Not in the UK - main meal here is lunch. Days start early and primary school kids eat their packed breakfasts together in class.
Yesterday was homemade waffles for breakfast and lunch (you can hide veg and ground nut in them!). DS had Camembert and honey on his, DH apple sauce. I also had the leftover beans masala (Meera Sodhul, Guardian) from Friday for lunch. Then, spaghetti carbonara for tea. I‘d bought ‚irregular ham slices‘ from the butcher, which turned out to be the scrag end of a ham. Once we‘d carved off what we could for sandwiches, the rest was cubed into the carbonara. One portion went into the freezer. DS took a leftover waffle as part of his packed breakfast today.
Today was chicken curry - kormaesque - in the slow cooker. DS comes home for lunch on Monday, and DH and I are both wfh. I ended up getting a horrible migraine, so DH cooked up some instant noodles for the curry for him and DS. Unorthodox, but both enjoyed it! He served it with salad for him and sliced pepper for DS. One extra portion for the freezer, and one for the fridge. I had salty breadsticks and will try a leftover waffle for tea.
Tomorrow I‘m wfh and DS goes to his grandma‘s for lunch. I‘ll have the fridge curry, but with rice. Then am off shopping for this week‘s fresh ingredients- DS takes a substantial packed breakfast to school every day and we‘re running short on veg, fruit, and plain yoghurt (which we mix with jam/honey/oats). DS will take overnight oats in his packed breakfast, made with the leftover apple sauce from Sunday‘s waffle toppings.
Wednesday, DS has his main meal at school. I‘m in the office, so will take overnight oats (yoghurt, nuts, jam or chutney) for breakfast and treat myself to something from the subsidised canteen, where a substantial lunch is under €5. DH will do pasta for himself with either pesto (we have basil growing on the windowsill) or a sauce with tinned tomatoes, garlic and random herbs.
Thursday, DS eats his main meal at school. DH and I will have schnitzel with fried egg, chips and salad (bought a larger pack than usual from the butcher last week). Tea is a free for all.
Friday is use-up day. We all get a smoothie from whatever needs using up in the fruit bowl for breakfast, often fleshed out with frozen berries, oats and ground nuts. DS eats lunch at school. We‘re both wfh on Friday, might do an adapted Tom Kerridge vegetarian enchiladas with bean/cream cheese filling. It’s a Covid recipe designed to use pantry staples. It’ll use up the tub of cream cheese and I’ll use fresh pepper, tomatoes, onion and garlic in the sauce - it‘s a forgiving recipe!
Saturday‘ll be a free for all between DS‘ football and athletics meet-ups. He and I‘ll be making chocolate crispy cakes on Friday for the athletics bake sale - they’re not known here, so are considered a bit of a delicacy!
Packed lunch for a trip out on Sunday. Fresh rolls with various fillings, boiled eggs, fruit, veg, cubed cheese, rice cakes and some sweet stuff.
We tend to have a lot of staples in the pantry and improvise around the fresh ingredients. It’s also surprising what you can freeze! We have a lot of freezer veg (great for soup or a quick side, or a filling for a curry). We buy grains in bulk - 10kg rice from the Indian shop, 10kg red lentils from the Turkish shop, 10kg pasta from the pasta factory 15km away. And lots of spices.
We also have a lot of use-it-up recipes - family pizza where we split the rectangular base up with spaghetti strands and everyone does his own toppings from the fridge is a favourite!