recommend your homemade lunch for daycare kid, please

[Anonymous]

Hi all -- my DC is 18 mons and is about to start a large daycare center that provides snacks but not lunch. I'd love some suggestions about what works for other parents. There is a microwave available (but there's always the risk that sections of the food will be overheated and burn him). It's a nut-free environment (so pbj etc is out), and he's not big into deli sandwiches. Grilled cheese would be too soggy by the time he ate it. One co-parent suggested mac-n-cheese, but I am just not creative enough to know what else to do. Without a sandwich, I'm stuck. Breakfast and dinner are easy -- he eats what we eat and he's not picky. TIA!

[Anonymous]

You could use sunflowerseed butter instead of peanut butter.

How about cold ravioli/tortellini? Trader Joe's has these mini ones in the dry pasta section that my daughter loves.

Toddlers love snacky stuff--they could easily make a meal out of a few cubes of cheese, sliced grapes, and some whole wheat crackers.

[Anonymous]

We do small portions of several healthy foods: little bowls of tofu, cucumber with hummus, different shapes of pasta, beans, or yogurt.

I do soup in a thermal container which is room temp by lunchtime, but that is how she likes it.

[Anonymous]

I have a 2 year old so a bit older but we do cut up peppers, hummus, and whole wheat wrap (dip the peppers and wrap in hummus, or you could roll it up in the wrap).

We do grilled cheese, she seems to eat it!

Lots of cold pasta and sauce (I make tomato in huge batches and freeze it). Or you could do a simple, light pasta salad.

Today we did cut up baked chicken and black beans. Simple but healthy. Sometimes I will add rice to that but ran out of time to make rice.

Veggie burger - she doesn't mind it cold, I heat it before hand, cut it up, bam.

[Anonymous]

We always gave him leftover dinner. Healthy, and easy.

[Anonymous]

I make sandwiches of hummus, baba ganoush, or avocado for my 12 mos old. Also, pasta and sauce, tidbits of fish or chicken from the previous night's dinner.

[Anonymous]

instead of PB & J, try cream cheese & jelly.

[Anonymous]

fruit, veggie and a snack size stuff. Our DS loved breads like banana, zucchini etc. We'd make it on the weekend and send it a few times a week. Agree with those that suggest small snack like foods. Kids that age don't need or might not eat a "main course" so small snack like servings are the way to go. We found that our daycare providers were pretty good about warming things up - if we were concerned we'd put a suggested heating time on the container. Our DS also loved roast chicken so I would send in some of that once and a while and the daycare would heat it up.

[Anonymous]

pasta salad (I make with regular Italian dressing, cucumbers/tomatoes, and toss in some feta and
provolone cheese and even some lunchmeat)

pita and hummus

pasta and sauce (or Ravioli tortellini, etc. Can put some cooked spinach or kale in with the sauce to add more veggies).

Pizza strips (leftover homemade or takeout cut into strips)

Cheesy white pizza strips (same concept. Roll out dough, put garlic and olive oil on it, cover in mozzarella and some parmesan) send with a small cup of sauce for dipping. Can be hot or cold.

Chicken salad and pretzels or crackers. Or lunchmeat, cheese, and crackers.

Daycares are usually accustomed to and good about heating up food. I wouldn't be worried about them heating up the food too much and burning them.

The above plus leftovers combined with some fruit, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc makes for a good variety.

[Anonymous]

Either Soy Nut Butter and Jelly or Cream Cheese and Jelly.

I wouldn't worry about the daycare providers scalding your child's mouth by overheating his food. I assume they are not morons and will have that covered.

[Anonymous]

I love these ideas, and thought I'd add a few of the ones my daughter loves. I'm a vegetarian and she's not, so I've had to figure some things out:

Whole grain or wheat pasta tossed with chopped spinach and garlic. She LOVES it.

I am a huge fan of frozen vegetables. She will eat mostly corn and green beans, but it's a great way to get veggies in and you just dump them in frozen into a container and let them heat it up.

Diced perdue roasted chicken strips, meant for salads but they're fully cooked and you can just throw them in a bowl. (I cut them up into diced pieces).

Never underestimate mac 'n cheese!!

[Anonymous]

Don't be afraid of the microwave, the care providers zap it and then let it sit to cool before your child gets it. Get a bunch of Gerber or Ziplock tupperware type bowls with lids, and a BIG box of Ziplock sandwich bags.
Mac n' Cheese.
Leftover spaghetti cut into pieces (with diced Italian sausage and grated cheese on top? or cheese cubes on the side) you can sneak veggies into the marinara.
Veggie topped pizza cut into tiny bite sized pieces (when he is ready for chewy)
Left over dinner, ground or soft meat, diced starch and soft boiled veggies. We use a lot of low sodium canned corn, green beans and soft boiled baby carrots.
Baked chicken and rice, peas or brocoli.
Progresso chicken noodle soup, cut up the noodles and chicken a little smaller. It's salty but a good emergency item for lunch.
Soft bread slice, cheese and ham cubes packed separately.
Frozen chicken nuggets, breaded or roasted, with some sides and a little lidded bowl of BBQ sauce or ketchup for dipping. My kids like to dip stuff and will eat more meat that way.
My kids won't touch spinach, one of them LOVES mushrooms and the other likes olives, my littlest does not eat a lot of mac n' cheese. Every kid is different so experiment at dinnertime to see what he will like so you don't send something as a main course that he won't eat. And their tastes change. Our daycare sent a note home once ("Dumped out bowl again, maybe try something different, Mom")

[Anonymous]

Other good ones to keep on hand - meatless frozen "chicken" nuggets, also diced Hillshire Farms type kielbasa or sausage, you can keep it in the fridge and eat the rest for breakfast on Sunday!
Roasted diced sweet potato with cooked green beans and turkey meatballs.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks so much! I'm off to the grocery store. I don't know why I'm at such a loss about packing DC's lunch. He eats like a champ at home and we are very careful about his diet. I was really just concerned about convenience food that was also healthy. Thanks all around. Love DCUM&D!