office. But that seems terribly redundant at home.
So: What are your favourite lunches, either at home or packed for work? Plain ol’ sandwiches? Soup? Leftovers? Traveling Bento Boxes? Do you make it the night before, or in the morning to take to work? Please share and inspire us all. I’m poised with a pen over my grocery list.
Spencer is terribly excited to hear your answers.
Possibly related posts:
I usually don’t have a problem with lunch, it’s dinner that gets me, as I forget to think of it ahead of time, and when I finally do, I’m famished (7-8 pm), and it’s oh so easy to take a break and go out to one of the multitude of places around the corner.
Back to lunch, sandwhiches, which are fresh not yucky having been made the day before, eggs, soups, chili, salads, and at least a couple times a week, I’ll make double at dinner and have it for lunch, chicken breast grills, tacos, etc. Usually lunch is my best meal of the day.
I love leftovers; meatloaf, stew. A leftover chicken breast can be easily and quickly transformed into a delicious chicken salad sandwich just with mayo, celery, salt and pepper. But my favourite lunch is this – I just bring an egg in a container and two pieces of bread. The posibilities are almost endless. I can either hard boil it and chop it up with butter, salt and pepper, toast on the side. I can mix it with a bit of mayonnaise and make an egg salad sandwich. I could scramble it, fry it, whatever. Plus, I don’t have to know what I’m going to do with it until lunch time and I can make what I feel like at the time.
I love the leftovers… although some things just don’t work well for leftovers for me… ie. any cooked veggie that’s not a potato. Now I eat almost 6 times a day so I pack a lot of food. Something like apple and cheese in the morning and raw veggies and hummus in the afternoon. I have those new FridgeSmart Tupperware containers and I pre cut all my raw veggies when I get groceries so that I just grab them and throw them in a container every morning. For the actual lunch portion, I also keep pre made green salad (in another big Tupperware container) in the fridge to take to go with the leftovers (like I said, re-heated veggies – not good). I also make large portions of stuff like pasta, lasagna, or soup on some weekends (usually can do a whole week of lunches for both me and Ted) – freeze it and take it out in the morning. It stays cold and is almost defrosted come lunch time. Sandwiches will happen if I have no other choice!
We have to pack a lunch for the wee one so she gets whatever we had for dinner the night before, and if hubby’s away then I’ll do the same for me. But if he’s here, we don’t have enough leftovers for anyone’s lunch!
We eat a lot of carb+meat+veg (i.e. deconstructed shepherd’s pie, pasta+sausage+broc, rice+chicken+carrot, fish+mash+tomatoes). Soup is always good if you didn’t pack enough lunch.
If I’m home, I’m the same – canned something, toast, pita with hummus, whatever is fastest and I’m not fussy.
I work from home as well.
Cereal has been the staple at lunch and breakfast for eons.
I just make sure to buy many different kinds.
It’s quick and easy. Nutritious, too.
Maybe that might work?
Have you tried introducing Lucy to cold cereal with milk? Jayde was about Lucy’s age when I sat her in front of her first bow. It was sugar crisp (the reduced sugar version) and it took her a couple of attempts but she was a master cereal easter by the time she was 22 months.
Cereal has been a god send for me at times when she has been here with me during weekday lunch and on the weekends too.
She also loves scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cooked in and lots of dip dip dip ketchup.
That’s quick and easy, too.
I always buy some of the small frozen dinners
Michelians Pres. Choice etc. when they go on sale for .99 or 1.99 the choices are limitless incuding some Thai varieties that you might like
They also come in light versions or the wonderful “Blue Menu” I like to keep them around for a different lunch for Lucy when she is visiting.
Veggies with dip go great especially if you keep your veggies cleaned and ready to go.
On our lunch menu here we have a lot of sandwiches – especially grilled cheese and tomato soup as they are primarily one of the five foods Isaac will eat. I also do toasted tomato, variations on egg and sometimes deli.
Leftovers are also a popular item – chili, leftover garden salad with sunflower seeds or almonds thrown in, leftover pasta or stir fry.
But one of my favourite menu items is quesidilla (not sure if I spelled that right). They are easy and quick to make, don’t dirty a lot of dishes, and are relatively healthy. Often I use leftover grilled chicken, in the summer months of course, topped with chopped red/yellow peppers, black olives, salsa, chopped cilantro (if I have it on hand), and cheese of course. It just takes a few minutes to assemble and bake in our toaster oven. I use whole wheat flax tortillas as a healthier option.
Homemade mini pizzas are another good lunchable as is homemade ministrone soup.
Pita Pizzas are a favorite around here…take a pita put tomato sauce on it then your favorite toppings and toast/oven roast until golden brown and melty.
Grilled cheese and soup.
Left over chili on a salad with cheese.
A banana wrapped into a tortilla shell that has been smeared with peanut butter. (always a hit with the kids)
A giant salad with nuts, fruit, cheese, lunch meat and lots of balsamic vinegar dressing is my all time favorite lunch.
Bagel with your favorite toppings.
Pita stuffed with goodies.
Or sometimes I serve up a plate full of pickles, cheese pieces, crackers, ham or other deli meat or pieces of chicken, a suitable dip and let them use their imagination as to how they want to eat it.
I got a book at the library to help me out with ideas too…Have to read it, then may have more ideas for you !
But I can see how you would get un-inspired…being off for 4 days with both kids does that to me too…
I read the question on lunches as lunch pertaining to you not Lucy. So I’m going to tell you what I do for lunch since I am also home every day and find myself staring into the fridge while my stomach thinks my head was cut off!
I try to grocery shop on Saturdays, then I set aside a bit of time on Sundays to clean veggies and pre-make salad. Then I’ll make either tuna or chicken salad. Occasionally I’ll make both, just small amounts of each, enough for a sandwich or two. I’ll make a pot of marinara sauce that can be stored in the fridge to top some pasta throughout the week. In the cool/cold months I might make a pot of chili, beef stew, veggie soup, etc. and put it in the fridge for dinner and/or lunch.
If for some reason I don’t have the time to do more than made salad and clean veggies for the week, then I’ll resort to Smart Ones frozen meals. (Made by Weight Watchers) I love these! They have a large variety, they’re quick and easy and very tasty. Lean Cuisine and Stouffer’s also make Paninis. They are delicious and they have quite a few varieties.
Hope those ideas help~
I make lunches the night before. There is no way I would be able to make them in the morning, I would be to lost. For my little one I make sandwiches and yogurt. For my husband and myself usually a salad and some type of meat to go with it. Most days there is no time for the adults to have a sit down breakfast so I boil eggs the night before. My little one presently loves cereal so she eats that (15 months eat so slowly hence the hard boiled eggs)