Step by Step: Save Lunchtime and 10 Meal Ideas

Lunch happens every day. And what do we do every day? We look up from our marketing or writing or phone-calling stupor, force our eyes to focus on the clock's digits, and mutter, "Lunchtime already?" immediately followed by, "What are we going to eat for lunch?"
You know that definition of insanity credited to Albert Einstein? "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." That's what we do with lunchtime. And if Susan Powter were here, we know what she would say.

Stop the insanity. It's time to change.

1) Plan it like you mean it. I've made menu plans before. They were so pretty. They sounded so good. They looked great posted on the refrigerator. That was their sole use, however: bringing a little beauty to the kitchen. I didn't use them. I spend an hour or so creating them for nothing. There's no one to blame for that but me: I do the shopping, I do the cooking. It's up to me to plan and then to do the plan. So for lunchtimes, don't make my menu mistakes. Follow the steps below to make your plan, and then live your plan. New plans are always a little uncomfortable at first, just because they're different. But as you practice persistence, they become easy, familiar, and more comfortable than the old ways.

2) Simplify your lunches. Lunch should not be an elaborate meal. Actually, no meal really has to be elaborate; the only obligations we have to wear are the ones we put onto ourselves. Shrug off some five-portion, evenly divided lunch plate picture you have in your head. This is real life. Tis better to eat something than to eat nothing. Nutritional balance can be divided out over a whole day, or even a week. Don't be a slave to the food pyramid, the advertisements, the mental images summoned from who knows where to haunt you when you open the refrigerator door and see only peanut butter and a half glass of orange juice.

3) Supply yourself. You've been freed from the tyranny of an elaborate, cooked lunch. Decide on some easy, simple, so simple they almost make you feel stupid lunches, and then go get the supplies. Stock up. Get enough for at least the full week. If you want a distraction on Wednesday afternoon so you can procrastinate on finishing that project, fine, you can "make a quick grocery run," but don't let it be because you need lunch. Supper, maybe, but not lunch...

4) Prepare, prepare, prepare. If you have time when you get home from your grocery trip to purchase these lunch supplies, stop right then and do all you can to prepare them for the actual eating. Wash the fruit. Cut the celery and carrots up into little dipping sticks. Slice the cheese. If you made things as simple as I hope you did, you don't need much prep work so it won't take you very long. Go ahead and do it now. If you can't do it when you're putting things away, then take a few minutes every night as you clean up from dinner and get lunch items ready for the next day. If your husband or older children take lunches with them, pack it up. If you have younger children who all need attention at the same time, you might go ahead and fill individual plates, cover them, and put them in the refrigerator. I have a 2-year-old who gets very hungry while waiting for her baby brother to finish nursing. Preparing ahead is a good idea.

5) Keep the system smooth. At the end of the week, after you've lived your plan, you should take a few minutes to analyze. What worked? What did the kids really like? What was easy for them to eat by themselves? What did they not like? What didn't work out so well? What did you run out of? What did you have too much of? What went great into a to-go lunch for your husband and what leaked out onto the floorboard of his car? Change is a tool you use to make your systems the best they can be for your lifestyle. Analyze, adjust, and then go back to the grocery store and supply yourself for the next week.

Here are some ideas for simple lunches that work for me and my 2-year-old daughter. We usually eat the same thing, or a variation of it. I like foods she can eat by herself and so does she. Adjust for your family.
1) Bagel with light spread of butter; grapes; cheese cubes.
2) Tuna mixed with mayo/sour cream and seasoning; crackers; pickles.
3) Carrots sticks; chips; ranch dressing to dip in.
4) Cheese toast; apple slices.
5) Deli meat (cubed); tortilla strips; fruit.
6) Baked potato - cold, sliced, and salted for her; warm with butter and sour cream for me.
7) Fish sticks; fruit.
8) Leftover meat, sliced; cubed nectarines or peaches.
9) Cheese quesadilla cut in small wedges; apples.
10) Fresh berries; cheese cubes; salad for me.

Annie Mueller lives and writes and eats lunch with her 2-year-old daughter and 7-month-old son in St. Louis, MO. She believes that People Who Skip Lunch Don't Have Kids.

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