We have completed the first week and a half of the school year. With so many details to pay attention to, any attempts at creativity with lunch ideas sank to the bottom of the priority list. Basic sandwiches were all we had bandwidth for on most days.
Still, I was caught by surprise when the "sandwich burn-out" groan already reared it's ugly head. It's not like we overdosed on sandwiches over the summer. I can possibly count on one hand the number of times we ate sandwiches for lunch. It was usually out of convenience while hiking.
One day last week we were fortunate to have some delicious tender steak leftover from dinner, which I sliced thinly and rolled up along with some grated cheese into a tortilla. The kids loved it- not only because it tasted delicious but it was a change of pace from a sandwich! I loved it because it was quick and easy.
Resources containing great lunch ideas abound in both print and the internet, but I find that many of the ideas require quite a production to put together. I want something more streamlined.
The best tip yet that I can whole-heartedly embrace for making lunches enjoyable and healthy in minimal time is by J.M. Hirsch, author of the brand new book Eating the Lunch Box Blues. One of his many tips:
Cook too much dinner. Leftovers make packing lunch so much easier - it just makes sense to build them into your dinner plans. Boiling extra pasta or roasting a larger chicken doesn't require additional effort.
The lens I look through now when planning our dinners is, "Will this dinner meal make convenient leftovers for lunches?" Most important is to be sure to make enough so that there are leftovers. "Cook too much dinner!"
The key is to piggyback our dinner with our lunch so that a tasty, healthy lunch is at our fingertips with no extra effort. And if last night's dinner wasn't their favorite, well there's always a sandwich.
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