lunchable-style snack ideas for d/c? containers and choices

[neeleymartin]

ds2 is 1!!!! he has an appetite like a man. we just dropped the final bottle tonight and he was not happy. i think that it is a habit for him and wished i had prepared for the weaning sooner.

i am looking for some new ideas for snacks. he clearly needs a protein with each snack. he eats more than ds1 and i worry that he will not be satisfied without heartier snacks.

we have our neighbor as our dcp. she comes to our home with her lo as often as 4 days a week. the rest of the time my dh is in charge and on limited sleep as he works the midnight shift.

would love to get snacks ready (ideally a for the week) for both boys. they can both eat the same thing, as ds2 has been on table food for months now.

i need ideas. protein/fruit/grain would be best. my brain is mush with fulltime work.

i would also love to know of a great way to store these snacks, do they make small containers similar to lunchables? would bento boxes be a smart idea? any advice or snack ideas are greatly appreciated. the protein part of the snack is what i struggle the most with. but i feel like it has the most staying power throughout the day. tia

[sarahsthreads]

For protein in lunches and heartier snacks our go-to things are cheese, hardboiled eggs, black beans, nitrate-free low sodium lunchmeat (ham or turkey) and yogurt - my kids love the new "simply gogurt" squeeze tubes, but we usually do the plain old giant tub of vanilla yogurt plus berries and/or bananas if we're eating at home.

I think it would be hard to store bento boxes for the whole week, honestly. I pack DD1's bento lunch in the morning instead of the night before because I don't want things to get mushy or run into each other. But for her lunch (which isn't that much bigger than a hearty snack) I pack things like:

A mini flatbread roll-up with cream cheese and ham, sliced into pinwheels or sunbutter & jam on a mini bagel or regular bread (frozen works well if you're preparing it in advance, the jam doesn't soak into the bread and it's thawed by lunchtime - apparently you can also freeze the whole pb&j sandwich pre-made, but I haven't tried it yet.)
- with -
sliced grapes or raspberries or raisins & craisins or cubed apple or pear or a peeled clementine
- plus some combination of -
sugar snap peas, baby carrots (halved lengthwise), leftover cooked veggies, olives, grape tomatoes, frozen peas (my children are weird and love these)
- and -
a few goldfish or letter pretzels and a couple of small vanilla wafer cookies.

Sometimes I toss a squeeze tube of yogurt in there, sometimes I do rice and beans instead of the sandwich.

DD2's favorite "snack" for a long time was black beans, diced colby jack cheese, frozen peas (sigh...yes, frozen) and puffed rice cereal. (Who am I kidding, she still loves all those things!)

Oh! And I just remembered, we used this Sassy container a lot for when we'd go out to eat and want to bring baby-friendly table food for DD2: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BH79VK/ref=oss_product

You might be able to do those a few days in advance, since the containers are all separate, but you'd probably want to keep the containers of grain type things out of the fridge to avoid them getting soggy (unless it's something like rice that needs to be refrigerated, of course!)

HTH!
Sarah :)

[neeleymartin]

For protein in lunches and heartier snacks our go-to things are cheese, hardboiled eggs, black beans, nitrate-free low sodium lunchmeat (ham or turkey) and yogurt - my kids love the new "simply gogurt" squeeze tubes, but we usually do the plain old giant tub of vanilla yogurt plus berries and/or bananas if we're eating at home.

I think it would be hard to store bento boxes for the whole week, honestly. I pack DD1's bento lunch in the morning instead of the night before because I don't want things to get mushy or run into each other. But for her lunch (which isn't that much bigger than a hearty snack) I pack things like:

A mini flatbread roll-up with cream cheese and ham, sliced into pinwheels or sunbutter & jam on a mini bagel or regular bread (frozen works well if you're preparing it in advance, the jam doesn't soak into the bread and it's thawed by lunchtime - apparently you can also freeze the whole pb&j sandwich pre-made, but I haven't tried it yet.)
- with -
sliced grapes or raspberries or raisins & craisins or cubed apple or pear or a peeled clementine
- plus some combination of -
sugar snap peas, baby carrots (halved lengthwise), leftover cooked veggies, olives, grape tomatoes, frozen peas (my children are weird and love these)
- and -
a few goldfish or letter pretzels and a couple of small vanilla wafer cookies.

Sometimes I toss a squeeze tube of yogurt in there, sometimes I do rice and beans instead of the sandwich.

DD2's favorite "snack" for a long time was black beans, diced colby jack cheese, frozen peas (sigh...yes, frozen) and puffed rice cereal. (Who am I kidding, she still loves all those things!)

Oh! And I just remembered, we used this Sassy container a lot for when we'd go out to eat and want to bring baby-friendly table food for DD2: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BH79VK/ref=oss_product

You might be able to do those a few days in advance, since the containers are all separate, but you'd probably want to keep the containers of grain type things out of the fridge to avoid them getting soggy (unless it's something like rice that needs to be refrigerated, of course!)

HTH!
Sarah :)

sarah, you are a peach to take the time to write this out. the roll up with ham and cream cheese would be a huge hit here. i think that i could also do a smoked salmon version. both boys love this. the frozen peas sound great, :thumbsup:.

[octmom]

No suggestions on the food, but here are some containers that you might like: http://easylunchboxes.com/ Click here for some lunch ideas: http://www.easylunchboxes.com/neat_ideas/index.htm

The lunch bags are nothing special, but the containers are kind of nifty and they will fit in lots of other lunch boxes. I just bought some after getting a deal via Facebook. We haven't tried them yet because they arrived a few days ago while the kids were on spring break. If I had it to do over again, I would have just bought the containers and not the lunch bags to go with them.

[Dr C]

We have good luck packing all kinds of snacks in GladWare Mini Round containers:

http://www.amazon.com/Gladware-Containers-Lids-Mini-Round/dp/B0030HTZTM

They're plastic so I wouldn't microwave in them but they're fine for cold stuff.

NC daycare laws are very particular about what you can send for lunch--basically you have to have a protein, a starch, and 2 fruit or veg, and then snack is one of each... which is annoying at first but if you follow those guidelines you eventually end up with a pretty balanced meal.

Our common snacks:
Protein:
Hummus (either buy individual containers ($$$) or make our own--zap sesame seeds, garlic, and chick peas in blender), peanut butter (they do sell individual containers of this), yogurt, cheese (slices or string or cubes for an older kid), pieces of lunch meat, leftover bits of whatever meat we had for dinner. Alternatively I do a sandwich (either bread or mini-bagel) with peanut (or other) butter. This counts as a starch and a protein.
Fruit:
Basically whatever's in season. A couple of strawberries sliced up, blueberries, baby carrots, peach/pear/apple slices, a clementine (peeled), craisins, raisins, applesauce (a staple--super easy to just grab and go), leftover asparagus/broccoli, a small salad
Starch:
A sandwich (counts as starch +protein, usually), crackers (Annie's hunny bunnies, saltines, Goldfish, etc), leftover pasta from dinner the night before, couscous, dry cereal (Kix, puffed rice, etc)

HTH!

[MelissaTC]

No suggestions on the food, but here are some containers that you might like: http://easylunchboxes.com/ Click here for some lunch ideas: http://www.easylunchboxes.com/neat_ideas/index.htm

The lunch bags are nothing special, but the containers are kind of nifty and they will fit in lots of other lunch boxes. I just bought some after getting a deal via Facebook. We haven't tried them yet because they arrived a few days ago while the kids were on spring break. If I had it to do over again, I would have just bought the containers and not the lunch bags to go with them.

Not to spin off, but I am loving the lunch bag for M. I can stuff a lot in there and he was pretty happy with it. I didn't think it was much either but it can hold a lot!!

[egoldber]

I use a lot of the Gladware mini rounds that the PP mentioned.

I also like these:

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/foodontheGo/foodContainers?productId=10008187

and these:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=15985453&RN=2192&BTSMode=true (we have the smallest size).

The rectangular shapes make them easier to pack neatly.

I then use the Rubbermaid litterless juice boxes for beverages.

[WatchingThemGrow]

A poster here mentioned these (http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=220989&catid=91828&trx=CRT-PLST&trxp1=17008&trxp2=220989), and I'm eyeing them.

[neeleymartin]

I then use the Rubbermaid litterless juice boxes for beverages.

just placed an order for these from the container store, per your glowing recs always. i like them better than straw cups mainly b/c they look more leak proof AND they can stack and nest with less wasted space. i found a 20% off promo code that worked beautifully.

i also ordered some keeper divided containers for daily snacks.

now that i have the containers set, keep the great ideas coming. tia

[MolieMuts]

No suggestions on the food, but here are some containers that you might like: http://easylunchboxes.com/ Click here for some lunch ideas: http://www.easylunchboxes.com/neat_ideas/index.htm

The lunch bags are nothing special, but the containers are kind of nifty and they will fit in lots of other lunch boxes. I just bought some after getting a deal via Facebook. We haven't tried them yet because they arrived a few days ago while the kids were on spring break. If I had it to do over again, I would have just bought the containers and not the lunch bags to go with them.

That site has some great lunch ideas. I am always struggling w/ what to put in my picky eater's lunch. I added it to my favorites for future reference. Thanks!

I think I will also purchase the litterless juice boxes!

I am glad I read this thread!

[sarahsthreads]

sarah, you are a peach to take the time to write this out. the roll up with ham and cream cheese would be a huge hit here. i think that i could also do a smoked salmon version. both boys love this. the frozen peas sound great, :thumbsup:.

Hey, my pleasure! I always like threads like this because I often get new ideas for lunch from other people who reply - most of my lunch packing ideas came from previous "what should I pack in my kids' school/daycare lunch?" threads. :)

Sarah :)