Hi -- I didn't see anyone leave this suggestion: is there a fridge or pantry at the school that you can leave things in? That way, you can pack a bunch of stuff on Sunday night so if you are really stuck one morning, you'll have a backup. You can pack little containers of applesauce and pudding, crackers, cheese, bananas, etc.
Good luck!
Applegate farms makes a great hot dog that is precooked. Pasta salad, tuna burgers, chicken burgers, veggie nuggets, egg salad, crackers, yogurt, bagel and cream cheese, baby carrots with dip, cheese and crackers with fruit, applesauce, granola bars, chips and salsa, wraps/pinwheels, fruit salad, soup in a thermos, meatballs, pizza, pita pockets filled with anything he likes, grapes in a baggie, berries, raisins, celery and peanut butter, french toast sticks, waffle sandwich, oatmeal,
Honestly, I think you should consider an au pair, then the au pair can make the meals for him and do his laundry, drop off/pick up, set up playdates and give you a break, allowing you to enjoy your time with your son. www.culturalcare.com
Free to apply until June 15th. Ask me how.
As working mother of 2-year-old twins I feel your pain. Packing for two is not the same as packing for one, especially if you are concerned about following the food pyramid or other nutrition plan and want to give them things you know picky eaters will actually eat. It isn't easy, but I rest easy knownig they are getting what they need. Just remember - you've adapted to everything else up to this point. You will adapt to this too. You can do this and survive. This is a breeze next to taking care of twin newborns. Like other respondents, I prepare everything the night before. I, too, give them leftovers when we have them, along with sides that I make including pasta from the previous nights leftovers, steamed carrots that I make at midnight (frozen veges in microwave are easier). For entre sometimes I make homemade burritos from boiled beans, cheese, picante sauce and sour cream. They are are a big hit and healthy, too. I soak beans over night one night, cook them on another night and fit them in somewhere duiring the week or make burritos on weekends and freeze for sometime in the future when I need a break. PB&J on whole wheat or sprouted wheat is excellent for afternoon snack, four scrambled eggs for breakfast along with a babyfood oatmeal-fruit pack and toast with simply fruit jam. I also prepack watered down orange juice in sippy cups and waters in sippy cups or thermoses of watered down juice. School uses dixie cups for water, which isn't enough, so I like to send my own at least for breakfast and lunch. They get their need for milk filled at school and just before bed when I give it to them warm. For packing luches, we use Glasslock containers for hot food, and BPA-free plastic bowls-lids for cold items. Barely insulated lunch boxes and ice packs work great for the lunch. Breakfast is packed in another container, then it all goes into one big canvas beach bag for their daddy to carry into the classroom. For fruit and veges, I say go for the babyfood cups. They love to hold the cups so much that they will eat veges this way when they won't touch them any other way. Whole bananas and whole "cuties" oranges are easy - they like to peel them themselves. I also make mini cornbread muffins - place ingredients into a ziplock, squeeze it around until mixed, then cut a hole in bottom corner and pour into muffin tins. When you cut carrots, use a serrated knife and cut both ways - pushing and pulling. We also give them rasins or Animal Crackers. Here is our schedule. Not ideal, but until I find a better way here it is. My husband makes dinners and shops for groceries. Once I get the kids to bed at 9 p.m., sleep from exhaustion for an hour or two, I get up and spend two to three hours making breakfast, lunches, and snacks for my kids and I (My husband eats out). I also lay out their clothes, do the dishes which includes sippy cups carefully hand washed with two sizes of brush in the cracks before going in the dishwasher. I feed and water the dog and parrot then usually get to bed by about 2 a.m., up at 6 a.m. to get out the door for a 40 minute drive to work, arriving by 8 a.m. Sometimes I get to see the kids in the morning, but sometimes they get to sleep in depending on my husband's schedule. On those days I talk to them on the phone. He gets them off to day care and I pick them up at 6 p.m. It is the same four days a week. I have one day off during the weekdays. Kids are adaptable. Give it time. By the way, my son is now eating grapes - he wouldn't touch them for the first 6+ month's of offering them almost daily. Good luck.
One of the things I pack on a regular basis is a slice of wheat bread with hummus. I also will spread baby food on a slice of bread, since my son is not so fond of vegetables, but for some reason will gladly eat it smeared on bread. A slice of cheese and some applesauce usually rounds out the meal. Good luck!