Sunday, March 9, 2014

What are some kid friendly lunch ideas/recipes?




cierra ehm





Answer
What is the occasion?

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The reason I ask the occasion is, if you are preparing for a children's party or are looking for home recipes to serve during the day or if you are sending the lunch to school with the child this information can better help with answering your question.

Are you looking for cold lunch ideas or do you have a kitchen to serve hot meals. The occasion is important to decide the meal. For example, if you know the lunch will be around a group of children, you will probably want to forgo peanuts and other nut products due to the high risk of coming into contact with children who are anaphylactic to these ingredients.

BENTO:
One thing I am sure of is, children love to build their own lunch. I find creating a 'bento style' type lunch (lunch ingredients served in separate compartments) has two advantages. It's fun for the child to pick and choose, and create their lunch and I also find that they eat healthier food choices and don't over eat.
A typical 'bento' I serve my children for their school lunches is: Sliced turkey kolbassa, diced cheese, cut green beans or baby carrots, a cracker selection (low sodium, we all like the premium plus multi-grain crackers) and a fruit selection (includes canned fruit as well). Sometimes I'll add fruit yogurt instead etc... I use reusable containers and try to avoid prepackaged or over packaged foods because they are expensive and often are high in saturated fats and sodium.

ROLLIES AND SHAPES:
You can make all types of sandwiches and again if you want peanut butter, but the child is in a grouped lunche and can't have peanut selections you can use soy butter instead. There is a brand that is called free nut that is quite good. (Make sure you place a note in the lunch box citing the peanut alternative. My son had his sandwich taken away when I forgot to do this and I got a nasty letter home about it). :P

To get away from the same old same old for sandwiches, you could try creating rollies or shapes.

Rollies are made by taking a slice of bread and using a rolling pin, flatten the bread and cut off the crust on three sides (leave the crust on the bottom of the bread) Then like a burrito you add the sandwich ingredients (not too much) then roll them up with the crusted side on the inside. They look like lady fingers, and kids LOVE them! I make about two-three per serving and serve it with veggies, fruit or yogurt.

Shapes are easy, you make the sandwich, and then using a cookie cutter, you cut them out. Again I serve them with veg, fruit or yogurt.

Sandwich ideas:
Ham & Cheese (or choosing another deli meat)
Soy Butter and Jelly
Honey Cream cheese with thin sliced apple
Veggie or Herb Cream cheese and smoked salmon or Imitation Crab (add Shredded carrot for crunch)
Chicken Salad
Tuna Salad
Ground Beef, Shredded Cheese and Lettuce or Alpha Sprouts (with a little bit of ranch dressing)
Roasted Chicken and Chive
Cream Cheese (or if they like it, goat cheese) and Shredded Carrot


HOT LUNCH AT SCHOOL
I cook up chicken fingers or Swedish meatballs sometimes and place them in a sandwich container lined with tin foil. You can get a soup thermos and of course send Mac and Cheese, or other pastas or soups (soups tend to get messy though).

VEGGIE and FRUIT SELECTIONS
Cut green beans, carrots, broccoli, red or green pepper, sugar snap peas...
Strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, mandarin orange, clementines, pomegranate, mango, apples, peaches, pears, bananas...


Anyway. I hope this gives you ideas.



Addendum: Why in the world do I have three thumbs down? Did I say something outrageous here?

Recipes or recipe sites for a picky eater?




S


My husband is a very very picky eater. He loathes eating chicken, lasagna, strawberries, tomatoes and tomato products that taste strongly of tomatoes, cucumbers, raviolis, fish products (excluding tuna), melons, pot roasts, and stews. He eats fruits and vegetables but only if they're corn on the cob and raspberries. He also almost always refuses water instead opting for chocolate milk, kool-aid, or soda.
I, on the other hand, love just about anything excluding fish products (excluding tuna) and raviolis.

Recently we had a child and I don't want to sit by any longer and eat such unhealthy foods. Dinners usually consist of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hamburgers and fries, spaghetti, and Hamburger Helpers. Ugh. I'm desperate for something different and HEALTHY. But unfortunately we're on a strict budget of no more than $100 every two weeks for dinners and lunches.

Does anyone know of any sites or recipes that offer affordable and delicious meals for people as picky as my husband? Preferably some with vegetables and baked food because, honestly, I'm not afraid of bullying my husband into eating what's good for him. Anything will work though.

Please no spam links or rude comments.



Answer
There are many different websites full of recipes on the internet. I think you may just have to search through a few until you find something suitable.
I find this website quite easy to navigate and use as you can search for specific ingredients: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/
This is also a good website for recipes: http://www.food.com/
Also, often parenting websites have some good recipes for picky eaters as lots of kids are quite picky so you may want to check a few of those out, e.g. http://www.parenting.com/recipes/picky-eaters
http://www.myrecipes.com/kids/healthy-kids/healthy-recipes-for-picky-eaters-10000001967177/

Good luck!




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