Lunch Ideas for Toddler!

PBJ sandwhich
Grilled Cheese
Pizza
Spaghetti O's
Spaghetti
Chicken Noodle Soup (I drain the broth and just give noodles)
Cereal
Burrito's
Chicken Nuggets
Chicken
Hamburgers
Bolognia
Mac Cheese
Quesadilla
Cracker/Cheese/Lunch Meat
String Cheese
Yogurt
Alot of the time leftovers from the dinner the day before

I usually offer a fruit/veggie or a fruit smooothie too

Hi!

My son will eat:

+ some type of noodle (penne pasta, spaghettios, chicken noodle soup with the broth drained, or mac' and cheese)

+ some type of meat (lunchmeat torn into pieces, a chicken patty or nuggets, or a hot dog cut in half lengthwise and then into pieces)

+ some type of veggie (usually green beans because he loves them!)

+ some type of fruit (usually applesauce, quartered grapes, or fresh honeydew/cantaloupe/watermelon when it's in season)

+ He also LOVES pizza as other responders have mentioned, so making little pizzas on english muffins or flatbread is always a favorite.

Other "sometimes" ideas (not as healthy but fast and easy!):

Pigs in a blanket (croissant dough wrapped around mini hot dogs - 375 for 11 minutes)

Mini corn dogs

Fish sticks

Grilled cheese

We also do a lot of leftovers if we've had lasagna, tortellini (he loves picking it up!), BBQ beef, or something else he really liked.

One other funny note is that my son wants something crunchy with his lunch! I realized one day that everything I give him is soft and that he was thrilled when there was a cracker or something offered. So, now I just put a few pieces of cereal or a couple of crackers on the corner of his tray and he will actually eat more of what I want him to when he can crunch on something yummy in between bites! :-)

My son will be 2 next month, so we haven't tried peanut butter yet, but hopefully that will be the next big thing. :-)

Hope this helps!

My daughter is 22 months old. She consistently eats pasta plain or with sprinkle parmesan cheese (the little shaped pasta), pizza, applesauce, diced peaches, mandarin oranges, slices of cheese, grapes, raisins or dried cranberries, bananas off and on, and cereal with milk (using her hands, usually). She's not too picky, obviously, but if you haven't tried some of these, maybe they'd work for your girl. Good luck! Also, I don't feed her at certain times...just when she gets whiny, because that means she's hungry. Oh, and she also eats pancakes or waffles with syrup.

Tortilla (or flat bread) pizzas! Usually topped with leftovers, not traditional pizza toppings-- as long as it's got a crust on the bottom and cheese on the top and you call it pizza they'll eat it! Isaac favorite is BBQ pizza (shredded or chopped leftover meat, BBQ sauce and shredded co-jack)

There's a GAZILLION variations, it's fast, fairly healthy and a great way to use up leftovers!

My kids love what we call pinweels, I use a tortilla, put down either some mayo or cream cheese, turkey/ham, more mayo or cream cheese, cheese and then roll it up and cut into half inch section finger food and looks like something fun. They also love tortelini, ravioli, perogis, mac n cheese with broccoli added, anything that we can make fun things out of like an open faced bagel with some ham and maybe cherry tomatoes cut in half as eyes and a nose and piece of lettuce shaped into a mouth. Just get creative!!

It is hard, I do get stuck feeding my almost 3 year the same thing. But we do eat the night before leftovers a lot. Plus he loves Ham, Farmland makes little Ham pieces that he loves and to make it fun I put pretzels stick in each piece. I could put a little pretzels stick in anything and he will eat it. He thinks it is fun.
Chicken patty or nuggets
Ham
Sometimes Hot dog but not a big fan
He doesn't like sandwiches but will eat grill cheese.
Summer sausage
fish sticks

he loves the little carrots, cucumber pieces, red pepper pieces(he loves to dip these in salad dressing) peas, green beans, beets, corn, broccoli. You can buy the freeze dried fruits and veggies like peas etc. He used to be sooo picky but would eat those and I kept offering the fresh stuff and now he eats almost all fruits and veggies. You just have to keep trying and be creative. Know your kid and what they like and incorporate it into their food. My son loves trains (Thomas the train) and we told him how asparagus grows by the train track and now he eats it. I told him how I chopped the broccoli tress down for him and he loves that story, etc...

Apple slices, watermelon, strawberries, grapes, sometimes banana but not his favorite, cantaloupe, pineapple (loves the little fruit cups too) raisins, craisins,

He loves nuts too, cashews, pistachios, etc. My husband and I have no allergies nor any family memebers so I wasn't to worry about that. Great nutrition in there and has protein when he doesn't want meat. ( He doesn't like peanut butter though :(

He loves crackers, sunchips, chex mix, any type of pretzel, so many kinds, I mix it up. He loves to crunch on stuff while eating lunch too.

McCain makes little potato smiles and hash browns things, I put those in the toaster oven. Or toast, he loves toast with Parmesan cheese and butter. Weird but he loves it.

Yogurt and Chocolate milk. I breast fed him and he would never drink white milk. He use to love cheese but now he won't eat it alone, like cheese pieces. So many kinds of yogurt but he likes what we eat. Also lead by example they really do follow what we do. Eat what she is eating, vice versa.

Like I said leftovers help break up the monotony, spaghetti, pork, what ever we had the night before. The only time I don't serve leftovers, if he didn't like it to begin with. (he is not a big Mexican food fan but me and my husband are I still make tacos etc and he will eat it but I don't make him eat it for lunch when he can easily have something else.)
Good luck,
M.