I'd love to hear what everyone else eats and serves their kids for lunch!

We also have a sandwich grill.  With this we make sandwiches from leftovers.  My 16 year old LOVEs spaghetti sandwiches.

gee, hope this helps!! :)

I will make a huge pot of spaghetti and meatballs, I'll freeze the sauce and the meatballs, since I don't know how to can  right yet. Then I'll defrost as much as I need. I usually separate it into portions for lunch since my DH won't eat spaghetti.

I make a huge pot of Pepper  steak too.....I had a wonderful recipe for crock pot version....then I'd freeze the left overs in serving sizes and they would heat this up as well in the boiling water with it in the bag..like bag of rice they boil...etc. My dh won't eat this either..Laughing......so we just eat things like this for lunch.

My kids love broccoli casserole too, mine only has like 5 ingredients and is easy to make. I'll make this for a get together with some friends once a month on birthday month and I'll make up extras too......they freeze well. I pull it out and eat it also. My dh won't eat this either.....Laughing.....see the pattern here? Laughing

Another thing that we do is sort of like a Mexican Pizza.....get your flour tortillas, and any toppings you might like. Taco meat....or chicken or anything, cheese, if they like bell peppers, chop them up finely or onions chopped finely...most the time my kids can't even tell I have them in the dish I chop them up so finely, and they get their veggies..though they are good at eating veggies anyway, but not onions and bell peppers. Put it all on the tortillas and cook it in the oven for say 5 minutes on 300-325....or till all the toppings are melted together and smell good. We even layer it also. With more than one tortilla.

I make nachos......all you need is a 1/2 lb or a lb or hamburger meat and some canned beans if you don't want to make them yourself, and some cheese. I cook up the hamburger meat, add a little bit of flour, and water to it, makes it like taco bell.....not so course and taste great...mix it together and cook it on the top of the stove in a pan with some spices like 2 tsp cumin, or cumino, and 2 tsp of chili powder, garlic salt, and onion powder. It is all to taste and nothing is added in it I don't know what is in it. IF you want better instructions on how to cook the hamburger meat, let me know. Then I put it on the chips and cook them in the oven for a short period at 325-350 F.

I will also vary sandwiches......I'll toast some bread, and make up some tuna salad, they love tuna, and I'll put it on the toasted bread, put cheese on it and then place it in the oven and melt the cheese. I call it a tuna melt and they like it.

They also love tuna casserole....LOL I know my family is weird.....My dh won't eat this either....so we have it only on days he is at the deer lease or for lunch.

I'll make up a bunch of pancakes, and get some link sausage and will roll them together and they like to have this for brunch or even for lunch with syrup. I freeze these also, and they just unwrap them and reheat them. They freeze well if you individually wrap them in saran wrap and then place them in a freezer Ziploc bag.

Last year we studied France and we made some crepes. There are many variations of this, and not just for breakfast either. They loved the making of the crepes and seeing how thin they could make it and how it turned out.

Get you a little house on the prairie cookbook and go with it. =) There are many kid friendly recipes that can be made, and remember most kids really like tortillas if they are allowed to put anything they like in them. My kids will just heat up a tortilla, and then place cheese in it, and sometimes will grill it on the stove, or they just heat it up in the microwave. MAKE SURE you heat them up in a tortilla holder and not just heat it up..they get hard and tough that way..Or wrap them in foil and do it in the oven. If you don't have a tortilla cooker for the microwave, then place two small saucers or plates together like a sandwich and heat them that way.

Hope this helps!

We usually have leftovers for lunch or bread with cheese. Sometimes Ds will make PB&J. We eat very simply here but that's what we're used to.

Breakfast on weekdays - oatmeal, farina, cornflakes, bran flakes

Brunch on weekends - eggs and toast, pancakes or French toast

Lunch - leftovers or bread with cheese

Dinner on weekdays- soup with bread or muffins, beans and rice, spaghetti, curry with rice, veggie stir fry, tuna pasta salad, homemade pot pie with cornbread crust, bean burritos

Dinner on Saturdays - bbq - turkey burgers, chicken quarters, turkey dogs - all with potato salad

Dinner on Sundays - roast turkey, roast lamb, chicken leg quarters, roast chicken - all with potatoes and veg and all used in soups etc... the rest of the week.

I don't serve snacks per se but the bread is always available for snacking and once a week, we'll bake brownies or cookies as a family treat.

Drinks are water, milk, decaf iced tea or hot tea. Kool-Aid is an occasional treat.

That sounds good... how do you make it?

My sons love sloppy joes, which are easy to make.

Also shepherd's pie. I'm sure I don't make it the way the English do, but I just put a layer of ground lamb (or beef, but then it's called something different - cottage pie, I think?) that's been browned with whatever spices you like, with a layer of mashed potatoes and grated cheese sprinkled on top - then baked until the cheese is melted and golden.

ALSO.......there is a thing most kids like here I found, since I cooked lunch last year for the private school we started going to..Cajun fries.

I get the Tony catchories..*SP* Cajun or Creole seasoning spices..make sure you get the original and not the HOT variety. The original has the red pepper in it, but not very much, the other, even being in Texas burns us out of the house..Laughing.

I cut up potatoes in wedges, and I spray them or you can brush them with a pastry  brush of olive oil. Then I sprinkle the Cajun spice on it and cook them at 350 till done.

Another thing I did was I made potato wedges, and cooked them, or you can purchase the frozen steak fries, and heat up some nacho cheese and some chili and they can eat their fries with the cheese and chili on them. Even though there isn't much meat, except in the chili, it is high in protein, and very nutritious.

Bake some potatoes, hallow them out, and leave the skin in tact. Mix the potato from the inside with favorite ingredients you like to put on baked potatoes...you can use bacon bits, or sour cream, and cheese and other things as well....mix it together, then put it back in the half potato shell and place in the oven for 30 minutes on 350-375 F, and let it get just a little bit toasted and brown....that is also good for lunch. Potatoes are good for giving you energy, and not using sugar.

Frito pie works wonders too....we are getting into junk food here, but it is good for you to a certain extent. =) Consists of Fritos, Cheese and Chili. You can add onions or anything you like....to taste.

It is important to start your day off with a meal.......food for the brain and they can concentrate better on a full....well not completely full tummy, but peanut butter is also excellent for this. Peanut butter and banana sandwich is great. =) Celery and peanut butter.

If they have a sweet tooth, I don't really eat this, too sweet for me, but mix some peanut butter with just a little syrup and put it on some toasted bread or even regular bread. My sister loves this and it is her signature sandwich..LOL she used to be a size 3 though, now she is toting some extra weight and I think this has something to do with it...Laughing........looking around.....she'd clobber me if she seen me write this.

I make Shepherd's pie also (although not like my English Gran did). I use ground turkey, browned mixed with gravy, top with mixed veggies and then top with mashed potatoes. Sometimes I add cheese but not always. It's DH's favorite meal.

Regina's easy Whole Wheat bread:

2 cups warm water
1/4 cup. oil (canola works good)
1/2 cup milk
put these in the microwave for 4 min. on high

Meanwhile: put in a mixing bowl
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1/4 cup brown or turbinado sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon yeast (I like quick rise)
1 teaspoon salt
mix these together and add the microwaved stuff

mix them well

(with dough hook on mixer, if you have one)

If you don't have that type of mixer, dump onto a clean surface and using a punch, turn, push motion, knead it until smooth and elastic. It should look kind of like a rubber band......when pulled a little ways, it will snap back when it breaks apart.

let it rest 20 min. and it should be ready:

pinch off pieces and roll into balls, take one at a time using a rolling pin (Or old glass bottle) roll them into flat round pieces, like mini pizza doughs.

fill, pinch, rise and bake....

It is really simple and the kids LOVE making their own!!!

You can also use the bread recipe to make "Tortillas" by just rolling them out and cooking them in a hot skillet until puffy and brown.

We then use these to wrap scrambled eggs for breakfast or tuna and chicken salad for lunch.

Or.... A real simple solution.....without the bread:

we take slices of lunch meat and roll them around string cheese, pear slices and apple slices.

Either of these recipes work well, with a good salad.... just remember ice burg lettuce has very little nutritional value, so we use Romaine, add cut up tomatoes or other veggies and it is a great sub for just soup and salad...

Green giant has frozen broccoli and cheese in the freezer section, cauliflower and cheese, and other mixed vegetables. we love those, sometimes we'll put them over a baked potato (even my two year old loves this stuff.)

Boxed rice dinners--I add frozen vegetables to that either. If it is chicken and broccoli, I'll add some more frozen broccoli. (my step-son commented one time that our boxes of rice come with more vegetables than his mom's :)

Frozen popcorn shrimp
of course ravioli and also mac n cheese.

most things that are convenience foods I try to add more vegetables to just to sneak in a bit more. no one really notices.