Lunch ideas for preschool?

[LALove]

DS, who will be 3 at the end of February, is starting preschool in a month. Since birth he's been with me at work (at home) with a full time nanny, but DH and I feel it's best for him to be around other kids now and not just grown ups. He's a picky eater and normally doesn't sit down to eat lunch but snacks throughout the day. All he is willing to eat is: freshly grilled chicken or steak (won't eat leftovers), yogurt, hot dogs, crackers, peanut butter, all fruits, cream of wheat or oatmeal, bacon, only broccoli or sweet potatoes for veggies (he does love veggie green foods drinks), rice and beans and pizza. Thats it. He won't even try anything else. So I'm kind of stumped on what to pack for his lunches.

There is a kid with severe peanut allergies at the school so PB&J is out.

Any other moms with picky eaters have any good ideas/anything that worked for their kids school lunches?

 

[Puppmom]

I'm obsessed with this site - www.anotherlunch.com.. This woman posts what she feeds her young children for lunch everyday. It's mostly created to plug the bento box but their lunches are creative and healthy.

 

[LALove]

I'm obsessed with this site - www.anotherlunch.com... This woman posts what she feeds her young children for lunch everyday. It's mostly created to plug the bento box but their lunches are creative and healthy.

Thanks for the link!!

What a creative mom! She must have some extra time on her hands lol But I do think I'm going to buy some cookie cutters so make sandwiches in fun shapes- maybe that will be incentive for DS to try something new!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

He doesn't sound that picky compared to my kid! I hate packing lunches. I LOVE that her daycare provides food but I used to have to pack it for her preschool. No nut products whatsoever were allowed. Have you tried sunflower butter? He might like it. I often sent cut-up hotdog with a small container of ketchup. Another favorite was pasta with parm cheese on top. String cheese. Go-gurts frozen (would thaw by lunch time). Since he will eat fruit, just send some cut up. I sent apples a lot. Crackers are easy to pack too. Her teachers would not heat ot cool anything so everything had to be okay at room temp. Hope that helps a bit. Also, he might be more open to more foods once he sees his friends try them.

 

[beesha77]

I love packing lunches for the most part. My kids aren't really picky but i'm a firm believe in that if you don't offer they won't eat it, and offer it early and often! I do send leftovers in a thermos sometimes so it stays hot. They love that. I love easylunchboxes.com ...it has a lot of lunch ideas...and i ordered my lunch containers and boxes from them. I notice kids like raw veggies better than cooked, at least mine do anyway. So i will send them with raw veggies like green beans or snap peas and small container of homemade ranch. Also kids like anything on a stick. LOL. I will send chunks of chicken or whatever on a skewer. They love that.

 

[LALove]

He doesn't sound that picky compared to my kid! I hate packing lunches. I LOVE that her daycare provides food but I used to have to pack it for her preschool. No nut products whatsoever were allowed. Have you tried sunflower butter? He might like it. I often sent cut-up hotdog with a small container of ketchup. Another favorite was pasta with parm cheese on top. String cheese. Go-gurts frozen (would thaw by lunch time). Since he will eat fruit, just send some cut up. I sent apples a lot. Crackers are easy to pack too. Her teachers would not heat ot cool anything so everything had to be okay at room temp. Hope that helps a bit. Also, he might be more open to more foods once he sees his friends try them.

Thanks Tacori! I guess he could be pickier but out of the list of foods he *will* eat- half the time he refuses those too. I hope when he realizes his options are what I pack or nothing, he'll eat his lunch. I think seeing other kids eating will help him too. Cheese and fruits is a good idea- he's more of a nibbler at this point.

The daycare just implemented hot lunch but we try to stick to healthy/organic foods as much as possible and what they offer is basically junk (plus a lot of $) so that's not an option.

I'm sure I'm over thinking this. He's my first kid and he's never been in the care of strangers before so it's making me a bit anxious.

 

[LALove]

I love packing lunches for the most part. My kids aren't really picky but i'm a firm believe in that if you don't offer they won't eat it, and offer it early and often! I do send leftovers in a thermos sometimes so it stays hot. They love that. I love easylunchboxes.com ...it has a lot of lunch ideas...and i ordered my lunch containers and boxes from them. I notice kids like raw veggies better than cooked, at least mine do anyway. So i will send them with raw veggies like green beans or snap peas and small container of homemade ranch. Also kids like anything on a stick. LOL. I will send chunks of chicken or whatever on a skewer. They love that.

Thanks for the ideas! I just ordered a lunch box size thermos so I'll be able to pack some of the hot foods he likes. I went a little overboard and ordered a bunch of cookie cutters and little plastic animal skewers. Hopefully if it looks cute, DS will at least try it.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Oh, I know it can be scary and even sad the first time they go off to school/daycare. I am sure you picked a wonderful place and he will thrive in the environment.

 

[Lanie]

Oh goodness...my kid is going to think I'm the most worthless mom ever after reading that site pupp. I hope all of his friends' moms don't have that much time on their hands. I'm still processing all of the elf on the shelf ridiculousness and how much time and effort moms put into those things. But I digress...

Thanks for starting this thread!