Monday, May 23, 2011

A lunch rut is an Ok Thing!

I recently read a blog article over at weird unsocialized homeschoolers (don't you love that name?) that summed up thoughts I've had perfectly:

"I have decided that we are definitely creatures of habit. After years of stressing over a lunch menu with variety, our lunch menu has evolved into one of sameness."


I've talked about this topic in the past (HERE) and was fretting over feeding my kids a variety of things.  I found great blogs on Bento's and other lunch ideas like cutting everything with cookie cutters.  I also got this great recipe book called Funky Lunch that has really cute ideas for making sandwiches fun.  While I love the book, my kids don't appreciate my artwork yet LOL 

So, after reading what Kris does for lunch, I breathed a sigh of relief that I'm . .NORMAL! LOL 

I thought I would share our "Rut" - maybe it will do for you, what she did for me . .. take away the silly "lunch" guilt!

Well . .lets start with the breakfast rut! . Recently I said to my husband, "I wish I was one of those moms who made breakfast every morning"  to which he replied, "Than why don't you?"  (A lot of help he was. ha!)  Maybe in a few years when my kids get themselves up and dressed but for now, no way, no how!  So our breakfasts consist of :

Sunday-Saturday: The boys have a Nutrigrain Bar.  They LOVE them.  Isn't that enough?  Nate also has a serving of Cheerios or Kix cereal because he is so hungry in the morning.   I have a mini-bagel with cream cheese or cereal normally.  The only change to this is the weeks I bake bread, when we'll eat Banana Bread (or what ever I make) a couple of mornings :-)

Now, on to our Lunch rut:
Monday: We still do Muffin Tin Monday - This is our variety day - I'll make Cheese Tortillas, cut up cheese to go with crackers, or have hot dogs for the main part of the meal; fruit, crackers and a special treat like chocolate chips or a cookie.  For myself - I have a Frozen meal depending on what is on sale or make a BLT if I'm using Bacon for something else in the week.
Tuesday: Grilled Cheese and Soup - The kids usually have Chicken Noodle and I have Tomato
Wednesday: Peanut Butter And Jelly, Fruit, Crackers for the Kids; I have Tuna or Egg Salad on little bread bakes.
Thursday:  Mac and Cheese, Fruit, and Animal Crackers or Hot Dogs, Fruit and Crackers
Friday: Chicken Nuggets and Fries for the kids.  I make a salad and use the chicken nuggets on my salad as well.

By having the same thing, it makes it easy to plan and shop each week!  You might wonder where I got my "rut" ideas - basically, I have just picked the things that the kids love.  We waste a lot less food this way.  I'm sure that the lunches will change over time but for now, these work for us!

What do you serve for lunch?