Healthy Toddler Lunches - Need Advice!

[mjaclyn]

My DD loves to eat. Her favorite meal is breakfast where she'll eat a scrambled egg, banana and either toast with jelly, pancakes or waffles, and she's only 15 months old. The problem I have is lunch. She doesn't really like lunch meat at all (ham, turkey, etc) and she's lactose intolerant which cuts out all cheeses and yogurt. Sometimes I'll make her fresh chicken soup and she loves it, but I can't feed that to her every single day. I like to make it fresh so I usually do it once a week after we've had a baked chicken the night before. Does anyone have advice on different kids of food I can give her for lunch? If we don't have leftovers from dinner I'm honestly at a loss. Once I even resorted to giving her Chef Boyardee ravioli!! I really want to try and stick with healthy foods - nothing canned or processed. What do you feed your kids?

[BrerGnat]

My 3 year old is SUPER picky. He's autistic and has texture issues with food, and is OCD about eating too. He will NOT even taste lunch meat at all. He will only eat PB&J or grilled cheese sandwiches.

He goes to Preschool 3x/week and I have to pack him a lunch. He's been going since September, and his lunch for preschool is ALWAYS this:

-bottled water (he hates juice, except OJ, but he needs to drink his OJ with ice in it, so that's not practical at school).

-PB&J sandwich (I make it healthy: I use only the Natural creamy style peanut butter, not too much, and either strawberry preserves or grape jam, and it HAS to be on 100% whole wheat bread, per DS, which suits me fine).

-Yogurt

-Some sort of fruit or veggie: mini carrots, broccoli florets, apple slices, or natural applesauce (the kind without sugar added)

This ends up being a very balanced meal, and he usually eats all of it.

On days where he doesn't go to school, I'll make him a quesadilla, or some english muffin pizzas (although, not an option for you) and I'll be honest...we do a LOT of "breakfast for lunch/dinner" at our house, since it's a favorite of both boys.

My 22 month old will eat sand, so I never have trouble with him at lunch time.

To be honest with you, I don't know where I'd be without processed food. I try very hard to feed my kids healthy (they don't even know what McDonald's is...) as much as possible, but the truth is, I just don't have the time to make everything from scratch. My life is hectic enough, but I applaud your efforts! We resort to frozen pizza a lot (although, I try to stick with the thin crust veggie laden or chicken ones, which the boys love). If it would make you feel better, there are canned goods that are all organic and natural too. Annie's is a brand that comes to mind. They make the canned ravioli and pastas but they are not full of chemicals and preservatives. They even carry those at the Target I buy groceries at...they are not a bad option for a toddler.

[Magic Smiles]

Both my DS and I am lactose intolerant, but we can both eat cheese and yogourt. The older (aged) the cheese is, the better for me. Yogourt has never been a problem.
My DS never ate sandwiches, still doesn't really. Humus with pita bread is good, along with tabouli. I would sometimes make homemade mac & cheese and would sneek vegetables in also. What about stews? There are also many varieties of soup out there. Quiche. I don't remember, but can you not feed a 15 month salads? There are bean salads, actually lots of different salads when you start to look. I am sure that you will get lots of great suggestions for lunch.

[Kidsmom]

My daughter (10 yrs) doesn't like sandwiches so I send her to school with shrimp (cold) and a bit of lemon juice to drip it in. This along with veggies (red peppers, tom., or cukes with dressing is a favorite in our family.

Also I have a son (6 yr) who loves PB and banana.

How about frozen veggie burgers, homemade chicken tenders (I keep them in the freezer and pull out what I need the night before from a zip lock bag.) Anything in a wrap or pita bread (I have made pb &J in pitas)

Bascially anything she likes at that age is fine. It doesn't have to scream lunch. Somedays maybe just a bunch of fruit (have you tried Kiwi...kids LOVE it) Even just toast and a smoothy.

Be glad she doesn't like lunch meat....most aren't that great for you.

Good Luck!!

[wdw_bound]

We do a lot of noodles, either whole wheat or the Barilla Plus brand with lots of Omega 3. I top it with whatever sounds good at the time, but keep a supply of marinara on hand. I've been known to saute some veggies, esp. cherry tomatoes to top it as well.

I should buy stock in the Amy's Organic brand - it's great when time is not on your side. We like the Mac & Cheese, but they do one with "Soy Cheez" that might be an option for you. DD also likes pita sandwiches, but not with lunch meat (we put left over roast chicken or pieces of salmon in them with salad greens).

I also try to have homemade meatballs and chicken tenders in the freezer.

[Flower]

Brandon would not eat lunch meat either and a friend suggested bologna, he liked it, so from then on any meat that we would eat became a source of bologna ie: grilled bologna was really steak - it worked and he ate it.

We eat a lot of soups for lunch, grilled cheese, mac & cheese, meatloaf, sheppard's pie, PB&J sandwiches. Chicken is another food we can always get him to eat, cooked from the oven, on sandwiches, etc. Pasta is another favourite, whole wheat and I will put a bit of low-fat margarine on it.

I have a problem getting him to eat veggies, which is why I like soups, he will eat them in soup no problem.

Brandon would live off of fries and bread if we would allow it, I have been experimenting with sweet potatoes lately. (The ones at the Plaza Restaurant are amazing!) DH and I were not brought up with sweet potatoes so they are a new thing for us.

The 14 month old baby will eat anything I give him, he eats more than the 4 year old sometimes.

We are also getting Brandon a lot more involved in the cooking process, cracking eggs, stirring stuff, etc. With supervision of course!

[DisneyDog]

My DS5 loves the Frank Perdue chicken nuggets. They aren't frozen, are breaded but not fried, and are all white meat. I just throw a few of them into a zip lock bag, and he's happy as anything.

He love pj&j and fluffernutter too. He will eat turkey, but not other lunch meats. So, I do send turkey sandwiches, and always get the low sodium meat. I will also make a packet of easy mac, and his school heats it up for him.

[Tick-Tock]

My friend's daughter likes hard-boiled eggs.

[murphy1]

I highly recommend any of the kids and babies meal books by Anabel Karmel like Superfood for Babies and Children and Healthy Meals for Kids. There are so many things in it!!

[Dakota Rose]

Some of DS's favorite lunch items include apples or celery with peanut butter, dried cranberries, and baked potatoes. He didn't like sandwiches until he was almost 3. So we did a lot of pastas, potatoes and soup. He also loved the frozen pureed squash by itself or with a baked potato.