What are some fast, easy and nutritious lunches and snacks for a 3 year old?
breakfast yogurt, fruit and granola parfait.. layer all three in a cup or glass and this can be made the night before bagels and cream cheese french toast scrambled eggs fruit and yogurt if she has to take breakfast to daycare you can also put the cereal and milk in separate containers and put them together once there oatmeal and fruit lunches(plus add milk and a fruit ) home made mini veggie pizza pasta (hot or cold in a thermos) home made soup and crackers just about any thing you have left over from the night before dinner( stew, chili, casserole, lasagna, ), reheat and put into a thermos, it will stay warm til lunch time.
we have a slow cooker and this was a god send – we put tea on on the way out to work and when we come home, stew is ready!!chuck in mushrooms, tin tomatoes, beef steaks, onions,swede,carrot, potato, stock and anything else, then we always have loads left over so we freeze it and have it with a jacket potato another day. my little lad loves cold pasta, with chopped up sausage,raisins, tomato, cheese,ham – we make a huge amount of this for our tea /evening meal then have it for lunch the next day! Hot x buns are a great idea for a snack and breakfast – easy to grab on the run! My lad has 1 every morning with a youghurt or banana -good luck and dont worry about working we all do and those who dont wish they did!!!
One of my favorite things to make for snacks for my kids at that age was homemade “trail mix”. I’d use cheerios and raisins or sweetened cranberries, small pretzels, and whatever else I had in the pantry that day. I used peanuts, too, but your daughter’s day care might not allow nut products, so watch for that. Sometimes I’d throw in a few M&Ms. My kids loved these mixes and they were a great way to get them to finish up what was left in the pantry. As far as lunches go, try a variety of finger foods like crackers and string cheese, grapes cut in two and small carrot sticks. Any food that can be dipped. It seems at that age kids love to dip their food into anything! Breakfast favorites here are waffles cut into fourths with peanut butter and strawberry jam or banana slices. To make them easier to eat, you can make sandwiches out of them. Good luck!
My favorite for my 2 year old are wraps. I actually love them to. I just put some lettace, (cooked) chicken breast, tomato and very little cheese with very little ranch dressing in a tortilla and cut it up in bite size pieces. I serve that with some fruit snacks or even fruit and she is good. I love grilled chicken. I will buy a large bag of skinless, boneless chicken breasts and grill them up right away. Then freeze some and they are already cooked so I just warm them up and serve. It makes my life easier.
