Lunch Ideas Needed

Try 'Kid Approved Meals' at
http://www.justgreatkidswear.com/OtherFavorites.html. Hope this helps.

This is where I get my lunch ideas ;)

www.weelicious.com

http://www.laptoplunches.com/

I don't know if your child is home with you or not or in Daycare/preschool.

But, my friend has a picky eating son.
Since he has been in daycare and now school, my friend merely packs him what he WILL eat. That way, he does eat and gets sustenance. She rather pack the same ol' lunches/foods for him, for school/Daycare, than have the alternative of him starving all day and him not eating. Then being fussy and/or unable to concentrate.

She merely explained to the Teacher, that he is picky and this is what he 'will' eat.
These foods, he did eat, were not 'junk' foods. It was food. Good food. But he is super picky. And only ate certain things.

experiment on 'new' foods for her, at home. First.

My son is picky too. I don't battle about it. He eats. He eats healthy stuff. Not junk. But as he has gotten older.... his palate has 'naturally' expanded. He now eats a wider range of foods. He is now 4 years old.

all the best,
Susan

Cheese and Crackers, Turkey and Cheese rolled up, egg noodles with peas (I know--interesting, right?--my kids eat this up!), grilled cheese & tomato, or peanut butter & jelly on crackers. Also, my kids like cucumbers. Maybe you can add that to something.

Same thing we had for dinner the night before...leftovers for the most part since I run a daycare--gives all the kiddos a hot meal that way. Sometimes the same thing my daughter was picky about the night before she'll eat the next day or vice versa:)

Pita pizzas--toast pita bread and open--add a little warm sauce and cheese--you can microwave briefly or let the warmed sauce do the work--my kids prefer it the room temp way. You could also make bagel pizzas or english muffin pizzas

Egg and english muffin sandwiches with ham

Sloppy joes

My kids are picky, also, but they gobble up ritz crackers topped with peanut butter, honey (or jam) and a slice of banana. I also make a pasta, peas and sausage dish that they like. I'm not a big fan of hotdogs, but I've found feeding them what they'll eat gets me over that, lol. They love little smokies wrapped in pizza or crescent roll dough. I make chili with 3 types of beans, but I puree it so they can't see them.

My 3 year old likes chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pbj, lunchmeat (rolled up) with cheese and crackers. Apples with peanut butter, applesauce or fruit cups, parfaits....we also sometimes do breakfast for lunch. ;)

My 8yo eats the same things for lunch he's always eaten... so I'll pipe in:

- Leftovers (from dinner the night before)
- Sammies (hot or cold)
- Stuffed croissants (typically ham & swiss)
- Bagels & Lox
- Miso Soup or Udon
- Sushi - particularly ebizushi & inari
- Microwave Meals (typically claim jumper or marie calendars, also kid cuisine)
- Chef Boyardee
- Hotdogs
- Soups
- Orange Chicken (trader joes)
- Mini Chicken Tacos (trader joes)
- Pizza
- Brunch for Lunch (waffles, omelets, french toast, eggs benedict, etc.)
- BBQ chicken quesodillas
- Deviled Eggs or Egg Salad
- Chopped Salad
- Waldorf Salad
- Phad Thai / Phad Sie iew
- Shu Mai
- Gyoza
- Pho

For sides, I just stick with favs that either round out the meal (if needed), or that I happen to have on hand.

His favorite veggies are : broccoli, cabbage, carrots (cooked), peas (in the pod), celery w/ peanut butter or ranch.

Fav Fruits : Pomegranate, orange smiles, watermelon, tomatoes w/ pepperman (whole foods, in their spice aisle), apples minus their skin (so he doesn't get them often),

Fav sides (not fruit or veggies) : Greek Gods Honey Yogurt, Yoplait Cherry yogurt, Cascade Mountain Huckleberry yogurt, Salt & Vinegar chips, Applesauce & cottage cheese, tatertots/frenchfries, mashed potato samosas

cold pasta. noodles, salami or peporoni, cucumer, tomatoes and string cheese sliced. Mix it all together in italian dressing. really easy to make and can last many days of lunch.

tort with cream cheese with turkey and chives. yummy for appetizers or lunch.

Fruit - apples, melon, grapes, grapefruit (DS loves this), peaches, plums, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, pears

Vegetables - Avocado, carrots (raw or steamed), broccoli, cauliflower, chick peas, peas, green beans, asparagus, edamame, seaweed salad

Sesame noodles, yogurt (plain, not the sugar loaded kid stuff) with chopped fresh fruit, peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat, grilled cheese, left over pasta (tortellini w/peas, spaghetti w/ meatballs, anything w/ pesto), hummus on whole grain crackers/brown rice cakes, cheese, left over sushi, vegetable mu shu, steamed dumplings

Basically three items from the first two groups and 1 from the third.

Whole wheat crackers with jelly, cream cheese, goat cheese, etc., with yogurt and fruit. My 2 and 3 year olds eat that for lunch every day.

My kids all go to daycare or school, but here are the options they have:

(My youngest in daycare always has the options of leftover dinner since it can be refrigerated and microwaved if needed. I need to buy the thermos' that keep food warm for the other two to do this. Otherwise here are the options.)

Main dish:
- Ham or PB&J sandwich (they are easy on sandwiches, I like cheese, lettuce, tomato, etc...they just like plain ham or PB&J).
- Salad (I'll make it with all of the things they like and pack them one of the italian salad dressing packets you can buy at the store)

Then I keep individual packages of chips (normally Nacho Dorito's, Funions, Popcorn, Cheeto's, and Pretzels) and they pick one of those.

I have a little basket I keep filled with "fun" snacks for them (gummies, nutrigrain bars, granola bars, goldfish, cheezz-its, etc) and they pick one thing from there. This is normally used for their afternoon snack at school.

I keep TONS of fruits and veggies on hand, so this is where they get the most variety. Last night they all wanted celery with peanut butter, so I just made them 4 sticks each and put them in baggies in their lunches.

I do try to keep some kind of dessert on hand for them too. I don't always though. Yesterday they each got 3 Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and today they are each getting 8 Nilla Wafers.

I let the older two pick one meal of the week to buy from school and the younger one gets taken out to lunch normally 1-2 times a week with my mom after his Tae Kwon Do class. So they get variety in their choices, but the same basic meal plac :).