Any ideas for quick, easy hot lunches? Minimal cleanup is a bonus.
Our current favorite is to cut a bell pepper in half, fill with tuna salad, top with a slice of cheese, and stick under the broiler for 7 minutes. We’ve also gone through phases of grilled or toasted sandwiches, quesadillas, and omelets with leftover veggies from dinner. Any other suggestions (besides leftovers, which we usually save for dinner)? |
Pizza bagels or English muffins - take a bagel or English muffin, smear on some pizza sauce (or plain tomato sauce if you like), add shredded cheese and any toppings if you want them. Put under a broiler for a few minutes until the cheese melts and the bread is heated through. My kids love this. |
Make a soup or stew on Sunday and eat it throughout the week |
Heat up a can or two if drained-not-rinsed black beans, add a bunch of cumin and some lime juice, serve with tortilla chips, salsa, and sour cream. And an avocado if we have it.
Pre-cooked chicken sausage with rice heated from frozen. Fried egg and toast, maybe with avocado Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches |
Frozen dumplings. |
^ I was going to say the same. My kids love frozen dumplings, defrost and fried up.
Quick fried rice, butter noodles, mac & cheese cups. |
Ramen (I like tom yum flavor) with added tofu and vegetables |
Leftovers
Trader Joe’s frozen meals. |
Cook chicken on the weekend. Puts a chicken over salad during the week. Eat soups. Veggie burgers on the stove top. |
Eggs, mac and cheese, frozen pizza are all favorites of my kid
I personally like leftovers (then having dinner be mostly unique each night). or partial leftovers - like maybe we grill enough chicken for the week and use in salads for lunch Or sometimes I just do cheese crackers and pepperoni, but that doesn't work if you want it to be hot My DS likes pre-made soups from whole foods |
I cook a lot of dried pasta. I like it with just olive oil and parmesan. It cooks quickly and requires almost no attention. |
I eat frozen chicken strips in the air fryer all the time. Either in a tortilla with lettuce, cheese, and greek yogurt ranch, with dipping sauces, on a salad, etc. Takes no time to heat up. They’re hard to find but the Tyson blackened strips are amazing. |
Reuben sandwiches
Cheesesteaks with leftover grilled chicken or steak Korean pancakes with kimchi Frozen dumplings Boboli pizzas in toaster oven |
baked potato w/ melted cheese, bacon bits, etc |
Roast beef sandwiches with au jus (user leftover roast from dinner)
Fried rice Grilled ham and cheese Taquitos |