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Get some gel packs that can be used either hot or cold and an insulated lunch bag. You can then warm up leftovers in the morning and they will still be warm at lunch time.
Get some gel packs that can be used either hot or cold and an insulated lunch bag. You can then warm up leftovers in the morning and they will still be warm at lunch time.
I'm at a computer right now that won't let me cut and paste. However, this is from an FDA website:
Keeping Hot Lunches Hot
Use an insulated container to keep food like soup, chili, and stew hot. Fill the container with boiling water, let stand for a few minutes, empty, and then put in the piping hot food. Keep the insulated container closed until lunchtime to keep the food hot — 140 °F or above.
The food does have to be at least 140degrees to be safe. This may be hard to accomplish, depending on a lot of factors, e.g. where the food has to be stored, if you have cold foods in the lunch as well, etc. If you know how long the lunch will be sitting out, you can do some tests at home with a food thermometer.
Your son is 4. This would be a really good time in his life to teach him to be flexible.
For starters: There is nothing babyish about soup or stew in a thermos. Why have you allowed him to get away with telling you he has "outgrown" a food at 4 years old. The idea is ridiculous and the fact that you have bought into it is more so.
I see that you are in Wellington, FL. Publix sells a very good selection of natural and organic foods. They sell a good selection of natural peanut butter and gluten free foods. There is nothing wrong with your child eating PB&J. It contains healthy fats if you buy natural peanut butter. Publix has natural PB available at the deli counter. It contains nothing but ground peanuts. If you add a low/no sugar jelly you have a pretty healthy lunch option for a preschooler. Why do you object to it? PB on celery with raisins is another good lunch option. I called it ants on a log and my kids LOVED it when they were little. My son asked me today why I never give it to him anymore (he's 12).
Additionally, lunch does not have to be hot. There is nothing wrong with your child learning to eat cold lunch. If you are concerned about poor quality food the hot lunches served in the public schools will astound you and there are no options for heating up food brought from home (at least here in Broward). So your child's best bet for a healthy lunch is to bring it from home.
If you teach your child to eat cold lunch he will learn to like it. If he likes cold cuts but not sandwiches you can send him with some rolled up cold cuts. Chicken, turkey and roast beef are the least processed and natural selections are available at Publix or Whole Foods although Publix has better prices. It can be served without bread with a salad on the side. My kids don't love to brink salad but I have had good luck with baby carrots. Crunchy and sweet.
I suggest you stop catering to his pickiness. As he gets older other kids parents will not cater to him. Schools will not cater to him. You want him to have a nice social life so it will be best to teach him to eat a wider variety of foods. He will NOT starve himself although he may skip a meal or two during the learning process.
Yogurt is another favorite of my kids. You do not need to buy special "kid" yogurt.
This. I was trying to figure out how to say the same thing and not sound like a meanie.
If you have a child this demanding in pre-school and you are catering to him (literally) you are going to end up with a whiney teenager who expects you to do his bidding. If he wants something more "substantial" give him TWO sandwhiches.
Thanks Ceece and Dewdrop... He already whines too much for my taste - "more ice" in his water, "it's not hot enough," "oatmeal not good because not enough milk,". I finally told him that I wouldn't respond to whining and he stopped being so helpless and gets ice for himself, and makes do with what he's given better.
Since we were so invested in him eating different things (since he's such a picky eater), we're driving ourselves a little crazy trying to find healthy, organic, delicious meals for him to try since he'd happily go without a vegetable for the rest of his life I'm sure. We even bought the frozen version of the organic hot lunches he gets now at his current school and he wanted nothing to do with it (after spending $100). I'm not the best cook (my husband is the cook in the family but he's frequently away) so we go with simple salads and a protein (hamburger or spicy ground beef casseroles) and that's it. We're now going back to basics. At least he likes celery.
Since we were so invested in him eating different things (since he's such a picky eater), we're driving ourselves a little crazy trying to find healthy, organic, delicious meals for him to try since he'd happily go without a vegetable for the rest of his life I'm sure.
I can absolutely understand your wanting him to try new things.
I just had visions of you becoming one of "those mothers" who caters to Little Snowflake's every whim. Both Ceese and I were trying to nip that in the bud.
BTW: I was a tremendously picky eater when I was a kid. I still grew.
One more thing: Make the table a whine-free zone. Give him "the look" and let him know he can't pull that baloney while you're trying to enjoy a meal. Meals will be much more pleasant.
me too, DewDrop! I was very picky and frequently didn't like the "look" of foods, and heaven forfend if they were mixed together! I still react to seeing corn enmeshed in mashed potatoes, lol! My mom did her best to make sure I had veggies and fruit but she tended to cook everything within an inch of its life so I didn't eat much. I lived on bread and butter, orange juice, and eggs, everyday (I didn't even like cereal!) and I grew fine!
I'm switching my boys' preschool in the fall where the new school will not offer hot lunch. It's a pro for us because we won't be spending $110 a month anymore on pricey organic lunches (although it has gotten our 4-year-old to try new things like southwestern turkey tacos, hummus, and broccoli mash). The con is that we now have to make sure he gets a similarly varied lunch that will stay hot (school doesn't microwave as does his current school). He's too old to throw a stew or soup into a thermos. His younger brother is in that stage now and loves it. I can see us degrading into PB&J and I don't want to do that everyday (although he'd love it).
Their current school uses an organic food company called Yummy in my Tummy in Sunrise, FL but what you can buy from their store directly is very limited and doesn't compare to what you get through preschool lunches. I'm not the greatest cook so making our own meals will be tough going.
Any ideas as to what I can pack and what I can pack it to keep it relatively warm until lunchtime?
What about putting taco meat in the thermos and sending him with a pita or some soft tacos? I'd just pick a few things that work and let him realize that you don't get varied foods when you won't eat many things.
He's "grown out of" soup according to him, so he says he wants something more substantial for lunch and he prefers hot lunches to cold (unless it's a PB&J). He's just been a picky eater all of his life, and we've just gotten him started on eating different things with condiments instead of oatmeal all the time. He loves rice and beans which he enjoys eating with grandma, hamburgers with spinach, and casseroles (some of the time - he's suspicious of mixed textures and foods, just like I was when I was little). We're staying away from too many sandwiches unless the bread is gluten-free because he seems to have an intolerance to wheat (just like I do). He'll eat yogurt, cheese, and garlic and sweet potato "fries" but beyond that, we have to push him to try new things, especially veggies. As it stands now, he's demanding sausage every morning so we have to try something else.
I'm thinking that about the time Junior started demanding he'd get tinned haggis in his lunch.
But aside from that, why not ask him to help with the menu? He can make suggestions, Chinese restaurant style-- one from column A (protein), one from column B (fruit), etc. Throw in a bottle of water and you're good to go. I wouldn't get him in the habit of expecting fine gourmet dining at this age, because you'll be creating a monster by the time he's thirteen and won't eat meat without a nice Bearnaise to go along.
Here is a site I found: The HOT Lunch Box here is another School Lunch Ideas - Thermos Hot Food Lunch I know you said he isn't into the thermos thing, you may just have to sit him down and tell him if he wants hot lunch he will have to deal with the thermos at least some of the time.
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