Leftover chicken jambalaya from my weekend cooking frenzy. Tomorrow, if I'm lucky, it will be churasco with asparagus & cherry tomatoes. It all depends on my husband not having seconds at dinner :-). I need to make sure that I have lunch stuff packed & ready (or at least available) the night before because I'm in too much of a stupor in the morning. And if I don't have lunch & a snack with me I can far too easily fall prey to the siren song of fast food crap up & down Rt 59. It's tough, though. I'm not very good about shopping for quick, lunch type food and things like yogurt get devoured by the men in the house. I don't mind, except that I never find out that somebody finished the last one until I'm scrabbling in the fridge at 5:30 AM. Nina

Our school lunches are $2.65. The lunches here seem decent. They offer 3 main meals each day. Everyday there is also a choice of Yogurt, Hummus or PB&J sandwich. With the above you get a choice of fruit, veggie or starch. There is also a salad bar option. I have checked the lunch menus all year and was THRILLED to see NO FRENCH FRIES EVER. I think that's great! Although there is pizza every Friday, but the portions are small and kid appropiate. We also have a credit system, where I place money on her account. Kids don't handle money at all if they don't want to. I can also get an itemized list of what she has bought. My DD brings her lunch 95% of the time. Once a month they serve "Breakfast for Lunch" (Pancakes, turkey sausage & milk) which she absolutely loves. But I am very happy to pack her lunch since I know it's healthy and foods she enjoys and will eat. Normal day she gets turkey, carrot sticks, fruit (like apple slices, grapes) and popcorn. Kids are not allowed to "trade" or bring Candy for the snack, but I'm sure it goes on. My DD is picky, so she would not eat a school lunch each day-heaven forbid the sauce touch the pasta!! LOL My issue is that kids may take the veggie or fruit option but not eat it. Or just choose the starches and ala carte "junkier" items. I think our school system does the best they can with foods most kids like (Baked chicken tenders instead of fried) Most of the breads are Whole grains each day etc. Nice selection of fresh fruits. When I was in school the lunches were so/so. I knew my mom's fresh food was better then the mass produced, waiting under a heat lamp school lunch. I normally brought my lunch as it was MUCH quicker too. But you could have spent your "lunch" money on a meal of Twinkies and chips! I could strangle the 15 year old me, for all the junk I ate and NEVER thought twice about!!! Here is a link that might be useful: Lunch menu for the month

I had a real breakfast this morning so I doubt I will eat lunch. I did just eat a Clementine though. Finally found them on sale at BiLo. We are having chicken and stuffing for dinner with some broccoli and once the dishwasher is done I will start the spice cake I am going to use in my Pumpkin Trifle. We have snow still and DH took the Jeep to work. My truck does not do well on ice so I am home for the day. We are planning our little shopping adventure for stocking stuffers on Monday. I am going to get settled and stitch for the day I think. Trish

I'd love to help the restaurants, but staying home is safer. I'd consider one like I posted earlier where they are selling food kits like uncooked steak or burgers, uncooked eggs, gallon of milk and a roll of toilet paper. I had a pancake request for breakfast. I made them thinner almost like a tortilla. Those not eaten were turned into breakfast tacos by adding leftover ground sausage, eggs and a little cheese. They can be a quick meal or snack for later on. I'm trying really hard to make sure no food gets wasted. Tonight we are having chicken strips, fried squash and salad.