healthy lunch Archives | Page 2 of 2

How To Create Easy, Healthy, Fun Lunches: The Make-Ahead Lunch Box Series

August 5, 2014 by Laura 51 Comments

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Ahhhhh, lunch. Whether you pack a lunch for yourself or your husband to take to work, send your kids to school with a lunch box, or eat lunch at home everyday – I believe every one of us can benefit from learning new make-ahead lunch ideas.

Since I’m not a fan of the sugar crashes, brain fog, or grumpiness that come after eating or feeding my kids empty carbs and processed foods, nor do I have time to cook complicated meals in the middle of a busy work/school day – I thought putting together a series of posts which include healthy make-ahead lunch ideas would be fun. Are you with me? Do you want some fresh new lunch box ideas? Do you have some ideas of your own to share?

Introducing: The Make-Ahead Lunch Box – a new series here at Heavenly Homemakers.

The Make-Ahead Lunch Box

Sandwiches are great, and in fact, I’m hoping to put together a fun post full of great sandwich ideas within this series. (Have any to share? Leave a comment to let me know!) But packed lunches, make-ahead lunches, and quick pull-out-of-the-fridge lunches can go way beyond sandwiches.

Healthy food that can be prepared ahead of time, then slipped into a lunch box or onto the table with minimal effort? Oh yes, bring it on.

From allergy friendly, to picky kids, to figuring out how to include plenty of fruits of vegetables – I think we’re all going to have a lot of fun together as we learn new recipes, tips, and ideas. So let’s get started right away!

Baked Potatoes in the Crock Pot – a perfect, ready made lunch

August 14, 2013 by Laura 8 Comments

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Baked potatoes are the best!

baked_potato_3

The making baked potatoes in the crock pot idea is rocking my world almost as much as the freezing muffin batter idea. I love it when delicious, simple, and healthy all come together in the same sentence (and on our plates).

Now that we’ve started school, I really need easy lunches that don’t take long to prepare. (Which is funny to say, because it’s not like on non-school days I look for meals that are difficult and time consuming. Easy, real food cooking is the way I roll.) The food I’ve made and put into my freezer has helped a ton. I also decided to try throwing potatoes into the crock pot on “hi” instead of “low” one day so they’d be done by lunchtime. It worked perfectly.

Then, I rewarmed some leftover roast and gravy, thinking that would taste great on the potatoes. (It did.) We have garden fresh green beans, plus we’ve been picking loads of tomatoes and peppers. This lunch went together so easily, was very filling, and super nourishing!

baked_potato_meal

It was also so pretty that I had to take a picture.

The point of this story: Crock pot baked potatoes are going to be a regular lunch around here. And the other point of this story (or rather, a reminder and encouragement): It is very easy to add fruits and vegetables to a meal to add lots of extra nutrients. We are blessed to have access to such variety. Don’t hold back on fruits and veggies!

What are some of your favorite, quick, healthy lunches?

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Healthy, Inexpensive Lunches – What Are Your Favorites?

May 22, 2012 by Laura 38 Comments

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Making 36 sandwiches yesterday got me to thinking about lunch ideas…

In the past, I’ve shared with you that our family does not eat many sandwiches, unless we’re on the road. Why? Because my family of six knows how to put away a large amount of food three times a day. By the time I purchase a decent quality lunch meat, whole wheat bread, and mayo I feel good about feeding our family, I can spend between $15 and $20 just on sandwiches for one meal. I could spend less if I bought cheaper lunch meat, but I don’t wanna and you can’t make me. ;) Thinking about how lunch meat is processed, and knowing what is added to the meat makes my face curl up in unattractive ways. It is best if I don’t go there.

Instead of sandwiches, our family enjoys much less expensive, much healthier meals during lunchtime each day. In an effort to share my ideas and get new ideas from all of you too, I thought it might be fun for us to talk about our favorite healthy (and quick) lunches.

Look through my archive of menu plans to read through lunches we fix regularly. As long as I have a plan, I can typically get lunch on the table very quickly. Don’t assume that sandwiches are faster to make than other lunches. Be creative and have fun. And take advantage of these Make Ahead Meal ideas which make warming up a pre-prepared healthy lunch a snap.

In case you don’t have this yet, we’d love for you to download our FREE Healthy Lunch List. Just click, print, and place this list on your fridge (or another handy location) to give you lots of fun lunch time inspiration!