Lunch Ideas!

I remember when I was first a mom, I was often asking other moms what they fed their kids for lunch.  I was running out of ideas and always loved hearing some fresh ideas from others.  Well, over the last couple of months, when we have made one of our favorite lunches and weren't eating on paper plates(!), I snapped pictures to share with you!  Hope this will bring a little inspiration to that noon hour!

My main goal for lunch is a fruit and a vegetable.  I also try to do lunches that I know all my kids will mostly enjoy.  I do not like meals (and certainly not lunches) to be a battle, so I really pick our favorite things and cycle through those.  We will often do leftovers, too, if that is an option.  I also make it a priority to sit and eat lunch with my kids.  I love this time to visit and talk with them, and I also try to remember that part of my job is training them in how to behave at meals (some days harder than others in this area...).  So here goes!  

Happy Lunchtime!

Our all-time favorite lunch is noodles.  We eat them ALL of the time.  Our favorite noodles are the organic, whole wheat noodles from Trader Joe's.  I toss our noodles with olive oil, garlic salt, and basil, and some of the kids like parmesan cheese on top, too.  We often just do frozen broccoli in the microwave on the side, and my kids LOVE tomatoes, so we have those a lot with lunch, too.  When we eat this for lunch, I add broccoli and tomatoes and fresh parmesan all in the bowl with my noodles and it is SO yummy.

Another lunch favorite is quesadillas.  Our favorite tortillas are the homemade flour tortillas from Trader Joe's, but you could always use corn tortillas, too, if you eat gluten-free.  My kids just like cheddar cheese in theirs with salsa on the side to dip, but I cook salsa right into mine along with the cheese and top it with sour cream.  Yum!  If I want to make a few at once, I grab out the griddle.

An easy, non-cook lunch is just deli meat and/or cheese along with crackers!  We pretty much only buy triscuits (or, rather, generic triscuits from Aldi) since the ingredient list is so small.  Three of my kids love ham or turkey, but my oldest doesn't, so I just put peanut butter on his crackers, and we then grab out some easy veggies and fruit.  We also love Trader Joe's custard-style yogurt cups, so we often add those on to a simple meal like this.  My favorite way to eat this kind of lunch is to make a mini cracker sandwich...cracker, provolone (or other kind of cheese), and/or ham, and a slice of tomato on top...

Tostadas are a new favorite around here!  All I do is heat up refried beans and spread them on the tostada shell, and either top with cheese or leave plain for the kids, depending on their preference.  I top mine with cheese, salsa, and sour cream, and we sometimes make some instant rice to go along, too.  So easy.  (AND, tostada shells are super cheap, especially at Aldi!)

Another similar lunch is make-your-own burritos, and my kids put beans inside tortillas, possibly with cheese and salsa, too.  Brown rice is shown on the side, along with tortilla chips, and cut up veggies and clementines.  This is a nice meal to appeal to many picky-eater tendencies.  Sammy doesn't like beans, so he mostly eats rice.  Sophia is dairy free, so I just omit the cheese for her.  Micah likes to dip chips in beans and eat a plain tortilla.  Works for everyone.

We love grilled cheese, too!  We have mostly been making our own bread in the bread machine lately, but on the occasion we have a loaf of whole wheat bread around, we definitely make grilled cheese.  American cheese is so not that great for you, but it is the one thing we still use American cheese for.  All of my kids will eat this, and I just use vegan cheese for Sophia.  This is shown with some veggie chips from Aldi, and we ALWAYS eat pickles with grilled cheese.  Don't know why.  Just one of those things that I ate growing up so still do with my kiddos.  And who doesn't love pickles?

This is my need-to-go-shopping lunch.  When we don't have a lot of fresh ingredients around, we open a can of Joe's O's (Trader Joe's version of Spaghetti-O's), make a bag of frozen veggies, and open a jar of applesauce.  My kids love unsweetened applesauce, and we sprinkle ground cinnamon on top.  They also love string cheese.

What are some of your favorite kid lunches??