My daughter is 13 months old and eats mainly table food. For lunch I've been giving her "sandwiches" - a piece of bread with ham and cheese or other lunchmeat on it and leaving it open face and slicing it into little bite size pieces. She likes it but I'm having a hard time thinking of something else for variety. I know some other options are yogurt,cottage cheese, etc. but I'd love it if it can be something she can feed herself.
Does anyone have any great ideas?
I have the same issue... my little one loves the Gerber Graduates Ravioli, french toast sticks, perrogies, eggos, pancakes, mac and cheese, etc...
Here are a few favorites from our house:
Noodles & Veges
Cook rotini/penne/elbow noodles until al dente. Drain and then add a handful of frozen mixed vegetables, stir and let sit for a few minutes. The hot noodles warm the veges while the veges cool the noodles. You can also sprinkle with cheddar cheese and/or add left over diced chicken.
Eggs!
Scrambled eggs were a staple for my young ones. I served them plain or added in shredded cheese, left over vegetables, whatever meat I had on hand (usually left over), etc. They especially liked eggs w/ roasted red peppers! (Use your best judgement with this one. I realize there may be some allergy concerns.)
Fruit Salad
Diced bananas, melon, halved grapes, etc. You can also dice a cheese stick and mix with the fruit. We generally served this as a snack but had it for lunch sometimes too. I usually added graham crackers and a tablespoon of yogurt as a dip when serving for lunch.
Potato Cubes
Left over baked potatoes, peeled and cubed. Mix with diced ham, top with cheese and warm through in oven or microwave.
Quesadillas
Tortilla with cheese, diced meat, roasted red peppers, or whatever else I had on hand.
When she gets a few months older, you can make a wrap with a tortilla and whatever fillings you have on hand. We add in diced chicken (can you tell we eat a lot of chicken LOL!), cucumber strips, carrot strips, baby spinach, roasted red peppers (another favorite :), cheese and ranch dressing.
L., how about some healthy food. My granddaughter loved avocado, fresh steamed vegetables, fresh fruit. We use to feed her the yogurt inbetween bite of the other stuff.
All the proteins and carbs you are giving her are loaded with sugar and preservatives. And if you are purchasing the lunch meats at a regular grocery store they also have nitrates in the meats and hormones in the cheese. Only if the meat and cheese are organic do they not have these harmful substances.
Hi L....My son is almost 16 months old..Some of his favorites are grilled cheese, hot dogs (- the skin if it's too tuff)and I also buy Tyson chicken breast tenders in the freezer section.Sometimes I take the breading off. Also a good idea I learned from my mother in law is to boil a chicken breast then put in some potatoe,green beans, peas, carrots, etc....He loves it. I usually make enough for him to eat for another meal. Good luck...Jen B.
You can just simply heat the sandwich up, melt the cheese, and then cut it up for a little variety.
Some other ideas are Stove-Top stuffing balls (rolled by hand after it's cooked and cooled), french toast cut into bite-size pieces, mac and cheese (if you saute it in a skillet with a little parmesan cheese, it gives it a different taste-better I think), and oatmeal banana cookies-these can be good anytime, not just for a snack...as long as the sugar content is low, they're just as healthy as any other lunch food!
Hope it helps! Happy eating!
C.
My husband makes our daughter a piece of toast-all broken down in little bites, a whole bunch of peas, and leftover chicken or turkey. He mixes it all together, heats it up, and them sprinkles chicken broth over it all (this helps the meat and toast from being too dry. Sounds time-consuming, but really isn't. you can do it with carrots, green beans, pancakes. I find it adds a little variety. I too get sick of giving her the same thing every day. Good luck!
C.
My daughters love soy butter(tastes and looks like peanut butter) and jelly snadwiches!
Hi L.!
My girl is pick to the extreme but there are some things she likes...cheese Tombstone pizza (not too brown), rotini pasta w/red sauce (I use generic garden medely that way she gets veggies too), toast or english muffis with cream cheese, chicken nuggets, green beans (right out of the can), mac n cheese, grilled cheese, cubed avacado (just a little the first time, it is a common allergen),cantaloupe...things like that. Let me say though, give her many new things to try, my daughter will not even try many things. I was careful in giving her new foods when she was starting and I think if she had a bigger variety to begin with, she might be more open to trying new foods.
cut up pieces of fruit and vegetable bite size also with yogut to dip or vegie dip rasted chicken goes along way and easy for her to pick up
I do my grocery shopping at Walmart and they have these individual veggie cups made by Great Value (I have never found them in any other brand). You get 4 cups of the same veggie. They have corn, green beans, peas, and carrots. I just pop them in the microwave and that's it, perfect size for baby. I also buy fruit cups which is the same size as the veggie cups.
She can do the yogurt and cott. cheese herself. I get most all my neices and nephews and table setting for their first birthday. Go to WalMart or something they come in a little box w/ a small plate, bowl usally and cup and silverware. She might as well start to get used to them now. Other wise anything you can cut up, fruits, crackers, veggies, other meats, spagetthi. There's a lot really just look at your own plate and think of it smaller.
I have been making my son grilled cheese with pureed broccoli on top. You could also do whole wheat quesadillas with cheese and a vegetable or veggie burgers. I am also looking for more ideas. Hopefully there will be a lot of responses.
My son is 14 months old (22lbs) & he LOVES breakfast turkey sausage, hot dogs, turkey dogs & italian sausage. He eats it quicker than I can cut it up! We also give him cut up fruit (bananas, pineapple, pears, peaches) from the indivudual serving cups which last a couple of meals. He loves broccoli steamed with a little spray butter & grated parmesean cheese. You can give some of the same things you make for dinner too - make an extra chicken breast or hamburger or spaghetti & give that for lunch. If it's got BBQ sauce, ketchup or pasta sauce, my kid gobbles it up. Although I only put enough to just taste. I also cut up string cheese into strips or give him baby carrots. Unless he's in a teething mode, he's usually a pretty good eater. I also get the Gerber microwaveable meals that have pasta, veggies and/or meat in them when I don't have something already ready. Hope that helps! Good luck!
How about some mixed vegetables like peas and carrots or macaroni and cheese. Veggies are small and are easily picked up by tiny fingers. You could add small pieces of chicken or other vegetables that can be picked up easily. Some foods like applesauce or yogurt need to be fed to her to avoid a big mess. Experiment, it's a touch and go situation but you'll find it, Good luck!!!!!!
What about macaroni and cheese?? Hot dogs cut up very small into pieces?
Hope this helps!
Soft fruits of all kinds of soft varieties...banana cut in little chunks, apples steamed and cut up....
Pieces of cheese block cut up...avocado, steamed brocolli, steamed calliflower, steamed carrots, peas smashed a little,
Crackers with peanut butter or creme cheese
Small cut up noodles
Cheerios
Bread, bisquits, pancakes, waffles... torn into small pieces
Hot dogs into quarters...cut right down the middle lengthwise to make two long halves and then cut each of those halves in half...to make four long quarters. Then cut each quarter into tiny chuncks. I've done this with three children and never had a choking incident.
Another handy tool...is the net on a ring that you put fruit into and they can gnaw on that without risk of choking. I put watermelon, cantalope, and so forth in it. You can get it at Walmart. It looks like a net on a ring.
Hope that helps.
L.
how about even skipping the bread and just giving her bite size pieces of the meat and cheese by themselves?? cheese sticks are a meal in themselves. Meat salad spread on a cracker,celery stfd w/peanut butter( if she has enuff teeth). hot dogs cut in to small pieces.Macaroni and cheese is kinda messy but kids seem to love picking it up and eating it.Hard boiled egg cut into quarters. even if you have left overs like frd chix,cut off bone and dice in small pieces. chix nuggets or strips she could nibble on. hamburger or cheeseburger pattie without the bun. scrambled eggs are always good,little messy but workable. it's been a while since I had to think about these kinds of things,but hope some of this works for you.Good luck! J.
watermelon, pears, cooked carrots, hot dogs, peas and other veggies. apples sliced very thinly. Almost anything you eat she can eat too, with those few exceptions.
S.
