finger foods

jessica0602 · October 2012

So my kid is getting super bored with purees and more and more into finger foods (yay!). But I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas of stuff to send into daycare with him that do not need to be cooked. He's a year old now and has 8 teeth and is working on his one year molars. He can pretty much chew anything and there isn't much he doesn't like.

Suggestions?

mzovoce · October 2012

Have you read the book "Baby Led Weaning"?

HeatherWain · October 2012

Sorry for all of the "..." 's but I was typing as I was thinking. I'm too lazy to edit my thoughts. I just wrote you the longest email on the planet that consisted of this:

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You can def do veggies but I think at his age (and lack of teeth) cooked veggies are still the way to go. If he eats them, I suggest peas, carrots, corn (although, not too much nutritional value), broccoli, string beans, cauliflower, etc. You can just buy the bags of frozen veggies. I assume the daycare has a microwave so you can easily throw some frozen peas in a small container and the daycare can just zap them. You can also buy the mixed veggies which have peas, corn, string beans, etc. in one bag. The daycare may just have to cut the bigger pieces of veggies down a bit. The frozen bagged veggies are probably your best bet for quick and easy. You can even do things like steam a head of cauliflower and then melt some cheese on top. This way you can bang 2 food groups out at once.

What about also packing him stuff like shredded cheese? That's as simple as just buying the bagged shredded cheese, putting it in a Ziploc and sending it in. Danica also eats string cheese but it has to be cut up. Not sure if you want to do it everyday but also what about some lunch meat? You can get the low sodium kind sliced on the thicker side, cut it up into pieces he can eat at home, throw it in a container and boom. Also, I'll boil (yes, I know, ew) chicken and that would be super easy for him to take in as well. Cook the night before and then cut up into pieces he can handle. Can do the same with meatballs. Just get plain 'ol ground meat or ground turkey, cook em up, cut em up and pack em up. Things like that. You can also do chicken nuggs. Try to get the whole white meat ones and if you are feelin' extra hippy, they have organic whole white meat ones.

What about fruit? Danica eats strawberries, bananas and blueberries just about every day. More for breakfast but those are easy for him to bring in as well. I wouldn't be worried necessarily at what times he's eating the food... meaning... you don't have to keep the fruits for only breakfast... just as long as at the end of the day, he's getting everything that he should be getting. If he's getting some protein, fruits, veggies, etc... doesn't matter at what time he's getting them. So anyhoo... fruits would be easy. Strawberries, blueberries, bananas... may be gross unless the daycare will cut it up for you. They obvi turn brown quick. Cantaloupe and avocado (will he still eat it?). You can throw all of that in the same container even.

Another one of Danica's favorites is applesauce. I just but the Motts but I get the natural which has no sugar added and is better for them than the other types they have. You can either buy the little 1 serving sized containers or get a big jar (cheaper) and spoon it out into a container.

Have you tried yogurt with him yet? Danica loves, loves, loves yogurt. I know she can eat the regular cheaper yogurt (as long as it's whole milk... can't be fat free or anything) but I buy her the baby/toddler yogurt. It comes in a little 4 pack container. I wish I could remember the name but I'm pretty sure it's the only baby/toddler yogurt. It's organic and they have flavors like vanilla, banana, strawberry, raspberry, strawberry apple, etc. You could always throw one of those in for his lunch, too.

Right now we pretty much give Danica everything we eat, just cut small. You can probably start giving him what you eat and give him some of the leftovers as well.

You can even do pasta but that's probably too messy at daycare, esp if you do sauce.

HeatherWain · October 2012

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Longest post, ever!

jessica0602 · October 2012

H I thank you for your novel haha

Mzovoce (did I get that right?) is that worth a read now that he's a year old?

mzovoce · October 2012

no, but the cookbook is, it's REALLY great in my opinion. See if you can borrow it from the library or on an e-reader. The book isn't great, it's more of a pamphlet, but the cookbook has really great ideas.

TappinPo · October 2012

I've been having the same problem - my DD is just shy of 11 months.

For breakfast I normally send her with some type of one of the following: cereal with some yogurt drops mixed in, yogurt, pancake (that i heat up at home) and fruit.

Lunch is usually some leftovers or: deconstructed sandwich (i cut up a pita or sandwich flat, cut up cheese, cut up chicken, lunchmeat, etc), fruit, cold pasta with veggie and chicken, cold stir fry leftovers with rice

Snacks I usually send extra fruit or some of the gerber snacks in a little bag (wheels or she loves their cheese puffs).

I do still sometimes chuck a container of baby food fruit with oatmeal in her bag if I go light with the finger foods.

just_JRM · October 2012

There's a chapter on snacks/finger food in the BLW book that would still be helpful. If you end up taking the sign language class at BRC, I can copy those pages for you (though we have to miss next week's class).

Z eats everything because we did BLW.

How good is V's pincer grip? Apologies, I didn't have time to read HWain's post above, but I'm sure it covered what I would have offered...

Amerbutt81 · October 2012

I guess I technically did BLW with Huntface, as I stopped giving him purees nearly 4 or 5 months ago.

Hunter love love LOVES grilled cheese. I make it on multi-grain bread and I sneak an avocado in there for extra healthiness/I'm not a shoddy mom-ness.

Occasionally he'll eat mac and cheese with teeeeeeny tiny pieces of ham in it. I'll also cook up a chicken breast on Monday and feed it to him over the week in different meals.

I have a really hard time getting him to eat veggies, so I've been giving him the Gerber Grabbers (or whatever other brand is out there) and I make sure it has at least one vegetable in it. Also, the Gerber pasta pick ups are great too. Again, I give him the ones that have a vegetable in the mix.

jessica0602 · October 2012

Guys, you all seriously rock. This was so beyond helpful. I sent him in today with a greek yogurt, some cut up cheese, a mixed variety of veggies and some chicken. I feel so much less guilty.

Also, sneaking avocado into grilled cheese? Brilliant.

ETA: I made this last night for dinner. He ate the last half of it because he kept toddling over to me and grabbing on my tray. 'Twas rather hilarious.

HeatherWain · October 2012

As weird as it sounds, I sneak avocado into rice. D loves rice and so what I'll do is smash up the avocado and then mix it with the rice. Since the avocado doesn't really taste like anything, it just makes the rice green and she'll eat it no problem.

Not sure if I mentioned it above (mainly bc I don't feel like reading my own huge post again) but D loves grapes and rasins. They are easy for you to pack for V, too.

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