Your cart is currently empty!
10 Easy Homeschool Lunches
I don’t know about you, but I find the concept of making lunch in the middle of the school day annoying. I have to switch gears from teaching to cooking, and my brain doesn’t always move that fast.
So….. I’ve been working on making an informal list of homeschool lunches to make. Hopefully my list of homeschool lunches will help you out in your day too.
I’m gonna break this down into two categories: “main dish” and “side dishes.”
Main dishes for homeschool lunches (in the order I think of them)
- Kraft Blue Box Macaroni & Cheese
or Annie’s Homegrown Shells & White Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese
(I included the specific ones my kids prefer, there’s a big disagreement on which is better, with the twins on different sides for once).
- Cooked chicken breasts in bite size pieces- we often cook a few extra chicken breasts to have handy for other meals
- Grilled cheese- an oldie and a goodie, sometimes to be fun we’ll add in an unusual cheese like manchego.
- Spaghetti– I make my own sauce about once a month in a giant cook pot, and then freeze them in empty washed out Peanut Butter
jars. I’ve figured out why buy empty canning jars when I have perfectly good glass jars to use.
- Sausage, cheese, and crackers- this is a HUGE hit with all 3. I give them 4 or so slices of each item, and when combined with a side dish, it’s a great meal (obviously bigger kids would need more).
- peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- why change what’s worked for decades? Though, I have been known to substitute honey for jelly from time to time.
- kolaches/pigs in a blanket– you know the mini-hot-dogs that are cooked in crescent rolls. If there’s a lot of German settlers in the area, it’s a kolache, if you’re anywhere else it’s a pig in a blanket.
- Muppet sandwiches– this is a special treat because it’s usually covered in chocolate chips or M&Ms
- left-overs- like I said, I often try to make dinners bigger than we need, so I can “cook once, serve twice.” I’m sure this will no long work once the boys are teens.
- cheese roll-up- This is just cheese on a tortilla and melted, Princess loves it. While the boys like:
- bean burrito- In our case it’s simply refried beans and some shredded cheese that’s heated up. There are of course more formal ways to do it. It’d be perfect for us if someone made an 8 oz. can of refried beans, because we don’t always make it through the whole 16 oz. can.
This is obviously not an exhaustive list, as I finished I thought of a couple of others, soups, and such stuff, but it’s meant to get you started.
Side dishes for homeschool lunches
- apples- our family loves honeycrisp apples, we eat them like crazy
- grapes- Batman loves red grapes.
- strawberries- I actually have to limit how many Princess can eat or she’d make herself sick.
- Teddy Grahams
– or anything of that sort. These also double as treats sometimes.
- Fig Newtons
– only 2 of my kids like this.
- bananas
- string cheese
- cheese slices- we like to try different cheeses, and this is one way to sneak in new foods
- chips- I often have tortilla chips, but we have been known to get cheetos or Doritos from time to time. By the by, HEB (our local grocery store) makes excellent chips in store.
- cookies- on a rare occasion I’ll have cookies for them to have as one of their sides, we’re not a big sweet family, so it’s a special treat.
Again this is not an exhaustive list, just some ideas to get you started. What are some things you would add in for your lunches? I can always use new ideas to switch into our rotation.
And I would just like to point out that I woke up early this morning and wrote this whole thing. You may oohh and aaahhhh now.
For the next 10 Weeks I will be joining with many other fabulous ladies to create 10 in 10, 10 different lists and ideas for the next 10 weeks. I am really looking forward to some of these topics to see what everyone else comes up with. Come join us with your own interpretation of the 10 in 10.
Comments
18 responses to “10 Easy Homeschool Lunches”
Lunch is a nightmare.
Least favorite meal here as well – our normal standby is breakfast cereal that Anna is happily eating for lunch. She usually eats extremely little for lunch anyway.
BIG fan of EASY! 😉 Especially with a toddler in tow. Fortunately my 10 yo has a passion for food, and is THRILLED to help with meals (insert Happy Dance). She’s learning AND doing something she enjoys. This allows me to stay in teacher mode while giving her a break.
Oh, and I LOVE the unplanned morning musings. Some of my best work happens spontaneously!
Certainly true for me too! Half of the lessons that I post about come to me as I’m reading the lesson to the kids, and then I announce “Go grab this, this, and this,” and the lesson takes a whole different twist.
I make it simple. Sandwich or eggs. Sandwich options are PBJ variety or meat and cheese. Oh yeah! Lots of variety! My husband eats the same exact way and is happy taking PBJ to work!
Sometimes my oldest has a wrap with me. 🙂 Rare.
You can freeze the leftover refried beans. Our family never uses a whole can either. I freeze the leftovers and use them the next time. Thanks for sharing the great list.
Thanks for that tip! I’ll be doing that next time.
You can also heat up the whole can of beans melt in some cheese and stir in some sour cream. Then whatever isn’t eaten for lunch burritos can be used for bean dip with chips for a good protein snack later in the week.
When we eat on the go I buy my kids meat and cheese lunchables and myself a premade salad.
Oh good idea!
The children take it in turns to chop up a heap of vegetables, fry and add stock for a lovely healthy soup, with absolutely no effort on my behalf. That truly is an effortless lunch!!
I love the variety of yours and I’m fairly certain my poor deprived children would jump at the chance to drop in at yours for lunch time!!
I’m jealous that your kids are ready to make the lunch, mine aren’t quite there yet.
This is such a great idea, Ticia. I love having a list to work from. We also like hardboiled eggs here. I often serve what I call “a little bit of this, a little bit of that” lunches. As long as there is protein (cheese, eggs, yogurt or nut butter), fruit and/or a veggie, and some kind of carbs (a slice of bread, leftover rice, some crackers) kids are happy. I usually heat up leftovers for myself.
thank goodness your list looks very much like mine! here’s our regulars:
grilled cheese and veggie soup
hot dogs and baked beans
ham and cheese roll and carrots
english muffin pizzas and salad
chicken voila
tortellini w/butter and parm cheese and bread and butter
pb&h and goldfish
chicken nuggets or tenders and veggies
bean and cheese quesadillas and rice
fish sticks and applesauce
Ooohhhh, that’s some good ones for me to add in to our rotation.
Oddly enough my kids are just not big fans of chicken nuggets.
One thing that my minion (nickname for my 9 y/o) likes is cheese chips. He’s diabetic and is on a low carb diet. Just drop small piles of shredded cheese (finely shredded works best, any flavor) on a griddle (you can also do in a skillet) let bottom crisp then flip. Cook til crispy. They are so yummy.
That sounds yummy!
Leave a Reply