lunchbox ideas for fussy 3yr old?

samejh

You could roll slices of meat, party sausages, sausage rolls or cheese onion rolls, give celery sticks, cherry tomatoes (if they aren't a choke risk).

cte1111

If she likes cucumber, maybe try her with some other salad items, e.g. celery, radish, small plum tomatoes, spring onions. I know some of those sound like things children might not like but you never know - my DD loves all of these and has got some of her friends to try and enjoy them when I've given her them for packed lunches.

Dairylea dippers are nice for an occasional treat, perhaps too much salt for every day but tasty and quite filling once a week. Other ideas - scotch eggs, pork pies, vegetable quiche, cold spanish omelette.

I'd say it's also worth trying different types / shapes of bread. My son's not particularly keen on sandwiches on sliced bread but will happily eat naan bread, bread rolls, garlic bread, etc. I then give him cheese, houmous, other bits and pieces on the side.

kboss2010

Nicki wrote: »

At 3 whether she is keen on sandwiches and wraps etc or not, I would be sending these in with her every now and again (and probably quite often). The absolute best way to get fussy 3 year olds to eat new stuff is for them to see all their friends happily tucking in to the same kind of food, and this stuff is staples in most lunchboxes. You can always put in a yoghurt and some fruit as well so that she has something to eat if she decides not to try the sandwich but I would suspect that she will.

A fussy 3 year old eater doesn't HAVE to become a fussy 4 year old eater after all, and she has another 15 years of school life and pack ups to get through. You'll be pleased in the long run if you can get her past this stage now.

I couldn't agree more. If fussy eaters at that age don't get encouraged to try other things they become like my OH - a total nightmare to cook for in adulthood! Try brightly coloured foods like sweet yellow peppers, oranges, blueberries, carrots etc.

Cold pasta/rice/couscous has a tendency to go mushy when cold no matter how well you drain it - maybe it's the texture she doesn't like? Most sliced bread tastes like cardboard and plain white wraps have no flavour either, how about herb flavoured ones? My friend's son (who is 4) loves green pesto and cheese toasted sandwiches!

I hated my (boring) school lunches as a kid, we British have an obsession with too-dry or soggy sandwiches on horrible, cheap bread, it wasn't until I discovered Japanese-style bento boxes as a teenager that I began loving packed lunches!

My best tip? Buy a bento box (ebay do the plastic ones pretty cheaply with pretty kids patterns on) and fill it with lots of little snacky things - chopped fruit/veg, healthy dips, low salt flavoured rice crackers., homemade cinnamon popcorn (no added sugar or salt), sliced cold meat, cheese, broken up taco shells, dairylea... anything small and healthy!

(Google kids bento box ideas - they're also great for adults too!)