What are some good healthy lunch foods for a toddler?

Question

What are some good healthy lunch foods for a toddler?

Answer 1

My toddler likes:

Soy hot dogs

Mac and cheese with tuna

Whole wheat spaghetti

Answer 2

Grapes are really good and they're easy for a toddler to handle.  Peanut butter and jelly is also good.  I know a little girl who loves bananas and oranges, so you could try a sliced banana or an orange.  Banana or strawberry smoothies could also be really good, especially for summer. (blend some banana or strawberry with ice and a little milk)  

     Sticking to the summer theme, you could use a regular ice tray and pour in their favorite fruit juice and put in some popsicle sticks.  When they're frozen they're a cute side dish or dessert!  

     Yogurt also works.  They have those GoGurt things, and Danimals for younger kids.  There's also yogurts that come with granola or small candies that you mix in with the actual yogurt.

     Lunch meats are a good idea too.  I remember I absolutely loved pretzel sticks rolled up in different lunch meats, like sliced ham, turkey, and cheese.

     For a drink, you could give them juice or milk.  If they only like chocolate milk, Ovaltine is a good alternative.  It's better for you than chocolate syrups, and it tastes good!!  Water is also good.  It's perfect for summer, since we need to stay hydrated.

I hope I could help!

Answer 3

Wholefoods.com has a great menu meal idea section for kids.

We do alot of veggie or chicken quesadillas, peanut butter and jelly bagles, turkey and cheese roll ups, things like that all served with cut up grape tomatoes and cucumbers and carrots, or apple slices and bananas, and a cup of milk...makes for a great easy fast lunch

Answer 4

Cheese sandwich and fruits, mini burgers, chicken nuggets with honey, mini corn dogs with vegetables.

Answer 5

Slices of apples banana's, etc. Also crackers, juice, water, dry cereal for finger foods. Hotdogs and sandwiches

Answer 6

I like to feed my two year old fish sticks and mac and cheese. But other good things are raviolles w/meat balls, grilled cheese and romane noodles, lunchable with turkey cheese and crackers, or grilled cheese with yougurt and strawberries

Answer 7

carrots

beans (like black-eyed peas)

steamed pumpkin or squash

salad

apple

orange

berries including strawberries

any kind of sliced fresh fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe,

Answer 8

Baked beans

Toasted sandwich

salad sandwich

fruit and yogurt

noodles

soup

Answer 9

Now is a great time to establish healthy eating habits.  Getting in a rut is easy to do, but results in picky eaters.

  Try a cheese quesadilla on whole wheat tortillias.  Serve it with avacado. Toddlers will gobble up avacado, especially if they like bananas.

Grilled cheese, soup, deli meats are all mild and easy to swallow.  Canned fruits and vegies are easy to keep on hand.  Make sure your toddler is getting well-rounded meals.  Deli meats chopped up with shredded cheese, peas and carrots, cheerios, and a banana were my daughter's favorite meal before she had all her teeth.

If your toddler has lots of teeth, she should be eating what you eat, maybe less spicey.  And that means you need to be providing at least 5 fruits and vegies a day.  (only one can be juice)

Good luck!  Don't raise a picky eater!

Answer 10

My kids 19 months and 3 years will not eat veggies unless they can dip it.  Then all the brocolli, carrots, celery and all that will be just fine for them.  I give them raw veggies and dip aka ranch, ceasar, and even blue cheese dressing.  I also give them chicken nuggets, tuna melts, with apples, or any fruit.  I give them what I eat as long as I know it will help them grow and that they will eat it.  Try making a food menu.

Go online to school lunch menus to get ideas if it is hard to think of any.  That is where I got some ideas when I got stuck.

Answer 11

carrots,apples,or oranges only cut into small pieces

small cut squares of pizza

saltines

little sandwhiches like cheese and ham

cheezits or goldfish

tip for after lunch :most toddlers love little packs of gummies like princesses or trucks

Answer 12

like yogurt, sandwich, juice, fruits..........

Answer 13

Im a lucky mom, my daughter loves greenbeans and milk, lol. For lunch, I like to give her pb and j, which has protein, fruits, and grains, maybe some baby carrots, and milk. She loves it, but then again she has always loved veggies, Im just hoping my coming son will feel the same, lol.

Answer 14

My son loves grapes.  He's 19 months and eats them like candy.  He would eat that and only that if I let him.  Also I got this from the cook book Deceivingly Delicious:  With a rolling pin you roll out a piece of bread and cut off the crust then put peanut butter on half of it and jelly on the other.  Then roll it like a burrito as tightly as you can then slice the "burrito" so it's small enough for them to eat with just their fingers.  This saved me from the horrid messes my son would make with regular sandwiches.  He used to just open them up and spread them all over.

He likes anything he can eat with his fingers.  I've heard raisens aren't good to give them because they get stuck in their teeth really bad and can cause cavities.

Answer 15

yoghurt and honey, pasta mixed with a bit of pesto, last night's leftovers, bananas, cheese and ham chopped up, mashed potato w/ cheese, little sandwiches, plain chickpease (they love them!), grapes w/ cheese, strawberries, rice mixed with a little mashed carrot & yoghurt, cous cous w/ cheese.

Answer 16

Yogurt with any kind of fruit

Whole wheat pita bread filled with toddlers favorite meat and cheese, tuna, peanut butter, turkey, chicken.

Whole wheat tortilla filled with beans and cheese or sandwich makings and fold and cut into pinwheels.

Mac and cheese- homemade

pasta with cooked veggies and meat

instead of chips you can make your own veggie chips or sweet potato chips

Veggies with dips like hummus, ranch, etc.

soy hotdogs

I usually would fix my Daughter things that were plain on cut up into bite sized pieces that she couldn't choke on. Most kids like their foods seperated on the plate.

Often I would cut up fresh chicken or turkey breast, have a few of her favorite veggies on the side, applesauce and she was pleased.

Be very careful with grapes. More kids are seen in the emergency room with grapes stuck in their throat than hotdogs and my Brother in law knows firsthand working in the ER for many years. All food should be cut very small or in long matchstick shapes instead of round that can get stuck in the windpipe.

Rice, potato, sweet potato, pasta, avacado (this is a very good fat for babies and toddlers), fruits of all kinds and expecially banana, applesauce, chicken, turkey, soy products, tofu, yogurts, whole wheat crackers, sauces for dipping that can also have cooked ground up veggies or fruits in them.

Juices that are homemade and not all that extra sugars can be a treat.

Answer 17

There are loads of healthy snacks

Check out natural/ organic / vegetarian products at your grocery or health food store.  They have some really amazing stuff....

Answer 18

look for local foods. not necessarily organic. organic from far away do less good than you'd think. so be a local hero.

are you vegan or vegetarian?

if so you could make pasta. you could try making your own sauces.

try to stick to the basics: protein, fruit/veg, crunchy salty, sweet.

also, if you want your kids to eat more fruits and veggies, allow them to have sweets (basically) whenever they want. not, before breakfast, or soon before lunch or dinner.

it worked with me, and i love fruits and veggies.

so maybe:

pb jelly sandwich, carrot sticks or orange slices, pretzels, cookie

Answer 19

hard boiled egg's

raisians/grapes

salad or sliced fresh veggies

cubes of hard cheese

whole wheat bread w/peanut butter

Answer 20

ok.. there are some great ideas that everyone has covered but there are a lot of horrible anwsers too!    I'm going to give you a list of things to go by when looking for healthy food choices that way you can have your own food healthy food ideas according to what your toddler likes.

read labels, no trans fat or anything that includes partially hydronated oils in it

stay away from high sugar and high salt content

drink a glass of milk with meals, juice once a day about 6oz., the rest of the day only water(you can flavor it with fresh rasberries, oranges or any fruit)

nothing that is sugar free (it contains sucrulose or acetame which causes brain damage in children)  

make sure you include all the food groups

if you use peanut butter and jelly make sure you choose a peanut butter that its first ingredient is nuts, and a jelly that is all fruit (not preservatives)

hope this helps!

Answer 21

pasta like mini ravioli w/little sauce, pb&j cut up, apple slices, chicken and potatoes sliced up, ground turkey mixed with mashed potatoes, canned veggie soup add in rice

^^^ Oh!! I'm going to try that trick with the rolling pin for pb&j! mine does the same thing! LOL