Meal plan for lunches with pre-schoolers

[Fiddledee]

I have one 4 year old pre-schooler and a nearly 2 year old. We have lunch together everyday and while I find the hot evening meal easy to plan I find lunches make me feel like tearing my hair out. To be honest neither child seems to eat much at lunch time which results in lots of snacks in the afternoon.

Both hate soup and eggs in most forms, I don't like giving sandwiches each day. My son would live off houmous and sausage rolls.

Help I just can't make up balanced lunches.

DD1 (2.3) and I have:

Pita bread pizzas (they can help make them too)
pasta and cheese or tuna/sweetcorn/mayo
fishfingers and beans
beans/spaghetti hoops on toast
Jacket potato and cheese/beans/tuna
Leftovers from roast dinner made into bubble and squeak
Wraps with garlic and herb philadelphia and salad
Wraps with ham, cheese and salad
Pancakes with cheese and spinach

I wouldn't stress about it, TBH. I find my DD (4) will either eat well at breakfast or lunch, not both. She has a good hot well balanced dinner, and my feeling is as long as it balances out over the day, its fine.

She'd eat dippy eggs for breakfast and lunch, given half a chance. I let her have them 2 or 3 times a week and offer some form of sandwich most other days. Sometimes she has crackers and cheese/cream cheese with raw veg or soup.

Have you tried jacket potatoes? Or something on toast like baked beans or sardines? Or other sandwich type things like pitta, wraps, bagels etc.

We do a lot of snacky/picnic type lunches. My DS is 2. I just cube cheese, add some lettuce/cherry tomatoes/cucumber/grapes, a small fromage frais and a small handfull of something treaty like crisps or popcorn.

DD isn't a good eater either and sometimes I do the picnic type thing myself, which she seems to love. I get bits from the fridge and cupboard like ham, tomatoes, breadsticks, dried apricots, anything we've got in really. Her other favourite is pasta with butter and veg.

What about cheese on toast? My four year old loves it

My problem is that I have two kids that don't seem to like the same stuff
-one will eat baked potatoes the other will not same with cheese on toast

WHen my kids were little they liked things like:

pasta salad
mashed potatoes with cheese and beans
wraps with refried beans, cheese and lettuce leaves
bagles with cream cheese
picnic type stuff with slices of meat, bread sticks, sliced fruit, yoghurt, crisps...
pasta with pesto
rice cooked in stock with veg and little bits of leftover meat
bread sticks dipped in philly and wrapped in ham
crumpet pizzas
sausages cooked, chopped up and mixed through a tin of beans
pasta with cheese, sweetcorn and sliced hotdogs
chips with homemade curry sauce
tuna wedge melt
scrambled tofu with toast
smoked tofu fingers with bread and butter and lettuce leaves.

We're a bit the same - she would live off ham and bread and cheese for lunch but she eats a varied evening meal.

Corned beef hash and beans always a winner in our house for lunch.

My dd is currently going through a Breville phase which has absolutely nothing to do with me :o You can put all sorts of things in there and bung a few carrot sticks/cherry toms/cu on the side.

RockBat you have just reminded me about our breville at the back of a cupboard which I became obsessed with when pregnant with DD - going to dig it out now for lunch!!

Used to love cheese and beans - so classy!

Well of course they don't like the same food, that would be waaaay too easy! Mine don't either, esp at lunchtime, its easier once one is at school. In the meantime, try to do stuff thats at least not too much work and maybe has some of the same element eg cheese on toast for one, beans for the other maybe.

How about frittata/tortilla type thing? Can have it hot or cold, make one big one and do slices or make wee ones in cake tins (DD loves anything 'individual' if you know what I mean).

Add potatoes/veg/ham/cheese according to what they like.

Aargh just re-read your OP and saw eggs are a no-no....sorry.

What about falafel if DS likes houmous?

Mine don't like the same either, one would eat cheese sandwiches every day the other won't touch cheese.

another one with a pre-schooler who lives on sandwiches at lunchtime. He usually does two and a half meals a day, a good breakfast, a good dinner with a fairly crappy lunch in between. He does love carrot sticks and he particularly loves dipping them in stuff, so I give him philly or guacamole (which refers to as snot, strangely that only encourages him to eat it!) in a little bowl for him to dip it in to.

Sandwiches aren't the worst thing to give them though, varying the fillings helps, finely chopped smoked salmon (those packets of cheap trimmings are good) mixed with cream cheese is a particular fave. Ds has also discovered tortillas which I fill with cheese and ham and fold in half and warm in the griddle pan. He calls them pancakes, Nigella calls them Quesadillas, I call 'em lunch!