Lunch ideas

[heatherbee]

I don't think we have done one of these in awhile but I feel stuck for what to feed the kids for lunch lately so I thought we could share ideas of kid friendly lunches. Thanks!

[mommymadness]

Yes! I feel like lunch making is the worst meal to make! I don't know why. Our usuals are sandwiches, grilled cheese, noodles, soup, pancakes, eggs, raw veggies like avocado, carrots cucumbers, wraps are a hit here too. Sometimes I do a random lunch and put a tiny bit of everything on the kids plate, kind of like those ice cube tray lunches. Using things like cheese, crackers, berries, veg ect. My ideas are all pretty boring! Haha

[xanthepants]

Purple cauliflower is Cosette's new favorite. She likes beans a lot too so sometime we cut tortillas up into shapes with a pile beans and chunks of cheese so a deconstructed taco. She has slowly been into lettuce so we are working on deconstructed salads. My kid is strange though and loves veggies so salad seems like an easy jump for us. She's often picking at mine at restaurants.

[origamimommy]

We do a lot of quesadillas either with black beans or puréed butternut squash. Mac n cheese, carrots and hummus, and an orange or grapes is a good one. I pack Tyler's lunch for school everyday and I know it gets boring.

I try to give him options, so I'll do a "main" thing (quesadilla, grilled chicken, leftovers like lasagna), a veggie (his faves are carrots, bell peppers, green beans, and celery), a string cheese, cheddar bunnies or goldfish, milk, and a fruit (grapes, mandarin orange, pineapple). I need new ideas too!

[mightybee]

Here's what I oack him for preschool: slived chicken and apple sausage, salami, hard boiled egg, or PB sammy; cheese; fruit; veg, he's picky so cucumber, mini sweet peppers or tomato, maybe broccoli; seaweed sheets or popcorn or cashews.

[sarahandeddie]

I wish Avery would eat any of that. She is such a picky eater and won't eat anything that is truly healthy. She refuses veggies unless I've hidden them in something. Lately she want a lot of pb. She does love fruit and cheese. We are really in a rut since she is so picky.

[sarasansh]

Nov 21, 2015 18:04:39 GMT -5 sarahandeddie said:

I wish Avery would eat any of that. She is such a picky eater and won't eat anything that is truly healthy. She refuses veggies unless I've hidden them in something. Lately she want a lot of pb. She does love fruit and cheese. We are really in a rut since she is so picky.

This is us too. Robin is pretty much on a rotation of pb&j/hot dog/pizza right now. Of course having a 2 month old doesn't help.

The only saving grace is that he'll always eat fruit and veg so we do a lot of cucumbers, apples, grapes, and carrots.

[roo1582]

Kayleigh is super picky. Right now she mostly gets peanut butter crackers, ham & cheese rolled up, or some leftovers. She won't eat any raw veggies so she gets some cooked ones. Then she usually gets fruit, so either berries or apple sauce. Finally she gets some type of snack which is either fruit snacks, gold fish or pretzels. I wish she would eat some more normal lunch foods, like sandwiches, etc.

[britbratjf]

Dagny likes lunchables, deli meat (not on a sandwich, just sliced), chicken nuggets & PB&J. She likes hot dogs but I don't buy them often. In addition to those mains she eats most fruit & likes raw veggies (carrots, cucumber & mushrooms) with hummus or veggie dip. And cheese sticks. Oh & she loves hard boiled eggs - I buy the pre made ones and send them in her lunch box. Nothing too creative here.

[xanthepants]

Some tricks with veggies for us was to try them raw and cooked with "shaky cheese" (Parmesan) on them letting her do it or ranch or ketchup for what it s worth. Whatever gets her to eat it. Then we go to the grocery together and I let her pick things(1 or 2) out to try. Usually one fruit and one veg. She's tried kale chips this way, zucchini "chips"baked, we try weird varieties of pears, plums etc. So the point is she isn't afraid anymore of trying things. 75% of the time she doesn't like it, fine. But 25% she does which is still a really pretty big variety.
She still won't touch anything deemed spicy so if you have any ideas on how to conquer that...
I think wrap ideas could open up a lot of ideas.

[xanthepants]

Other ideas Chinese fried rice, I use leftover rice,2 eggs, carrots and peas with low sodium soy sauce. Rice cakes with peanut butter and bananas or raisins. Black bean burgers with cubed cheese. There are some new apple sauces out there that have interesting veggies snuck in too that we've been trying.

[mrsplaydoh]

Similar things in our house, deli meat, cheese sticks, broccoli, pizza, hot dogs, mac n cheese, grilled chicken, noodles, PB crackers, graham crackers. They like cherry tomatoes cut up and a little pool of Ranch to dip anything in.

Juno requests Ranch to dip at almost every dinner and last week we were at the store and i had to buy a new bottle of Ranch so i grabbed one and put it next to her in the front of the shopping cart. She literally bent down and kissed the bottle multiple times.

[trixi282]

Nov 21, 2015 10:24:39 GMT -5 mommymadness said:

Yes! I feel like lunch making is the worst meal to make! I don't know why. Our usuals are sandwiches, grilled cheese, noodles, soup, pancakes, eggs, raw veggies like avocado, carrots cucumbers, wraps are a hit here too. Sometimes I do a random lunch and put a tiny bit of everything on the kids plate, kind of like those ice cube tray lunches. Using things like cheese, crackers, berries, veg ect. My ideas are all pretty boring! Haha

You're doing better than I am lately... When I have to feed J lunch on the weekends (hell even dinner during the week sometimes lately) she's been getting the same old stuff repeated.

PB&Honey sandwich, string cheese, and either frozen peas or green beans (still frozen, her request) or some other random veg I make for me... 

Or Chicken Nuggets, veg, and some random side like fruit snacks, cereal, apple sauce....

Seriously my kid gets better lunches at daycare than at home lately. I need to do some serious grocery shopping though too - H did it the last 2 times and the only veg he got were canned or frozen... nothing fresh. 

Anyway, this entire thread is inspiration for me... and a little nudge to try a bit more and do better.

[trixi282]

Nov 23, 2015 10:09:31 GMT -5 mrsplaydoh said:

Similar things in our house, deli meat, cheese sticks, broccoli, pizza, hot dogs, mac n cheese, grilled chicken, noodles, PB crackers, graham crackers. They like cherry tomatoes cut up and a little pool of Ranch to dip anything in.

Juno requests Ranch to dip at almost every dinner and last week we were at the store and i had to buy a new bottle of Ranch so i grabbed one and put it next to her in the front of the shopping cart. She literally bent down and kissed the bottle multiple times.

Joey is the same way. She told me we needed Ranch and I said we had some at home and she tried bartering for me to buy more "just to have, incase mommy." Incase of what?!

She also will dip things in ranch and then lick it off... not how it works kid. The other day she was just putting her finger in and licking it off - nope. Her plate got taken away. She would basically drink Ranch dressing if I let her.

Oh and Peanut butter on a "poon" (spoon) is by far her favorite "snack". She would eat an entire jar of PB a day if I let her.

[mrsplaydoh]

Nov 23, 2015 12:54:14 GMT -5 trixi282 said:

Nov 23, 2015 10:09:31 GMT -5 mrsplaydoh said:

Similar things in our house, deli meat, cheese sticks, broccoli, pizza, hot dogs, mac n cheese, grilled chicken, noodles, PB crackers, graham crackers. They like cherry tomatoes cut up and a little pool of Ranch to dip anything in.

Juno requests Ranch to dip at almost every dinner and last week we were at the store and i had to buy a new bottle of Ranch so i grabbed one and put it next to her in the front of the shopping cart. She literally bent down and kissed the bottle multiple times.

Joey is the same way. She told me we needed Ranch and I said we had some at home and she tried bartering for me to buy more "just to have, incase mommy." Incase of what?!

She also will dip things in ranch and then lick it off... not how it works kid. The other day she was just putting her finger in and licking it off - nope. Her plate got taken away. She would basically drink Ranch dressing if I let her.

Oh and Peanut butter on a "poon" (spoon) is by far her favorite "snack". She would eat an entire jar of PB a day if I let her.

trixi282 OMG same here! Juno will put her hand, palm down, right into the ranch on her tray then lick it off while looking at me...I'm like whoa whoa no you dip, so then she will dip something and lick it off! Oh and don't try and trick her with another brand besides Hidden Valley Ranch, both girls had ranch at my mom's house and it was grocery store brand and neither would eat it, Dahlia called it the "yucky ranch" Aaahhhh these kids!!!!