Quick (healthy-ish) summer holiday lunches???

[anonymousbird]

.. the prospect of sandwiches every day is slightly depressing, but equally to avoid spending the entire 8 weeks catering, our holiday lunches need to be quick and easy and suit all three of us (me, DS5 and DD4).

Reasonably unfussy children and lots of salad in the garden, but they wouldn't eat it at every meal...

Any suggestions gratefully received!!!! TIA

Ds is obsessed with tortillas at the moment, just throw in a bit of salad, some chicken or ham, fold it up and he's sorted!
He usually has a filled tortilla, a yoghurt and some cheese. Creature of habit, but I can't complain, its quick and easy!

My mother used to do what she would call a 'snack' lunch every so often which would consist of chopped up apple, chopped up cheese, a few crisps on the plate and a few other snacky healthy things that I can't now remember.

For some reason it worked because dressed up as 'a snack' it sounded fun but actually it was a really healthy lunch (other than the crisps) and really easy for her to do.

Thats what we have at lunchtime really, I tend to just put healthy(ish) 'snacks' on a plate rather than do a set meal.

Sandwiches, tortillas, crumpets, syrup pancakes, muffins, fruit, cheese, dips, that sort of thing.

Thank you, this is all really helpful. Lots of bits does make it a bit more interesting for sure. We discovered tortilla toasties at Easter actually, which are so quick and a real winner.

My two as well, get unbelievably excited about having their lunch outside or on a picnic blanket (even just in the garden) so the most basic and quickest of lunches does take on a whole new level of excitement.. with the bonus that DDog can hoover up the bits!!!

I would also recommend doing your own tuna filling for sandwhiches, pita breads, muffins and whatever else sort of bread you'd like. Use a can of tuna, drain, flake in bowl and mix in a couple of table spoons of mayo or my favorite cream fresh, you can also put in a table spoon of ketchup for making more palatable for smaller children. Then mix in some veg (spring onion, sweet corn, peppers, cucumber etc). If you want to make a melt spread on muffins or panini or other bread and have a bit of grated cheese on top. Grill in oven for a few minutes until the cheese is browned. Its a lot quicker to make and keeps in the fridge for a couple of days if you make up a bigger batch.

Sandwitches offer such a huge array of variety that they really are the best thing for quick easy lunches.

Think outside the box though. Vary the bread (sliced, wraps, rolls, bageels, pita bread, muffins, baguette, etc etc) and then vary the fillings. Almost anything can be used to fill a sandwitch, but usually aim for at least two things, if not three.

Left-over bolognese makes a great sandwitch filling with some lettuce and grated cheese.

Left over curry is lovely stuffed into pita with some salad and mango chutney.

Don't forget toasties, anything can be put in them and heated up, it doesn't have to be cheese.

Soup and bread is also quick and easy.

Eggs are awesome for quick meals.

Oooh, bolognese sarnies sound delicious! I'm going to save some next time I make it!