When I'm feeling industrious and pre-plan (typically early in the semester) I will whip up big batches of something on the weekend: jambalya, red beans and rice, chili, irish stew, etc. Then I'll freeze individual portions in plastic, microwavable containers. I toss one of those in a bag in the morning along with a pudding cup (I know, I'm losing serious gourmet cred here, but I love snack packs), a piece of fruit, and sometimes a string cheese. A quick minute in the nuker at school, and I have a damn tasty lunch. Late in the semester when I'm not cooking much it's a cold cut or PBJ sandwich with the same accompaniments.
Recipes and ideas for school lunches
- Thread starter Must Dash
- Start date
As for the leftovers - one trick is to deliberately cook extra stuff so you'll definitely have leftovers.
For example an extra chicken breast cut up with some onion and celery becomes a tasty chicken salad when mixed with some mayo and yoghurt (keeps the fat content down). Add a bit of curry paste, peanuts or cashews and you've got curried chicken salad.
Tuna - use the mayo/tuna trick and add some relish or chopped pickles for flavour.
Leftover steak, pork chops, fish, etc - its all fair game to go to school - just slice it up and put it into tupperware with some sort of dressing sauce.
Keep cut vegetables/fruit on hand
Salads - make extra, its a snap to double a recipe.
There are a million and one bean, rice and veggie salads that are a snap to make - look for a "quick meals" cookbook - you'll get a ton of inspiriation. I often make a chickpea salad - drained chickpeas, crumbled feta, some finely chopped onion, some bits of spicy sausage, minced garlic, salt, pepper and a touch of olive oil. This is just one example - there are a ton of rice and barley salads - if you're making rice for dinner, make extra, let it cool and you can use it for salad (brown rice works very well for this).
Weekends are your friends - get a crockpot/slow cooker, simmer a huge batch of whatever (chili, pea soup, stew, etc...) freeze in individual portion containers - ready made lunches. The best thing about this is that you put your stuff in the crockpot in the morning, leave it on all day and then you have dinner and a bunch of leftovers.
Its not hard, but it does take some planning - once you understand that some extra boiled potatoes from tonight's dinner can be turned into potato salad for lunch, you'll deliberately cook extra for use in lunches. Once you start thinking this way, you'll have no problems coming up with lots of options using stuff you've already cooked.
In fact, once you start doing this, whipping up tomorrow's lunch while you're cooking tonight's dinner is a snap - chop up a few more onions, carrots, etc. while you're making dinner and you'll find that a few more minutes of prep time at dinner gets you dinner and lunch for tomorrow.
It takes a while to get the hang of it, but once you do, the lunches will be a snap.
Also, get your son involved - if you make sure there's lots of stuff from which lunch can be made in the house, he should be able to spend a few minutes putting something together for himself and the rest of the family.
Not only will he have a degree of control over the contents of his lunch bag, he'll also learn how to cook so he doesn't have to eat junk when he's on his own.
For example an extra chicken breast cut up with some onion and celery becomes a tasty chicken salad when mixed with some mayo and yoghurt (keeps the fat content down). Add a bit of curry paste, peanuts or cashews and you've got curried chicken salad.
Tuna - use the mayo/tuna trick and add some relish or chopped pickles for flavour.
Leftover steak, pork chops, fish, etc - its all fair game to go to school - just slice it up and put it into tupperware with some sort of dressing sauce.
Keep cut vegetables/fruit on hand
Salads - make extra, its a snap to double a recipe.
There are a million and one bean, rice and veggie salads that are a snap to make - look for a "quick meals" cookbook - you'll get a ton of inspiriation. I often make a chickpea salad - drained chickpeas, crumbled feta, some finely chopped onion, some bits of spicy sausage, minced garlic, salt, pepper and a touch of olive oil. This is just one example - there are a ton of rice and barley salads - if you're making rice for dinner, make extra, let it cool and you can use it for salad (brown rice works very well for this).
Weekends are your friends - get a crockpot/slow cooker, simmer a huge batch of whatever (chili, pea soup, stew, etc...) freeze in individual portion containers - ready made lunches. The best thing about this is that you put your stuff in the crockpot in the morning, leave it on all day and then you have dinner and a bunch of leftovers.
Its not hard, but it does take some planning - once you understand that some extra boiled potatoes from tonight's dinner can be turned into potato salad for lunch, you'll deliberately cook extra for use in lunches. Once you start thinking this way, you'll have no problems coming up with lots of options using stuff you've already cooked.
In fact, once you start doing this, whipping up tomorrow's lunch while you're cooking tonight's dinner is a snap - chop up a few more onions, carrots, etc. while you're making dinner and you'll find that a few more minutes of prep time at dinner gets you dinner and lunch for tomorrow.
It takes a while to get the hang of it, but once you do, the lunches will be a snap.
Also, get your son involved - if you make sure there's lots of stuff from which lunch can be made in the house, he should be able to spend a few minutes putting something together for himself and the rest of the family.
Not only will he have a degree of control over the contents of his lunch bag, he'll also learn how to cook so he doesn't have to eat junk when he's on his own.
One remedy for boring sandwiches might be to buy lunch meats and cheeses from the deli at the grocery store, that way he could select from many differant varietys of meats and cheeses rather just buying a pack of pressed ham or bologna and plain cheese. And then hop over to the bakery and get some fresh made bread.
I agree with tony.
Here's the basic set-up I used.
1. Bread
2. Spread
3. Meat
Optionally you can add cheeses or veggies. Buy some fresh bread. This is very important as stale bread is not enticing. For a spread you can use butter, margarine, peanut butter, or other cheese type spreads. Your options for meat should be varied as well. There's all kinds of turkey, beef, ham, and others you can use on a sandwich. After the combination of bread-spread-meat you are free to add cheese or vegetables. Tomatoes, pickles, peppers, or whatever else he likes.
This set-up should be healthy and tasty. I suggest you find a good deli that sells fresh food and that has many varieties of meats.
Here's the basic set-up I used.
1. Bread
2. Spread
3. Meat
Optionally you can add cheeses or veggies. Buy some fresh bread. This is very important as stale bread is not enticing. For a spread you can use butter, margarine, peanut butter, or other cheese type spreads. Your options for meat should be varied as well. There's all kinds of turkey, beef, ham, and others you can use on a sandwich. After the combination of bread-spread-meat you are free to add cheese or vegetables. Tomatoes, pickles, peppers, or whatever else he likes.
This set-up should be healthy and tasty. I suggest you find a good deli that sells fresh food and that has many varieties of meats.
The only issue with the typical sandwich is that its not terribly healthy if you used processed meats. However, an extra cooked chicken breast thinly sliced is great for sandwiches.
The "use good bread" point is excellent - try a variety of types of breads.
The other thing if you're going the sandwich route is to consider wraps, as well as keeping some good condiments on hand.
Add some chutney to a chicken sandwich and its a whole lot better than just using a little mayo.
The "use good bread" point is excellent - try a variety of types of breads.
The other thing if you're going the sandwich route is to consider wraps, as well as keeping some good condiments on hand.
Add some chutney to a chicken sandwich and its a whole lot better than just using a little mayo.
As I started reading this thread, two thoughts came to mind, and were conveniently already stated:
My first thought:
And then my second:
My first thought was the "humble pie" bit of letting him go without...I see you've already tried that, but since he is 16, he does need to grow up in that regard. It's his decision to eat or not, as long as you've made sufficient opportunity for him to have food available, his decision to put other things higher priority for his personal responsibility...it sounds like you're going out of your way to provide him what he needs, and as much as I hate to say it because it'll probably happen to me when mine reaches teenage years, he can either take the hint (the easy way), or be hungry and grumpy (the hard way). In a couple years he'll be at college or working "in the real world"....better learn it soon!
My first thought:
And then my second:
I don't know how to put this but I will say it anyway....
He is 16, tell him to grow up. That is what my dad told me at 12 and I grew up just fine.
Old enough to shave and drive then he is old enough to make a sandwich.
My first thought was the "humble pie" bit of letting him go without...I see you've already tried that, but since he is 16, he does need to grow up in that regard. It's his decision to eat or not, as long as you've made sufficient opportunity for him to have food available, his decision to put other things higher priority for his personal responsibility...it sounds like you're going out of your way to provide him what he needs, and as much as I hate to say it because it'll probably happen to me when mine reaches teenage years, he can either take the hint (the easy way), or be hungry and grumpy (the hard way). In a couple years he'll be at college or working "in the real world"....better learn it soon!
- Thread starter
- #27
Guys, thanks
I really appreciate the ideas, and I especially like the idea of getting him more involved. It's the planning that has let us down so far - that and the fact that if he doesn't get his act together, Mrs Dash will always bail him out, so he always has an easy fall-back position.
New regime starts next Tuesday.
Cheers
Jeremy
I really appreciate the ideas, and I especially like the idea of getting him more involved. It's the planning that has let us down so far - that and the fact that if he doesn't get his act together, Mrs Dash will always bail him out, so he always has an easy fall-back position.
New regime starts next Tuesday.
Cheers
Jeremy
When I was taking lunch to work every day on my internship I got pretty creative with sandwiches. One thing that really helped on my morning time (since I had to shave etc) is preparing sandwich stuff before hand. I would make sloppy joe, chicken/tuna salad, pasta salad and so on at the beginning of the week. Since I was cooking for 1 person, the prepared stuff would go a long way. I would make sloppy joe sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches etc. You can also make other things specifically for lunches. I love making a fritata, refrigerating it and taking some for lunch.
Aside from that, try to keep a lot of ingredients for normal sandwiches around. Meat, cheese (assortment), mayo, mustard, avacado, lettuce, onion, tomoato, pickels, peppers etc. I always buy meat from the deli, not packaged. I also try to buy bread from the bakery in the grocery store. You can get most of the breads they offer pre-sliced. If its not sliced, they will slice it for you. Rye, Pumpernickel, ciabatta etc instantly make for a better tasting sandwich than white bread.
Assembly is also important. Since it won't be eaten for a while, you dont want it to get soggy. If making a tuna salad or sloppy joe sandwich eiter toast the bread, or keep the meat seperate from the bread. For a regular sandwich, apply mayonaise directly to the bread. The fat will make a barrier on the bread blocking moisture from other toppings.
Get creative too. You dont always have to have a ham and cheese. Here are some of my favorites:
I know I have a good bit more, its just hard to think of them off of the top of my head.
Aside from that, try to keep a lot of ingredients for normal sandwiches around. Meat, cheese (assortment), mayo, mustard, avacado, lettuce, onion, tomoato, pickels, peppers etc. I always buy meat from the deli, not packaged. I also try to buy bread from the bakery in the grocery store. You can get most of the breads they offer pre-sliced. If its not sliced, they will slice it for you. Rye, Pumpernickel, ciabatta etc instantly make for a better tasting sandwich than white bread.
Assembly is also important. Since it won't be eaten for a while, you dont want it to get soggy. If making a tuna salad or sloppy joe sandwich eiter toast the bread, or keep the meat seperate from the bread. For a regular sandwich, apply mayonaise directly to the bread. The fat will make a barrier on the bread blocking moisture from other toppings.
Get creative too. You dont always have to have a ham and cheese. Here are some of my favorites:
- Basil, tomato, olive oil and fresh mozzerella cheese (caprese sandwich)
- Brie cheese, walnuts and dried cranberries (mmm)
- sautee onions and peppers with cayenne pepper. Put the meat (turkey) in the pan. place veggies on top. Top with a slice of provolone. Put on toasted bread.
- Toast a pita. Open the pita up and fill with hummus, cucumber and lettuce. Roll it up and dip in blue cheese dressing. Simple pita and humus is great too.
- Avacado, turkey, lettuce and provolone sandwich
- You can never go wrong with a reuben (kind of hard to make for school lunch though)
I know I have a good bit more, its just hard to think of them off of the top of my head.
I'm not trying to hijack the thread, but thanks everyone for all the sandwich ideas. I work outside and take a lunch everyday and am always looking for new ideas. I must try the chutney with chicken.
Lately I 've been taking pepperoni and genoa or soppresata(sp) with olives from the olive bar all chopped up. I find condiments sog out my bread by lunch. The olives don't do it though.
Lately I 've been taking pepperoni and genoa or soppresata(sp) with olives from the olive bar all chopped up. I find condiments sog out my bread by lunch. The olives don't do it though.
If you have a food dehydrator you can make jerky of any type and dehydrate fruit as well which is sometimes more convenient to carry and eat for someone on the go
If you have access to a fridge at work, keep your condiments there.
Cheese and chutney is also great - you can put the chutney (get one without too many large chunks) between layers of cheese, it protects the bread from the soggies.
Jeremy -
A lot of good ideas so far. The best advice I've seen (that I wouldn't have thought of myself) is try to make sure you have leftovers to work into tomorrow's lunch.
Our son is 11 and allergic to peanuts, and I'm the family cook, so his lunch usually falls to me.
Thankfully, Jonas has (for the most part) exquisitely healthy tastes (and is becoming a decent sous-chef).
I can slice up some fruit & vegetables, & throw in a yogurt. Maybe some store-bought taboulli. Hard-boiled egg. Slices of any leftover grilled chicken or burger. Don't even really need a sandwich.
And if I do have leftover stir-fry, I'll send that (he considers it welcome a high-end sandwich replacement
).
In any event, I'd echo the suggestions that you do require your son's participation in the event.
Cheers,
- Richard
A lot of good ideas so far. The best advice I've seen (that I wouldn't have thought of myself) is try to make sure you have leftovers to work into tomorrow's lunch.
Our son is 11 and allergic to peanuts, and I'm the family cook, so his lunch usually falls to me.
Thankfully, Jonas has (for the most part) exquisitely healthy tastes (and is becoming a decent sous-chef).
I can slice up some fruit & vegetables, & throw in a yogurt. Maybe some store-bought taboulli. Hard-boiled egg. Slices of any leftover grilled chicken or burger. Don't even really need a sandwich.
And if I do have leftover stir-fry, I'll send that (he considers it welcome a high-end sandwich replacement
).In any event, I'd echo the suggestions that you do require your son's participation in the event.
Cheers,
- Richard
- Thread starter
- #33
Thanks Richard
I echo your thoughts that some of the suggestion are great and, particularly, that my son's participation is going to be really important to this. My main obstacles will be the fact that he's an idle 16 year old (we're proposing to put him up for Australian Idle next season) and a soft mother. I'm going to give it a good try though.
Cheers
Jeremy
I echo your thoughts that some of the suggestion are great and, particularly, that my son's participation is going to be really important to this. My main obstacles will be the fact that he's an idle 16 year old (we're proposing to put him up for Australian Idle next season
) and a soft mother. I'm going to give it a good try though.Cheers
Jeremy
Thanks Richard
I echo your thoughts that some of the suggestion are great and, particularly, that my son's participation is going to be really important to this. My main obstacles will be the fact that he's an idle 16 year old (we're proposing to put him up for Australian Idle next season
Cheers
Jeremy
Occasionally, my wife & I discuss (aloud, in front of Jonas) putting him on eBay. That typically has the desired effect.
