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Daycare lunch???
Started
by mommyfirst
on February 15, 2011
My friend is wanting me to do a home daycare with her and here is the thing... I'm now a vegetarian (with limited dairy, haven't quite learned how to kick that one completely) and I do not want my son who will be with us eating those nasty lil chicken nuggets and hott dogs and stuff... So I'm thinkin I need to find some tasty vegetarian dishes that I can make easily and CHEAPLY!!!! thats the problem because I don't know how many kids we will have but I don't want to spend more than we make...
any ideas for inexpensive daycare lunches that will appeal to non-vegetarian kids too??? so far I've got pb&j with celery and carrots stix... im gonna need 4 more ideas!!!! LOL
maybe you can make vegan mac and cheese? That is something you can make in mass quantities. there was a post on here before from Alicia talking about kids lunches I think. Maybe look for that.
There are alot of good soups kids love, but if you have alot of messy eaters that can get annoying for your house :) How about sesame or peanut noodles? There are alot of variations you can do with pasta and kids never seem to tire of it. You can also do breakfast for lunch one day, do pancakes, oatmeal, steamed baby carrots or something. Fruit Salad and baked potatoes one day. Some kids are perfectly content with PB & J every single day, so you could give that to the picky eaters.
Thats a good idea and you're right I was worried about picky eaters but I suppose they can have pb&j, thats easy and though I would never allow my son to eat nothing but pb&j most parents don't really care so as long as I offer something else i will feel ok with myself... thanks for your advices!!
You could also do noodles like macaroni or shells with a tomato sauce on them. That would be super cheap and easy and most kids like that, almost as much as mac and cheese.
Another suggestion that most kids like, even if they've never had it before is rice and beans. My son's preschool puts a bag of frozen veggies in the pot with the rice so it has a little extra nutrition and the kids all love it. Serve it with some very mild but seasoned beans.
Bean burritos also would be easy, inexpensive and pretty popular. You could add cheese or not, depending on your budget and the kids tastes.
One last suggestion...many daycares and preschools have a ban on peanut butter due to allergies. My kids often are sent to school with a cream cheese and jelly sandwich. You can use vegan or dairy cream cheese, my kids never notice the difference.
Good luck on your new endeavor! I hope it is a great success!
What about hummus? Either as a dip for pitas or rolled up like a little burrito. Put a smoothie on the side with frozen fruit and almond milk and honey. If you can't do peanut butter, try almond, course that costs more. Stir fry is easy with precooked rice (ez if you have a rice cooker, it will even stay warm!) toss with a bag of frozen veggies, and spinkle in soy sauce, or that same with noodles. Good luck!
Well I thought I would do peanut butter unless we get a kid with a peanut allergy... This is going to be a small operation out of my friends house with maybe 10 kids including our 2 so I just thought I would ask each parent if they have any known allergies and work around them if they do
I STRONGLY recommend sticking with normal, everyday foods that the kids are already used to--but make them with veggie fake meat instead. Please see this Squidoo lens - http://www.squidoo.com/delicious-vegetarian-alternatives-to-popular-foods - for tons of ideas for foods like tacos, spaghetti, chili, and more.
I feel really strongly that if people got away from the idea that veggie food is, inherently, DIFFERENT from "normal" food, and instead just prepared the same dishes they did before, but with a meat substitute, transitions would be a LOT easier. I can pretty much guarantee you that if you follow the ideas in the link above, the kids will NEVER know they're not eating what they're used to. Really!
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