It only took me 12 years of homeschooling and 9 kids to figure out how to make lunch easy.
Gah! Why did I wait so long?
To be completely honest with you, what finally forced me to simplify our lunches was this new job/new house/new baby thing that all took place right around the holidays. We did just about every major life change all in a matter of 6 weeks! Go big or go home!
I was really struggling after Aspen’s birth (that’s another post) and needed to make life as simple as I could until I was back on my feet and fully present. I made a list of all the things that were causing me stress, and one weekend I took some time away to pray and work through as many things on that list as I could.
Lunch was on that list, and the solution came in the form of 3 S’s:
Soup ~ Salad ~ Sandwiches
Soup
Last week, I told you about our Kitchen Sink Soup. This is our go-to soup. We make it a couple of times a week to finish off any random leftovers in the refrigerator. I don’t really plan any soups besides this one. When I originally made the 3S Plan, I was going to add in some “original” soups as well, but implementing that proved to be more work than I cared to do.
I try to keep a loaf of bread on hand to go with our soup. I prefer it to be homemade, but will often grab some sort of specialty loaf from Aldi just in case I don’t get around to making something. Sourdough or French bread are favorites here, as well as our homemade whole wheat buns.
Salad
Before I had Aspen, I ate salad almost every day for lunch, but rarely had the kids eat it. Now, if I’m eating it, so are they! The two salads we make most often are Taco Salad and Chicken Fajita Salad. For the Fajita Salad, I buy chicken fajita strips at Aldi in the freezer case, warm them up and throw them in with salad greens and cheese. Corn chips add filler to both of these salads.
Sandwiches
Because I need things to be as simple as possible, I purchase a couple of loaves of bread a week and keep sliced cheese and deli meat, peanut butter and jelly on hand at all times (although, I’ve never eaten a peanut butter & jelly sandwich myself, most of my kids like it). If we have homemade bread, great, but if not, I know we can still throw together sandwiches with the store-bought loaves. We will have the occasional deviation from these two types of sandwiches with something like my son’s fried egg sandwiches or my daughter’s grilled cheese or bagel sandwiches, but that is fairly rare.
This plan makes shopping for lunches super simple too! My weekly list will always have these things on it:
Chicken broth
Shredded Cheese
Salad greens
Fajita Chicken
Chili Beans
Corn Chips
Peanut Butter
Jelly
Deli Meat & Cheese
Bread
I keep us stocked with those items so I always have what I need to make lunch easy!
**Huge sigh of relief!**
How have you simplified lunch at your house? Or maybe you’ve learned to simplify another meal. I’d love to hear your ideas!
Christa says
I have more difficulty getting supper on the table, especially during these days of beautiful spring weather when we want to stay outside until the last possible minute. We are fortunate that my husband comes home at lunch time and so we moved our bigger meal to lunch. I prepare it before bed to go into the crockpot or oven the next day or early in the morning. We have our lighter meal in the evening, usually sandwiches, salads, leftovers, or something easy so we can spend our afternoons playing. I think just being able to be creative about what works for your own family and not making things too complicated is key when it comes to meals.
Arline says
This is genius! I’m going to talk with my hubby about moving our bigger meal to lunch. Thanks for sharing!
Jamie says
Hello! We hunt a lot so to put a meat roast in the slow cooker I can then make with just a fork sandwich meat with mayo and homemade bread, I can use the broth and throw carrots , onion, potatoes, or whatever in and make a soup in the same slow cooker! So 2-3 meals with a roast! ? or I can use the broth to make a gravy to go over baked potatoes. Many many ideas.
Amy says
When I transitioned from working full time outside the home to staying at home, the single biggest adjustment was having to feed the kids every meal and snack. What “should have been” easy became overwhelming and exhausting. Decision fatigue was another drain on my energy. What to make? Do I have the needed groceries? I sat down with the kids, made a list of lunches and breakfasts that they like and we assigned a certain breakfast and lunch item to each week day. It sounds so simple, but knowing that on Thursday we are going to have PBJ sandwiches has taken a load off of my mind.I don’t have to decide what to make and I have the groceries because these items are now staples.
Amy says
We don’t really think about those added meals when we are thinking about homeschooling, do we? Sometimes I wish we didn’t have to even stop our day to eat! lol It’s great that your family came up with a system that became automatic because it really does take a load off the homeschool mom’s mind!
Cecilia says
I have desired to make our lunches easier, but being gluten free, and lately even grain free, has made it a lot more of a challenge because we can’t do sandwiches. I can make grain free bread, but the time to do that is hard to come by, and the ingredients aren’t cheap. Lunch meat doesn’t thrill me either. I’m thinking soup, potatoes/yams, and salads might be the direction we go. Thanks for the inspiration! My husband and I were just talking about simplifying meals yesterday, so this came at a great time. 🙂
Amy says
Cecilia – I’d prefer no lunch meat too, but until I have things in a little better order here, that is what I have to do – definitely not my favorite. Sounds like a great idea you have going with the alternatives – let me know how it works for you after you’ve tried it a while!
Julia says
We do something very similar to this. We also use tortillas a lot. Quesadillas, deli rolls, or peanut butter banana sushi. It’s easy enough for the kids to make themselves. Recently, we’ve made egg quesadillas too. Yum!
Amy says
Sounds yummy!
Lisa says
I struggled so much with lunch until last year. I made a menu plan for the week that is repeated. Thus, Monday lunches are the same, Tuesday, etc. My kids each have a special day of the week, and they get to pick the meals for their day. I made sure lunch was something that child could mostly help prepare. Then each July we revamp the days and menus and try something else for a school year.
My 13 year old picked mini pizzas this year. I make a ton of mini crusts once a month and freeze. The night before she grabs a bag out I the freezer to defrost. She mixes up pizza sauce and shreds cheese and puts together pizza with whatever toppings we have//pepperoni, Canadian bacon, sausage, oineapple, ham, olives, peppers, etc.
The six year old picked PBJ and we have those in rolls, bread, tortillas, buns, whatever we have on hand. He can make those by himself now.
The four year old wanted lunch led, so she gets out deli meat, cheese, and crackers and makes them beautiful on plates for everyone.
For the other school days, since my others can’t make the meals yet, (they help if age/ability appropriate), I make fried rice on one to clean out meats and veggies, so I always have rice for dinner one night before and save the extra so this meal is fast. Then we have grilled cheese or quesadillas if we don’t have leftovers.
My monthly shopping list is easy to plan for, the kids get kitchen experience and I have way less stress! We did it for breakfast as well, and have dinner on a themed rotation. Life is to crazy to stress over meals! I love how you simplified it even further!
Leah says
This sounds really cool. My daughter was reading along with me (she’s 10) and really likes the mini pizzas, and the rest of your plan. I have 6 children, so we’ll have to try this, and my two year old can just pick “snack”. 🙂
anna says
Mini pizzas sounds brilliant,can’t wait to try this out!And to freeze a load before hand..why didn’t I ever think of this??: )
Josi says
We’ve done a lot of “pizza rounds” for lunch over the years but we made ours on top of English muffins.
Amy says
Great ideas!
Katherine says
Thank you for this post! Sharing your struggle and solution. You are a veteran homeschooler and mom and author of fantastic book on taming the chaos and building up your family through work, worship, routines.
To know you have been overwhelmed by the craziness of what should be such a simple and direct part of our daily tasks is such a comfort to me. I am SO challenged by meals! Am most inspired by how you stepped off the crazy train: taking it to prayer!!
Like Cecilia below, we are grain free in our home. We have found such great impact on our health, behaviors, sleep, well being by keeping a Paleo kitchen. It is like a miracle. Worth the commitment. But is so much work! No instant cereal or easy bread. We do bake and eat fun foods. And have drawn the boys into the kitchen to help.
However, cannot continue spending so much time cooking and cleaning after breakfast and lunch. At some point we need more time to learn and discover!! (And read our Bibles, pray, pack, sort, return library books, put laundry away, write thank you notes, ride our bikes more than once a week…).
I am taking this to prayer and looking for inspiration to simplify and automate our daily meals!
Thanks,
Katherine
Amy says
Katherine – as I’m typing this, I am praying for you…I am certain the Lord will lead you to a great plan for your family!
Jennifer Lavallee says
What works for us is setting a day of the week lunch staple. Like Mondays-egg salad, Tuesdays- make your own pizza, Wednesdays- bean burritos, etc. Then it takes the guess work out if it. We know what day is for what lunches. Works for us!
Andrea says
My question – where do you buy a quality lunch meat that is affordable? I love to have that on hand, but paying $8.00 or more per pound is just too much!
We have to do simple as well, feeding 8 people for lunch. Well, I guess 7 since the baby nurses. But still! Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before, but simple sounds good to me! I would love to throw something in the crock pot in the morning and have a nice hot homemade nutritious meal for lunch everyday. That is not doable right now. My lunch break is over! Thanks for the post!
Amy says
There was a great special buy at Aldi today for deli meat called Never Any! I usually buy the best I can find at Aldi, and then limit the kids’ slices.
Dove says
I buy a whole ham at Costco (the Kirkland brand) here in Canada is about $25-30 for the whole thing. We are only 5 people, my kids are 3, 2 and 10 months, so I freeze it in portions so it lasts longer and then use the bone for soup. Its delicious, frugal and my kids love ham.
Rosella Keeny says
I had a friend who was a huge inspiration for me in this area. Because of sickness, she wasn’t even able to be up & around for many months. I was there to visit one day and joined them for lunch. The children laid a paper napkin on the table for everyone. They got jars of nut butters (several kinds) out, and put a knife in each. I think they may have had a jar of honey or jelly, though I’m not sure on that part anymore. They got a loaf of bread out, and cups of water for each of us. There was a piece of fresh fruit for everyone. We had a beautiful lunch! And when we were done, their individual cups were put away to be used later in the day, getting washed once a day. The only ‘dishes ‘ were the knives, the bread plate, and my cup. Now I realize many people are not ready to go quite that simple, but it was a tremendous blessing to me to see the total lack of pressure there. There was such a peaceful atmosphere in that home. There was no pressure to ‘conform’ just because a visitor was there. And then I asked myself, “Why don’t I want to go so simple?” I have tried this meal a few times and the children loved it. However, like many others, a few of us are now needing to eat gluten free. so it’s changing.
One favorite for my children is having cereal and fruit for lunch. I do this on days when we’ve had a heartier breakfast that didn’t include cereal. Another favorite of ours is burritos. For dinner I make rice and beans frequently. I purposely make too much. After dinner I lay out GF tortillas on the table and divide the leftover rice and beans on the tortillas. The little ones sprinkle shredded cheese on them and I wrap them up and put them in a glass baking dish. I either refrigerate or freeze them. They just need to be heated through. I hope these tips help soemone.
Amy says
Thank you!
Mrs boOts says
I am in this simple camp. With 5 children and a chronic illness, my children (9 and under) make their own lunch of peanut butter, crackers, cheese, and yogurt. For snacks, they help themselves to fruit. I only cook one meal each day– dinner. For breakfast, I put steelcut oats in water on warm in the crockpot before I go to bed. By morning, it’s done, and all the kids have to do is get bowls and add milk. Simplicity is my friend!
Stephanie says
We do a rotation for lunch. Monday is scrambeled eggs and toast, Tuesday is pb & j, wed is ramen noodle, Thursday is tortilla pizzas, Friday is black beans. All can be made fairly quickly and the ingredients are always kept on the grocery list and I never have to think about what we are having, just make what is planned for the day. I serve fruit and veggie with the meals and call it good.
Natalie says
Pasta salad (or even just noodles w/ oil & Italian spices) is my back-up when we’re out of leftovers and I forgot to plan or shop. I’ve also found a vegetable juice that works well as a soup base, and then throw in some frozen pirogies/ravioli/etc. Otherwise, we almost always have last night’s dinner leftovers.
Josi says
In our house I don’t think anything can top the easiness of just throwing together a sandwich. When my kids were little I did a lot of meat & cheese & cracker plates with carrot sticks or veggie and a piece of fruit. At one point I started putting as much of it as possible on a skewer and it became a whole new meal to the kids!
It’s easy to get stuck in a rut so sharing ideas with others like this is great. I know I can always use some new ideas and new recipes.
Lisa says
The skewers is a great idea, I’ll have to give that a try sometime!
Rebecca says
I hate lunch time! We lose our momentum some days and I don’t just mean the kids! Me too!! I’m kind of in a rut with my own lunches, I try to get my E meal in during lunch (THM) so I usually do a salad. Sometimes oatmeal. Leftovers are good for the kids and, like you, I keep a variety of things around like lunch meat (I buy Aldi’s lunch meat, it’s about $3.75 or so for a big pack) and bread or tortilla shells. Shredded cheese. Salad fixings. I’ve been home schooling for 16 years and lunch is still a thorn in my side. Some days supper is too!!
Amy says
Ha! Same here! I lost a lot of my desire to cook in the past year or so. Still trying to get it back.
Heather Wawa says
Soup, salad, sandwich are our go-to lunches as well. In addition, we throw in another “s” though, Smoothies! Those tend to replace soup in the hot months.
Jenny says
We recently adopted 2 children. Adding the 2 adopted children in to our homeschool day with my other 3 children certainly made for lunch time becoming a stress. One of the biggest and simplest changes I made was using paper products. I didn’t have time and the kids didn’t have time to be unloading and loading the dishwasher after breakfast and lunch – so we switched to paper goods for breakfast and lunch and save the nice plates for dinner. Clean up is quick and easy now and homeschooling can get going again after lunch. Though I don’t love using paper products, for this season of life it’s been a huge help!
Emelia says
My best friend is one of 11 children and I always loved meal times with them. They are Russian so culturally they center meals around tea and they would usually have a soup and bread, sliced up veggies and fruit. But it was so casual! I don’t think I even had a ‘meal’ to American standards there ever. Sometimes they just emptied the fridge contents on to plates and that was it. But the most important part was prayer first, tea and everyone came to the table no matter what they were doing. I miss it now we are grown!
Amanda says
Hi everyone. So question what do you do if you have a picky eater who won’t eat but a handful of foods? Do u make two different meals or let them go hungry?
Amy says
Our rule is “you have to try it”. I do not make another meal, but if after trying it, they don’t like it, they either wait until snack time (and the snack must be healthy) or they make something for themselves. A palette that appreciates a wide variety of foods needs interaction with those varieties of foods, and palettes do changes, so I have them try the foods every single time. Often, foods they thought “sounded” yucky turn out to be quite tasty. 😉
Amanda says
I’m so happy I asked this question! Thank you for your response!!
Ps. I also enjoy reading your info on homeschooling. I have two little ones, and so we are just starting our homeschool journey and like most new homeschooling families I’m terrified I won’t be enough and so I enjoy your encouragement! You’re awesome :-))
Hugs-
Amanda
CabotMama says
When I first saw the title in my email’s inbox, I thought “Oh, great. Another guilt trip about how I am messing up lunch.” Much to my surprise & delight, I have been making Amy’s simplified lunch for the last five years of homeschool! I rarely turn on the stove or oven to make lunch. We don’t eat much soup here in the South. The weather is only cold enough for it six to eight weeks out of the year. My kids suffer thru salad at dinner – my four year old calls it “salace” her own combination of lettuce & salad combined – so I don’t bring out lettuce at lunch. However, they will happily devour a plate of carrot sticks, pickles, olives, cheese, and fresh fruit with a side of greek yogurt for protein. That’s my version of lunchtime “salad” for my Littles. And then there are sandwiches. My picky eater loves peanut butter and for several years it was the only form of protein she consistently ate. (She regularly declined dinner and waited until morning before eating again, so I made sure she had peanut butter at lunch.) I think I have made over 3000 peanut butter sandwiches in the last three years. Sigh. I change it up with the fresh fruit on the side or serve on tortillas instead of bread. My kids love mini-pizzas, but they eat too much of them without filling up and I think I’d go broke if I served them often. We never have leftovers. As a family of six using recipes for 4-6 servings, I am lucky to have enough leftover for just my husband to take to work for lunch.
I keep lunch simple for my sanity. If we really need a change, we just take it outside on the porch and call it a picnic – until the wasps & bees figure out honey and/or fresh fruit are there and start dive-bombing our plates! That adds some extra excitement.
Thank you for a wonderful, encouraging post. I should’ve known that Raising Arrows never brings me guilt, but instead only uplifting words that are a balm to my weary soul.
Amy says
Great job, mama!
kimberly says
Great idea! The solution for me!
We call ours “shmookyshmock” 😉
chris says
Forgive me if someone already asked this question:
Do you have the kids choose any of these three options everyday or are you deciding ahead of time which of the three you will serve and that’s what everyone eats?
Thank you so much for your wisdom in this!!
Chris
Amy says
I’m choosing from those options, but they also know if they need to cook something on the fly, they have those options available as well.
Lecia says
So what I needed to read today! Listening to your podcasts and reading your posts is helping me so much as I get ready to welcome our 9th little one this coming winter. I know how it feels to suddenly be like, “This isn’t working! At all.” Thank you for sharing your journey!
Your soup salad sandwich ideas are amazing! I cook a hearty breakfast and dinner, but I’m always shocked that my people need to eat AGAIN in the middle of the day. Lately it’s been what we call a “scrounge” fest as everybody is just finding whatever easy food they can throughout the day. Which means lots of bread and fruit disappear quite rapidly! I’m going to get back to making a simple plan and sticking to it. Thanks again for the inspiration. 🙂
Amy says
You are so welcome!!!