Finger Food Ideas for 2.5 Year Old?

Both my daughters (ages 2 years & 7 years) LOVE edamame! It's 100% protein soybeans and at the grocery store you can find a big bag with like 10 individual serving bags inside so I put a little bag in my daughters lunch in the morning and by the time she gets to school they are thawed out and ready to eat. You can do that or you can just boil them at home then put some in a ziplock in the lunchbox with your ice pack. Either way, they are so yummy and you don't have to worry about sugar or fat because they are so healthy and good for them.

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Hi L.,
My daughter is also in a Mother's Day Out program also with no fridge or microwave. I make her either chicken nuggets, fish sticks, hot dog or cheese quesadillas. You can wrap all of these things in foil to keep them warm until lunchtime. If it's like my daughter's program, they eat around 11:30, so it's only a couple of hours. I also send a veggie (like corn or green beans) and some cut up fruit. Sometimes I will send a grilled cheese sandwich also. A small cup of yogurt would work...you can put that in the insulated pouch. Good luck and let me know if you need some more ideas.

V.

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I give my son the turkey pepperoni and canadian bacon slices that are most frequently used as a pizza topping. I get these at Kroger. I also put a tortilla in with this to be eaten separately. My 2.5 year old isn't a big fan of bread, but he loves tortillas. I also heat a hot dog and he eats that. I am sure I would think it was cold and terrible, but my son gobbles it up. I hope this helps!

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Get Uncrustable Sandwiches! My son loves them.

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Tyson's chicken nuggets are a favorite at our home; heat them up for 60 seconds before you pack the lunch. Heated weiners cut up; green beans - I cook the green beans with bar-b-que sauce and store them in the fridge; just scoop some up with lunch. Mashed potatoes - heat them up in the a.m. and they will be fine in the insulated bag. Turkey slices; turkey roll-ups (turkey and cheese melted on a tortilla rolled up. Fettuccine and chicken. Jello. Yogurt. you can even cheat and take some babyfood out of a jar and put it in a plastic storage piece - something like sweet potatoes. good luck.

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I used to send cheerios, graham cracker sticks, apple slices with peanut butter to dip them in, diced ham or turkey, diced hot dogs, slices of summer sausage (my little ones fav), peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into fourths, carrot chips, raisins or prunes (yeah, they used to eat them like candy!) raw cauliflower broken into small pieces, and yogurt. That is all I can recall right now, it has been a few years. My 7 year old now loves to take the Lunchable Jr's. They include cracker sticks with cheese logs, and diced turkey or ham, or yogurt with teddy grahams and cheese, or cracker sticks with peanut butter and raisins. She likes them better than the other regular lunchables, and usually eats those with a cup of yogurt or a small sandwich, depending on which one she takes. OH YEAH! We always made a sort of trail mix with different cereals, raisins and peanuts, (We used chex or life, cheerios, fruit loops or apple jacks) and little pretzel sticks or potatoe stick.

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Hormel has a new line of lunch meats that are wonderful. They have a chicken pieces (like strips) that have a great flavor. My daughter likes that with a bit of ketchep. They have baked and grilled. She's very picky and didn't like the marks on the grilled bits! Sometimes we take the ham slices and turkey slices and make what we call lunchmeat rollups. The color variety is pretty and she feel fancy eating two slices rolled up together (I keep holding together by a toothpick). This new line is also free of gluten, nitrates, and MSG! (important for us) I've found this at Krogers, HEB and Target stores.

She also likes grape tomatos and sweet yellow & orange pepper strips. Sometimes if the pepper is big, I'll use a mini cookie cutter and cut the pepper into hearts or stars adn mix them with the tomatos. The extra effort is worth it, because she'll eat veggies this way.

Also, is she okay with P.B.? I'll pack some cinnamon crakers (nade by a company dealing with allergies) with a peanut butter dip. That gives her enough protein to be satisified until she's home.

I've got the same situation at our home, (we're also wheat and dairy free though) packing lunches in our home has been tough!

S.

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I faced this same challenge last year. My daugther didn't like sandwiches, so I had to be creative. One thing I did was a cold pasta salad using diced up chicken, turkey or ham, bowtie pasta, broccoli or peas, some kind of grated cheese and tossed it with a little olive oil and seasoning.
You could also use ranch or italian dressing if your child will eat that. Oh, and I bought a little insulated soup mug, a can of mega noodle chicken soup, drained all the liquid and warmed it up just enough to be warm.

I hope this helps.

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Hi L., I have just one suggestion to add; my 2-year-old daughter likes veggie burgers (I myself do not LOL). I heat one up in the morning, cut it into cute triangles, put a smidge of ketchup on each and pack with other things already mentioned. It stays warm but even if it gets to room temp it's ok cause its veggies! Best of luck ~K.

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Cheese quesadillas (make them in the morning-heated up) and wrap them up-they should be fine warm when its time to eat
Grapes-or other fruit
peanut butter crackers
fish or chicken strips

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Avocado, cut-up hot dogs, veggie burgers, yogurt, soup in a thermos...
(copied from http://daycare.suite101.com/article.cfm/fun_finger_foods_...)
Finger Food Suggestions for Toddlers
Cheese cubes
Rice cakes
Vegetable sticks
Fruit chunks
Meat sticks (such as chicken fingers)
Fruit kabobs
Dry cereal
Frozen bananas
Pigs-in-a-blanket, franks in a blanket
Bagel sandwiches
Finger sandwiches
English muffin sandwiches
Raw vegetables such as broccoli "trees"

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Peanut butter & jelly sandwich, cut up in to pieces !
Cheerios'Cereal !
My children love it !

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Maybe you could try different kinds of meats and cheeses? Does she like hard boiled eggs, or would that be too messy? My kids always loved the string cheeses, too.

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Try seedless grapes, pudding cups or yogurt, a small peeled hard boiled egg, strawberries or celery (any fruit or vegetable you can slice), any lunch meat that you can buy and slice yourself or have the deli slice to your requirements like summer sausage, balogne, mild salami etc..., Banana sliced in half (but leave peel on or it will darken.), Cheerios, saltine crackers(Also known as soda or soup crackers)spread with cheese whiz or cream cheese or jelly. Some kids even like pickles. Try things out on her before you pack it, and don't be afraid to try new things.

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My son is going through a pepperoni and cheese cubes phase. Any cured meats work well. Or buy a whole cooked chicken and cut into appropriate sized peices. You could make pigs in a blanket, empanadas, small burritos. I have also sent a small container of peanut butter and dipable items such as grahm crackers, bagel chips, apple slices, celery, ect...

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When I send my son to his Pre-School I pack a either a ham and cheese sandwich or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sometimes it's a peanut butter and banana. Then usually sliced apples, cheese stix, goldfish or pretzels. He also like carrot stix and celery (but I have to de-string it and that's a pain...) cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber. I don't put anything in his box to keep things cool. This stuff would have to stay out a day or more to go bad with out refigeration. Remember that fruits and vegetables grow outside. Yogurt is a fun change from applesauce. Sometimes...you could throw in a....COOKIE! Or a piece of dark choclate. My son loves those little Girhaldi squares.

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My kids go to a MDO and I have to put the same thought into their lunches. It's hard!! I've bought a lot of lunchables, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are great. My daughter also loves pb and honey sandwiches. I cut up fruit, pack hot dogs, string cheese, pizza... Some ravioli is ok room temp. I try to think about what would be ok to eat room temp or a little cold (from the ice pack). My daughter's lunch box has two separate compartments and I put the stuff that needs to stay cold in one side, room temp stuff in the other. Good luck!!

My 2 year old loves Goldfish Crackers, Graham Crackers, Cheerios, Oatmeal Bars and Ritz Crackers. These are good because you don't have to worry about having them be refrigerated. Hope this helps a little. :)

I recently read in one of my parent magazines to use a thermos to put nuggets, ravioli, the list goes on. I thought this was a great idea and plan to try it myself.