Lunch ideas to send to childminder

ChewChew

Hi all, I have a near nine month old who is now going to a childminder 3 days a week. When I'm at home I make lunches for her like pancakes and eggs etc but I'm struggling to come up with things to send to the childminder. I give the usual fruits and yogurt but she's we'll able for finger foods so was going to send some bread and butter. Anyone got any other ideas as we are hitting a mental blank here. Thanks a mill!

Ocean Blue

ChewChew wrote: »

Hi all, I have a near nine month old who is now going to a childminder 3 days a week. When I'm at home I make lunches for her like pancakes and eggs etc but I'm struggling to come up with things to send to the childminder. I give the usual fruits and yogurt but she's we'll able for finger foods so was going to send some bread and butter. Anyone got any other ideas as we are hitting a mental blank here. Thanks a mill!

I struggled with ideas for lunch/tea as well. Initially I sent beans a bit, asked minder to make scrambled eggs etc. But it was a pain and very repetitive. So in the end I decided to send a dinner for lunchtime (I batch cooked small portions for the freezer ) and asked the minder to let my daughter have a small bit of whatever they had for their evening meal for her tea.

dori_dormer

You should get the baby led weaning cookbook. Loads of great baby and toddler recipes for lunches and dinner. Maybe even see if your library has it and photocopy some of the more lunch type recipes. My son loves all the healthy muffin type things for lunch

pwurple

Chopped fruit, yoghurts, crackers, cheese. Buttered bread.

Roesy

You could send pancakes for the childminder to heat. My eldest liked pea fritters or sweetcorn fritters(like pancakes), they used reheat well too. We used also make muffins(savoury or fruit). At that age she used also like rice cakes and cream cheese, toast and hummus or cheese on toast. She loves soup too. That would be easy to send. It's a bit messy for feeding I suppose. I used make a thick one it coated the spoon well because she was a determined self feeder but the mess was crazy. When she used go to my inlaws when I went back to work they used prefer to give her dinnery stuff. As someone else suggested, that might be an option.

2xj3hplqgsbkym

Cooked penne or fusili.
Slice of frittata or mini quiches ( made in bun tin, they keep in freezer)
Cooked sticks of carrot
Sticks of cucumber
Olives
Pitta bread with peanut butter or cream cheese, cut in wedges
Tortilla chips ( cut a corn tortilla into triangles and bake for 5 mins)
Slices of cold meat

Jen44

I send a dinner type dish its just easier. I make batches at the weekend and freeze them then just take things out the night before so all my mam has to do is heat them up for her. I make a lot of the anabel karmel dishes

Neyite

I'd be inclined to send a 'dinner' rather than a lunch.

Far easier maybe to batch cook and store in the childminders freezer once a week if they have room. And there is no harm if the baby has a second dinner with you in the evenings, or pull together a lighter supper for the baby while you are making the family dinner if you think its something they wont eat.

With a tiny non stick frying pan its easy to do a one-egg omelette with a little sprinkle of cheese and ham or a banana pancake while you are making your own dinner too. I found that the silicone muffin cases were perfect sizes for baby shepherds pie and fish pie, (and they look cute!) peel off the silicone when frozen and chuck into a zip lock bag. Mini lasanges too. Or any pasta + sauce that can be heated up.

ChewChew

Thanks so much everyone for the suggestions. So today I sent a few days worth of fruit, yogurts, rice cakes. I sent bread and peanut butter today and a dinner type lunch and when she got home she devoured another dinner so I think that's the way to go

Jen44

yea my little one has two dinners a day really plus a small snack in between and she always finishes both!