Daycare lunches - need suggestions!

[~Emmylou~]

Hi ladies
I'm in desperate need of suggestions to pack for lunch for my 18 m.o - she goes to daycare two days a week and I keep giving her the same boring thing all the time:

grapes
milk
sandwich or ravioli
plain crackers
yogurt

Even I'm sick of looking at it...please help. :fingerscrossed:

[jessgray]

how about trying some new fruit? like watermelon or rock melon? sultanas?
bannana chips or apple chips?
rice cakes instead of a sandwich?
i dont have to pack a lunch for my DS when he goes to daycare. they supply it.i hope that helpes a bit:thumbsup:

[mysonroger]

my DS goes once a week and i give him the same food everytime. spag bol. i know he loves it. i have a few weeks worth of portions in the freezer at any one time so all i do is have to defrost it the night before. it s just so i don't have to spend time thinking about it. whenever i make pasta i divide the leftovers up for his daycare lunch and freeze them. if he was going another day a week i would probably do the same with a vegetable rissotto. then you don't have to worry for several weeks about lunches.

[Twoterrorsmum]

If DD likes eggs you could make mini-mini quiches (I've made them before in the real small muffin/pattycake tray) or put in a small can of baked beans and get one of the staff to heat them up in a bowl for her. You could even cut up some vege sticks carrot, celery, cucumber, etc and cheese sticks with some cottage cheese as a dip. For snacks you put in a little container of nutrigrain (my two love it as a snack) or the Heinz fruit bars (available in the baby food section). Hope you can get some new ideas from this, bye!!

[~Emmylou~]

Those are great ideas ladies!
I froze some of our casserole tonight so she can take that on Thursday...I never thought of doing that (and this comes from someone who has always done home made baby food...) :banghead:

Any others?

[rynosmum]

I make big batches of pasta and have a shelf in the freezer dedicated to little toddler-size tubs of different meals. At the moment, he has bolognaise pasta, cheesy pasta, homemade chicken nuggets with veges, tuna and mushroom pasta. It's easy to put one of these in his lunchbox and the girls just heat it up for him.

If we have fresh bread, I make him a vegemite or cream cheese or avocado sandwich instead. He has crackers and cheese and sultanas for snacks, I make mini-muffins for morning tea time and always put some yoghurt and heinz fruit or museli bars in.

Always fruit too. A little tub of grapes and/or strawberries or rockmelon or a banana that the girls cut up for him.

Hope that helps !

[Kamaikia]

I have a really fussy 18 month old so lunches are hard. He usually gets

yogurt
peice of cheese
dried fruit (hates real fruit) (sultanas, paw paw, pineapple, apricots and apple)
cruskets with vegemite or rice crackers with vegemite
A container with chicken or cheerios, tomato, beetroot, lettuce and half a peice of bread.
Milk
Water

Sometimes I'll throw a boiled egg in, some biscuits, pikelets of a fruit stick.
I've found with my son its always better to pack a huge lunch and have him bring some home than to not pack enough.

Rynosmum - tuna and mushroom pasta - how do I make that?

[rynosmum]

Rynosmum - tuna and mushroom pasta - how do I make that?

I sautee some sliced mushrooms and tuna chunks in butter until cooked, then add cream until the quantity of sauce is right, then some tomato paste until is is a pinky colour. Mix it with cooked pasta - yummy.:chef:

For DH and I, I add pepper and cheese then bake. For DS, I simply divide it up into about 10 little containers for quick and easy lunches or dinners. 1 and a half minutes in the microwave (from frozen) and it's perfect.

[mysonroger]

i make a big batch of pikelets and add grated carrot and zuccini or peas and corn. then i freeze them and just defrost however many i need. the key to freezing them is putting a layer of greaseproof paper between each one so they don't stick. i don't cook the vegetables before hand...the way i see it is the rawer the better. they don't \complain

[Chickadee]

Thank goodness our daycare provides lunch! I'd be stuck for ideas too.

I make and freeze veggie pikelets similar to Mysonroger for snacks at home. DD loves the ricecakes that Jess suggested. I also make a cinnamon carrot loaf from time to time that DD loves, and it's low fat and uses half wholemeal flour, so I don't mind her having it as a "sweet". You could alternate rice pudding for the yogurt (I'm lazy and buy it).

Mandarins are in season and could make a change from grapes if your DD likes them. Just remove the seeds first.

[MummyoftheMuffins]

gosh i feel bad now! you all make delicious recipes for your kids! my DD gets the same old stuff everyday!! The daycare provides brekky and lunch, but i send her with pureed fruit, yoghurt, biscuits, cheese, bread sticks and fruit sticks! i make her all sorts for dinner though. I have a womens weekly baby recipe book and its great! one recipe i love and so does she:

mixed vegies with risoni

1 small red capsicum
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1 can of drained corn
1 large zucchini
1 teaspoon of crushed garlic

Cook it all together and its so yum! You can just mix in the risoni if you want but my DD is still not able to handle not pureed foods so i puree the vegies and then mix that with the risoni...

She absolutely loves it! You can freeze for up to one month so you could probably take that for her lunch!!! Sorry i can't be of much help