Saturday morning is wonderful. Once your children are old enough, they will probably head into the toy room or plop themselves in front of the television for some cartoons, letting you sleep in for at least another 30 minutes. Maybe even more! They may even be able to feed themselves breakfast, giving you a chance to wake up slowly and enjoy some quite time with coffee and some reading.
Saturday morning around our house consists of the dogs waking us up first to go outside, then the girls wake up sweetly talking to each other. After a breakfast that often consists of too many wonderful sweets and meats, the hubby teaches guitar lessons and the kids play with their toys or watch a movie. This gives me a much coveted chance to clean my house. I work and work and before you know it, noon is approaching. The sugar has worn off, the movie is over, the toys are dull, and the lessons are over. In the midst of all of my cleaning and organizing, I forgot to fix lunch. Again. So I have a few stand-bys for the days when the cleaning overwhelms my ability to plan. Mixing and matching makes lunch-time fun for us.
Fruit and Veggies
A must in any house, for certain, but don’t stress about having a lot of variety. Carrots and ranch dressing is a favorite. Grapes and apples are great because they aren’t as perishable but I always have some mandarin orange slices or applesauce in the pantry. Always. There isn’t a lunch that goes by without some fruit even if there isn’t a vegetable.
There are a lot of companies that sell premade chicken nuggets that can be microwaved quite well. Another option is to make your own and freeze them in small batches. The fun thing here is a variety of dipping sauces. Most condiments last a while so you don’t feel that you are buying a honey mustard only to have it wasted after one or two meals.
PB & J
Really, do I need to say more? The fun thing about peanut butter and jelly is actually the variety. Cut the sandwiches into different shapes or numbers of pieces. This is especially fun with kids learning to count. Mix and match different jellies and add Nutella to your pantry as a way to jazz up the traditional sandwich. For really special occasions, try some marshmallow fluff or banana slices!
Crunchy but Healthy
There are a lot of snacks out there that have a bit of crunch to them that satisfies and takes time to consume. It also cuts down on too much chatter at lunch. The trick is to either find snacks that are healthy or that are pre-packaged in small portions. The pre-packaging helps out in our family because there isn’t an open bag or box calling out for more helpings.
Frozen…Anything
As a treat at the end of the meal before a little nap time or rest time, you don’t want anything too sweet, especially if breakfast was of the sweet variety. Bananas, grapes, and kool-aid are just a few examples of things that can be frozen to give the impression of a frozen treat that is much higher in calories and sugar than it actually is.
