What should I feed my 3 and 5 year old boys for lunch & snacks?

Question

5 year old is picky. Eats fruit and veg, but not meat (usually) Please help! I'm a new WAHM (work at home mom) and am at a loss as to what to feed them everyday.

I should have mentioned, we have a peanut-free home due to allergies. Great answers so far, keep them coming!

Answer 1

I am also a WAHM. How are you liking it so far?

My 2 year old son hates to eat meat as well. And, there is really no point in worry about it or tryint to force him to eat it. It just makes it harder for us all. Instead, i buy snaks that are high in protein so that its okay if he doesnt want to eat meat.

For example, string cheese is a great snack! Peanut butter sandwiches are good too!

I buy the Carnation instant breakfast's. Its a powder that you can mix into a glass of milk or water. They come in chocolate and vanilla. My son loves them, they are cheap, and full of all the nutrients he needs in a day. I buy them at Walmart.

Typically, for lunch, i will make my son something like....

-a glass of milk
-some peanut butter crakers
-a grilled cheese sandwich
-some apple slices

Be creative! Have fun making their meals! It doenst have to be perfect or look like something off the food channel. And its okay to give them just Mac & Cheese for dinner, it wont hurt them.

I also give my son Flintstones vitamins, just in case he doesnt get all those good nutrients/vitamins from his meals that day.

Here are some example of snacks i buy for my son:

-Animals crakers (he loves these!)
-Granola bars (full of nutrients and yummy!)
- Pretzles
- Fruit Cups
- Sugar free cookies (they dont know there isnt any sugar!)
- String cheese
- Popsicles
- Popcorn

For breakfast, he usually has teh same thing everyday. It wil leaither be a bowl of cereal, a breakfast bar, or some oatmeal. Some fruit slices too maybe.

Good luck, and if you ever need to talk, im here!

Answer 2

I feed my two year old a varitey of things. Speghetti O's are always a favorite, if one likes meat and the other one does, get a can with meatbals and pick the meatballs out of one dish.
Grilled cheese
PB&J
Apple wedges w/ peanut butter
Mac & Cheese
Pizza w/ veggies. I buy frozen cheese ones and add whatever fresh vegetable I have around the house. They make ones that fit perfectly in my toaster oven.

I buy fruit contail and maderin orange packed in juice
Bananas
Goldfish crackers
popcorn
Lunchables
String Cheese
cut up fruit
Chicken noodle soup
Grilled cheese dipped into Tomato soup
Bean & cheese dip and tortilla chips (simple, put a can of refried beans and some shredded chedder in microwave safe bowl, microwave and stir)
Guacamoli
Cottage cheese
Fettucine Alfredo (Marie Calender w/ brocolli and chicken)
And the dreaded but favorite Hot dog
You can also buy things like Dino nuggets, tator tots, and just toss them in the oven all at once.
Cucumber slices
Green pepper sticks are also a favorite here.

Answer 3

I have to agree with the other poster, peanut butter and jelly. The peanut butter will give the protein needed and the jelly will sweeten it up a little. Don't put on a lot of jelly or get the low sugar kind. Also, my son liked raw vegetables so I would make him a plate of cut in long strips, carrots, some cheese, apple (skin peeled off) and whatever else I could think of or had. These are good for him. Once in awhile some pizza bagels, try them, they aren't bad.

Answer 4

My 5 and 2 year olds usually have a pb or ham sandwich and a yogurt for lunch. For snacks I usually give fruit or crackers. They drink juice and milk throughout the day, too.

Sometimes they'll eat leftover pasta heated up or the occasional hotdog or mac n cheese.

Hope that helps!

Answer 5

Lettuce wraps, cheese quesadilla's, wraps, veggies, fruits, cheese sticks, healthy crackers, tuna fish w/crackers or on toast or bread. Soup. The thing is, sometimes it takes 50 times of putting the same thing in front of a child before they eat it. What you fix is what's for lunch or snack and don't be making things to appease the picky eater or you'll go insane. Go insane for 1 week by sticking to your guns..fix something and that's it, if they go hungry don't give in to snacks or food they want, fix dinner...same thing eventually they will eat and learn to eat the foods that are good for them and help you keep your sanity.

Answer 6

snacks at our house are always cheese or yogurt and fruit. Sometimes they get popsicles if it's really hot outside. Lunch they get a fruit, maybe a veggie, some form of protein (although that can be a hard one to get them to eat) a glass of milk (or every once in awhile, chocolate milk) and a complex carb of some sort. My kids like noodles with meatballs, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, homemade pizza, or sandwiches for lunch.

Answer 7

Grilled Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

INGREDIENTS
cooking spray
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 slices whole wheat bread
1 banana, sliced

DIRECTIONS
Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Spread 1 tablespoon of peanut butter onto one side of each slice of bread. Place banana slices onto the peanut buttered side of one slice, top with the other slice and press together firmly. Fry the sandwich until golden brown on each side, about 2 minutes per side.

Answer 8

let your kids help you make food in the kitchen- even if they just do simple tasks, like unwrapping the cheese for a sandwich. Kids love to help- and they will be more independent when they are older- and able to make their own snacks...

1.grilled cheese (they open the cheese from the wrap, or they make the sandwich and you grill it)
2. mini-pizzas (you can make these yourself with premade dough in the fridge section, tomato sauce and cheese.
3. mac and cheese- sneak in peas to make it healthier...
4. rolls-put hummus/veggie spread/ cream cream cheese on a tortilla, roll it and then cut it into rolls.
jello jigglers...you make the jello- they use the cookie cutters to cut out shapes when it is firm...


Good luck- and remember if you get your boys to love helping in the kitchen they may become famous four star chefs down the road....one can hope, right? LOL!

Answer 9

lots of fresh veggies and fruit. cheese strings. whole wheat crackers and dip. hard boiled eggs.
our kids were so darned picky about food and i got so tired of fighting over meals that i chose to keep a 'snack attack container' in the fridge for the kids. in it were treats i had already prepared and bagged up. they could get them as they pleased and everyone was eating.
little packs contained three or four baby carrots, or pea pods, or broccoli, or cauliflower, cheese slices, or quartered apples, or nuts, or hard boiled eggs, or whole wheat crackers, or cold wieners, or little peanut butter and crackers packs. that kind of thing.
eventually they outgrew the pickiness, but this snack box saved us a ton of grief and arguing in the meantime. our famiy doctor had suggested it and it worked for us. maybe it will for you!

Answer 10

At walmart they sell fruit and veg's in little containers in the fruit and salad section... Or cut some fruit and veg's and get Zip lock bags.... You can get ice packs to help keep it cool while he is at school.... Try rolling the meat and cheese and see if he will eat it that way.... Hope that helps.....