I’m fine with making breakfast for BigBrother (and someday LittleBrother). I change it up from day to day. One day it is oatmeal. One day it is a waffle. One day he has cereal. I’ll occasionally get all kinds of crazy up in here and make “Cake-Cakes,” otherwise known to the English-speaking world as pancakes. Or flapjacks if you’re all crazy like. If FireDad is making breakfast, we’ll also have some variation of eggs. Breakfast is easy.
Supper (or dinner, as we use them interchangeably) is also easy for me. BigBrother has his favorites, which is anything with pasta and sauce. I can do a million and one variations on pasta and sauce. And I do. He also loves him some pierogies. He will also eat broccoli in just about anything, especially pasta but also in my chicken broccoli casserole. Not so much the chicken but sometimes. If we grill out for supper/dinner, he will eat a hamburger and has also been known to eat some barbequed chicken. He’ll usually try just about anything. Supper is harder but manageable.
Lunches are killing me. I usually need something quick as it is a known time for LittleBrother to either want to eat and go down for a nap or to wake up too early from a nap or to just generally sit and scream for a bit. BigBrother won’t eat lunch early (tried it) and gets grumpy if you postpone lunch for too long (tried that, too). LittleBrother’s nap in the morning is flexible because, well, uh, our nap routine doesn’t exist. And yes, I’ve tried making one of those as well. So, we remain in the “it needs to be quick” mindset when it comes to lunch.
He’ll eat peanut butter sandwiches. And hot dogs. But that’s about all I can come up with when I try to think of a “quick lunch.” This is always accompanied by either applesauce or yogurt. Milk or water, never juice. And I just can’t get out of the rut. For those about to suggest cutting up fruit, I laugh at your suggestion. The child? Will not (NOT! NOT! NOT!) touch fruit. Bananas are exempt but only if they aren’t mushy. Mushy bananas are just as offensive as cut strawberries, cut grapes, peaches, pears, kiwi, oranges and, yes, even apples. If it is remotely wet or, pleaseohgoodnesNO, slimy, the child will not touch it with his fingers. The concept of using a fork seems, logically, like it should work. Except that the slime factor also applies to his tongue. Sigh.
He has some of the heat up little cup meals with spaghetti rings and macaroni and cheese but, would you believe, the child doesn’t really like them all that much? (I say that with some sarcasm because, ew, have you ever tasted the cup of macaroni and cheese? Ew.) While they fall under quick, they don’t fall under “he’ll eat it unsupervised while I attempt to feed the baby.”
So, the question, of course: What quick lunch ideas work for your kid, keeping in mind BigBrother’s anti-slime factor? Or should I just be okay with peanut butter and hot dogs? What does your two year old eat at lunchtime?
28 Responses to “Lunches”
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Ham & Cheese?
Turkey & Cheese?
Sometimes Big Sister doesn’t like them to touch, so I just roll up a few slices of ham or turkey with a piece of cheese and some grapes.
Hot dogs are a lunch time staple.
Grilled cheese (sometimes I’ll throw in a few slices of turkey or ham).
Some how, if we have a “picnic” inside (just a blanket on the floor in the living room) she’ll eat WAY more because she’s having fun playing too.
Two year olds are hard. Sorry I’m not much help!
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Okay, it’s too hard for me to think about what might be slimy or what Nick wouldn’t like, so I am just going to give you a list of stuff that we give Simon:
* Grapes
* Cucumbers
* Tomatoes
* lettuce with “dip” (Ranch dressing) or sometimes just plain
* cheese cubes
* turkey deli meat
* craisins
* sunflower seeds
* dried pineapple
* chex cereal (dry)
* hot dogs (have you seen the mini ones that you just throw in the microwave for 15 seconds?)
* apple slices
* oranges
* blueberries
* strawberries
* blackberries
* shells & meatballs (chef boyardee stuff)
* mini corndogs
* taquitos
* green peppers (raw, sliced up)
* mexicorn
* mac&cheese (but it has to be kraft dinner and it’s only SOMETIMES)
* butter noodles (the lipton ones in an envelope – actually both boys LOVE them)
* steamed broccoli and cauliflower
* cold slices of pepperoni (already cooked in the packages by lunch meat)
* pizza rolls
K – I have racked my brain. If I think of something else, I will return.
and I realize, probably not all of it is the most healthy stuff, but I think that by the end of the day it all balances itself out.
My niece has problems with “slimy” food too. My sister tried to think of a way to get around that…finally one day she did a Google search and an answer was found.
1. Get cheerios (or some other similar cereal)
2. Place cheerios in ziploc bag
3. Pound the mess out of that bag and make the cereal a nice fine powder. (also good at getting rid of that stress us mom’s have)
4. Take slimy fruit and roll it in the cereal powder.
5. Place in front of kiddo and pray that he or she likes it.
This worked like a charm for my niece and she is now eating fruit cocktail and fresh fruit like it is the best thing ever.
I am not sure if this would work since he has slime issues in the mouth too, but one trick I have heard is this: Crush some Cheerios in a sandwich bag. Then throw the slimy fruit in and shake it around. It gets all coated with Cheerios crumbs and no longer feels slimy. This might not work though because the inside would still be slimy in his mouth…
We don’t eat peanut butter yet, so I give a hummus sandwich – just spread it on a slice of bread, fold over (or get fancy and cut the slicein two first) and there you go. yummy! Or pita chips dipped in hummus.
AP also doesnt’ do meats, so that’s out for us. I often give him cooked wheat pasts tossed w/ butter and parm or some marinara, then pop open a jar of Gerber Graduates carrots or green beans (my saviors for quick veggie sides!). I keep the plain cooked pasta in the fridge for a few days, and add different things to it each day.
Yo Baby yogurt, if it’s also not slated for snack that day. Applesauce.
We’re working out way to different textures/harder things, so I got lots of great ideas here! wish I had more to contribute.
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I dont have anything to add to what others have said…I, personally think, if you can get a kid that age to eat? Your doing great! There was a spell when my kid would only eat pizza, and every so often, a pb sandwich….they do eventually grow out of it, so I hear…keep up the good work.
You’re my hero – I am trying to do some meal planning tonight, and lunch is always kind of a thrown together “I hope you will eat this, if not we will have (another) bagel” things. So many great ideas here. Yay!
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When my boys were little, anything that went on a cracker was instantly deemed “lunch” cheese, ham, tuna salad, chicken salad, tomatoes, and oh cream cheese & jam was a favorite.
Any kind of crackers, ritz, saltines, as long as it crunched they loved it.
Lunch is always hard, especially with a little one that wants their moment to be right then when everyone else is hungry.
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