If you are sending your young toddler to daycare you may find that the lunch served is less than nutritious. Because of convenience and finances, many daycares offer unhealthy choices like tater tots and chicken nuggets at every meal. Packing lunch for a 1-2 year old may seem difficult at first since many children in this age range are only eating finger foods, and cannot master utensils just yet, and have very few teeth to eat with. With some ideas and a little practice you can get used to preparing a much more nutritious lunch for your child. Here are some ideas for packing your young toddler’s lunch for daycare.
First of all, you should pack a variety of food for lunch including at least one vegetable, a protein, some sort of dairy, a grain, and some days, a fruit. This will make sure your toddler gets the balanced diet he or she needs and will also offer up a variety of choices since many kids this age are quite finicky. Finding a good variety for children who don’t have many teeth can also be challenging, but there are options out there.
Main Dish. For your child’s main dish serving make sure you pack some protein. Try offering up black beans, mixed with a little cheese and garlic powder, a scrambled egg prepared with cheese or ham and broccoli, a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich cut into small bites, a nut butter (other than peanut if you are worried about allergies) spread on whole grain bread and cut into bite sized pieces, or whole grain pasta prepared with peas, cheese, and a some turkey sausage.
Vegetable. Vegetables that are already in bite-sized pieces are the easiest to pack. Peas, chopped carrots, corn, and lima beans are quick and simple. A little preparation will allow you to send cut-up green beans, broccoli florets, cauliflower, and zucchini. Try purchasing bags of mixed frozen vegetables and cook until very tender. Then you can just throw some into your child’s lunch container the night before he heads out to daycare.
Dairy. Pack your child whole milk to drink along with his lunch, or you can serve a dairy with his meal such as cheese. Cottage cheese and yogurt should probably be saved for dinner since daycare workers are often too busy to spoon feed toddlers that are able to self-feed with finger foods.
Grains. A great side dish for your child’s lunch is just a piece of whole grain bread, toasted, and pulled into small pieces. You can also choose a whole grain pasta for the main dish, or send a sandwich made on whole grain bread and cut into tiny pieces. Whole grain tortillas are readily available as well. Even a side dish of some good cereal such as Cheerios works.
Fruit. Fresh fruits should be served when possible. Soft options such as bananas, very ripe peaches, blueberries cut in half, and strawberries are great choices. If you do need to send some canned fruit make sure you find fruit that is packed in juice and not any kind of syrup.
There is no need to pack a “dessert” for toddler’s lunch. Your toddler does not need a dessert and if you pack one he’ll only get used to it and learn to expect it. If you want to offer a little sweet treat for the end of the meal, send some fruit.
The final advice I have for packing your toddler’s lunch is to invest in storage containers with separated sections to make packing the food easier. Choose a container with small sections and a tight fitting lid. Tupperware makes some great containers just for this age group.
You can get used to packing your toddler’s lunch for daycare and you’ll be so proud that you’re offering your little guy or gal superior nutrition to what is usually served.
