Do you have any ideas what I can pack for my four year old son's lunch?

Question

Besides sandwiches....
My son asked me , "why do you always give me a sandwich?"

I pack other things in there, but since he's such a picky eater, I have no clue what else to give him. I can feed him a hot lunch at home, but I'm clueless as what I should pack for him that won't spoil. I tried him on the school lunches a few times and the teachers told me he literally gagged on the food and ate nothing all day.
Help. please?

They eat lunch fairly early at 10:30.

Answer 1

SURE, i HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM WITH MY SON!!

Here are some ideas:

Cold pizza
Pre cooked chicken nuggets
Crackers and cheese
Crackers and peanut butter
Yogurt
Sliced fruit
Raw veggies w/ dip
Granola bar(chewy)
Sliced Ham or other meat rolled up(no bread)
Cheese sticks
Hard boiled eggs
Left over dinner(if he will eat it cold)
Unsalted nuts
Pasta salad
Potato salad
Homemade muffins (blueberry?)
Cereal bars
Applesauce, banana

Hope these help!

Answer 2

lunchables are always a good idea because there is a variety and he is bound to like at least one of them. Try instead of a regular sandwich, a hoagie style sandwich. You can also try to cut the samdwich into bite size pieces. this way it will seems like something different but it is really the same thing just in a fun way. Most times kids need to be entertained even when eating. as a snack, cookies, fruit bars, gummie candies, stuff that catches his attention might work. Chicken fingers are a good choice too because they don't have to be hot. Anything you wrap well enough should be good when he goes to eat. I don't know your situation but most 4 year olds don't go to school like high school kids which means there isn't a large amount of time he has to wait before eating lunch. I just recently found these little gerber graduate meals. I know it seems wrong cause normally gerber is for babies but take a look the next time you are at Target or Walmart. You may surprise yourself with what they have to offer. If he likes soup they have a kit with soup and crackers.

try looking in at the lunchables first and then go to the baby food section. See what is out there and you can either buy it made or it will give you ideas on stuff you can do on your own. Oh, another great source is the world wide web. Go to google, or ask.com and type in ideas for toddler lunches. Searching the web and/or food sites should also be a great help. My last idea is lunch box warmers. This will allow you do stuff like ravioli, mac 'n cheese and things like that. Hope this helps and let me know how it works out...........I have a 3 yr. old picky eater. lol [e-mail]

Answer 3

Most of the suggestions on here already are pretty good. The only thing I would say is please don't feed your kid those Lunchable things. You can do the same thing at home with meats, cheese and crackers and it will have way less chemicals sodium and preservatives. My kid is now going on 12 and has always been incredibley picky too, so I know it's hard sometimes to figure it out but if you offer healthy choices, have patience and watch what he eats, you'll figure it out. Also, our pediatrician told us to indroduce one new thing that we thought the kid would like at a time and just keep offering it. Eventually he will either try it and tell you yes or no or ask you about it. My kid would get tired of seeing something and ask why I was being mean by putting stuff he didn't like on his plate or in his lunch. then like it was really no big deal, I could ask him if he'd tried it and if he would honestly give it a taste test then I would know to buy more or forget about it for awhile. Good luck!

Answer 4

Whatever he will eat at home can be sent to school with the right containers. Many things can be heated and put into foil, or a thermos. With how early he eats lunch it should be just warm enough to eat when he gets to it.
You might try cutting his sandwhiches with cookie cutters. My boys love it when I cut their sandwhiches. I sometimes let them pick which cookie cutter to use, then I cut the leftover crust pieces into little pieces and they make a fun afterschool snack. Also, go ahead and ask what he would like for lunch. He may surprise you.
Lunchables are tooooo expensive for what you get and you can do the same thing in your own kitchen. Just stack some slices of meat (whatever he'll eat) get those good old cookie cutters out (little ones work best) and cut the meat into shapes, you can do the same with the cheese, add some of his favorite crackers and a treat and instant much more fun (cheaper) lunchable.
Try to think, "what would be fun to find in my lunchbox today." If you cut his sandwhich into a fish shape, take a raisin an make an eye, use a carrot stick to make a little mouth. Think about ways to make him smile when he opens his lunch box, have fun.

Answer 5

My kids like to have small quantities of many things. Eating a big sandwich is "boring". Letting them put together their own cheese and crackers is "fun". A few goldfish, a few grapes, basically a bunch of little stuff. I even make muffins from mixes in the mini muffin pans and freeze some (it makes a lot) to pull out later.

And asking "What do some of the other kids have that looks good?" helps too. Sometimes it's just the fact that other kids mention something about his food to make him not want it any more.

Answer 6

If he doesn't want a sandwich, try rolling up turkey or ham slices - complete with cheese or whatever else he likes. He might eat this because it doesn't look like a sandwich (it's just minus the bread). This is also something he can eat by himself and his teachers won't have to help coach him into eatting.

Another idea might be to place all the fixings of a sandwich into seperate containers. He can then pick and choose what he wants to eat. It may be more work to you, but as long as long as he's eatiing - who cares.

Answer 7

You can purchase a thermos and send him with some hot soup sometimes. To make sure it stays hot, put hot water in the thermos for a little bit in order to heat it up and then pour it out and put the hot soup in. He probably has some favorite soups. You could also try those little lunches they sell at the store (they're called lunchables), they have crackers and turkey or ham slices, cheese slices, juice and a small piece of candy for dessert. Try one at home and if he likes it then send one with him.

Answer 8

How about some grapes, or some apple slices, or some orange slices? Hopefully he likes fruit. And, how about some popcorn or some crackers like Trisquits? And, if he likes cheese, then, why not buy some already cut-up cheese squares that you can get-made by Cracker Barrel?
These are the thngs that I have come up with and I hope these suggestions helps you out.

Answer 9

I watched what cold foods my picky son ate at home, P B & J, graham crackers, sliced apples, juice boxes. the peanut butter will give him the energy & nutrients to get through a tiring day. It also helped him to want to eat what I packed when he helped me prepare it. It got messy but he got to choose. We went through a trial run with it a couple of times and when we 'pretend' packed a lunch, we ate it outside for a picnic to make sure it worked.

Answer 10

cheese and crackers

ham and crackers

peanut butter and crackers

peanut butter on celery

peanut butter and jelly tortilla

french toast sticks (the pre-cooked kind)

pre-cooked hot dog

cheese / ham rolled up with a toothpick in it to hold it

little container of spaghettios (they are actually good cold)

cooked chicken cut up finger size (might seem wierd cold, but think about it - chicken salad is served cold and lots of people eat that!)

boiled eggs

lunchables

pre-cooked hot pocket

- if you put one of those little icey things in there, most normal food will be just fine pulled out of the fridge in the a.m. until lunch time