4Yr Old Packed Lunches

My son is also a picky eater when it comes to his lunch also. What I've been doing is preparing macaroni & cheese (the night before) then in the morning, I warm up his thermos, heat the mac & cheese and that's it! He usually eats it. Since she eats noodles & cheese ravoli - you could probably do the same, just heat it up and send it in a thermos! Good Luck to you!!
M.

I have found that, with my kids not wanting to have what the school is offering, a thermos filled with their favorites works well. You have to get one that is for hot foods. Get hot water, put it in the thermos to warm it up. Cook whatever it is for the meal. Ravioli, chicken noodle soup, hot dogs etc..., put that meal in the thermos & it is still warm for lunch time. This works great for us.

I had to edit my response because I see that we have the same name.

We have done the hors d'ourves lunch cubing salami, cheese and do little fruit kabobs, "sushi" which is tortillas with peanut butter and jelly rolled and sliced and placed in a box with a cream cheese dipping sauce and maybe apple slices. Do cold cheese ravioli with a dipping sauce, boy do they love sauce. Do pizza every once in a while. Also remember no child ever starved with food in front of them.

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How about yogurt and a bagel or salami, cheese and crackers. Veggies with ranch dressing. Pita and hummus. Chips and salsa.

Good luck. I have a picky eater too.

At home we make "mom specials". Little did they know, it started with me making a plate of whatever I could find because we were out of a "real" lunch. Now I do that for their lunch boxes. My son loves salami too. I pack salami, cheese and wheat thins. He loves making his own creations out of that. Yesterday my kids took yogurt in a thermos. I packed berries, graham crackers and grape nuts in little containers for them to mix in. You could do the same thing for a pizza. The sauce might be too big a mess for a 4 year old though. Hummus and pita and cut up veggies is also a hit. And why not soup and ravioli in a thermos?

Good luck!

I pack pepperoni & crackers for my picky eater (won't eat bread, milk, cheese). she make little sandwiches out of them.

There's nothing wrong with pizza once a week. You can buy the crust or dough already made and put her salami and some fine chopped veggies on it under the cheese. Don't pack her cookies. She can have them as a treat when she gets home for an after school treat if she ate her lunch. A small grouping of grapes or slice of cantelope etc can be given in place of the cookies. Don't forget that you can roll out that dough and cut circles, half fill with salami & cheese and fold over and crimp closed for pizza pockets (panzarotti). Make it look different, she'll love it. You can make dessert pockets with canned fruit filling and sprinkle with powdered sugar and/or cinnamon sugar. Make it fun, she'll eat it!

You have gotten some great suggestions so I'll just add what I haven't seen mentioned.

I make Jell-O and send it in empty yogurt containers, as my kids' dessert.

Fruit with yogurt to dip? Graham crackers to dunk in applesauce?

My daughter loves to take mac and cheese or soup in her Thermos. I just tell her ask the lunch lady to open it for her.

My kids are not big sandwich eaters so I struggle with what to send too.

If she will eat pizza, by all means, make a pizza and freeze portions of it. I' d rather make something they will eat than for them to not eat and be hungery at school the rest of the day. I have found that sometimes my kids will try what I send, but just as often it comes back untouched. Good luck!

What works for me is having my boys shop with me and pick out things they would like to eat or try- for example one time we tried little bags of dried fruit and they were a big hit. My boys also like Lunchables- I'm sure they aren't the best preservative-wise but for once or twice a week it hits the food groups- they usually have lunch meat, cheese and crackers and then a dessert- I just add a fruit of their choice- they also have a little make it yourself pizza my boys said is really good but a little messy! Have her brainstorm with you though, sometimes my son requests only string cheese and applesauce but as long as it is semi healthy I let him go with it! Good Luck!

B.,
As far as the pizza goes you could make them on English muffins. That way you only have to broil 1 at a time instead of a whole pizza. You would make it just like if you were to buy pizza dough and add your toppings. You daughter could even help make them and that way she could add what she likes. Good Luck.

Hi B.,

I have a very picky eater, now 8 years old. One of her favorite things to bring for lunch is cereal! I pack a good cereal, not too sugary, in a plastic container. She buys milk at school then pours into the container. Works like a charm. We also alternate warm things like ravioli or soup in a small Thermos brand hot pot. Just make sure you put hot water into the thermos for about 10 minutes to "warm" it up. Then dump water out and fill with hot soup or whatever. She also brings things like cucumbers and dip or small salads with dressing on the side. She does not eat sandwiches and is allergic to most fresh veges. she eats a lot of fruit, with mangoes being her favorite lately! Granola bars are good choices, too.

Hope that helps!
D.

It sounds like you have listed some good options without even knowing it. I send my 7 year old with a baggie (the kind with a slider zipper is easiest for kids to manage) with a few slices of salami and no bread. Sure it looks weird but she likes it. We also put raviolis or noodles in a small kid sized thermos with a screw top lid. She likes stuff room temperature so I heat the thermos with hot/boiling water for 10 minutes, dump it out and then dump in raviols, spaghettios or cooked noodles. Even in the lunch bag with a cold pac the thermos stuff stays at the right eating temp. She also loves cheese sticks so she gets either string cheese or swirly cheese (colby and mozzerella) ones. My daughter is also picky but not in the conventional way--not many sweets, loves fruit, loves veggies, no bread or bread type things like totillas, only a few kinds of snack things. Here's the kind of things I send: cheese sticks, salami, spagettios, noodles or mac and cheese, fruit, yogurt, go-gurts, pudding cups, pretzels or crackers, small treat. Also, if she will only eat pizza, remember it is only 1 time a week, and pizza really isn't the worst thing in the world...what about making a small individual pizza or cutting a frozen big one in pieces then bake only what you need? I'm assuming she eats it cold--so make it the night before, pack it up and off she goes the next morning. One day a week ain't worth stressing out about too much....if she is hungry she will eat and if she doesn't she won't starve. Good luck!!!!

Hi B.,
You listed some good choices with out realizing it. I would send her with a baggie of salami slices no bread and next day maybe little hotdogs, noodles and soup will be great as the weather is getting colder. I work at the school and I see a lot of children come in with lunch meat or lunch meat and crackers with no bread and somedays soup or pasta or hotdogs, everything you mentioned. and this way you only have to make pizza once a month.

hope this helps.
L.

How about a bagel with a spread of strawberry or blueberry cream cheese as the "main course"? Let her select the bagel and cream cheese at the store. Another favorite at our house is a PB & J roll up... basically a PB & J on a tortilla which I slice on a angle. Obviously this only works if there is no peanut allergies to be concerned about. String cheese, applesauce, fresh fruit, yogurt, raw carrots or any other veggies she might like are just a few that come to mind.

Good luck!

you say the things she won't give you a hard time with.....are those the "only" things she will eat or that she will take for lunch without fussing about?? I probably wouldn't send her any sweets knowing that's ALL she will eat unless you don't mind. Luchables are great,Uncrustables, cheese crax or the cheese and crax combo,the pretzel sticks with cheese,how about celery stfd with peanut butter?? If it's only once a week or so, why not try the pizza lunchables?? that way you are not having to "cook" a pizza special every week. or tombstone has personal size pizzas that you could make for her. If she lilkes salami,what about deli turkey,ham or bologna?? just rolled up and ate like that?? Creativity is sometimes a plus for moms. let her "help" pack her own lunch,maybe that would help her wanting to eat. It is hard sometimes to know the right thing to do,being that these children don't come with a oner's manuel!!!! Good luck........J.

How crazy I have a student who seems to have the exact same taste buds as yours! She eats salami on a toothpick for lunch every day with noodles ali oli... those things can be eaten luke-warm so they work!

I'd just work with her current diet of preferences. The only stuff you mentioned that isn't good luke-warm is hotdog. Soup stays warm in a thermos and if you disguise vegetables/healthy stuff in that she'll get some vitamins...

But I would definitely talk to her teacher to express concern about her eating her unhealthy food first. At my school we teachers do not allow the kids to eat desserts first. And we nag them just as their parents do, to eat at least one healthy thing out of their lunch before they start on their snacky food. Also, since she's eating basically nothing, she may be trading food or eating other kids' food and if you have a problem with that, the teacher should know about it too.

You could put soup in a thermos for her, just make sure it doesn't get refrigerated. Will the school warm food up for her? If so, many of her other preferred foods are possible. Salami in a baggie would fine. Maybe get her to help her pack the lunch? I also might let her know that if she doesn't eat at least half (or whatever amount you decide) of the healthy choices in her lunch, you won't pack sweets for her. At the preschool I work at, when we have lunch days, we try to make sure the kids eat a good portion of their healthier stuff before going to the sweets. Perhaps you need to ask a teacher to watch her?

Don't send her cookies and snacks until she earns your trust with eating the healthy part of her lunch. Discuss the healthy parts, have her pack her lunch and when the lunch comes back eatin, then she can earn putting snacks in her lunch.

Cook a pizza. Cut it up and freeze it in a zip lock. Reheat or defrost on the school lunch day. Better yet buy a microwave individual pizza and cook it that morning. I also zip lock lunch meat. My son cannot eat bread. We cannot send chips, cookies or any snack food.

I don't have a 4 year old (my oldest is 2 1/2) so I'll try and give you advice based on my experience. Most kids don't really like sandwich bread to begin with - so would she be interested in other options such as pitas, flat breads or tortillas. (We had tacos for dinner last night and I made one for my toddler knowing she wouldn't eat it but trying to introduce it nonetheless. She wasn't interested in the 'taco' form, but when I unrolled it I got her to eat the tortilla because she had the liberty to 'tear' it which was fun for her.)

If your DD will eat salami, could you make her a sandwich on one of the options above - or just include some salami bites, along with some cheese chunks and some crackers (perhaps triscuits or wheat thins which are at least higher in fiber)? If she likes turkey or chicken - you could do the same and just get chunks of turkey/chicken from the deli instead of slices and cut up some bite size pieces for her (or make your own at home). I'm sure you've seen that they also sell chunked chicken/turkey in the prepackaged section of the store. The point is that the bread itself isn't important if you could get her to get her fiber in another form.

My DD also enjoys some raw veggies such as cucumbers (which I deseed and cut into sticks), carrots sticks (again I cut small sticks as the baby carrots are too thick and dense), and grape tomatoes. She'll eat these fine with some ranch dressing to dip in!

What about fruit - will she eat fresh grapes, bananas and strawberries? Yogurt?

If she can have hot stuff such as ravioli and soup - what about chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, turkey meatballs, etc.? I'm guessing she won't eat those though since you didn't mention it. What about the microwave grilled cheese or PB&J sandwiches?

Anyway - just some thoughts. Hope this helps.

Make pizza on mini bagels. I make my own sauce and sneak in veggie puree;) You could also use canned - there is a pretty good one, but the name escapes me now...sanfranelli? Freeze it in an ice cube tray, and just defrost one when you are ready to use it. Find out if/how the school will heat it up for her. If it is toaster over, wrap in foil - if not, put it in a microwave safe container.

I am saving this thread - the moms here have GREAT ideas!

The items you mentioned sound fine to me, and you know she will eat them. Pizza once a week is not bad at all, especially since you are making it at home. Since it is only once a week, you can alternate the few things she does like and eventually her tastes will broaden and you can add other things to the list.