Can someone please give me ideas of what to pack for my 18 month old for school lunches? I seem to pack him pb&j or pizza bagels everyday (he doesnt like lunchmeat). I also usually throw applesauce, string cheese, olives or fruit in to. I feel like I can giving him the same darn things day after day, but cant think of any good ideas that are easy.
Any suggestions?
The easiest thing for me to pack for my 2-yr old daughter is those Chef Boyardee Individual meals. They have a good variety and it's so easy to just toss into a lunch box. Minute Maid Flavored Water juice pouches are great to pack for her drink, too.
My daughter is 19 months and right now she is loving:
bagels with cream cheese
pumpkin spice pancakes (just bisquick pancake mix with 2 tbsp. pumpkin mixed in then add some cinnamon)
hard boiled eggs (sprinkle with a little paprika if he's adventurous)
hummus or cream cheese on wheat crackers
yogurt (plain with Gerber fruit puree stirred in)
wheat waffles
Pasta with tomato sauce or pesto sauce
Hope these help!
Grilled cheese, cut up hot dogs, veggies (cooked), yogurt, fish sticks (cooked at home hot food assuming someone can heat it up real quick), chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, fruit bars, there are lots of things as long as someone at school can heat it up for him really fast!
Kiddy "wraps" with tortillas and . . .
cheese
chicken salad
sliced turkey breast
sloppy joe meat
or just about anything else you can wrap up for him . . .
I give my daughter (about 14 months) leftovers from dinner the night before, and she eats basically what the adults do, just less spicy. I don't want to give the same foods every day to prevent her from becoming a picky eater. So I'm more adventurous at night (examples: eggplant with tahini sauce, curried potatoes, linguine with a soy/ginger sauce), and if she likes it, I give it to her for lunch the next day. If she doesn't like it, I fall back on a staple (chicken and rice w/veggies as an example). Day care workers work really hard, and I don't want them to be responsible for making sure my kid eats food she hates.
I'd be more than happy to share some recipes my gal loves, if you're interested. Just drop me a line!
Your 18 month old goes to school? Didn't know they could start that young.
My kids liked cut up apples, carrots or celery with peanut butter to dip them in., but that might be too messy for a child that young. Yogurt. Granola bars. Dry cereal. Sausage slices. Chunks of cheese. Pretzel sticks. P b & j sandwiches cut in triangles. Graham crackers. Any kind of crackers.
Ever tried a "fluffer Nutter" (marrshmellow cream n PB - instead of the Jelly)
Even applic slices with the PB or very nourishing.
Sounds strange - but my daughter always like the vienna sausages and potted meat sandwiches.
Egg salad, pimento cheese or just sliced cheese (if it can be refrigated or kept cold)
Lunchables are also my daughter liked when she was little - made her feel grown up!
Hp[e this helps
My son is 2 now, and allergic/sensitive to a few things, but one of our staples is a home-made polenta and buckwheat pancake with spinach cut up really small and mixed into the batter. They are so healthy but delicious!
I guess you could use a mix and just put the spinach in the batter if that's easier, although from scratch its really simple too. Let me know if you want the recipe.
You could vary what you put into the batter - one mom I know puts spinach and cheese in, but you could put all sorts of chopped up veggies - use the Cuisinart to cut them up. Once the little pancakes have been cooked, we make mini sandwiches with either hummus or peanut butter and either fold the little pancakes over in half with the filling inside, or put two similar sized ones together with the filling in between. I think you could put lots of different stuff inside, but my son's favorite is hummus by far, and I love that he's getting spinach and isn't fighting it! We've been having these since he was under a year. Let me know if you want the recipe, its really easy.
My son also really likes carrots and cucumber dipped in hummus, which is another nutritious one, but fun because of the dipping.
N. H If the day care will heat things up for your Son then you can find a whole lot more to chose from. Mac and Cheese, Hot Dogs,(cut up) Chicken nuggets, cheese sandwich, yogurt for lunch or As a snack you can do gold fish crackers, animal crackers, cheese-its, they have little bags of fruit snacks. Good Luck
Look up "Bento boxes" for some ideas. What about cold meatballs, a slice of cold meatloaf, pickles, fruit cup, banana, goldfish crackers, pretzel sticks, cold chicken legs, macaroni salad, potato salad, pasta salad with veggies, veggie sticks & ranch dressing cups.
