I have 5 four year olds over here every day and one of them is SUPER picky! I'm talking won't eat toast, grilled cheese, etc. The only thing I can get her to eat is eggs, mac and cheese and pbj. I've been making these over and over but it's getting old, not to mention they aren't the healthiest.
What yummy things to do feed your preschoolers that they like?
They'll eat healthy breakfast and fruit and yogurt just fine, it's just lunchtime that seems to be the issue.
When my kids were that young, that would not eat what you would consider a traditonal lunch - as in a sandwich. They preferred snack type items, so many times lunch was just a bunch of healthy snacks -
granola bar
cheese - cut it up in cubes
crackers
grilled chicken
roll up a slice of lunch meat with cheese and cut into slices to make pinwheel shapes
hard boilded egg
carrot sticks and dip
I have one of those in my class but I am just a 9-12 preschool and their parents pack their lunches (thank goodness!) However, we always do a food to go along with the letter we are learning and I have found that even my pickiest will eat white rice, grapes and apples (although she wanted the "wrapper" aka skin cut off)... Even though some of the things I use in my lessons are "weird," all of the other kiddos have loved them (oatmeal, cucumber, beans, mango etc), but she spits almost everything out with a level of disgust that I have never even seen in my life! LOL!
Well... her parents may NOT have exposed her to a wide variety of foods before she turned 2ish (the brain classifies new chemicals as posionous and combines that classification with a gag-yuck-spit-it-out! response. Similar, if you took a bite of dog poo... it's a whole body physical reaction... and it can't be helped. In fact, the more foods that get introduced that aren't on the brain's okay list get added to the VILE! list.). This response wears off at around age 5. (but warning... anything that has been classified as VILE! Poison! can remain on that list for a good 10-20 years. It gradually wears off... but it really does take decades and some massive hormonal switching for it not to taste like poo. Quite literally, the tongue CANNOT taste new things between apx ages 2-5. It just makes the body spit it out. No flavor except "yuck".
ANYHOW... assuming this is the probable cause (it's USUALLY the cause for picky eaters, the 2nd most common is a sensory processing disorder related to texture or supertasting... but that is a DISTANT 2nd)... the way to "work around" it is to NOT offer new foods.
Instead, offer the same foods made differently.
Mac'n'Cheese translates to the specific cheeses that are in the mac and wheat. Grilled cheese will *sometimes* work... but NOT if the bread has been caramelized (different chemical signature) unless she's had grilled bread in the past (and it sounds like NOT since she won't eat toast, either), and NOT if it's a different kind of cheese (cheeses have different proteins and microbes in them, which the brain can spot a mile away).
So you find a cheese she's been known to eat (say, american or cheddar or mozzarella) and you use THAT cheese (or cheeses). Cooked wheat flour = bread, tortillas, rolls, croissants, noodles, etc. If she'll also eat eggs... you've got:
- quesodillas (and chicken quesadillas)
- croissant-wiches
- quiche
- pasta carbonara
- etc.
If she'll eat peanut butter (and I'm willing to lay money she'll eat chicken, since most "toddler food" -aka the primary cause for picky eaters is the 11 ingredient NO SPICE NO SEASONING list of what's in gerber and other brand's toddler meals- includes unseasoned chicken)... you've got chicken satay (just thin the peanut butter out with something she likes like yogurt, but don't add any other spices or herbs or sauces to it... ANY chem sig her brain hasn't processed will make the entire dish be rejected, and may add the other foods onto the "yuck" list... creating an even pickier eater).
If you FEEL like it... send me a 'complete list' of what she'll eat, and I can give most people 40-50 different meals using only those items on it (I've done it for picky eaters before, whether it's chem sig issues, or texture issues... but texture issues are harder, because you have to work with the kids to find out what they like about certain textures and dislike about other).
BUT REALLY... is the short list boring YOU or HER? Usually it's the adults who are bored, and the kids are happy as clams. If she's happy with eggs on monday, mac n cheese on tues, and pbj on wed... you might save yourself the grief of cooking 'work around' meals... and just wait a year for it to wear off. UPSIDE: Kids need high fat diets for brain development and the mylenization of nerves (which, at last reading has gotten pushed to 5yo... 10 years ago it was pushed to 2yo, then 4, and now they're finding nerves are still coating at age 5). So while those things would be terrible in an adult diet (the high fat), they're actually pretty healthy for her neural development.
Have you discussed it with the parents? They may have some ideas or it may be something they do not push at home. You may have to ask their permission to expand her food preference (e.g. if she's eating other foods at home, she's controling her lunch environment with you).
Maybe try some fun shapes as others have said and, The "hot dog octopus" is high on my kids list. Take uncooked spaghetti noodles and push them through a hot dog (you can cut it in halves or quarters). Boil until noodles are done (8-10 min.) And, if she's eating mac and cheese, maybe mix a melted cheese sauce on it.
Home made Chicken Noodle soup
Tacos with rice and beans
I make sandwiches of choice and then use a cookie cutter to remove the crust (and then some). She eats the whole thing every time!
