Meal Ideas for Lunch Time

My kids and daycare kids love to make up english muffin pizza's. We make fried banana's and love to make fresh smoothies and we do soft torilla shells and cheese alot.

Have some fun...try pb&j on crackers in stead of bread. make fruit sticks — put a peice of strawberry and a peice of bananna on a toothpick. Another favorite is sliced strawberries with pb spread on it. Yumm...taste just like pb&j without the extra additives in the j.

We also like to spread out tortia chips on a plate and top it off with cheese. Home-made pizzas on buns or premade dough. Your favorite sliced meat and cheese on a cracker. Lunch at the park.

Humm...have you tried a kids cook book? They have some really creative ideas that are simple and fun to make. May be able to even find some on-line.

I hope this helps!

Hi,
I have 21 month old and he loves grilled chicken. You can get tyson or oscar meyer grilled chicken. He even loves it cold. (teething) He loves broccoli, rice (I cook it with cut up broccoli and carrots from beginng. I don't know if your against beef but he loves meatballs and meatloaf and roast beef. Cheese is too as a snack. Good luck!

We like to make quesadillas. You can fill them with pretty much anything you desire: meat & cheese, just cheese, veggies, veggies & meat, veggies & cheese, etc.

Also, I use a website called Meals Matter (www.mealsmatter.org) quite a bit. I was referred to it by WIC and have used it pretty steadily since then. It has a large database of recipes, searchable by a variety of criteria, including "kid friendly".

Another source I use is I budget some of my grocery money to buy food from Angel Food Ministries (www.angelfoodministries.com). They put together a food package each month that costs $25. There is no criteria for ordering, they are nation wide, and each month offers a different menu. It helps me keep my freezer stocked and allows me to offer my family a constant variety of items without too much hassle.

-P.

I used to give the kids was frozen peas. It was a great snack when it was hot out. They will still to this day eat them straight out of the freezer. They are 7 and five. Strange but healthy and cold.

My kids love when I cut up deli turkey(I like the Sara Lee honey turkey or low salt), green peppers and onions and sort of stir fry them with just a few drops of olive oil in a pan. I serve it on a hotdog bun or what ever type of bread I have with a touch of mayo. My husband started the dish and now the kids love it.
Leftovers from dinner are always a hit for us. They also like when I give them salad with leftover grilled chicken on it.

My 2 year old is not a good eater, so I am constantly trying to find something to make him eat. His favorites are bologna and cheese, turkey and cheese (I cut them with cookie cutters to make shapes- he loves it!), pigs in a blanket, whole wheat pita pizzas, pasta salad (you can load it with all sorts of veggies), or just a variety plate of cheese, fruit and veggies. My son is not a big meat-eater, so I load up the cheese and when he has something a little less healthy (like a hot dog) I make sure he doubles up on the veggies (carrots, fresh brocolli, sugar snap peas). Good luck!

We usually have left overs from dinner, so my kids usually eat a variation of what we had the night before. If we have leftover Chicken and some left over broccoli then I whip it together with some noodles and olive oil. Many leftovers show up the next day as tortilla wraps with maybe some cheese in it. Since he likes soup, try to make a homemade batch for the week because the canned soups have so much salt. Quesodillas are also good for using up leftover meat and veggies. You can find whole wheat tortillas and pasta at almost every Gro store now. Everything that I serve also gets a side of fruit and lunch is also the only time that my kids get juice. Sometimes lunch is just cheese cubes, carrot sticks, and fruit. Unless the mac & cheese and chicken nuggets are some healthy version that I don't know about, those foods are really junk and should be reserved for a once in awhile lunch, not the norm. Also, for soup, my kids use these bowls that are ment for cereal and milk. They are plastic and have a built in straw that is perfect for slurping up yummy broth!! I got them at Meijer ( Well, actually the Easter bunny did).

Make the same food but make them look fun ! Do some creative thinking.

Good luck
C. S