Lunches for Pre-school

Juice boxes last a long time, a sandwich perhaps or cheese sticks, fruit cup or fruits contained in a tupperward tin (grapes?) You kind of want to avoid sending them with things they have to remember when they come home, so perhaps invest in those cheap baggies. It is always easier for the little ones if things are precut. Hope little one enjoys it!

I've seen several disscussions on this same thing, here's a link to the last one I saw: http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/5903397628607004673

I packed things like Vienna Sausages, Cheese sticks, crackers, and a juice box. Or the Toddler style Lunchables/Snackables.

Single serving size of Mini Ravioli, Spaghettios, Chicken and Rice, they have them on the pasta isle and the infant isle with the baby food. You can add fresh veggies and/or like carrot sticks, blue berries, grpaes cut inot 1/4" to 1/2" pieces, some crackers to add to the grain servings, single serving fruit cups, and you can always send juice boxes.

We do refrigeration by putting the blue cold packs from our freezer into the lunch bag and then each day we would sanitize the lunch bag with the "any surface" cleaner (just make sure it gets clean and then completely dry brfore closing up) and refreeze the cold packs. Then you can use cheese sticks, tippy cups with milk, pudding or jello, yogurt, lots of other options once you supply the cold.

So, if you have a food pyramid posted on your frig like I do then just think about each area.

Grain: Pasta, bread, crackers, rice, cereals

Veggies: Spaghettios is advertising their serving of food now has a full serving of veggies in them, they have tomato sauce, pieces of carrots, with other veggies cooked down

Fruit: 100% juice is a serving of fruit, the single serving size fruits are already cut up into bite size peices and the Mandarin Oranges are very easy to eat, even if they don't have teeth, the pears are usually very crunchy to me though.

Protein: Each food that is processed like Vienna Sausages have other things added int hat makes them Questionable. The kids don't get them every day or even every week so I don't think they're all that horrible.

I looked up the food pyramid for toddlers and fothis web site, it has sample menu plans and snack ideas, etc...here's a link to that.
http://www.mypyramid.gov/preschoolers/index.html

Heres another link to bby center with an age by age feeding ideas for kids. Just make sure any of the things you use are cut up into 1/4" (for example sticky things that gum up on your teeth like raisins and figs) - 1/2"( for example soft things that aren't gummy/sticky like grapes or the peaches in the single serving cups).
http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y...

My favorite cookbooks are:
Baby and Toddler Meals for Dummies
Idiots Guide for Feeding Your Baby and Toddler
You can check at the library and get them inter-library loan if they don't have them in the library. That way you can read them and see if they are something that will help you.

Little ones don't need much to keep them happy at lunch. Keep it familiar and fun with small sandwiches cut out in shapes using your coookie cutters and a few snacks that are healthy and that he enjoys. Turkey and cheese rollups without the bread are an option too. I'm sure others will give suggestions on foods (mine are picky!) My main hint would be to freeze his juice box or bottle at night and then put in his lunch box in the morning. It will act as an ice pack until lunch but will be thawed enough for a cold drink then too.

I remember having the same worries when I had to start packing lunches for my little one. Now, I've gotten it down to a science! First, get either a thermos or an insulated bowl (or both). You can find inexpensive ones in the camping/exercise area in Target. This allows you to send soup (I always throw in extra frozen veggies before I heat it up), mac& cheese w/ peas mixed in, leftover dinner, the options are endless! I do PB&J sandwiches. Meat sandwiches (turkey usually b/c I can't find ham that isn't smoked) are easy as well.

I also always pack a piece of fruit or a fruit cup or a cup of apple sauce. Wegmans has these tiny apples that are $0.25 each and they are the perfect size for little ones. Sometimes they have tiny pears too. Not the expensive seckle ones, but the red ones. I also try to send sliced veggies, but they often don't go over well w/ her and end up coming back home. The insulated lunch bowl does wonders for getting a vegetable into her during lunch!

I've sent pizza which can be eaten at room temp, but that is rare. I also buy Morningstar "chicken" nuggets. You can nuke them in the morning, wrap in foil and the kids still like them by lunch time. You can also freeze a yogurt tube and by lunch it will have thawed.

Just be creative. After 2 weeks, you'll be a pro! Good luck.

ps. Resist the temptation to send lots of snacks. That's all the kids will eat!

AND!!! I trained my daughter to put her dishes back into her lunch bag and bring them home!!!! RESIST the urge to pack a thousand little baggies of food. I marched myself over to her teachers and asked them to please help her remember to put her dishes back into her lunch bag rather than throwing them away. I RARELY use plastic bags. The only time I do is when her father picks her up and forgets to bring home her lunch bag. Then I pack her lunch in a throw away brown paper bag & use baggies. This happens maybe 6 times per year. I use those Gladware "disposable" containers that you can buy. Several bit the dust in the beginning, but now they NEVER get thrown away by her.

My son packs his lunch everyday too. We use an insulated lunch box, to help keep things cool.
some ideas:
cheese cubes
pretzels/goldfish/chex mix
graham crackers
applesauce
yogurt
juice boxes
vienna sausages
ritz crackers with ham and cheese
Hope this helps!
A.

If you haven't started feeding him sandwiches, start now. Get an insulated lunch bag and buy a couple of those ice packs that you can refreeze over and over. I use them in my boys lunches everyday in their insulated bags. Tortilla rolls - lunch meats, cheeses. Lots of fruit, yogurts, cheese sticks. Raisins, breakfast bars, You can do lunchables, but there are healthier alternatives plus you can make your own version of these anyway.

You can also go on line to look up more hints for kids lunch ideas.

Good luck
J.

We don't have a fridge either at our preschool, but not to worry. I use an insulated bag--not as sexy as a Dora or Diego bag, but necessary-- and drop in a frozen ice pack--in fact we use the ones we used to keep bottles cold. Any refrigerated items (salad dressing, for example) are fine until lunch.

What about for a 1.5 yr old that refuses to eat sandwiches and pbj's?

Keep in mind I have a human garbage disposal for a son...at such a young age. I am just afraid he will starve at lunch. Any other alternatives?

My 2 year old attends preschool at the YMCA and she has to take her lunch everyday, too. For her lunch I will pack different things such as Ritz Crackers with shredded ham and cheese on the side (so she can make her own sandwich), jello, fruit snacks and a juice box. Or peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat bread, cherry tomatoes, applesauce and juice. I try not to pack the same things twice in a week so she enjoys it. I also include an ice pack to keep the cold foods cold.

I have a preschooler that stays for lunch bunch 4 times a month. I put a cold pack that looks like a baseball in his lunch. The teachers will be helping him so you can pack items that need to be opened like little yogurts, etc. I would pack sure things that you know he will eat because he will be a mess when you pick him up if he refused his lunch. Also, pack everything like a napkin and spoon just to help the teachers. For my son...the sure things are peanutbutter and jelly sandwich, grapes, baby carrots, Cheezits and I usually put one small treat like a hershey kiss or something like that. I hope this is helpful.

I only have to pack my son's lunch once a week so I normally just alternate. I pack it all in an insulated lunch bag and put his chilled water to keep the temp down. They normally don't give them a ton of help so I keep things simple.

crackers and cheese, cucumber slices, apple slices, banana, sunflower butter (or cream cheese) and jam sandwich, thin carrot sticks, strawberry skewers (with pointy end cut off), grapes

You've already gotten some fabulous ideas. However, if you want some more ideas, take a trip to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. You'll see lots of items on the salad bar that might add more variety to the lunch menu.

hi there
something to keep in mind, you can always add a small cold-pak to child's lunch box to help keep things chilled BUT if you don' t want to do that.. I always pack things like, pasta (because it still tastes good at room temp) of course sandwiches... risotto (we eat a lot of Italian food) so IF we have leftovers, I pack those.. because often, things like that taste even better the next day. Also, I always cut up fruits and veggies. OR buy chicken mcnuggets, not the fastfood kind, but you can buy the frozen ones that are all whitemeat chicken.. I heat those in the oven in the am and once done, immediately put them in aluminum foil .. basically, I make for his lunch what he likes to eat at home.. it's easy because most foods (esp at a young age) don't need to be super hot....
best of luck to you!

They have those yogurts that you freeze and put in lunches so by the time lunch comes around it is defrosted but still cold....

i pack a small pack of crackers in my son's lunch along with a sandwich, fruit, some cookies and a juice pack. that way if he doesn't have time to eat all of his lunch the crackers will help full him up and simple to eat. and sometimes he doesn't feel like eating what i have packed so the crackers are a good filler!!!

I have a 3 1/2 yr old and 2 yr old who are both in mother's day out 2 days a week so I have to pack their lunches. Both are pretty picky but I typically put a fruit, carrots w/ranch to dip, rolled up ham or turkey, cheese cubes, a yogurt cup or applesauce, some type of crackers (wheat thins or ritz) and a drink. I use the blue ice packs and their lunches stay good and the ice is not completely melted by the time I pick them up (they are there for 5 hrs). Hope this helps.

if you get an insulated lunch bag... and put in a blue-ice pack... then anything you put in it will be fine, even with no fridge.

and of course, label his things/lunch bag, even the ice pack, with his name. Using a Sharpie works well for anything.
No need for expensive labeling.

If he doesn't eat all or any of his food, you can offer it again to him when he gets home. My daughter used to stay for lunch at preschool every once in a while and she would still have most of her food left. For one, the lunch time was not very long and second.....who wants to eat when you are about to go out to the playground with your friends? When we would get home I would just put her at the table and put her food on a plate and it was always eaten. Just a little tip :-)

Fruits, applesauce, finger veggies and sandwiches work well...and on occasion if he'll eat it, cold leftover pizza. Be prapared for classroom restrictions though. A lot of preschools prohibit peanut/nut products. Including anything that has been made in a plant that may have also produced peanut/nut. In our preschool, they send home a list of acceptable items - check with your preschool to see if they do the same. And buy an ice pack so you can pop it in his lunch box and not have to worry as much about it staying cold without refridgeration. When my first started Preschool, I thought I would lose my mind trying to pack things that she would eat and that were on the acceptable list - our preschool prohibits peanuts/nuts, but then we also recieved a list of classroom allergies that meant we had to avoid whole other catergories of foods. Try not to let that discourage you -- instead take a deep breath and plow through! You'll find the first few weeks are the hardest, but then you'll get into a great groove and it'll be easy!