School lunches

Do you find yourself struggling with lunch ideas?  Lunch is rough for this home school mom.  We get our lessons done and even fit in a little exercise.  Then comes the infamous words around 11:30, "When is lunch, I am hungry, what are we having?"   AAAAAAAHHHHH!  I don't know.

This year I have a plan to make school lunch a little easier.  For many years I have prepped and frozen food for supper time meals.  I am attempting to do the same for lunches.

My first attempt at school lunch preparation was chicken nuggets.  I have not done any research on the ingredients in store bought/fast food chicken nuggets.I have heard rumors and this is enough for me. I simply do not want to know for myself.  Therefore I am not going to research it.  I do know that I can take boneless chicken breasts, some buttermilk, and some seasoned bread crumbs and make my own.  Cut chicken into small finger-food sized pieces.  Coat with buttermilk then bread crumbs.  Bake at 375 until cooked through. Cool.  Fill a ziplock bag.  Freeze.  When ready to eat.  Put desired amount on baking sheet.  Preheat oven to 375.  Cook, frozen, for about 10 minutes.  Turn nuggets over and cook for another 10 minutes.  Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.  Yum!  These were delicious.  LE  was a little hesitant, but she will come around. 

Overall we do not eat many store prepared meals.  At the beginning of the school year WD requested some Kraft Easy Mac and Cheese. (a rare treat...if you can call that a treat)  That got me thinking.  I could make my own homemade mac and cheese and freeze it.  Mom's Easy Freezey Mac and Cheesey.  Simple.  Boil some whole wheat pasta (under cook so it isn't mushy when reheated).  Make a cheese sauce using cheese and milk.  Mix together.  Fill freezer jars.  Freeze.  Perfect for a school lunch.  Just defrost and heat. 


With cooler weather here it  is nice to have a hot meal at lunch time. We do not have a hot meal everyday.  We fill in with sandwiches, cheese and crackers, yogurt.  Having simple hot lunch options in the freezer is one more step in making the home school day run smoothly...now if we could some how make ahead and freeze long division...

If you have any recipes that you use I would LOVE to hear them.
Di