Northern California Babies
AvaLikeLava
member
Daycare foods for toddlers
AvaLikeLava
member
For moms that have sent their toddler to full-day daycare, what foods do you send with them? Also how much per portion?
I've been sending jarred food so far, but G's starting to outgrow the purees and is looking for more foods he can pick up and feed himself with. Honestly, I'm at a loss on what to send.
Any ideas?
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Re: Daycare foods for toddlers
Have you done broccoli yet? Riley tried some of mine last night. I gave him a little piece of the flowering part and he gobbled it down. I broke off chunks in just large enough pieces for him to pick up.
We also found out he likes pumpkin bread and carrot muffins this weekend.
I have to send a cold lunch with an icepack with my 2 year old to school. It almost always contains a snack trap with crackers inside, a dish of fruit (grapes, cut up strawberries, oranges, apples, etc. - whatever we have around), and the "entree" which is usually leftovers from dinner the night before. Most often cut up pieces of chicken or steak. If there were no leftovers, my go to is mac & cheese. He'll eat it cold the next day, same with chicken nuggets.
My kid isn't a huge fan of sandwiches, but I know lots of other moms send that - either deli meat or PB&J.
I regularly send (she goes to a nanny share twice a week at the other family's house):
spinach and beef ravioli, elbow mararoni with olive oil and cheese, avocado, fruit, peas, lasagna, a turkey and cheese sandwich, baby carrots that are steamed, tofu, morningstar soy nuggets, turkey meatballs, yogurt, sliced cheese, tilapia, etc. There is a line of organic frozen foods you can get at WF (the brand name is escaping me right now) and they make breaded 'fish' sticks-basically salmon and veggies that are then breaded and baked. Those are tasty.
You've gotten some great ideas. We send two meals (in nifty cooler in lid containers) plus snacks. B-fast is usually an omelette or scrambled eggs plus fruit(blueberries are the best, but also bananas, mango, just about anything) and yogurt or cottage cheese. Lunch is a mini meal (I c&p our mini meals below from my post last week) plus cubed veggie (zuchini or sweet potatoes, basically anything that comes in the csa boxed steamed) and crackers. Snack is cubed cheese, strips of lunch meat and probably another cracker.
Examples of mini meals: Tandoori Chicken w/spinach, onions and rice; Ground beef meat sauce and spaghetti - 3 variations; chicken w/mushrooms and rice in a broth base; Curry chicken and rice; chicken pesto and pearl cous cous; ground turkey w/ polenta, peppers and cheese sauce; salsa chicken(board recipe), and a few things to stuff in pitas - chicken salad and black beans/chicken/salsa/cheese
Sabrina's been self feeding for a while so this is some of what I send now (obviously not all at once)- I send a container for the morning and one for the afternoon. Then I include snacks like a cheese stick and/or cereal bar
Keep in mind, my kid doesn't like fruit
Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs
veggie sausage
pancakes
waffles
yogurt
cottage cheese
Oatmeal with fruit
applesauce
Lunch (the mixed veggies are usually a combo of veggies from my parents garden and/or store bought stuff...just whatever I get that week)
veggie burger and mixed veggies
turkey meatballs from TJ's (thanks to the board!), mixed veggies
Pasta with mixed veggies
Brown rice, pinto beans, shredded chicken
Rice with mixed veggies
All sorts of beans, she loves them (kidney, pinto, and her new thing is edamame)
Then she just eats whatever we're having for dinner.
I make her food on Sundays and store it in individual containers for the week. It makes life much easier that way.