Lunch Frustration

Hi J., I do not know what he actually does eat, but I can tell you a favorite of my children and their friends. Pastina, Peas and eggs (scrambled). They love it. Sometimes I use corn instead of the peas. You can put the corn or peas in the food processor. I have also substituted the pastina with Barilla (The yellow Box) Penne. Chicken with a little Mayo for chicken salad. Another favorite. crackers with a little peanut butter. Celery when he gets older.

Good Luck

C.

peanut butter sandwiches
fruit plate with yogurt dip
veggie plate with peanut butter
berries with yogurt
homemade mac and cheese
grilled cheese is good with a slice of ham, turkey or chichen
fruit smoothie with a slice of toast with peanu butter

i also buy gerber graduate meals

My daughter loves drinkable yogurt. She also loves cottage cheese so I will give her a tiny container with fruit, OR we'll make a roll-up and instead of eating it as a roll up, I slice it into pinwheels - she thinks they look really cool and they can be very colorful, depending on what you put inside. If she doesn't like bread, you can do a lunchmeat rolled around a piece of cheese. We have done PB, banana & raisins, PB&J, turkey/cheese and avocado...lots of options to be creative.

Sometimes we make homemade chicken nuggets rolled in oatmeal (instead of bread crumbs - easy standby is waffles or homemade pancakes b/c it is easy to mix in other foods to ensure they are getting good nutrients. We mix baby foods into the pancakes (blueberries, applesauce, sweet potatoe, etc.) and she thinks is is fun having breakfast for lunch.

My son is not very picky, but he is spoiled because the babysitter always makes him hot lunch with spaghetti/meatballs and chicken parm - he won't even eat a sandwich. Now that it is summer and he is home with me, and hot lunch is not all that refreshing, I give my son cut up fruit and he dips it in yogurt. I also cut strips of red and green pepper and he munches on down. He loves pickles, raisins, corn on the cob. I really try to give him a ton of choices. Anything that is small and he can just use a fork or his hands. My son loved pasta at that age. You could try cold pasta salad. When all else fails . . . cheerios! I think so long as you are giving him something good to eat, keep doing it.

I would say to try and add as much fruits as possible. If he is a picky eater maybe he could help you prepare lunch. (i.e. if you are going to have a banana, have him help you peel it) I stay away from bagel bites because of the sodium and fat content. I don't get any frozen meals because of the stuff that's in it. The only thing I go down that isle for is frozen veggies because they're not packed in salt like the canned. With the grilled chicken you might be able to grind it up and put it between bread with a tomato and a slice of cheese. I try to add some sort of fruit or veggie with everything. Also if you want to give him more vitamins, then you can give him juicy juice. (100% juice) I would try giving him the V8 veggie juice. My daughter loves it. I know they have books that you can get that have a bunch of toddler food recipes. I hope this helps. Good Luck!! :-) P.S. if your toddler doesn't eat certain fruits and veggies, then you can puree it and hide it in the food!! If the chicken recipe doesn't work because of the tomato then just try blending it up with the chicken and hiding it in the cheese and tell him it's chicken :-)

Hi J.,
I have a 4 year old son who got bored of mac and cheese and does not like cold cuts, tired of grilled cheese. I don't know if you give your son peanut butter yet or if you plan to but I put together a mixture of some sort of fruit, raw veggies like snap peas or snow peas, petite carrots or grape tomatoes and peanut butter on rice cakes. I also give him yogurt or string cheese. The variety keeps him interested and they are healthy choices. I like the quaker white cheddar rice cakes the best with the peanut butter. They have mini rice cakes too that work just as well. Hope that helps.
Take care,
V.

I pretty much do the same things you do. What about hot dogs or mac and cheese, or sometimes I do a breakfast lunch. Obviously I don't feed them the same thing they ate that morning, but I will do pancakes or eggs. They love that and they think it is a treat for them. My kids also love canned chicken noodle soup.

I don't have toddlers anymore but I used to feed my kids all kinds of things. Fortunately at that time they weren't picky eaters. My daughter is VERY picky now at 11. Anyway, you can do all beef hot dogs (sliced up) with ketchup to dip in, wrap up your turkey slices in a wrap bread with slices of tomato, lettuce and maybe even a little bacon. My kids absolutely loved rotini with a little melted butter on it and some parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Hope that helps...or even PB and J?

L. L

My daughter like strawberry cream cheese and strawberry jelly sandwiches. It was a big hit at her daycare and other parents tried it!! Good luck!!

My son also loves soup - tomato is his favorite. He also loves anything that he can dip - so we do a lot of veggies and fruit with different dips. I also buy small tortilla's (found in the Mexican isle) and make cheese omelets, sandwiches (peanut butter, fluff and bananas is his favorite), etc. basically anything we can roll. The small tortilla's are perfect for quesadillas - we make pizza, cheese, cheese and veggie, and chicken (I buy the already cooked chicken) and cheese.

My son loves soup! We cook up a can of Progresso soup and drain the broth...he eats the meat and veggies up and loves it. Black beans and rice is kinda messy, but my son loves that too. Good luck!

K.