So this week:
Monday (nursery) - all meals are cooked fresh on site by a chef so are usually very good at being low sugar/nutritionally balanced, unlike her last nursery who thought Doritos and melted cheese with a wagon wheel was an acceptable tea!)
Cereal for breakfast
Fruit/cheese/veg/cracker platter for morning and afternoon snack (they put it out and they help themselves but nothing on there that would be particularly problematic)
Thai green curry with rice and green beans for lunch, apparently she ate 4 green beans as she's 4 so she's promised she'll eat 5 next year 🙄 'eton mess' with yoghurt instead of cream for pudding
Jacket potato with cheese and beans with tomato and cucumber for tea at nursery (she won't have eaten the tomato but ate the rest) fruit salad for pudding
Not entirely sure on portion sizes they said she had 2nds but my understanding is that they are quite small portions to start with.
Tuesday:
One Weetabix for breakfast with milk and some raspberries
Banana for morning snack after her swimming lesson
Lunch: one snack size sausage roll, a pinch of grated cheese, half a bag of quavers and an apple.
Afternoon snack: grapes after riding her pony as she was hungry
Dinner: about 2/3rds of a small kid size pizza base, made with homemade pasta sauce with hidden veg and no added sugar etc, topped with some chicken breast and a chunk of cucumber on the side, she was still hungry so she had strawberries and the last 2 chunks of her chocolate bar she bought on holiday last week
Wednesday:
Rice crispies for breakfast, but didn't eat much of them, then shared a slice of toast with natural peanut butter with her brother a bit later instead of a morning snack.
Lunch: half a marmite sandwich, half a bag of crisps, an orange and a yogurt. Afternoon snack of a mini magnum (she is with my mum on Wednesdays and keen to allow her to have the odd treat there!) Dinner was roast chicken with chips and peas but she was having an epic meltdown over something so when we eventually managed to calm her down she wasn't hungry and just ate the chicken. Jam tart for pudding as DH hadn't realised she had an ice cream.
She back at nursery now today and tomorrow, they're on a trip today so have taken a packed lunch but according to the menu she's got omelette for tea which she won't eat so I'll probably offer her some cereal/toast when she gets in, tomorrow is fish pie for lunch and pasta for tea which she'll eat all of so probably won't give her anything when she gets home
I think you're right about habit, she was often eating a second small tea when she got in from nursery when her younger brother ate which we've stopped now, and definitely a lot of boredom eating too. I don't think it's thirst as she drinks loads of water but also perhaps eating for enjoyment too, I'm trialing when she asks for a snack saying' yes you can have x' which is always something she'd eat, but not necessarily her favourite and if she doesn't want it she's not hungry, rather than asking her what she wants and ending in a negotiation over whether she can have a biscuit/cake/crisps etc