Welcome to YTF Community, a place to safely share in the challenges and joys of feeding our families. And make all of it easier! This is a weekly members post with timely advice and encouragement that I hope helps offer a little reassurance.
After sharing about losing my appetite while getting divorced, then finding it again as the stress began to lift, I find myself in a totally new food phase: I am actually excited to explore food!
I have literally never in the decade plus of being a parent had any spare energy for food for me, so this has been blowing my mind a little.
The main reason I am excited about this—in addition to how it’s simply very fun and is turning out to be very delicious—is that I can use it as a chance to share more easy meals with YOU that can use to feed yourselves.
It took me a very long time to understand that I am allowed to like different foods for my kids. And that I am fully entitled to taking time to make myself food that I truly want.
But I could never actually figure out how to do this when my kids were younger because feeding kids is SO much labor and energy.
So, since I now have more mental bandwidth to think of ideas, I hope I can share them with you so you can simply take them and make them for yourself—or use them as inspiration for other easy options.
For me, eating food I love is one small way I can regularly take care of myself, and even show my kids that our unique preferences do matter. And taking a few minutes to do this at lunchtime helps me ensure that I’m not just grabbing a handful of nuts and pretending that’s enough to sustain my busy life.
Please know that I am not making a case for spending hours in the kitchen making some complicated recipe—see my air fried chicken tenders (from the freezer aisle) with lettuce and avocado stuffed into a tortilla above.
It’s simply a reminder that we deserve food as comfort, joy, and nourishment in our lives, too.
So here are five of my recent lunches, plus quick ideas from a few of my food-loving friends, to help us all eat more than our toddlers leftovers each day!
Members Only
The full post is for paid subscribers to the YTF Community. The vast majority of my content is free every day of the year, so if this topic is of interest to you, consider upgrading to a paid subscription to keep reading.
A subscription gets you: Paywalled essays, commenting with peers, weekly customizable meal plans, bonus recipes, and other fun perks.
If you’re already a member, login for access.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR MEMBERS
How to Create a Custom Meal Plan
How to Make a Shopping List
Your Recipe Collections
Manage Your Account