You try to keep going. "Let's just finish math, then we will get lunch."
Your attempt fails. "I'm too hungry!"
Your brain starts to race. "What will we eat? I don't want to cook lunch AND dinner! We just finished breakfast. Think of all those dishes that will have to be washed! I wanna go back to bed!"
If breakfast is the most important meal of the day; lunch can be the most stressful for a homeschool mom! Don't panic. Mealtime is only as stressful as you make it. Here are some helpful hints for a stress less lunchtime.
First things first, you know your kids will have to eat lunch. Plan for it. I try to keep a variety of quick and easy lunch options around. Many of them my kids can get for themselves. I try to keep as many healthy options around as possible, and we round out the less healthy meals with fruits or veggies. These staples save me stress at lunch.
frozen chicken nuggets
PBJ
pepperoni and salami
canned soup
Ramen Noodles
boxed pastas (mac n cheese, shells and cheddar, etc)
sardines
planned-overs (strategically planned leftovers)
ready to eat fruits and veggies
cheese
frozen pizza crusts (I make these and roll them out to the size of my stone, and freeze)
My kids can make their own PBJ and chicken nuggets, they can fix a plate of pepperoni, cheese and fruit, and my oldest (8) can make mac n cheese, Ramen, and a can of soup. On days when I am tired or we are very busy, these options allow my two older kids to get their own lunch, and many times get lunch for the toddler as well. When there is cooking I am in the room to supervise, but I can continue lessons with one child while the other cooks, or we can do a read-a-loud.
My second big secret is the use of divided lunch trays! It may seem silly, but it makes thinking about lunch optional. I can talk about math, history, science, or grammar and fill lunch plates and know that we will have a variety of food groups in our lunch. It has also taught my kids to fill their plates with a variety of foods. Each section must hold something different - meat or protein, fruit, veggie, pasta, bread. My 6 year old will fix herself a lunch that looks like this: the large section will have pepperoni and cheese or sardines. One smaller section will have strawberries and the other will have carrots.
Third, what are these planned overs? We have many meals where I purposely cook more than we will eat and then turn the leftovers into a quick lunch. Cook a whole chicken, turn the leftovers into chicken salad or chicken and dumplings, or just a cold chicken sandwich. Leftover tacos become a taco salad. A casserole will get us through 2-3 days of lunches. These can be quick and easy lunches!
Fourth is the one thing that makes our days run the smoothest! I cook lunch and dinner at the same time. I may cook chicken and dumplings for lunch. While that is cooking I fill the slow cooker with a roast and veggies, chicken and BBQ sauce, or dump a premade freezer meal in to start (or get one out to thaw and cook in my Rock Crok 30 minutes before we eat). Other days I prep a casserole or lasagna that just needs to go in the oven right before dinner. Once lunch is over, we clean up from prepping both meals and then go on with our day. When I do two meals at one time, we have a better day.
Finally, turn lunch into a class. Lunchtime is home ec. You can teach so many valuable skills during lunch preparation. Basic cooking and food preparation skills, health and nutrition, cleaning, and team work. This lapbook/unit study from Knowledge Box has some great introductory information. Currclick.com also has several nutrition studies that you can download. Everything your kids do is a learning opportunity. Use them to make your day easier. Check out the options like this lapbook on homeschoolshare.com as well.
Don't let lunch derail a productive school day. The kids have to eat, find ways to make it a stress less meal.
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