Lunch food for toddlers...any ideas?

[mrswoozer]

So, my 3 year old has rather suddenly decided he doesn't 'do' sandwiches and I need some ideas as to what to feed him for lunch. Books eg Annabel Karmel don't seem to be that helpful as they focus on children who won't eat any fruit and veg and that's not the problem here. It's the staples of the meal that are missing! I don't really want t do a hot meal for him every day, especially as we are more often than not out and about. Anyone got any ideas?

will watch this thread with interest as my 3 year old also won't do sandwiches. She will bizarrely eat squares of cut up buttered bread, with ham, cheese, tomatoes on a plate ie. the sandwich in bits. We also do a lot of pasta with ham, cheese etc. She enjoys egg with toast soldiers. Also pizza cut into squares (she likes to help make these too. Sometimes pancakes stuffed with cheese etc or chocolate spread for special treat. She likes quiche too.
The trouble i have is when she takes lunch to pre school as these things are hard to pack.

Pasta salads.

Noodle salads.

Couscous.

Wraps.

Sushi.

These are the things we do for packed lunches. If we are at home I cook rice.

Surprising things that my 2 year old is enjoying for lunch recently are beetroot and apple soup and samosas (not at the same time, obviously!)

What about sandwiches in a different form, like wraps or rolls? Or mini pies or quiches?

In my experience, little bits of finger food are favourites. Things on toast. Wraps. (instead of sandwiches) bagels cut into bit size bits.
Hard boiled eggs and cubes of cheese, meats etc.

hummous with sliced raw veg to dip
or mushroom pate or makceral pate. with crackers to dip.

Watching with interest as I am fine with the big meal of the day but always struggle with variety for lunch.

I have a 4 year old with a tiny appetite who has never eaten a sandwich in her life, is allergic to eggs and doesn't eat pasta so lunch is a difficult one in our house.

Have frequently occasionally resorted to a potato waffle for lunch as I know she is having a good, balanced meal in the evening.

Pitta bread stuffed with cheese and tomato/tuna/egg/anything else you fancy Mackerel on toast
Beans on toast
Spaghetti hoops
Pasta and pesto (actually OK cold)
Scrambled egg/omelette/boiled egg

Those are the sorts of things my 3 year old is into just now. Ask me again next week and get a whole different list

Also, never underestimate the value of last night's leftovers.

If I know he's had a bowl of spag bol or some fish pie for lunch then I am much less bothered about getting a fabulous dinner down him :)

Crackers and cheese
Sausage rolls
Cheese on toast
Pitta breads
Fruit bread
Bagels

Would she eat rolls instead of sandwiches?

My DD isn't keen on sandwiches but she does love crackers with cheese, cream cheese or houmous so she has that a lot.

We also do pancakes - mixed with grated vegetables and/or cheese and/or chopped ham. Cut into wedges. Good for small appetites.

The other day I made oat and banana cookies from a recipe on Mumsnet. They were lovely and aforementioned dd1 loved them. They are made with banana and oats (no flour) and you weigh the bananas before deciding how much sugar to add. I had big bananas so only added a sprinkle of sugar and no choc chips.

Do you think with fruit and a yoghurt they make a reasonable lunch?

Make a massive batch of cheese strasw and freeze the individually. Them cook them as you need them. Plus very portable.

i sometimes make a fake 'calzone' out of a tortilla half covered with chopped pepper, sweetcorn and diced ham covered in melted cheese, folded in half and squished.

once it's cooled you can cut it into handy triangles and take with you wherever you go.

Ruthie that is technically a quesadilla, and very authentic too!

Are Heinz Spag hoops or Heinz soups (vegtable, oxtail, tomato etc) that bad?

I'm 30 wks pregnant and make lunch just before getting ready to leave for work. I used to stand and make nice healthly lunches.

But the past couple of weeks I have fallen into a trap of heating something up quickly adn buttering a few pieces of wholemeal bread is that bad?

Today we are into last nights left-over rice, mixed with tuna and mayo and some flat-leaf parsley and whatever veg I had in the kitchen, today it was a red pepper (peeled with a potato peeler and diced) and a tin of sweetcorn, oh and a handful of fresh peas from my garden.
Why will my 16-month old wolf down peeled red pepper and turn his nose up at it roasted with the skin on?
There is some of that and the roast chicken from this evening left over for tomorrow, so it depends on my mood and appetite. But I have been known to rely on the cheese sandwich (it does such funny things to his poop though, so I try to steer clear of sandwiches for lunch).

My daughter (2y) doesn't "do" sandwiches either. As she has her main meal at the creche, she tends to have a lighter meal in the evening.

She likes pitta bread stuffed with a little puréed tomato (I use passata but jarred pasta sauce is good too!) and grated cheese and then toasted so it's a sort of inside out pizza.

Other options - falafel with hummus and pitta, squares of toast spread with pesto, mini corn on the cobs, flaked tuna with chopped tomatoes and toast, squares of pizza, or just good old pasta (the small shapes that cook quickly) and pesto.

I've been trying her with crackers and cheese spread triangles recently, but unfortunately the temptation to squish has proved irresistible and no cheese spread has as yet made it into her mouth (just everywhere else!)

I find that oatcakes spread with peanut butter go down quite nicely as a lunchtime thing or a snack. If you're taking them out and about you can just squish two together then peel them apart when you need to, to stop the peanut butter going everywhere.

For a quick warm meal that only takes 5 minutes I sometimes make some coucous with a pinch of curry powder (or a spoon of pesto) and some frozen veg and ham mixed in, or whatever you have leftover in the fridge (pieces of chicken or sausages are good). If you cook the couscous for a minute or two longer and add a little bit of extra water it can be sticky enough to make into 'lumps' so it doesn't go everywhere when they eat it. Sounds a bit gross, but DS (16mo) loves it.

Oh, also cheese and courgette muffins are quite good and you can make a load and freeze them. Can try to find you a recipe if you like.

For lunch, my 18-month-old dd is currently into:

Pitta bread & houmous dip
French toast/Eggy bread
Cherry tomato & olive salad (v.v. strange to me, her eating olives - I didn't touch them until I was about 20! She's nuts for them though).
Peanut butter on crackers
Noodles with sweet/sour sauce and some frozen veg if poss.
Vegetable rice
Lentils (I buy ready-to-go ones that warm up in 60 secs in microwave. They don't look appetising to be honest, but she likes them).
Pasta & pesto
Cheese or vegetable sticks.

As you can see we're not doing great on meat and fish at the moment, although fish-fingers/chicken nuggets are going down well, with a dollop of tomato ketchup.

LarkinSky - hijack, but have you tried your DC on cooked prawns? 18mo DS can't get enough of them (but watch salt), which makes me feel better about his otherwise favouring fish/chicken in breadcrumbs.

No I've not, but I will do - thanks for the tip! How do you cook them, and any ideas what to serve them up with? (I like prawns too - bonus family meal).

We use king prawns and cook them in:

Curry - Waitrose do an organic curry powder that has no salt or chilli so tasty but not too spicy. We fry up onion, garlic, ginger and curry powder then throw in tinned chopped tomatoes (or you could use a tin of coconut milk) as the base, then add prawns, chopped aubergine, mushrooms, chick peas, etc

Fajitas - DH uses ground cumin, ground coriander and mild chilli powder for this. DS loves the tortilla smeared with lots of soured cream

and with tomatoes and pasta. We use fresh tomatoes cut into chunks and add garlic and fennel seeds, but I'm sure ginger would work and chilli when DCs can manage it.

We did Baby-led weaning, so we're all about the family meals .

Ooh, yes to the cheese and courgette muffin recipe. DD wouldn't touch them with a barge pole (she doesn't eat veg and doesn't eat cake ) but they sound yummy to me! Might even be able to convince DH.

Any good felafel recipes too?

DD mostly eats picky food for lunch, bread or crackers, ham, cheese, cucumber. I find for out and a about cheese spread and mini breadsticks work well, like dairylea dunkers but cheaper and nicer!