Please could you tell me what you have for lunch?

[thestylethatdecadesforgot]

DH works from home 3 days of the week so we all eat together. The other two days me and 2 DDs (2.7 and 6m) sit and eat lunch at the table and weekends we are all together. But, every day we have bread, ham, cheese (medium cheddar and/or edam as kids and DH don't like strong cheese) and veg crisps or 'nice' crisps, sometimes soup too, sometimes eggs.

My DH hates having essentially the same thing every day and I'm desperate for suggestions. Could you tell me what you have please? He doesn't have any ideas what he would like instead. I meal plan for the evening meals but I can't face trying to come up with two weeks of lunches as well. I don't want to have to cook at lunch times really!

Amy suggestions would be gratefully received!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

At the moment I'm into the hairy dieters bacon and eggs and their tuna Nicole wraps.

[thestylethatdecadesforgot]

Thanks OhMy, they sound great, ill give them a go.

Thanks everyone for the ideas, it's given me a good few things to try. Have to do the same for breakfast now, that's even more boring!

[atthewelles]

Scrambled egg on toast
Hummus on toast
Cheese on toast

Lots of toastie things really.

[OhMyNoReally]

Cheese scones

8oz sr flour
Pinch of mustard
4oz cheese grated
5 fl oz milk
Half tsp salt
2oz marg
1 egg

Rub in flour, marg, mustard, salt, add 3oz cheese to mix, stir in egg and milk until you have a dough. Roll out quite thick. Brush with milk and top with remaining cheese. Bake at 200 for 15 mins

[TotemPole]

What does your DH eat on the days he doesn't work from home? Does he take a pack up or get something from the sandwich bar/supermarket.

If you like tuna, salmon, and chicken you could do pasta salads with sweetcorn, chopped pepper and mayo. Make enough for a few days, it keeps in the fridge ok.

We like having wraps. Either chicken and salad with a bit of mayo or chicken caesar with lettuce and some red pepper.

Also bagels with ham and/or cheese with salad, or cream cheese.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

"Does anyone find that lunch gets quite expensive?"

It can do, that's why I make soup :) Yesterday's contained a few leeks, potatoes, onions and celery... probably cost £1.50 the lot and it'll last me at least four days. Olives and avocados are fairly luxury items but, if you stack it up against buying a sandwich from a bakers, I suppose it's all relative.

[AlohaMama]

Tinned olives? Buy in bulk? I agree avocados are probably expensive but you don't need to have them every day. Soup is usually cheap, as you can buy reduced veggies that are a little past their best, and they taste fine in soup. If I have veg that are just about to go off, then I make soup. Stale bread makes croutons. Cheap as chips!

[thestylethatdecadesforgot]

Aah, yeah! It's coming back to me now, thanks!

Does anyone find that lunch gets quite expensive? If I just bought a tub of olives and a few avocados, it would last one, maybe two lunch times and I think it'd be more expensive than a lump of cheese and some ham.

[OneLittleToddlingTerror]

Quesadillas are like Mexican paninis, in tortilla wraps. You put one in a frying pan, add cheese, then anything you like. I usually add things like avocado, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes. Fold the tortilla in half, press with spatula. Take our from pan, cut into wedges, serve. If you are making a lot, then just use two tortilla in one go, and cut it like a pizza.

[AlohaMama]

We're in similar situation. We eat:
soup
omlettes (can never spell that)
boiled egg
toasted cheese sandwiches/tuna melt
leftovers
baked potatoes
rice cakes with cheese/tuna etc.
quesadillas (ds 22 mo loves these) - put flour tortilla in dry non-stick frying pan, sprinkle with grated cheese plus ham/avocado/sliced tomatoes/olives/tuna etc etc, put 2nd tortilla on top, press down, fry a few minutes till it starts to brown and crisp, then flip over and fry on the other side. Take out and slice into wedges. Easy!

[thestylethatdecadesforgot]

OhMyNoReally, could you tell me your cheese scone recipe please? Thank you!

[thestylethatdecadesforgot]

Wow thanks everyone! I think I will try the soup at the beginning of the week. Can someone enlighten me, what are quesadillas?

I'd forgotten pittas, we love pittas or wraps, will get some from the Greek supermarket, better value than supermarkets!

Last week we were put for lunch and I had a lovely mackerel salad but I did it for dinner this week and I forgot about all the bones! Which spoils it for me :( any ideas where to find deboned mackerel??

I haven't made quiche for ages, must put that back on the menu. And hot dogs, genius! Hopefully they wouldn't have horsemeat in them!

Thank you, please keep the ideas coming!

[bunjies]

Obviously that should read big salads & not bug salads

[bunjies]

I often cook extra for dinner so we can have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Bug salads with chicken or smoked mackerel, avocado, olives etc. Have some bread on the side.

Pate & crackers or baguette.

A new favourite is avocado, cheese & ham quesadillas cut into wedges.

[JustCallMeFish]

Boiled eggs and soldiers
Scrambled egg on toast
Pilchards on toast
Mackerel on a crusty cob
Mackerel with pasta
Beans on toast
Tuna, cucumber, spring onion sandwich
Tuna with teriyaki sauce
Cheese on toast
Occasionally leftovers

In the summer it's mainly sandwiches and chopped veg or fruit or yogurt of some sort.

Have three little ones so its only ever quick, cheap and filling lunches.

And tea cakes, scotch pancakes, or crumpets for an after school snack before tea. Again, in the summer it's usually fruit and yogurt.

Tea we cook from scratch and have a pudding.

[OhMyNoReally]

Oh I forgot goats cheese and caramelised onion tart and we often have bruschetta too. :)

[OhMyNoReally]

Basil oil and balsamic to dip bread into, salami, Parma ham, Comte cheese and some olives.
Quesadillas
Baked fish, salsa and wraps.
Croissants, cheese and tomato soup
Mushrooms on toast
Tea loaf, cheese and apples
Kippers and brown bread
Stuffed chillis and rice
Cheese scones, ham and pickles

These are some of my families favourites.

[craftynclothy]

Sometimes ham sandwiches (I'm not hugely keen on them but will have them every now and again). I like branstons onion relish in mine rather than butter.

Lentil & Veg soup if we have lots of veg leftover. It usually lasts us a few days.

Muffin with scrambled egg and/or bacon.

Boiled eggs with toast.

Smoked mackeral with salad (usually bagged salad to save making any)

Salad with chicken/turkey (leftover from previous night) with coleslaw

Beans/Hoops on toast

Sometimes probably far too often have terrible lunches like fish finger sarnie, cake, bagel with tons of butter, crisps and chocolate bar

[OldBeanbagz]

Soup, baked potatoes, beans on toast/potato waffles are all good winter lunches. I also love toasted sandwiches and sardines or banana on toast.

Sometime i'll have leftovers from the night before - risotto, pasta or dahl & rice. Occasionally a piece of pizza with coleslaw or a cold sausage sandwich.

But most of the time i just have a sandwich. Either cheese, banana, houmous and very occasionally ham.

[SquigglePigs]

I have jacket potatoes a lot when I'm at home - they just get chucked in the oven. You can vary the toppings to make it seem like you're eating something different every day. Grated cheese for a lazy day. Re-heated leftovers...

Baked beans on toast (with a fried egg on top!) is a nice easy lunch. Or smoked salmon and scrambled eggs (the "scraps" packs from the supermarket are cheap) on toast.

If you have chilli or something like that the night before you could stuff leftovers in a pitta or wrap for a change for lunch.

Or even just toasted sandwhiches make a nice change from a regular sandwich.

[41notTrendy]

Soup. We do a fridge soup most weeks which does us 2/3 days. Sandwiches yes, but pittas are also a favourite with all sorts, hummus, cheese, salad, tuna. Muffins. Pizza sometimes. Hot dogs always go down well!

[OneLittleToddlingTerror]

For packing, it means leftovers that can be frozen for you, obviously! Since you are eating at home.

[OneLittleToddlingTerror]

By the way I hate having the same thing everyday. That's why I'm not a sandwich person. What I do, as you already have guessed, is meal plan, meal plan and more meal plan. My meal plan for the week includes my lunches. I make sure I cook some meals that can be packed every week. (Like my aubergine and potato curry). I also create a freezer stash when bulk cooking in the weekend. At the moment, my freezer has mini burgers and mini quiche. A couple of 5-min dish in your repetorie also helps. (For me it is fried rice and fried noodles).

I also follow this website justbento.com/ I learned the zen of packing good lunches from it when I was pregnant with DD. Once you learned the habit, it's really easy. (Back to the art of meal plans).

[OneLittleToddlingTerror]

Today I have aubergine and potato curry, rice with mung daal. Leftover from last night's dinner. I still have more aubergine and potato curry for tomorrow. Yum!

[womblingalong]

Salad, last night's leftovers, hummus and pitta and grated carrot or roasted peppers, soup, cheese on toast and salad.