| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/11/2008 12:14:14 PM | | Well its now the summer months and the daycare my children attend close thier kitchen down for the summer. And spend almost every day out in the park with picnic lunhes. So now I face a challenge as my kids dont like sandwiches at all unless they are grilled cheese lol, i have to come up with somthing healthy and filling for lunch that can be eaten without preheating or cooking of any kind. I used to send all our home made soups and stews and pasta dishes that could be reheated as their main lunch and fruits and granola bars and things liek that as extras. I dont like to send prepackaged foods like those lunchable things, im not a crazy health fanatic but I like my kids tohave the best nutrition possible and i dont like them having lots of artificial sugars to watch their sugar intake If anyone has some ideas of yummy yet healthy snacks that would be greatly appriciated. The daycare does not allow anything chocolate, anything with nuts, no carrots, no gummy snacks ie: fruit roll ups gushers etc. and no cookies lol | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/11/2008 1:39:56 PM | my kids like packing lots of stuff other than sandwhiches... makes thier lunch look big but gives them choices of what to eat etc..
crackers and cheese (wheat thins or something and just chunk up some cheese)
pita bread instead of sandwich bread and make rolled up sandwhichs with ham and cheese, or turkey and lettuce etc...
or those stuffable pitas where you just stuff the inside of them ...
make toasted pizzas in morning (sliced bread spread with sauce, i buy the kind in the squeeze bottle, and ham/pepperoni/bologna pieces then put either shredded cheese or sliced processed cheese then toast in oven or toaster oven till cheese melts then pack in sandwhich container. most kids don't care if thier pizza is cold lol
if you send any kind of mayo type stuff (tuna salad etc...) good idea to freeze their juice boxes or water bottles will help keep the food cool and prevent spoiling
raisins mixed with cereals (like shreddies, puffed wheat, puffed rice) sometimes would also add a bit of shredded coconut
rice cakes with cheese whiz
You didn't say how old your children are so the next idea may not work if they are real young.... my 7yr old has no problem handling these next suggestions..... but they need to be taught that the water will still be hot and give them a plastic fork so they fish the hotdogs out without burning themselves.
you can make hotdogs too..... if you have a thermos pre heat it with hot water ... then dump and add boiling water and the wieners... by lunch time they are nice and puffy then put buns on the side....
this also works with the mr. noodles
stupid question .... but why no carrots? does that include things like celery sticks etc?
these are just what i can think of right now but my kids love these things... | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/11/2008 3:04:38 PM | I'm thinking carrots may pose as a choking hazard, so hence no carrots?
How about apples? grapes? along with cheese/string cheese.
dried fruits/raisins.
if they eat celery, maybe get a little cup of peanut butter to dip it in for protein.
nutrigrain bars, both yummy and nutritional.
cut up lunch meat that they can put on crackers with cheese. sort of like lunchables but you can put in a ziplog/plastic container the lunchmeat they like and cheese along with it
how about cereal in a ziploc bag, like cherrios,
you can get an ice pack and the fruits/veggies will stay cool and fresh. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/11/2008 3:29:08 PM | I like the pita idea - are they old enough to stuff their own? You can send em with a pile of different things and they could make em however they want.
Also, cake. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/11/2008 4:16:02 PM | I love the pita idea as well, I'm definalty going to try that for my kids! My daughter loves finger foods like grapes, apple slices, cheese slices, crackers, raisons, carrots, mandarin slices, etc... She's not a huge eater so she picks at all sorts of different things until she is full.
Carrots can certainly be a choking hazard, but I find it weird that they ban them at the daycare... seeing as any food the kids eat could be a potential choking hazard. Huh, weird. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/11/2008 5:04:06 PM | What about yogurt (make sure they have an ice pack in their little lunch sack), continue with fruit...my daughter LOVED sliced Kiwi. How about making the sandwich fun, but using something other than bread. Balogna rolled up and placed in a hot dog roll (ie: tastes nearly the same as a hot dog).
Do they eat veggies? How about a small salad, or pasta salad? Also something like crackers.
I would keep things light, as when it is hotter than hades out, most don't have much of an appetite. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/11/2008 5:29:02 PM | | the thing about yogurt, unless you get gogurt, is that if the weather is hot, the yogurt will explode. I packed thatin my nephew's lunchbag,, with an icebag, and still it exploded everywhere! Plus I wouldn't take the chance with dairy spoiling. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/11/2008 6:26:34 PM | | also, if you have a natural/organic food store, they usually have healthy foods there that may be interesting, like veggie chips, I think it's similar to ruffles potatoe chip but taste like veggies, it's actually pretty good. how about banana chips? | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/11/2008 8:12:39 PM | a hotdog bun and an unpeeled banana packed makes a great lunch. They just peel the banana, then slide it in the bun in place of a weiner. It's sort of "fun" too, so they;d like that.
Make any type of roll up sandwhich just by trimming off the crust and rolling over the bread with a rolling pin...spread with PB&J, or as another poster mentioned, ham and cheese, turkey, just what ever they like. Add afew sun chips and a juice box, there's lunch! | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/11/2008 8:38:23 PM | Wow, that school is tough! Lol
The main staple of most of our kids lunches at the preschool/daycare where I work are fruit snacks, fruit roll ups, etc! Interesting about the carrot banning as well..
Cold Chicken, if your child will eat them that way. Mine does!
I also freeze the gogurts overnight so that by lunchtime, it is still cold.
Snack mix is good. Your children can make their own with different crackers, dried fruits, etc. that they like or by prepacked.
Small pickles or olives in a baggie.
Dried cereal works too. Muffins, etc. Who ever said you have to only eat breakfast in the morning :)
I am not one to think children need a sandwich every day. Especially if it is always PB and J on white bread, as is the common sandwich at our school.
I am trying to rack my brain of other ideas I have seen parents do at my school.... I might be back! | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/12/2008 1:28:23 PM | I am SO glad you actually care about this! I used to work in a daycare and you would not believe what some parents sent their children for lunch. I had one parent who ALWAYS sent their 4 year old girl with a lunch that contained:
a candy bar
chips
pop
fruit roll up
cookies
left over chinese or pizza
And this was her daily lunch, not a special treat. Drove me absolutely bonkers!
I also had a parent send two pieces of cake for lunch once. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/12/2008 1:50:45 PM | Some good ideas for lunches that I've seen include:
Celery with cream cheese and raisons
cheese and crackers
pastas and casseroles (if your kid is ok with eating them cold, many are)
cheese strings
cut up fruit
berries
rice cakes either flavored or with cream cheese, cheese whiz or peanut butter (if allowed)
hard boiled egg
1/2 bagel
tomato
radishes
pizza or hot dogs but please not every day!
stir fry
lunch meats
bread and a spread (hummas, jam, butter, cream cheese ...) if you let the kids put it on the bread themselves at lunch time they are always so proud of having made their own sandwich. Often get some rather strange additions (cream cheese, orange and gummi worm) but it is all going to the same place anyway.
Most of the kids I've worked with have been much happier to have a number of items in their lunch rather than the traditional sandwich, fruit, drink and treat. If you keep them in their own container you can just throw the uneaten food (crackers, veg not foods that spoil) back into their lunch the next day.
Always include a small water bottle or an unfrozen juice box if you are using a frozen juice box. A lot of the time they are still frozen at lunch and the poor kid is thirsty with nothing to drink.
Why is your daycare not allowing carrots? I find that very odd. Hot dogs and grapes are much bigger chocking hazards. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/12/2008 2:51:18 PM | The daycare does not allow UNCOOKED carrots(I suppose I missed that part lol I just got the new news letter reminding us what we can and can not send) as raw ones can pose a choking hassard and apparently are high risk like an uncut hotdogs!Who knew! lol. They are tough on nutrition thereas the majority of the kids that attend the facility are from a reserve (no judgment being passed her as my ex husband and chilren are all native I am NOT racisit I also lived on the reserve and seen first hand the lack of nutrition on SOME Parents behalf) and there tends to be a lot of parents who do not provide thier children what I would say are ideal diets. Being that the daycare is the reserves daycare (still fully licensed and not all the children are native its still open to everyone) they do tehir best to ensure that when the children are in THEIR care they are getting the best nutrition possible. They are working in partnership with tthe health unit here to develop plans to help this process.
Anyway now that i have rambled uselessly and that probably didnt answer the questions some of you ahd in full lol I will tahnk EACH and everyon one of you for your suggestions and I jotted them down. I guess I just got stuck with the same old routine and couldnt come up with any fresh ideas! | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/12/2008 4:06:56 PM |
left over chinese or pizza
My son's dietician encourages him to eat pizza (guess what mom it has all 4 food groups)
there is nothing wrong with chinese food, there are great stir fries, and great rice dishes.
we are not necessarily talking about sweet and sour chicken balls........... as the only chinese food out there.
OP.............
Why dont you talk with the other parents and set up a lunch program, where all the parents chip in 2.00-5.00-10.00 each week and organize a proper lunch program. Thus ensuring the kids get the right foods.
When my ex boyfriend and I lived together, we helped a city program for kids lunches and we got all our friends and their friends to each grow 3 extra rows of vegitables.
All the produce was given to the group and was made into healthy snacks for the kids.
as adults we are responsible to teach children, and since they are still a captive audience, you can teach them right.
why not find a way once a week to do a special lunch with the kids, surely you can work together as parents to find a way to make it work.
if doing it daily is cost prohibitive then weekly would be great.
you could teach the children about great foods from many cultures each week. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/12/2008 4:47:03 PM | | I think some people would like to get healthy foods but it's more pricey and less convenient to go that route. Most healthy foods have to remain cool or have to be cooked. But they are starting to make them more convenient to go into packages. I think a lot of reason why there's more junk food than healthy in lunchbags is due to packaging and convenience. You rarely get food other than chips and cereal that's in bulk and that you can ziploc some to put in lunchbags. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/12/2008 5:00:12 PM | My kids have a no junk food rule by their teachers.
I am glad for that, no chips, chocolate bars, no candy allowed for recess or lunch.
Snacks... I like a banana, grapes, Babyel cheese rounds, non-fat/sugar free pudding.
Today for lunch I tried something new...made toast..while it was still hot I put thin slices of cheese inside and it was a nicely melted cheese sandwich that didn't go mushy.
My kids have requested something a bit fresher, so I made rotini pasta and mixed in meatsauce from the previous nights dinner. They loved it.
I try to keep it simple. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/12/2008 7:41:25 PM | | If you child likes yoghurt... what about Tubes? (if you don't know what they are, they are like cheese strings but contain yoghurt...) they are great frozen, and don't explode... | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/13/2008 4:31:35 PM | It has been a long time since I have had one in a daycare and thank you very much for reminding me that while some things are harder as they get older, it makes up for the stuff I no longer have to do. Off the top of my head I have no specific wonder treat as you have had many good suggestions already but most of the parenting magazines have online versions and googling some of those might give you even more options.
Something all of my kids enjoyed was taking Ramen noodles to school for lunch. Their dad has always made it using lemon, black pepper and Trappey's Red Devil Sauce. The kids love it and would take it in a thermos. Wouldn't be uber hot at lunch time but we have literally worn out the thermoses over the years.
The lunchables save my rear when the kids have field trips because they refuse to eat sandwiches as well. I lived on peanut butter and jelly as a kid, I don't get mine, they are freaks. They have started eating some things like Schlotzsky's or Subway so this is also another option in addition to lunchables for the field trip challenged older set. | |
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| Healthy Daycare Lunch Ideas
Posted: 6/15/2008 7:34:38 PM | Just thought of another lunch my daughter used to love (before her school banned Peanut butter) a peanut butter, banana wrap... spread the PB and roll up the banana in the wrap... you can cut it into slices or you child can eat as is...
I know your day care has a no nut rule -- but there are other spreads that would work...
Good luck! | |
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