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Erin K
10-16-2006, 12:10 PM
Stephen and I are in a lunch rut. What does everyone who has one or did have one feed their toddlers for lunch. Dinner he's pretty much eating what we eat. I'd like to make lunches that will be great for him and help me loose weight. I'm thinking of piles of veggies and stuff.

Does anyone's toddler eat salads? So far he mostly eats canned veggies, cut cheese and fruit. Who am I kidding, that's almost all he eats for lunch. I need fun EASY ideas. You'd think it would be simple, but I'm stumped!

lbakerc42
10-16-2006, 12:22 PM
my son does not eat sandwiches so I buy lots of mac and cheese. When he was four I started buying vegetable dip and setting out raw veggies. That worked for us. I still do that as an appetizer--veggie dip and veggie are a hit! He will eat raw brocolli, carrots, cauliflower, raddishs, green beans, while basically if you can dip it he will eat it.

teabear
10-16-2006, 04:16 PM
is something DS loved. He really liked to dip things, so I tried to figure out creative things to dip. Graham crackers into applesauce, breadsticks and string cheese into marinara sauce, bananas, apples, and celery into peanut butter, chicken nuggets into bbq sauce. You can probably figure out more ideas with things he likes.

Now, he eats pretty much absolutely any and everything in the house :) LOL

Whoopsie Daisy!
10-16-2006, 04:33 PM
Ken is a picky eater, so I can't help there.
However, here are some snack or lunch ideas:

Ants on a log: Celery with peanut butter and raisins. You can let him spread the peanut butter (or cream cheese) with a spreader and have him add the raisins to the "log".

Banana boat: bread, peanut butter, half a banana

Tea sandwiches: bread, cream cheese, cucumber slices

non-fat Vanilla Yogurt and fruit

Pita bread and hummus

Pita pocket bread with mixed salad greens and a little dressing, add cranberries and mandarin oranges

Spinach and cheese tortellini with Lite Italian dressing

Jane

lost luggage
10-16-2006, 05:16 PM
In Japan, toddlers eat sushi. :)

I hope my DD has the "fish" gene like me... that we we will outnumber DH and get to eat Japanese...I love japanese...

I'm a little ways behind you...but so far Kate's eating a little pasta, garlic bread, cereal...

Jane's ideas look really good....for me :)

Erin K
10-16-2006, 05:49 PM
He had some the other day, man now I want sushi...

benandnatesmom
10-16-2006, 09:44 PM
Ben lives on chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and powdered donuts....I am not a very good mom---my motto is: ya gotta pick your battles

teabear
10-16-2006, 10:02 PM
and encourage him to taste it. We did this with DS, never made him eat it, just taste it and eat more if he liked it. He loves sushi and all seafood and broccoli and cauliflower and so many other yummy things. Hang in there and you will be able to eat anything with them soon enough.

Alli
10-17-2006, 05:57 AM
My son was incredibly picky with no appetite as a toddler, he worried us sick! But the food that he did love was fruit, so we would give him pineapple, apple, grapes, melon and if it was hot or he was teething, we would freeze them slightly. Still to this day he absolutely loves fruit and it is his favorite food.

kulakid
10-17-2006, 05:20 PM
How about wraps? Tortillas, filled with just about anything...Tyson likes ham and cheese or tuna; roll it up, then cut it into circle/spirals - good finger food!

He also loved (and still does), a plate full of different finger foods - yogurt (tubes are great!), cheese (either a cheese stick, or cubes of cheese), some pretzels or goldfish crackers, cucumber slices/pickle, some meat - cubes, or lunch meat rolled up...

Soup with LOTS of crackers, to make it thicker...!

Pasta - either spaghetti noodles/ramen noodles, or we have had ravioli (cut up). With sauce, or even a bit of margarine and some parmesan cheese.

Hope that helps a bit! :)

Erin K
10-17-2006, 05:26 PM
these are all really good ideas. I got all sorts of veggies and fruits, I'm definatly gonna try the wraps next shopping trip. I'm also trying to leave more left over dinner, (by filling myself up on salad and veggies) so I can use that too. I thank you all for your help!