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What to pack for MDO lunches?
I know, this has probably been asked eleventy billion times before, but the search function and all...
What do you fix for your kid's lunch for MDO/daycare? Our MDO is TOTALLY peanut/nut free, so that rules out anything peanut butter or nut-related. Char goes between 3-4 days a week depending on what I have going with the business, so I don't want to give her the same thing every day, which is what I end up doing.
Usually, I give her some slices of the all-natural Hormel ham or turkey, some cheese slices, a container of fruit, and a snack-item (goldfish, yogurt melts, etc). I just came up with cream cheese and all-fruit jam sandwiches, which I know she likes...but other than that, I am at a LOSS.
What do you give your kiddos? I know I'm thinking too much inside the box, and would love some ideas. She really won't eat leftovers for lunch, and usually if we are having leftover night I give her those for dinner, so I don't want to duplicate. HELP!!! And thanks in advance 
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Re: What to pack for MDO lunches?
Things we've sent for lunch: mac-n-cheese, the little heat-and-serve soup things of beefaroni, lasagna or spaghetti, turkey/cheese sandwiches, hotdog. You could also do Lunchables (one of the girls in Bella's class eats one for breakfast almost every day, LOL) or the Gerber "TV dinners" (the ones in the baby food section), although they are high in sodium.
ETA: you could also do mini-pizzas made with those tiny mini-bagels, pizza sauce and cheese (or you could use an english muffin).
check these out:
https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/album.php?aid=194597&id=248062301608
They're not all peanut/nut free, but plenty of them are.
Mason only goes to MDO 2 days a week and the poor kid gets the same thing everyday because a) it's peanut free b) he's allergic to peanuts anyway c) I'm boring and have no good ideas! lol
We usually do a slice of ham, a turkey wiener, or cubed chicken breast, cubed cheese, grapes and crackers. Sometimes I'll add a different fruit than grapes but those are the staples I know he will eat most of at school.
I'll have to double check this year but I don't think they warm lunches for them so that's part of the reason I don't go outside of the box on his lunches. He's not a sandwich eater, so I don't even try that.
What does she eat at home for lunch? Send that.
I've never sent E to a school that heats lunches, but a thermos works quite well. Plus, she really doesn't seem to care if most things are warm or not.
I don't like to buy prepackaged foods a lot, but I do get some ideas from them - so I might send cheese and meat cut small to fit on crackers instead of a lunchable.
My kid is also kinda weird about what she likes, so I send a container of cooked veggies that she eats cold (broccoli or green beans usually). She also likes tofu a lot so I send a container of cubed tofu as her main course sometimes. Hot buttered egg noodles in a thermos. Quesadillas.
I send the normal sandwich stuff too - cheese sandwich, turkey sandwich, PBJ. I usually cut the sandwich into a pretty shape with a big wilton cookie cutter (flower or star) and I just got some target dollar bin cutters that make butterfly or dinosaurs but they don't cut as well as the cookie cutters.
I might toss in a cheese stick or a yogurt drink depending on what the main course was. And some fruit - applesauce, mandarin oranges, grapes, strawberries, etc.
They feed them snacks, typically some type of cracker or cereal (fruit loops), so I try to send less carbs than I might otherwise.
Ladies, these are all AWESOME suggestions! I don't think they'll warm food for the kiddos since there's no kitchen for the MDO, BUT I don't think Charlotte would care if the food I gave her was warm or not...and a thermos is a great idea so that I can warm things up in the morning and just stick them in there.
Melrrr, I'll go check out that FB page. THANK YOU, ladies! I am so bookmarking this page for future reference.
Best. Facebook page. EVER. This is AWESOME! Thank you so much!!!
I didn't read all the previous responses thoroughly so some of these may be duplicates but:
mac'n'cheese, often with broccoli or peas and/or a turtkey hotdog mixed in
chicken nuggets (I get the Earth's Best)
Ravioli with just a teeny bit of sauce so they don't stick
I also give him a lot of Amy's either pizza bites (spinach or cheese) or nacho bites (bean and cheese) or their pocket sandwiches, cut up
T prefers a warmish lunch so I have 2 of these Foogo containers and they rock!
https://www.thermos.com/product_details.aspx?ProdID=740&CatCode=Foog&q=
Put it in hot in the morning and it's warm at lunch. If you want to keep it hot, you can also heat the inside of the container with hot water for a couple minutes before you put the food in.
We do lots of chicken breasts, marinated or with salsa on top, something to give it a little bit of flavor. We also send quesdillas a lot (she won't eat sandwiches) often with cheese and spinach or chicken and cheese.
We just started turkey lunch meat this week, and it's not a big hit. So we really have to get creative with her.
She loves eggs, so often we send a hard boiled egg or two as her main protein. Spaghetti noodles with olive oil (the school doesn't like them to have red sauces) with parm and fresh pepper on it.
She also gets a huge serving of vegetables every day too. Mixed veggies, green beans, peas and corn are big favorites.
Usually apple slices or blueberries for fruit. She won't eat bananas. And a tiny container of something more snack like if everything else isn't enough, usually raisins or goldfish.
We try to keep the carbs to a minimum since the snacks they get at school are of the saltines and vanilla wafers variety.
j+k+m+e | running with needles
I usually send a main item, fruit, a vegetable, and milk in his Foogo straw cup. lunchnugget.com has some cute ideas, too.
Main items:
Turkey, Ham & cheese, or PB&J whole wheat sandwich
Cream cheese on English whole wheat muffin
Make your own lunchables (wheat crackers, small cut up cheese, meat)
Left over pizza cut up small
Whole wheat Pita wedges and hummus, cheese stick
Mac & cheese in thermos
Other leftovers in thermos (pasta, rice dish, etc)
Fruit:
apple sauce, berries, grapes, kiwi, peaches, orange slices, melon, any really
Veggies:
baby carrots, broccoli, cucumber, or red peppers & ranch, green beans & ketchup, peas, corn, mixed veggies
If you have the time, you can also use leftovers to make something else. Use leftover chicken to make chicken croquettes. Stir fry a little leftover rice with some veggies that she likes and either some scrambled egg. Another idea I read is using leftover risotto to make pan-fried risotto cakes.
spaghetti, with sauce or butter & parmesan
mini-meatballs
mini shish kabob (use the toothpicks with the rounded ends)
turkey/cheese rolled in a tortilla
quesadilla--I like to use black beans, corn and tomatoes.
hard-boiled egg
sides or snacks:
cheese cubes
homemade mini muffins
edamame
mandarin oranges, apple, or other sliced fruit
choc. covered raisins
laughing cow cheese on whole wheat crackers
Seriously, you guys are awesome. I'm c&ping this post for a friend in my moms' group who posted on our board this morning asking for the same type things. I appreciate it!
Rayskit, I'm going to buy a couple of those thermoses. Those are perfect for sending hot stuff! Love them.