Quick 'healthy' lunch ideas

[hjscho]

I am in need of ideas for quick, yet healthy food for me for lunch. I spend all my time sorting out 20 month DS and 5 week DD and find I am too hungry to take the time to make a decent lunch. I am breastfeeding, so I am aware that the measly bowl of shredded wheat I just had for lunch is not really going to be all that nutritious. Oh yes....and I am veggie (hence why I tend not to eat with DS who eats meat and fish).

you could do various sauces for pasta you could cook it before hand and store in tubs in fridge, good luck!

make a sarnie int he mornign

I don't eat meat and DS doesn't eat fish unless orange and rectangular I can't remember what I made for lunch when DS was on proper meals and DD was purely breastfed but here are some quick things we do now:

Pasta with tom sauce (with hidden veggies) and ham for DCs. Make the tom sauce the night before or in advance and freeze.

Jacket potatoes with cheese and baked beans.

Something with lots of lentils for me (eg Dahl) that I eat with rice or couscous while DCs have meat casserole. Again, make in advance so you just have to cook the rice and some veg at lunchtime. They are free to taste my dish and have along or instead of theirs.

Big salad. Eg if DCs are having pasta, chicken and green beans, I mix cooked pasta and green beans, tomatoes and boiled egg with dressing. It doesn't matter if the veg and pasta are lukewarm. DS is four now and often mixes all his food up and says it's a salad.

Veg casserole with chickpeas for protein.

cook noodles in boiling water - 3 mins
chop up a pepper and flash fry in wok
add cooked noodles and splash soy sauce
other stuff if you like - spring onions, chilli sauce, etc etc etc
the list is endless
hey presto

soup and bread

We're veggie too and sometimes find we settle for beans on toast a little too often.
As suggested soup is a good one. I made some yummy split pea soup a while back and the kids happily ate it with bread.
Just a thought but why don't the kids eat veggie at lunchtime and then you could all eat together? If you want them to have meat and fish they could have this at tea time. Do you all eat tea/dinner together though?
Hmmmm want soup as really cold but have Slimming World tonight so don't dare.

Couscous with some tinned chickpeas/ red kidney beans, sweetcorn, cherry toms, spring onions, peppers or anything else chucked in.
(I usually do the couscous in a tupperware, pour boiling water and seal the lid and leave for 5mins)

Pasta with pesto and salad.

Pitta bread with hummus and salad.

Make enough at dinner to have left-overs for lunch the next day.

Pasta with chopped fresh tomatoes and basil and any kind of cheese. Cook the pasta, melt a little butter in a pan or use olive oil, add tomatoes, stir for a minute or two, add basil and cheese, add pasta, stir, eat. Fresh pasta in a bag from the supermarket is even quicker. And you can add spring onions, courgettes, peppers or any other kind of veg you like.