Since my 3 year old started preschool last April, I came up with five main dishes that I pack every week that she would eat well. But I think she's getting sick of them because for the past two weeks, she brings her lunchbox that's nearly untouched so I need some new ideas.
Also, the temperatures have really dropped here in southern California so if you could share some hot lunch ideas other than mac 'n cheese, I would really appreciate it (I get that temperatures in the low 60s is not really considered "cold" in other parts of the country, but we're not used to this so it's cold for us!). The school does not have a microwave so I would use a thermos.
Thank you, all!
IMHO, five options for lunch is quite a bit. It's something different every single day of the week. when I was a kid, we had oatmeal for breakfast EVERY morning and a bologna sandwich for lunch EVERY day - no variety at all. It could just be that she's going through one of those phases where she's just not that hungry.
Anyway, you could do soup/stew/chili. I can't think of anything else you can put in a thermos
Is there a reason it has to be a hot lunch? My experience with young children, even kindergarten & first grade, is that they can't really open the containers that have to be super-sealed to keep a hot lunch hot. It's hard enough for them to manage zipper bags and standard plastic containers, let alone a thermos. Soups are messy and difficult for them to manage in a short lunch period. Teachers and aides aren't always there to open every container - or if they are, they have a bunch of kids to help. She's bringing it all home, so maybe she isn't sick of the choices so much as unable to manage them.
I wonder if you'd be better off with a cold lunch - yes, the temps feel "cold" to you and you feel perhaps like you need to warm her up, but if SHE isn't cold, or if she isn't getting enough calories to nourish and warm her through her body utilizing them, it doesn't much matter what you pack. Any food will warm her if she eats it!
I know many schools don't allow peanut butter or other nut butters, but yogurt, cheese cubes, veggies and hummus dip, hard boiled eggs and so on might at least get consumed. Even French toast sticks made with "holey" bread (to absorb the batter) and a ton of egg would pack decent nutrition - I used to make it for my son with a soy/egg mix and a bunch of cinnamon. You can serve your hot soups and stews at night when you are there.
Ravioli? Tomato soup? Cut up hot dogs? Beans?
My kids favorite packed lunch is tacos. Can she put together a soft shell, meat, and cheese by herself? If so, it's easy - pack the meat in the hot food thermos, 2 soft taco shells, and some cheese in a ziplock.
Of course, there are always various soups - chicken noodle, tomato, vegetable. And you can switch up the pasta and instead of just mac and cheese you can do rotini and spaghetti sauce, ravioli and spaghetti sauce, etc. You can also make (or buy) some meatballs, freeze them, and heat them up one at a time to throw in with the pasta.
tomato soup and grilled cheese, (the grilled cheese will not be hot but it will still be tasty.) ravioli, a pb and j or a lunch meat sandwich may be a nice change up for her ( i know they are not hot but she may not always want hot.)
ETA: ah, one thing I forgot. As a preschool teacher I remember that some kids skipped over certain offerings because of the kind of container that food was packed in. We would often open all of the kids' containers at the beginning of lunchtime. If you can do simple things like sandwich wraps (reusables) or wax paper bags for sandwiches and simple-to-open containers, that helps. You can also have her show you which containers she likes opening best.
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Chicken noodle soup (or any soup she likes).
Pasta and sauce with a protein (meatballs, sausage)
Couscous with raisins/cranberries
Stews
Something I did when my son was in preschool was not to cater too much on lunches. Our family habit is that lunch leftovers get eaten as an afterschool snack. I'd also ask the preschool teachers to just watch and see what's happening at lunch, because some kids spend so much time talking that they really don't eat much. So, pack things that she readily eats at home and give it some time. Our son is 8 now and still only really wants a sun-butter and jam sandwich and a small yogurt for lunch. In the 20 minutes he has for lunch, he barely finished it all before they have to leave the cafeteria. Keeping that in mind, make sure the food is *easy* for her to eat.
A thermos generally keeps food at the ideal temperature for bacterial growth so you should preheat foods to just about boiling before packing in the thermos as well as preheating the thermos. If you still want to pack hot foods - other pasta (we do a lot of pasta with kale, beans and sausage), chicken noodle soup, chili, black bean soup, red beans and rice, beef stew (or chicken or veggie). The issue may very well be that she is spending all her time talking, NOT that she doesn't like her lunch.
We have a quesodilla press. I top one tortilla with chicken and cheese and sometimes I add chopped spinach, then cover it with a second tortilla. The heat press makes them stick together. I cut them in triangles and they are easy enough to eat.
Dinner leftovers. Soups. Pasta dishes. Stew. Ramen. Rice with some meat and veggie mixed in. Chinese food. Chicken pot pie, raviolis, beanie weenies, rice and beans, pad thai, spaghetti, fried rice, mashed potatoes with cheddar cheese, pizza bites, egg roll bites, meat balls. I'm a little curious why you only want hot lunches and not anything cold?
Lots of things, basically whatever she eats for dinner can be put in a thermos, soup, stew, any kind of pasta dish, fried rice, little bean/cheese/rice burritos, fried chicken/tenders. Some kids even put hot dogs in there! You can also wrap things like quesadillas and slices of pizza in foil because they are fine at room temperature.
Have you considered sandwiches and quick foods? We always sent easy to eat foods that were kid friendly. We always ate healthier at home so it wasn't a huge deal to let a few meals be fun instead of healthy.
soup. spaghettios. chili. spaghetti. little hot dogs in sauce. meatballs. baked beans. stew.
khairete
S.
Perogies, mac n cheese, beefaroni, spaghetti, lasagna, hot dogs...any food she would normally eat. The problem with sending hot foods is that they will not stay very hot and they aren't as easy to eat as cold finger foods. My advice would be to send cold food like sandwiches, cheese and crackers, hard boiled eggs etc and eat hot foods at home.
In my experience, unless your child does not mind eating what should be hot foods at room temperature, avoid them if they can not be heated at school. I tried so many different thermoses and in just 2.5 hours the food was always cool.
