{"id":24554,"date":"2015-06-15T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/?p=24554"},"modified":"2017-07-12T11:26:43","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T15:26:43","slug":"homeschool-lunch-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/homeschool-lunch-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Homeschool Lunches for Moms and Teens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lunchtime can be a stressful time of day for homeschooling families. Often you&rsquo;re trying to squeeze in just a few more subjects before you have to stop and switch gears as you changes hats from homeschooling mom and students to short-order cooks and cafeteria workers. By October, many families are looking for new homeschool lunch ideas. Thankfully, homeschool lunches have gotten a bit easier for my family over the years.<\/p>\n<p>First, my kids are teens and can prepare their own lunches &ndash; although I typically prepare everyone&rsquo;s lunch. My thought is that they&rsquo;re working independently now and I&rsquo;m happy to let them focus on school for another half hour or so each day while I prepare lunch since I&rsquo;m not actively teaching anyway. Second, <strong>we have what some may refer to as a lunch rut. We prefer to think of it as a regular routine that works for us<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"Top 10 Homeschool Lunches for Moms and Teens\" src=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Top-10-Homeschool-Lunches-for-Moms-and-Teens.png\" alt=\"Top 10 Homeschool Lunches for Moms and Teens\" width=\"740\" height=\"414\" border=\"0\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Top-10-Homeschool-Lunches-for-Moms-and-Teens.png\"><\/p>\n<p>We don&rsquo;t share the same tastes. As much as I&rsquo;ve tried to convince my kids to try my healthy favorites &ndash; and they usually do for supper &ndash; for lunch, they have very different tastes than I do. It&rsquo;s not too bad, though, because the two of them (Brianna is away at school for lunch now) like the same things and, with a little preplanning, my meals are fairly easy, so preparing two different lunches isn&rsquo;t a big deal.<\/p>\n<h2>For the teens<\/h2>\n<p>Okay, here&rsquo;s the part of the post where all those strongly opposed to processed foods should probably quit reading. We have come up with a five-day rotation of foods my kids like. What typically happens is we stay on such a rotation for awhile, then, we&rsquo;ll switch out a few things that they&rsquo;ve grown tired of. Our top ten <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/top-ten-homeschool-lunches\/\">homeschool lunches<\/a> from a few year ago are not necessarily the current top ten.<\/p>\n<p>The current list is:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hot wings or chicken nuggets and fries.<\/strong> Josh likes the hot wings, while Megan prefers chicken nuggets. Every once in awhile I&rsquo;ll get crazy and mix it up with some mac-n-cheese instead of fries.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pizza.<\/strong> For as long as I can remember, Tuesday has been pizza day around here. I used to do a step up from frozen with dough from a package, jarred sauce, and shredded mozzarella, but the kids really prefer frozen pizza from Costco. Works for me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lasagna.<\/strong> They&rsquo;re still a fan of lasagna &ndash; the frozen stuff, thank you very much. Josh and Megan like it that Brianna isn&rsquo;t home during the day anymore. That means more lasagna for them. And, Peanut loves lasagna day because I give him the empty cardboard tray and let him lick it clean. This is his lasagna day face:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-width: 0px;\" title=\"lasagna-day\" src=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/lasagna-day.jpg\" alt=\"lasagna-day\" width=\"740\" height=\"500\" border=\"0\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/lasagna-day.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p><strong>Homemade pizza roll.<\/strong> Don&rsquo;t let the word &ldquo;homemade&rdquo; fool you. It&rsquo;s not really homemade, but it&rsquo;s not the little frozen things either. Check out my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/step-by-step-making-pizza-rolls\/\">pizza roll recipe<\/a> for the scoop. The only changes I&rsquo;ve made are that now I only make one because it&rsquo;s just Josh and Megan and I prebake the crust for 5 minutes before adding the toppings. I might have done that all along if I&rsquo;d ever bothered to fully read the directions. {ahem}<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ham roll-ups or sandwiches.<\/strong> Megan prefers turkey; I&rsquo;m more of a tuna kind of girl. Josh isn&rsquo;t fond of sandwiches, but he likes ham roll-ups, a super-simple lunch I&rsquo;ve made for years. I just place a few slices of thin-sliced ham on a tortilla, top it with shredded cheddar and roll it up. I brush a little butter on top and bake it until the tortilla is browned and slightly crunchy. Easy-peasy.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"Top 10 Homeschool Lunches for Moms and Teens\" src=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Top-10-Homeschool-Lunches-for-Moms-and-Teens-Pinterest.jpg\" alt=\"Top 10 Homeschool Lunches for Moms and Teens\" width=\"500\" height=\"746\" border=\"0\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Top-10-Homeschool-Lunches-for-Moms-and-Teens-Pinterest.jpg\"><\/p>\n<h2>For moms<\/h2>\n<p>My go-to lunches are pretty simple most days. I gravitate toward the quick and easy while still trying to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/10-quick-and-healthy-lunches\/\">eat healthy<\/a>. Most of the time, my lunch of choice is one of the following:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Quinoa bowl.<\/strong> I&rsquo;ve been making this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/pasta-bowl\/\">quinoa bowl<\/a> (it used to be a pasta bowl, but I&rsquo;ve long since switched quinoa for the pasta) for years. It does take a little time, but if I start it when I turn the oven on to preheat for the kids&rsquo; pizza, everything is finished at the same time. Plus, it gives me an excuse to watch Family Feud while I&rsquo;m working in the kitchen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Salad.<\/strong> I love making a great, big salad for lunch. My favorite is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/grilled-chicken-and-fruit-salad\/\">grilled chicken super salad<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Soup or sandwich<\/strong>. In the summer I prefer sandwiches (almost exclusively tuna and avocado because I&rsquo;m exciting like that), but in the winter, I love soups. I like to make a pot of one of my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/my-10-favorite-soup-recipes\/\">favorite soups<\/a> on the weekend and have a bowl for lunch throughout the week.<\/p>\n<p><strong>One pot Mexican quinoa<\/strong>. I discovered this <a href=\"https:\/\/damndelicious.net\/2014\/04\/09\/one-pan-mexican-quinoa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one pot Mexican quinoa recipe<\/a> a few weeks ago and it has quickly become my new favorite. It&rsquo;s super-easy and it makes enough that I can have it for lunch 2 or 3 days with some to spare.The only changes I make are that I usually use chicken broth instead of vegetable because that&rsquo;s what I generally have on hand and I leave out the cilantro because yuck. I can&rsquo;t stand cilantro.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Leftovers.<\/strong> I love leftovers for lunch because they&rsquo;re quick and easy. There are a few meals that I love making for supper because I&rsquo;m guaranteed some leftovers, one of my favorites being the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skinnytaste.com\/2012\/09\/santa-fe-turkey-stuffed-peppers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Santa Fe turkey stuffed peppers<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skinnytaste.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Skinny Taste<\/a>. They are delicious for supper, but I think they&rsquo;re even better heated up for leftovers the next day.<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, we&rsquo;re not terribly exciting when it comes to lunch, but I&rsquo;m guessing most homeschooling families gravitate toward functional and easy for the mid-day meal.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>What are some of your family&rsquo;s favorite lunches? Does your lunch routine change in the summer?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Get dozens of other fresh ideas for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com\/project\/homeschool-lunches\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">homeschool lunches<\/a> from the bloggers of iHomeschool Network.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com\/project\/homeschool-lunches\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-width: 0px;\" title=\"homeschoollunches\" src=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/homeschoollunches.jpg\" alt=\"homeschoollunches\" width=\"740\" height=\"641\" border=\"0\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/homeschoollunches.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>lunch&nbsp;images courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pixabay.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pixabay<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lunchtime can be a stressful time of day for homeschooling families. Often you&rsquo;re trying to squeeze in just a few more subjects before you have to stop and switch gears as you changes hats from homeschooling mom and students to short-order cooks and cafeteria workers. By October, many families are looking for new homeschool lunch&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[200],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipes-2"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":200,"label":"Recipes"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Top-10-Homeschool-Lunches-for-Moms-and-Teens.jpg",500,280,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Kris Bales","author_link":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/author\/kris_wuhsmom\/"},"comment_info":9,"category_info":[{"term_id":200,"name":"Recipes","slug":"recipes-2","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":218,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":60,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":200,"category_count":60,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Recipes","category_nicename":"recipes-2","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Top-10-Homeschool-Lunches-for-Moms-and-Teens.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}