Lunch and snack ideas for picky kid?

[mefordis]

My 7 year old has turned into a very picky eater. She only wants packaged stuff while at school (my fault for allowing it), but now I"m trying to reverse it and get her to eat healthier. I know I can't do this cold turkey so I"m looking for advice.

Here's the thing: she gets VERY grossed out easily at school. She does not want to eat anything wet, hence, the packaged, carby foods.

Here is what I pack now:

- Fruit strip (she eats this)
- Bag of crispy cheddars or crispy wheats or pop chips (she eats this)
- cut carrots and celery sticks (she does NOT eat this, but I save them for her evening snack which she will then eat them, no problem).
- Barbara's animal cookies

Twice a week I let her get a snack at school which is usually a junky sweet treat like ice cream.

So, any experts on getting their kids to eat healthy (again - she used to!) please - will be so grateful for ideas!!

PS: Do you think I should allow the packaged food at school but be strict about the healthy fruits and vegetables at home?

 

[RitaE]

Give her the control to make the decisions herself. She's far more likely to eat something she herself packed than something Mom chose for her.

Start by buying an assortment of items and letting her pack her own lunch. I saw this program the other day where a lady had these containers labeled by color. Red, Blue, Green etc. One is a protein, one is a vegetable, etc etc. The child had to choose one food from each container to put into the lunch. As she gets into it, let her help shop for the foods to fill the containers.

 

[dotfurio]

I agree with letting her pick her own stuff. My 7 y/o is very independent minded (stubborn) and is more likely to eat something she chose than anything I put in there. I don't think it's a bad thing to let her eat a little junky at school and enforce the healthier stuff at home. Have you seen the crap the school feeds them as part of a "healthy" lunch program?!? If you really want to make changes I'd do little small changes in a healthier direction - ie baked chips instead of regular, lower sugar stuff, etc. Like for our DD, we switched to 100% whole wheat bread for her sandwiches instead of white.

 

[happily single]

My ds11 is also very picky. For school lunch he either eats a pizza lunchable or a bowl of dry cereal.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

My only concern with that would be that there's no protein or "main" part of her lunch - kwim? Will she eat cheese sticks at all? Is she full on that?

If she eats healthy at home I'd just leave her be for now but continue to put those healthy options in there like the veggies.

 

[Poohforyou]

Wow, that's a whole lot of empty carbs and not much else. I would give her some control over what gets packed but there has to be at least one "nutritious" thing each day. I'm not sure I understand the wet issue, especially when it's only at school. Sounds like she knows how to play you and is getting away with it.

If this were my child, I'd take her to the store and we'd find things that she'd be willing to eat for lunch that have protein, fiber, healthy fats, etc. I wouldn't make a huge issue of it or let it become a power struggle but would explain that trying to run on junk isn't a good thing.

 

[JC2]

I have a picky eater, as well, and have had to work hard at trying to figure out foods to send for lunch. Here are some ideas:

String cheese
Sliced cheese
Apple slices
Grapes
Blueberries
Yogurt
Peanut butter in ritz crackers
Pretzels

 

[scrapquitler]

How about milk and cereal? My daughter hated sandwiches, so a couple times a week, she'd bring a tupperware bowl with cereal in it, and purchase milk.

Will she eat cheese/pepperoni/crackers? How about salad? Maybe hard boiled eggs? Can you send a thermos with warm food in it? Soup or pasta/meatballs, leftovers from yesterday's dinner? You didn't mention sandwiches at all...maybe you can have her make her own sandwich? She could even bring all the parts wrapped separately and assemble it there.

 

[cijay]

You can do it cold turkey. Can't eat what's not there.

 

[worm761]

We picnic a lot and DD is a very picky eater. The "she won't eat anything wet" could be a texture issue or an "it isn't cool to do" issue. What I'd do is make a list of food you know she likes and let her circle what she is willing to eat at school. For my DD that would be fruit, yogurt, celery, bell peppers, green beans (her favorite if I could keep it hot), pepperoni, cheese, plain pasta, raisins/craisins, peanut butter both with and without bread, Goldfish crackers, pancakes, cereal w/ milk, crackers. All portable and easy enough to work out when we picnic. I just ask her what she wants to pack as I'm packing DH and I's.

 

[DisneyDebbie]

My son will also not eat 'wet' foods in lunch at school. He says that everyone is obnoxious and he wouldn't be able to tell if someone's saliva got in his food. lol! He will eat cheese, pepperoni, crackers (all kinds), dry cereal, and sometimes tube yogurt that he just sucks down quick.

 

[tcufrog]

My younger son is picky so I've found that making the food fun for him helps. For example, sometimes I'm put pb&J sandwiches in his lunch that are cut into fun shapes with cookie cutters. I also make ants on a log (celery sticks smeared with hummus or nut butter with raisins or craisins on top for the ants). Lots of kids like to dip. I will sometimes make "apple dippers" which is apple cut into sticks with a dipping sauce, usually pb. If your child doesn't like oxidized apples you can squirt lemon or orange juice on it to keep it from getting discolored.

I would let him pick out a new lunch box that doesn't accommodate prepackaged foods. Bento boxes are great for that. I would mostly put stuff in it that he likes and then each week include something new for him to try.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

"You can eat what I give you or go hungry!"

 

[NHdisneylover]

OKay, so here are some ideas of things which will not have a "wet"film by lunch time and, while still rather "junky" have at least some nutritional value:

For protein:
sliced salami
summer sausage cut into bite sized pizzas
individually wrapped cheese (string, cheddar sticks, baby bels)
container of peanut butter (send wheat pretzle rods or well dried pieces of cut celery or carrots to dip in it
dry nuts
Sunflower seeds

For produce:
dried fruit /craisens, raisins, any other dried fruit she likes--,y daughter was big on dried mango at that age (well, she still is)
small whole apple or pear
manderine oranges (whole--these are easier to peel than normal oranges)
carrots and celery can be cut the night before and well dried on a tea towel or with a paper towel to dry out (which us adults find yucky but many kids seem to like)


filler:
dry cereal is often sugary but at least has vitamins added
popcorn
baked chips
rice cakes (also good with peanut butter on them--they do not get soggy/squishy like bread might

 

[SMD]

What about something like a yumbox and letting her pick what goes in each compartment. Let her have crackers, but only in 1 compartment. I think that a kid who eats breakfast and snack and school isn't going to starve if they only eat crackers for lunch. If she's eating the "wet" foods after school maybe she'll eventually eat them at school. I don't like slimey carrots or apples either, really, but I'll wipe them off on a napkin. I know many kids still see them as wet even after that, but maybe see if an extra napkin for drying them off is something she'll do.

 

[Kogo Shuko]

My BFs son enjoys the following:
Bread with Wow Butter (soy nut butter)
hardboiled egg
Banana
Fruit gummies made with real fruit juice
grapes
Babybel or String Cheese
Pieces of pepperoni or other lunchmeat


***

Do you know the root cause of why she doesn't want to eat "wet" foods?

With my BFs son, we ask him each week what kind of fruit he wants in his lunch. Sometimes he wants strawberries, and even if they're out of season that's what he gets. His favourite fruit to choose from are bananas, grapes, strawberries, and melon. Thankfully, grapes, strawberries and bananas are super easy to pack and aren't necessarily "wet" food??

 

[roseaster]

I'm not really sure what "wet" foods are, and my kids aren't picky, but the lunch you are packing now really is pretty devoid of nutrients. Trying to think of things that aren't "wet."

String cheese or cheese cubes
Hummus with pita chips
Cold baked chicken strips
Whole apples
Whole grapes
Whole berries
Sandwiches made in a pita pocket
Cold chicken or veggie quesadilla
Raw Broccoli
Raw Cauliflower

Honestly, since she will eat this stuff at home I think it is more of a behavior, for whatever reason. I would probably sit down and explain to her that what you are packing is not a healthy meal, and that from now on she can only have 1 pre-packaged snack food with her lunch, and the rest of her meal will have to be a protein and a fruit or vegetable.

Let her pick what proteins and fruits and vegetables she wants.

I know that these foods may be "wet" but sometimes my kids like to take mac and cheese, soup, pasta, and pasta salad in a thermos. They also love yogurt.

 

[littleblackegg]

Ah, the "gross out" years. This seems to be a cultural/behavioral phenomenon. My 8 year-old niece stayed a week with us over the summer. The first three days or so, we endured non-stop commentary on things being gross. This was accompanied by dramatic squealing, facial expressions, cringing, eye rolling and other histrionics. By day 4 I was ready to stuff her into a suitcase and send her to the South Pole. I started to ask her WHY things were so gross and horrible for her. She looked at me as if I asked her to recalculate all of Galileo's work. No answer. I tried a different approach and asked her to identify something pretty. She picked her own shirt, and was able to tell me what she liked about it: the baby blue color, the Anna and Elsa graphic, the sparkles, etc. I tried, as patiently as I could, to explain that she should be able to identify why things were so revolting to her if she can describe why something is nice. She was dubious. For the rest of the visit my husband and I used the "gross out" moments as an opportunity to belabor this point. Since she knew she had to talk about it, SUDDENLY she stopped with her gross freak outs. She was never able to describe such varied gross-outs as baked ziti, a pair of Sam Edelson pumps, and toothpaste, and I really wanted to know. My husband found an old chunk of cheddar in the fridge that had gone bad. She said nothing about it being gross, and explained to me that it was moldy and should be thrown away. When we told my sister-in-law about it, she just laughed. All the little girls in her class constantly talked about things being gross. Her perspective was that it was a group dynamic to identify in-group/out-group members, and the little girls wanted to be part of the group identifying things as gross. Go figure. I know school-aged kids do a lot of weird things to enforce conformity. I'm sure she went back to describing everything as "gross" as soon as she got back home.

 

[malibuconlee]

I have a picky eater. We attribute our 7 year old's pickyness to late diagnosed food allergies and texture issues. It's been a long process, and we did several months of occupational therapy for food issues.

She now either buys lunch if she is able and willing to eat what they are making at school. Pizza, chicken nuggets, fish nuggets which are surprisingly her favorite, hot dog, etc. I have had many lunches with her at school coaxing her into trying things. It's mostly stretching a food she eats at home. For instance she would eat the chicken nuggets, but not the other breaded chicken products. I have had to convice her they are the same food in a different form. Now she eats the nuggets, popcorn chicken, tenders, chicken patty. Took some time to get her to eat the fish nuggets, just like she eats fish sticks at home. It's a trust issue with food being safe I think. We have graduated to eating plain chicken breast and pot roast at home. Or she takes a sandwich and fruit from home.

Before she would even eat a sandwich we mostly sent in a homemade lunchable. Healthier crackers, nitrate/nitrite free ham lunch meat and cheese. I perfected heating up a thermos and sending in hot dogs or mac n cheese. I think I've only done that once this whole year!

What does your kid eat at home? Can you find a way to send that to school? Will she eat anything they make at school so she can order lunch?