What's in your lunchbox? Easy, quick and yummy food for school!

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Hi Everyone,

Although I am not in NS yet, I am about to send out my applications this fall. In the mean time, I will be working toward an AA in Spanish,volunteering, and finishing up the BS requirements so I can bridge once I complete my AA in nursing.

Besides my passion for science, I have a huge passion for cooking. As a mom of 3 kids and a hungry husband, I guess I have learned to love cooking over the years.

While in school, I am always trying to think of great food to bring to school for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks depending on my current schedule! I would much rather eat a yummy, home cooked, fresh meal as it makes me feel I am taking extra care of myself. My classmates have been known to tease me of the big lunchbox I bring to school but at the same time they are always interested in what is in the bag!

Mostly I cook big dinners as my husband is a convert of taking his lunch to work and at least one of the 3 of our kids likes a homecooked hot lunch too. I am not a sandwich and granola bar girl although I do have the stuff on hand in a pinch.

I am looking for your ideas on your very favorite things to bring to school or clinicals. I'll share a few of mine. But, like I said, cooking is also a big passion and I realize not everyone will think my ideas are quick and easy.

Favorites for breakfast:

greek yogurt 0% fat, sprinkled with granola, sliced figs or blueberries, drizzled with honey and some lemon zest.

I have round zip lock container and I build it there and screw the lid on.

oatmeal with brown sugar and walnuts. I put it in my thermos and eat when I get to class or on early break.

Lunch or dinner:

I use my crockpot and add a bag of anytype of bean. My favorite are either pink beans, white beans, or pinto beans. Add a hamhock (at Whole foods they sell nitrate free hocks with lots of meat and little fat). I put that in the crock with water and cook all night on high. If I have time I add sliced carrots or onion. Maybe a can of diced tomatoes. But many times it is just the bean and hock and that is it. SO GOOD!!! In the morning the beans are soft and the meat falls off the bone. Put it in the thermos. I also make cornbread (I am a Jiffy cornbread fan) and take a slice to eat with my beans. If you are going to be gone all day, just turn that crock to low and keep cooking them till you get home. Talk about yummy beans. My dh or kids can come home and the beans are hot and cornbread is ready to slice. EASY!

I usually make an easy homemade spagetti once a week. I heat leftovers and put in my thermos, add a slice of garlic bread on the side and a small salad. If you have your salad fixins diced and put in the fridge in small containers on sunday, it is easy to throw together a small salad. Also, keep in mind these are small, lunch portions. I don't want to go to sleep after lunch, just enjoy a great meal.

Homemade mac and cheese (i have an easy recipe). Put in the thermos, add some diced roma tomatoes on top and side salad.

Left over couscous with a small piece of bbq chicken and leftover grilled veggies.

Main dish salad with protien of some sort. I will usually pick one type of salad and have a few times a week and so will dh so i am not reinventing the wheel each time. I am a big fan of the chopped bbq chicken salad. I'll grill a bunch of chicken for one of our dinners and dice the leftovers and put in a container ready to add. Drain a can of black beans and put in a container, frozen corn in the container, diced red pepper, jicama diced, monterry jack cheese, washed romaine, tortilla chips, cilantro. In the morning, i will pull out all of the containers and assemble a quick salad. it takes 5 minutes. then i have a small container for dressing and i pop it in lunchbox. The lids go back on my ingredients and back in the fridge in no time. No clean up or mess left in the kitchen. I do a fattoush salad this way or greek salad too and they are so much better than the salad bar salads.

Broccoli slaw salads are also good. You can get broccoli slaw at the store already made. I add walnuts, chicken, diced apple or grapes, tomatoes and any type of dressing. Very good and easy.

Quiche! I make mini quiche alot bc they are easy to take but more effort has to go into the front end. My favorite is asparagus and grueyere cheese. My kids also love to grab these for snack or a quick breakfast.

Snacks:

nothing beats a homemade chocolate chip cookie

homemade hummus, a few olives, pita, carrot sticks or red pepper strips

i am on the quest for great muffin recipes bc they make a nice snack too.

cheese sticks with a piece of ham or a few crackers.

diced cantelope, blueberries, or strawberries

I gave up coffee a few years ago (yes it was very hard) but i switched to tea because it is so yummy and good for you. I am a huge fan of tevana (www.tevana.com) bc they make it easy to bring tea along. I have a big thermos and make a mini "pot" to take each day. I love the white teas, rooibos and herbal teas from there. And yes, I do add some of the german rock sugar (just a little). My thermos keeps it hot all day. It I am there all day, i have one with a green or whitle tea and have the other for late afternoon or night with herbal chamomille (sp?). That way I am not stuck on a high and low of caffeine all day.

Part of the lunch packing is to have all the right tools on hand to make it easy to bring a hot lunch. I have several sizes of thermos for both food and teas, gel pacs in the freezer (enough for the whole family), a big enough lunch box for whatever I am bringing, ziploc bags, or tuperware big enough for my salads and the small ones for dressings. I have wipes ready to go, silverware and napkins nearby and then it goes pretty fast.

Last semester a few of my studymates and I would bring the occasional snack to share. It was so nice to show up for class and be given a juicy tangerine or fresh baked muffin. We did this back and forth all semester and it was really nice.

Ok, not sure if this is the place for this type of thread but thought since eating food is part of our school day it may work here.

I look forward to hearing your family favorites and yes, i do share recipes in case anyone wants any of the ones I mentioned.

Bon Apetit! MammaNurse2be

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MammaNurse2Be,

This is a great post! Although you have a ton of ideas already, I have two cookbooks to recommend. Robin Miller Quick Fix Meals and Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals. These two books have saved my tushie more than once when I've been in a bind. They both have simple meals with minimal ingredients.

I really enjoyed your meal ideas and I used to get the same response from coworkers when they saw how many different containers I brought my lunch in. :-)

Oh, one of the best things about the Robin Miller book is she has these meals she calls "morph" meals. The first night you make a base meal with a ton of leftovers, then the next 2-3 meals are made from the main part of the first meal. It saves a TON of cash & time! I found it easiest to make the main meal on Sundays that way when the crazy Monday rolled around, I had everything ready to make dinner and to avoid take-out.

Keep the recipe & snack ideas coming - this is totally up my alley... I love to cook and I'm dreading being so busy in Block 1 this Fall to keep up/

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Specializes in PICU/Pedi.

Makin' me hungry. :madface:

Seriously, good ideas! :yeah: Thanks!

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Thanks for the cookbook suggestions! I have watched Robin Miller but haven't tried any of her recipes. Think I'll look into that tomorrow. I like the idea of cooking one meal and turning it into another. Also, I'll check out Rachel Ray book next time I go to the bookstore! Happy Cooking!!

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Thanks for the cookbook suggestions! I have watched Robin Miller but haven't tried any of her recipes. Think I'll look into that tomorrow. I like the idea of cooking one meal and turning it into another. Also, I'll check out Rachel Ray book next time I go to the bookstore! Happy Cooking!!

Check out half.com or amazon.com for the cookbooks- they might be cheaper than the bookstore to purchase, but bookstores are so nice to have the book in front of you to look at.

Where did you find multiple thermos sizes? To be honest, I really haven't thought about that I won't have access to a microwave; that I know of anyway. I live just far enough away from school that I won't be able to come home on lunch break.

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I bought the thermos I use for meals at Target. It is a stainless steel type that wasn't too expensive. I have several on hand for husband or my kids.

For the tea, I bought one at tevana and the other I bought at Target on the aisle where the insulated mugs are located. The brand is miGo and the reason I like it is because it is bigger and the top serves as a small cup. Sometimes I'd rather drink like that than out of a big jug all the time. I like them because they keep tea hot or tea cold. I like iced tea alot too. :)

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How long does all that yummy food stay warm in the thermos?

I'm starting clinicals this fall and have to really save money and want to eat healthy too. Your ideas and snacks sound wonderful. Especially the beans!!

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What a great post - I am drooling on my keyboard!

Honestly, with having a family, working and going to school, I mostly just grab a sandwich and some of those 100 calorie packs of cheez-its and out the door I go. However, I think that you may have motivated me (via my stomach) to put a bit more effort into things!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, LTC, Rehab, HH.

wow, you should start a blog, or website. Great tips and recipes. MORE please!!

I like the idea of using your thermos for the hot things other than drinks. I NEVER thought of that. Does it keep it warm enough??

I have done the salad thing with the dressing in small containers, but the small containers leak. What type do you use?

Thanks for sharing!

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Specializes in Alzheimers and geriatric patients.

www.allrecipies.com

You can find just about any recipe here and it's free! I go there daily to look for lunch ideas for my kids. You can search for ingrediants, by recipe, etc...

You can also create a "recipe box" for easy referance and it will also print you a shopping list based on your chosen recipies. You can also post recipies of your own.

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Hi Lorba,

I usually leave the house by 7 am to take the first of my kids to school so I heat the food right before then. While the food is in the micro I fill the thermos with super hot water to pre-warm before adding the food. I eat lunch between 12 or 1ish and it has been fine. Not piping hot but more than adequate. If I have to be there all day, I'll have the hot meal for lunch and bring something cold such as the salad for dinner. I haven't tried keeping the food warm all day in the thermos. The tea seems to stay warm all day for some reason. The beans could not be easier. Another tip for the beans is to buy 4 bags, either the same or different kinds. Buy 4 hamhocks and keep them in the freezer. Each week, ususally Sunday night, pop open and bag and put in the hamhock. I really like to slow cook them so if adding a frozen hock, start them early in the day on high and at night you can turn to low and in the morning they are done. Each week you can have a different bean soup with cornbread or a nice sourdough roll. Whole foods has a nice selection of bread or buns.

Hi Sh1901, once you try hot lunch, it is really so comforting to have during the day. You feel really satisfied and can save you lots of money. You could also whip up several of your own 100 calorie snacks at the beginning of the week. Ziploc makes the smaller containers specifically for that purpose. I hate plastic but these are convenient and at least reusable. They sell mini bags of micro popcorn which you could pop and add some nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit (dried banana is good) or seeds. One mini bag could be divided by you and another family member once you add the extra goodies and that makes a good snack.

Hi Len-Rn,

I did dabble in a blog for a super short bit but was embarrassed to let friends and family know so then I wasn't sure who my target audience would be. Maybe I'll try again and let you all know! I grew up having two grandmothers who were great cooks. One was Mexican-American so thus all the good bean ideas and the other was a good ole country cook from the Ponder, Texas which is why I love to bake. When I married about 12 years ago I couldn't boil water. I remembered those Sunday dinners long ago and really wanted to have my family want to come home and bring all their friends to eat good food and be together. So, I have been on the quest to learn to cook and gather good recipes. I still associate good food with comfort and being taken care of. I give food for gifts and thank-yous and for just because. You can usually count on a big dinner at my house! Ok,way more than you wanted to know but that is where my passion comes from! For the salad dressings, I have small rubbermaid containers, again bought from target. I believe pyrex has some glass containers with plastic lids that could also work but they would be heavier to carry around. Again, I am not a big fan of plastic but the rubbermaid provides a good seal, is the right size, and reusable. Good luck!

Hi Mimi B,

Allrecipes is one of my favorite sites! Have you tried the Amish white Bread? Oh my it is addictive and super easy. What are some of your favorites?

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Specializes in Alzheimers and geriatric patients.

I really love the amish breakfast casserole! It tastes yummy even cold so you can throw a piece in your Lunchbox!

For easy dinners I like sour cream enchiladas, double baked potatos, and these weird porkchops(can't remember the name). You put mayonaise, butter and cheese over them and bake. Sounds weird but they are sooo tender!

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