honestly what do your 3 or 4 yr old eat for lunch?

[Toowittoowoo]

Yep, sorry, another one of these threads but seriously what do you feed your preschoolers for lunch? Dd1 is very good with main meals but doesn't like most lunches. I'm sure that this has something to do with main meals being family meals so she has very little choice what it is and she either eats or goes hungry. This works well with DD1 but i have never imposed the same rules at lunchtime as it is only me and her and i frankly don't care what I eat for lunch so I have tried to fit in with her. I understand now that giving a 3 yr old too much choice it not a good thing!

So now that i am weaning DD2 and lunchtime has got a bit more stressful i need to regain control. Please can somebody help me think of 5 lunches that are reasonable healthy and i can repeat every week until she decides to eat them. She has always refused to eat melted cheese, tuna, soup, cream cheese and pesto so i am not sure how much i need to work round these - what do people think? We eat eggs at breakfast a lot so probably don't want them at lunch as well. Beans on toast and fish fingers are my fail safe teas when she needs to eat on her own so I don't want to ruin them but giving them to her at lunchtime too.

So far I have :-

pasta and tomato sauce
hummus, veg sticks and some kind of bread/wrap/crackers
crackers, mozzarella cheese and tomatoes.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received!

Mine were very fussy, usually had a sandwich (often just bread and butter), a banana, a yogurt and some cheese in fact that's pretty much what they still have for packed lunches every day

Mini cocktail sausages, cheese cubes, cherry tomatoes, rice cakes and a yoghurt with fruit

My 4 year old is super fussy.
For lunch she'll eat cheese & crackers
Cheese or ham sandwiches
Humous & bread sticks
Raisins
Yoghurt
Any fruit - mango is her fave

She'll eat eggs sometimes but only likes the white bit ( strange child ...)

This is what mine usually have:

jacket potato with beans/leftover spag bol/leftover curry/mince/tuna
homemade pizza - (you don't need to use cheese if she wont eat that) tomato puree, onions, peppers, sweetcorn, ham - let them design their own.
picnic on a plate - sandwich/wrap/bagel with ham/prawn mayo/cheese/tuna with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, raisins, cheese sticks - this is a good one for introducing a 'new food' along with other things they like.
omelette with any random leftovers chucked in - good for 'sneaking' foods in that they may not usually eat.
fajitas - a bit of a 'dinner' like meal but DS loves being able to add all the bits to the wrap himself and roll it all up.

personally I would get her eating without fussing by employing your dinner time rule of 'eat or go hungry' before you start trying to introduce new/less preferred foods.

basically I find the easiest way to combat fussiness is to get them interacting with the food - either by helping cook it or them being able to make choices within the meal - so pizza needs 3 toppings out of a choice of 5 for example. it gives some control to the child whilst you having ultimate control of the meal. it does take a bit more time but all 3 of my DC love getting involved in the kitchen.

cheese (cubed)
tuna
cooked chicken
a little bread
cream crackers
bit of fruit
sandwiches - ham, cheese, jam

She usually has a couple of above. She's not a big lunch eater. I don't do hot lunches although sometimes she'll have soup or an egg. She's 3.

my dd goes to nursery 3 days a week and has -

A sandwich - ham, cheese or peanut butter.
Babybel.
Carrot or cucumber sticks.
Fruit - Banana, apple, grapes.
Yogurt.

On the other days she'll have - boiled eggs, beans on toast, soup, salad.

Lunch is same type of meal as dinner here.

So today: haddock, asparagus, peas, new potatoes ( potatoes leftover from last night. They will have steak and veg and blue cheese sauce for dinner later

Any of these (or combination of):

Pasta with either red or green pesto.
Philadelphia, grated mozzarella or parmesan.
Chicken nuggets and chips/potato waffles with lemon juice and ketchup.
Fried or boiled egg with a bit of salt and pepper.
Fruit (usually apple/mandarin/strawberries/pear/banana)
Bread sticks/rice cakes/bread.
Mini pot of hummous.
Veg (raw carrot, cucumber, cauliflower, baby tomatoes, peas, red or yellow pepper, ice berg lettuce, rocket, chives, boiled broccoli).
Squashems strawberry yoghurts.

He has to be pushed a bit to have his veg, though.

We're very often out and about so portable picnic type food usually...
Sandwich, cheese, ham Marmite or houmous
Cucumber, carrot, red/yellow/orange pepper
Fruit
Cheese cubes
Hard boiled egg (another one who will only eat the whites)
A treat...either crisps (quavers, pombears etc), mini sausage or sausage roll, a little homemade cake or biscuit, cereal bar

If we're home:
Houmous pitta and veg sticks
Cheese on toast
Dippy eggs
Quesadillas

I have a supply of frozen chicken patties (the only Annabel Karmel recipe I use regularly) as they're as quick as fish fingers to heat up.
Homemade hamburgers with broccoli and new potatoes and mayonnaise
Soup with bread
Humous and cucumber sticks and cheese
Toasted sandwiches (ham and cheese)
Mash with peas in and leftover chicken

I used to give my two a 'picnic' at that age (one of them was uber fussy). I'd just put out ham, cheese, breadsticks, cucumber, fruit etc - whatever I had in - and let them munch what they wanted. I didnt worry too much if they didnt eat much, turned stuff down etc, as they always had a decent breakfast and dinner.

Any sandwich with whatever filling they will eat.
Small home made pasties (made in bulk and frozen)
Cauliflower or macaroni cheese
Beans on toast
Eggy bread and beans
Baked potatoes
Sausages.
The most important thing is consistency around food, so if you are not imposing the same rules at lunch time regarding eating, I think you have your answer as to why she is being fussy.

Lunch is usually a sandwich or something on toast. Occasionally a jacket potato.
At nursery they get a good selection of various bits and bobs including pies, wraps, soups, etc.

Whatever is for lunch I always follow up with some fruit, yogurt/fromage frais and a drink of water.

At the moment, DD is a pasta and pizza refuser but we're working on it.

usually a sandwich or half a roll on cheese, jam, ham, egg, tuna etc with a yogurt or some fruit to follow, sometimes some soup if its winter, or scrambled egg and toast, beans on toast etc. why not get her involved in helping you make these such as mixing the tuna or chopped egg with the mayo and spreading it on herself, buying that funny faced ham out the butchers

Packed lunch for nursery = jam sandwich, yogurt, fruit and 1 'treat' (fruit bar or similar)

At home = bagel with peanut butter, hotdog, tomato soup with floating 'boats' aka bits of bread, beans on toast, cheese scone and butter.....looking at this list- carbs. He has carbs.