One of the things they never told us about being a parent is the sheer amount of decisions you have to make. Sure, heading into parenthood, you understand that there are a lot of decisions that need to be made, like where your kids will go to school or what clothes they’ll need, but no one prepares you for the minutiae of it all. Suddenly you find yourself needing to make a critical decision every day in the form of your children’s lunches.
Coming up with fun and exciting lunches that can be stored at room temperature for hours is no easy feat. On top of finding something nutritious, easy to prepare, and long-lasting, we also have to consider our children’s preferences. Who knew the simple act of lunchtime could cause so much stress?
We know that lunch can be a particularly sore spot for many parents, which is why we’ve already written some lunchtime hacks to make it easier. But what makes lunchtime prep easiest of all is having one baseline ingredient that you can build off of in several different ways. For that, we think one of the best ingredients is canned fish from Gratitude!
Shelf-stable, BAP Certified, and made from only simple ingredients, Gratitude canned fish is something we love to turn to in times of need. On top of being all-around delicious and good for you, Gratitude is Aboriginal-owned, and each purchase helps breathe new life into their communities and yours as well. Gratitude remains true to themselves, their beliefs and their traditional way of life.
Redefine lunchtime with this one simple ingredient. Here are five different ways to use canned salmon for a quick, nutritious and delicious lunch!
Spicy Salmon Quesadilla
Quesadillas are quite possibly one of the quickest meals to make that doesn’t sacrifice any deliciousness. The biggest time suck here is prepping veggies, but everything else, including the cheese, wrap, and salmon is already prepared for you, and all you’ve got to do is lay it down!
Bow-tie salad with Salmon
Do you know the wonderful thing about cooking with pasta? You can make a big batch of it and keep it in the fridge all week long without compromising on flavour. Bow-tie salad with salmon is a simple, pantry-based dish with all the fixings.
Salmon melt
You’ve heard of a tuna melt, but who says tuna has to have all the fun? Elevate this classic with salmon instead! Much like quesadillas, the thing that will take the most time will be cutting the veggies, but even still, you can prepare this in less than 15 minutes.
Salmon and chickpea salad
Light, refreshing, and delicious! Salmon and chickpea salad can be served with pita chips or eaten as is, already giving you a few options. Need we say that this salad also only takes about 10 minutes to whip up, or does that make it sound too good to be true?
Crispy salmon patties
Salmon patties are simply irresistible. Although packing it for lunch means that you will lose some of its signature crisp, it really doesn’t take away from the meal enough to matter. Add some parm and some lemon if you really want to rock their world! These patties only take about 10 minutes to make.
You can shop Gratitude’s canned salmon at The Sweet Potato in the Junction Neighbourhood of Toronto or online through our fully shoppable website. Happy lunch prepping!