Make Supper at Lunch

-an update from the archives

Yes. You heard me right.

I shared this routine on Twitter one day and several friends asked for the secret. Really, it’s no secret, just a bit of pre-planning.

My friend, Kellie, asked specifically, “Give us recipes that are great to make for supper, during the lunch hour and give us tips on how to do it!” She also asked “Give us snack recipes. Give us recipes that are easy to take to church potlucks. Give us recipes that are fun for little hands to make and give us a host of crock pot recipes!”

Today, I’ll answer the first part of Kellie’s request, on making supper at lunch.

Now, if you don’t happen to be feeding a passel of children lunch at home, you’ll just need to adjust your thinking like I do on Sunday mornings. It may even involve coming face to face with raw ingredients in predawn hours. But, trust me, it can be done. See, Fast Food for Slow Sundays.

I like short and simple, so here is the easy, three-step process for making supper at lunch:

1. Meal plan. Meal plan. Did I already say meal plan? Then all that is needed is a glance at the plan. No extra brain effort necessary. My accompanying chalkboard helps to prompt my thoughts since I am easily distracted by the Hodgepodge needs. Credit for both these ideas goes to my friend, Sonflower in her series, What’s for Dinner?
(To give you an idea of the day to day, here’s a Hodgepodge Meal Plan – Cooking Fun Edition.)

2. Big shop cooking. You already have your ground turkey and chicken, cooked in the crock pot, then separated in meal-time portions. You just pull your main ingredient from the freezer. All the details on how to do this, as you come in from the grocery store, in Back to Basics: Big Shop Cooking or Slow Cooker Batch Cooking: The Super Supper Saver.

3. Before lunch, glance at your chalkboard you updated after your first cup of coffee. Next, assemble your supper at lunch time during clean up and before the afternoon tiredness sinks in. Ready ingredients. I use the crock pot as much as possible so I can throw the ingredients in the pot then walk away. But, sometimes we want meals that need assembly. In that case, I try to put together as much as possible while everything is already a mess after lunch. Mix the ingredients for a casserole then put it in the fridge, ready to cook. Boil the noodles for spaghetti. Put the cans of sauce out on the counter.

Here is a specific example of fixing supper at lunch in Today’s Tripling Ends Up 5 Meals.

All Things Crockpot – click over to the Recipe Index for a full listing of slow cooker recipes. Or the Month Long Slow Cooker Celebration Meal Plan. Many of our favorites are also listed in Fast Food for Slow Sundays.