We visit our local metro parks frequently and bring our lunch quite a bit. This summer we will probably be out of the house and at the parks 1-2 times a week. Are there any fairly healthy go-to lunches you have when packing a meal? We mostly eat sunflower butter or peanut butter and fruit spread sandwiches and bring a piece of fruit and I am looking for some alternatives. My kids are 3 and 5, no (thankfully) allergy issues and I try not to bring pre-packaged foods (e.g. fruit cups) that create a lot of waste. We have a nice sized cooler that I can bring and would love to pre-make food and throw it in the freezer! Thanks!!
Fried or bar-b-qued chicken with pasta salad.
Mini quiche with fruit salad
Lunch meat, crackers and cheese
make some quesadillas before you go. my kids loved those. also cold fried chicken is good. my mom used to bring a package of turkey or ham and make what she called rollups. just a slice of meat rolled up w/cheese in it. she would freeze the juice boxes or cans of pop till almost but not quite frozen. that was then what we used to keep the food cold till we ate. cut up fruit is good. cut up veggies also good. pasta w/ a little italian salad dressing is also good and won't go bad.
I'm a fan of macaroni salad.
Pickles
Chicken salad sandwiches
Cheese & fruit
Trail mix (I make it myself because I hate the store bought kind)
Home-made lunchables
Bagel pizzas (pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, spinach)
wraps (tortillas, lunch meat, spinach, cheese, avocado, tomatoes, dressing)
Chicken nuggets
fruit salad
raw veggies & dip
we did lots of cubed turkey and cheese as well as rollups with laughing cow cheese and a sprial ham that I baked. Just plain peanuts are packed with protein, just not too many cuz they're also high in fat... but they give you staying power. You can also freeze yogurt pops in your own containers.
Have fun!
We eat a lot of egg salad when we picnic.
I love a good pasta salad which works great in this setting because there's no mayo. For mine, I use a box of tri-color rotini, a handful of cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half, pitted black olives cut in half, fresh broccoli florets, thick slices of hard salami (ask at the deli counter, they'll slice it however you want) cut into small pieces, ditto with provolone cheese & toss it together with Italian salad dressing. Very quick, easy & relatively cheap.
Pita sandwiches! Pita bread stuffed with turkey, cheese, avocados, sprouts and whatever else you can come up with.
Oh my gosh we are picnic-aholics during most of the year, so I hear you...sometimes it's hard to find something different! We take a lot of lunch meat, salami, etc. It really doesn't go bad if you take it from the fridge and just leave it a few hours. In the high heat of the summer, I will throw in a few ice packs, but I don't go crazy.
We also like yogurt and apple sauce a lot. I get the tiny, circular ziplock containers and those work great for saucy things and don't spill in your bag. Plus you can just use apple sauce from your big jar at home and can wash and reuse those containers. I also put ranch dressing in those and take a lot of veggies to dip or even hummus.
My kids don't eat eggs except hard boiled, so sometimes we do those too. I make sure to use an ice pack for those though! ;)
Griled cheese sandwiches and mac and cheese also work well cold and are a nice change of pace for my kids. My son would probably eat a quesadilla, but not my daughter. Roll ups would be easy as well with a tortilla and some cream cheese and ham or turkey.
Those are our basics, but I look forward to getting some interesting tips too!
Cheese and crackers, veges and dip (ranch, hummus) chips and salsa, simple meat and cheese sandwiches, tuna or chicken salad sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, grapes, strawberries, pretzels, protein bars, yogurt, pasta salad, leftover pizza or fried chicken, popcorn. Oh, and cookies for dessert!
We're not big on sandwiches, when we go on picnics, I like bring a variety of finger type foods...
veggies and dip
homemade chex mix
grapes
fruit - already cut up, like watermelon, orange slices
cheese and crackers
hard boiled eggs
grilled chicken breast cut into cubes
Hummus, cut up veggies (celery, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, snap peas, etc), baba ganouj, grapes, cherries, any easy to eat fruit. We also bring cheese and either crackers or a loaf of bread. If truly motivated, I will make tabouli. My son has always loved olives so we always bring some of these.
Nothing says picnic to me like chicken drumsticks, corn on the cob, watermelon, biscuits and lemonade. No reason that picnic food has to be standard lunch fare.
You can lean japanese and do sushi, or soba noodles.
You can lean indian and do a nice roti and dahl
You can lean mexican and do quessadillas, or burritos
You can lean italian and have stuffed pizza, garlic knots and tomato soup.
You can lean spanish and have paella, tortilla (the one with potatoes), and gazpacho.
You can lean greek and have dolmades and spanikotiropitera.
Take a look at your favorite take out menus, craft your food from your regular orders.
Consider packing your own linens and cutlery too. Would cut down on a lot of waste.
Have fun,
F. B.
