My DD and I will begin a mother's day out program twice a week. I'll be working there and she'll be attending. I have to pack her lunch and need some ideas of things that will keep unrefrigerated in her lunch bag that she can feed herself. I'm assuming the teachers will not be doing any heating of items since there are 10 kids in her classroom.
Exactly what she eats at home for lunch.
If you usually make a "hot" lunch, cook it in the morning. Package it up. It'll be room temp by lunch time. I have yet to know a child who will not eat room temp food they usually eat 10 degrees "hotter". If you usually serve cold food, just throw an icepack in there and it will keep it refrigerator cold.
peanut butter and jelly, crackers, a sliced up apple, baby carrots, a juice box (you can freeze it to keep the rest of the food cool if you would like) & a cookie.
My daughter likes black beans, mac & cheese, and peas. This is her staple meal that she will eat at any time. Also lunch meat (Boars head brand which is preservative and nitrate free) slice cheese and mandarin oranges (in fruit juice). Make it easy on yourself. :)
Not sure how young your 1 year old is... Closer to 1 or closer to 2? My 10-month old likes the following for lunch at daycare. Keep in a cold bag and it should be fine.
-- baked chicken (I buy a whole baked chicken from the grocery store every 3 days and use that for each meal, just pull it apart/shred by hand) Since it is cooked and low moisture, it has a low chance of spoilage.
-- diced avacado
-- freeze dried fruit & vegetables
-- cooked vegetable pasta
--no salt tortilla chips
I worked in a preschool and there were all kinds of things people send. Here are some ideas I've seen and used myself.
PB&J sandwich cut into small pieces (like cut into 1/4ths and then cut the 1/4ths into 1/4th)
rolled up deli meat
cheese cubes/string cheese
crackers
goldfish
raisens
banana
mac & cheese in a thermos (it stays warm, but isn't HOT by lunchtime)
turkey pepperonis
cut up grapes
sectioned oranges
fruit cups
pudding
yougurt drinks/cups/tubes (if you freeze a yogurt tube, it will be cold at lunch)
cold pizza (not me, but I've seen it!)
cut up hot dogs/vienna sausage
Granola bar
There really are tons of things. Think about what you fix at home and as long as you aren't heating it, you should be fine. You can also heat stuff up and put it in a thermos. You can even ask the teachers if it's still warm at school so you'll know what works and what doesn't. Not for my little one, but for my older ones I've put cut up hot dogs, pizza, etc. in their thermos so it will be warm at school.
If you want to send something hot Walmart carries a Thermos brand container in their camping section that you can use. It's short with a wide mouth. It will keep food hot for seven hours.
I usually went with what I know they would eat at home, which for my kid was "turkey bites" aka turkey cold cuts torn up into bite size pieces, (he's 6 now and still loves "turkey rolls") cheese bites/squares/sticks he loved peaches fruit cups ( I usually opened them and put them in a bigger container and pored out most of the syrup to make it easier and less messy for him to eat. Crackers of any kind, he didn't like sandwiches something about the sliced bread, she still doesn't care much for the sliced bread and always eats his turkey sandwiches on a hamburger bun or roll which ever I find for less $. he also pretty much likes to eat the SAME lunch each day, but overall just go with the same thing you would feed her at home, you can use and ice pack or heat pack if needed, which most of the time you dont.
Just pack, what you KNOW she will eat.
It does not have to be fancy nor a buffet.
Otherwise, a kid will not eat.
I have seen that happen, MANY times.
Just pack what you know your child will eat.
Even if that means the same thing each time.
My son was like that at Preschool.
Use an insulated lunch bag.
Put blue ice in it.
It will keep things chilled.
And a bottle of water.
That is what parents do.
And LABEL everything, with a Sharpie pen.
