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4 Easy Toddler Lunch Ideas
Try one or more of our toddler lunch ideas, and your little one will look forward to lunchtime every day.
Providing Quality Childcare Since 2012 • Infants, Toddlers & Preschool • Daycare Centre
Meal times are a great opportunity to teach your little ones healthy eating habits, socialise, help them gain independence, learn table manners and have fun.
Lunch is when your children are most active and receptive to everything that happens at the table. Engaging them in what you want to teach them can be a lot easier by preparing meals they will love.
To help you succeed in this endeavour, we have prepared several delicious and easy-to-do toddler lunch ideas.
What is a good lunchtime for toddlers?
Children need a daily routine, as knowing what is happening when gives them a feeling of security.
A consistent mealtime schedule helps toddlers learn when their tummy is full, which promotes healthy management of eating: as they grow, they will not be at risk of overeating or developing eating disorders.
The mealtime schedule also prevents any tantrums caused by feeling hungry and enables you to organise your daily schedule, so you have time for playing and snuggling with your child.
- The mealtime routine can include:
- washing hands to promote healthy table habits;
- setting the table to teach them family meals routine;
- talking in a fun way about what you have cooked to spark the child’s interest in the food;
- handing the kids child-sized kitchen utensils to help them experience textures, improve their fine motor skills and acquire independence in eating by themselves;
According to experts, noon is the right time to serve your toddler’s lunch, and this is our selection of easy toddler lunch ideas.
What Can I Make My 2-year-old for Lunch?
Banana and peanut butter rolls lunch box
Full of vitamins (B6, C) and fibre, high in protein and low in sugar,
this recipe helps your toddler sleep better after enjoying a healthy and delicious lunch.
Servings: 1
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 whole wheat tortilla (8-inch size)
- 1 tablespoon of peanut butter (or another type of butter)
- 1 peeled banana
- 4 strawberries
- 1 peeled and halved tangerine
- 2 stalks of celery cut in halves
- ¼ cup of pretzels
How to prepare it:
Spread the tortilla with peanut butter. Put the banana in the middle of the tortilla. Roll the bottom edge of the tortilla over the peeled banana by folding in the sides until you reach the top of the tortilla. Cut the roll in thirds.
Put the banana roll-ups, pretzels, strawberries, tangerine and celery halves in a food container.
Give your toddler the container and watch how excited he gets about studying, discovering and eating his food.
Recipe from Damn Delicious
Let’s move on to more toddler lunch ideas.
Fluffy, cheesy pizza puffs
Pizza puffs are soft and savoury muffins packed with pizza toppings that make a yummy lunch anytime! Your toddler will love them, especially since pepperoni and cheese are among kids’ favourites.
Servings: 1
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups of white whole wheat, all-purpose flour or a mix of the two
1 ½ tsp of baking powder
2 large eggs
2 cups of shredded mozzarella (save ½ a cup for the topping)
1 ½ cups of milk (or unsweetened non-dairy milk)
1 tsp of basil leaves
1 tsp of dried oregano
½ tsp of salt
1 cup of thinly sliced pepperoni (set aside some for the topping)
12 tsp of pizza sauce
Oil for the muffin tins
Optional:
extra pizza sauce
How to prepare it:
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Spray 12 muffin tins with oil, wipe them with a paper towel and put them aside. Mix the flour, baking powder, basil leaves, dried oregano and salt in a large bowl.
Add the milk and the eggs and mix until completely incorporated. Toss in one cup of mozzarella and ⅔ cup of pepperoni. Mix gently to distribute them evenly in the mixture. Use a spoon to fill the muffin tins with the mixture. Gently spread a teaspoon of pizza sauce on each muffin with the help of a knife.
Sprinkle the cheese you saved on top and press in some pepperoni.
Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, test the content with a toothpick, and let them cool for a bit once the muffins are cooked. Take the muffins out of their tins and add pizza sauce. Serve the puffs to your little ones (with extra pizza sauce on top if they like it).
Recipe from Sweet Peas and Saffron.
More Toddler Lunch Ideas
Broccoli and raisins delicious pasta salad
Pasta is a staple food for children. This creamy salad is another toddler lunch idea that will provide your little one with a healthy portion of broccoli, brilliantly accompanied by raisins.
Servings: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
1 small head of broccoli
⅓ cup of raisins
1 thinly sliced green onion
1½ cups of cooked whole wheat elbow macaroni
1 tsp of yellow mustard
1 tbsp and 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp of honey
⅔ cup of sour cream
½ tsp of kosher salt
How to prepare it:
Remove the broccoli’s thick stems and set them aside for a future meal. Dice the florets.
Put the florets, raisins, macaroni and green onion in a large bowl.
Mix the sour cream with the honey, apple cider vinegar, mustard and salt in a small bowl. Pour the mixture over the ingredients in the large bowl and stir until evenly distributed.
Serve on plates and check how happy your child will be when savouring this easy lunch recipe for toddlers.
Recipe from Pure Wow.
Easy chicken noodle soup
The soothing effect of chicken soup has been known for decades, but this meal is more than a remedy for colds. Its satisfying mélange of flavours is guaranteed to delight even the pickiest children.
Servings: 8
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
450 grams of chicken breast, diced
2 cups of diced carrots
2 cups of diced celery
2 litres of low-sodium chicken stock
340 grams of egg noodles (or other small-sized pasta per choice)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 peeled and minced cloves of garlic
Salt to taste
How to prepare it:
Put the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Toss in the garlic cloves, carrots, and celery and cook for about 8 minutes.
Add the chicken stock and increase the heat until the mixture is boiling.
Decrease to medium-high and add the diced chicken breast and the pasta.
Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the noodles are soft and the chicken is cooked. Add salt to taste and serve your little one the soup in a colourful bowl.
Recipe from Yummy Toddler Food.
Ensuring your child consumes healthy meals following a consistent eating routine provides healthy development and habits. Try one or more of our toddler lunch ideas, and your little one will look forward to lunchtime every day.
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Our Early Learning Centres
Our early childhood centre environments strongly reflects our inspiration – The Reggio Emilia philosophy, from Reggio Emilia, Italy.
We provide a creative and open ended environment that encourages infinite learning for the children and strong relationships between teachers, children and families.
The day’s routines are flexible. At the same time, care is taken to recognise and respect each child’s needs.
Why Choose a Bright Beginnings Early Learning Centre?
- Encouraging the use of natural materials
- A strong transition into school
- Teaching team inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach supports your child’s creative potential.
- Healthy, tasty hot meals cooked fresh on site
- 20 ECE hours available/free sessions for 3 year olds
- A boutique, homely feel to our centres
- Strong connections between teachers and whanau.
Here's what our parents say about our childcare centres
We are so happy that our son is a part of the Bright Beginnings family. The staff have been so welcoming and caring since the day he joined here. He has the freedom to explore and experiment as he learns about the world around him. With each passing day, he is growing into a confident and independent young boy, while building friendships and learning important life skills. We are also especially happy that he gets nutritious meals everyday, an important concern for us as parents. Most importantly, he loves it so much here that he can't wait to be back at the Centre every morning! As parents, we can go about our day with the assurance that our son is in good hands within a safe environment. Thank you to the entire BBELC team for that, Devika.
Bright Beginnings has and is a second home to both my son and now my daughter. Amber loves coming to the centre everyday and to see the relationship she has with the teachers is very special. We love everything Bright Beginnings embodies and are thankful to have found this centre.
- Best price
- Best service. From Jade Tavita
I was absolutely blown away by the presentation and the effort that went into the parent teacher interviews. I have not seen anything like it before and it made me feel very comfortable and welcome as a parent. From Darren Masters
Super duper loving, caring teachers. Awesome environment where our boy can flourish everyday. Thank you, Brad and Joanna.
Dillon absolutely loves his new big boy class. He even asks us if he can go on a Saturday and Sunday. Thanks all for making going to school so easy for us. Thanks, Anika.
I love and enjoy watching April develop and grow, I am so happy and grateful that she is in an amazing environment filled with people who care and look out for each other.
Beautiful Daycare. Thank you all.- Best price from Zara.
- Best service
Cherry: Our family is very grateful that we found BBELC. So far it is the best daycare we have seen. We are glad to enrol our kids here. Having peace of mind that our kids are safe, well fed, looked after and enjoy activities with the teachers and other kids is PRICELESS!!!
THANK YOU for helping my kids explore new things. You are all amazing. Like what I always say to the teacher, I don't know how you all do it but the teachers here at BBELC are SUPERHEROES! As parents we feel your passion, dedication and love.
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