Mom's Day Out Lunch

What about one of the lunchables? We ocassionally get the ham/cheese or bologna/cheese ones for my daughter and she loves them.

I teach at a preschool that is two days a week and the kids have to bring a lunch also. Most moms pack a sanwich, or lunchables, or the gerber lunchs (we have micros, but most kids eat them cold). Some parents just pack cheese and crackers with grapes or yogurt or jello. Anything that is easy for them to feed themselves it great. Once he sees other kids eat certain things he may be more willing to try other things too. So ask his teachers if he's showing interest in anyone else's lunch. The kids his age at the preschool pretty much eat finger type food. Most fruits cut up are good too. There are endless possiblilies. Hope it goes well. Good luck and God Bless.

M., I would simply pack things that he likes to eat at home!!! Fresh veggies, fresh fruit,raisins,cheese cubes, crackers,mini sandwiches. They have the small re-freezable blue ice packs that you can use to put in the bottom of the lunch pack to keep everything cold. I have also seen some really cute little plastic bowls and lids that you could use to keep things separated. Don't try a lot of new things at once...he needs to feel comfortable with whatever he discovers in his lunch box so he can eat it without any hesitation.
Enjoy your Mom's Day Out...go do something fun and pamper yourself a little!!!
R. Ann

My son is rather picky, too, so I send him with things that he normally eats at home. The only noodles he likes is rotini (go figure--no mac and cheese for him!), so I often pack rotini with butter (less sauce mess), string cheese, grapes (he won't eat vegetables), that kind of thing. I have also packed scrambled eggs, toaster waffles, cream cheese sandwiches, a banana, sliced apples, raisins... just go with what your little one likes at home. If you would like to make it special, decorate the lunch container (we just used Tupperware) with stickers. He'll love it!

My son's MDO program has the same policy. I usually send mac n cheese or spaghetti o's (they make individual servings of each). His teachers will heat them up if he wants. I also send fresh fruit, sunchips or pretzels, and yogurt or applesauce. Other ideas are string cheese, lunch meat sandwich, crackers/cheese/lunchmeat.

I have a very picky child also and he goes to mother's day out, our's does not have a peanut policy so he seemed to always get peanut butter and jelly. I know alot of the other mom's did like cheese sandwiches or a lunchmeat sandwich of some sort. At our school they said if there is something they will eat cold that is fine too. Good luck!!

Have you tried a cream cheese and jelly sandwich? My little one loves them! I saw someone mentioned spritzing apple slices with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown. My kiddos don't care for the flavor of the lemon juice on them, so I usually give them a quick dunk in Sprite or some other citrus pop. Works like a charm!

I have the same issues at our preschool and I think it is pretty standard. I ordered a lunch box from laptop lunches last year and it came with a really neat lunch book. I know they update their site will all kinds of lunch ideas and I think they are all great. www.laptoplunches.com
Our favorite is rolled lunchmeat, cubed cheese, speared with a pretzel stick.

There are lunchables you can buy pre-made or you can make your own version of lunchables ( that are a lot healthier ) I have had to make a sack lunch for my youngest and I try and stick to foods that are not too messy and are also more along the line of finger foods...whole wheat crackers, cheese, cold cuts or cubed ham, fresh fruit like grapes or sectioned orange, you can slice apples and spritz with some lemon juice so they don't brown, also any of the kid friendly fair packs well like fruit snacks or gold fish crackers. My son will eat a sandwich if it is cut into bite sized pieces. My son also will eat carrot shreds ( I know kinda wierd) and he also loves string cheese. You can buy the little boxes of raisens. I hope you get lots of great ideas, it can be a tough age to send a lunch for = )
B.

The HillBilly Housewife website was suggested to me for inexpensive meal ideas but she also has a section on packing lunches. Things that are very simple and make sense but I don't know that I would have thought of them! I'm not sure how many would work for such a young child but it would be worth looking at! Just google HillBilly Housewife!

Rollups! Mix some spices (dill, oregano, garlic, ranch seasoning - whatever) into some cream cheese and spread on a whole-wheat tortilla. Add shredded cheese, finely diced celery, carrots, cauliflower, red peppers, broccoli, apples, zucchini, and other veggies. You might even mix them into the cream cheese. Roll it up tight and slice into 1/2-1 inch sections. Yum!

You could make the same thing with more fruit, using cream cheese, yogurt, cinnamon, brown sugar, strawberries, raisins, craisins, apple, pineapple, sweet potato, banana, etc.

Yogurt. Applesauce. String cheese. Leftovers from dinner. Soup or chili (send warm in a thermos) and crackers. Veggies and dip. Grapes. Blueberries. Graham crackers. Banana. Cheerios. Dried fruit. HTH!