[Oriyan]

I need meal ideas! Mostly breakfast and lunches that can be taken to and from day care. (They don't have any heating up abilities except for hot water).

Also, the meals need to be egg free (which makes it hard!)

Ideas?

I could also use regular breakfast/lunch meal ideas as well.

As of right now J.J pretty much gets the same thing everyday. Cereal bar, yogurt and cut up fruit for breakfast, pasta and a cooked veggie, and avocado for lunch. Dinner he gets whatever we are getting unless we are eating something that is spicy (don't want to aggravate his reflux) or made with egg.

[soImarriedAnerd]

ugh no eggs and no real heating...thats tough.

[ShannonMVT]

I will have to think about the meal ideas, but I will tell you that you an buy egg replacer at Whole Foods. I think the brand is Ener G. It works for any recipe that doesn't contain more than 2 eggs. I

We have similar issues having to do foods with no dairy.

And avocado appers to be going out of season, ugh! Every one I've bought in the last couple weeks felt good but then was partly rotten or was hard or tasted totally crummy!

[Oriyan]

Shannon -- Whole foods is raising the price of avocado but getting them in from elsewhere, where they are still growing. (Used to be like 99 cents but it went to 2.49 this week). I've gotten some nice ones, however the ones in the supermarkets are not looking so hot. They are already soft and have soft spots, or they are shaped oddly.

I will definitely look for that egg replacer. Where is it located in whole foods (with eggs, in an aisle, etc)?

[ShannonMVT]

It is in an aisle, in a box that is yellow I think. It is near the gluten free stuff if I remember correctly. I did have to ask someone who worked there where it was, b/c it was hard to find with all the things they have there!

[~*Bethy*~]

you can get the egg replacer at any grocery store, BTW. My step dad gets it at thriftway, and he eats it because he has high colestoral, but loves him a good omlette.

Is there anyway you can make him a bunch of food, freeze it, and just shell it out for daycare? Is he allergic to the baked goods like pancakes, cakes, etc, or can he have store bought bread? MIL is allergic to egg's as well, and cant use fresh eggs in batter, but bread and rolls and stuff shes fine with.

[Oriyan]

Beth - He can't have any foods made with egg or else he has an allergic reaction. That includes pancakes made with egg, bread with egg, chicken nuggets that use eggs to bread the chicken, etc.

We can freeze food sure, however, day care only had a fridge and hot water to keep things cool and warm things up. Can't have microwaves in day cares in New York.

[ShannonMVT]

Originally Posted by ~*Bethy*~

you can get the egg replacer at any grocery store, BTW. My step dad gets it at thriftway, and he eats it because he has high colestoral, but loves him a good omlette.

You may be thinking of EggBeaters, which is still made of egg whites. GREAT for people who can't eat eggs b/c of cholesterol, but not okay for people who are allergic to eats b/c the white portion is the allergenic part. If that's not what you're talking about then disregard me.

The boxed egg replacer is a powder you have to add water to. And it's not good for things with tons of eggs but it works fine for baking and such.

I guess it also depends on what JJ will eat cold? Matthew is fine eating most meals cold. I make meatballs with gravy and rice, minestrone soup, pasta and chicken with veggies. Maybe whatever you are making for dinners, he could eat as leftovers at daycare?

he could also do baby oatmeal for breakfast, pancakes (make without eggs and freeze), sausage, bagel (if they have any without egg).

[Oriyan]

Have I mentioned my child is horribly picky with food? He used to be all I will eat anything and now, he refuses a lot of things he used to eat like green beans, carrots, etc. He refuses and always has refused oatmeal/cereals.

He does like sausage though but we have to be careful because the spices in them can aggravate his reflux.

[~*Bethy*~]

ohhh ok yeah thats what I was thinking of. Darn it their both in a yellow box

I think rice is an excelent option (if he will eat it) because you can add just about anything to it. hubby uses it in place of wheat noodles when we dont want to use the rice noodles (they are hella starchy!)

Does he like turkey? or chicken? Tapioca bread might be a good replacement (would have to check the egg content) So maybe sending him with a sammich and some cheese sticks (is he allergic to dairy? I dont remember if you said so or not?) with maybe a tub of veggies. Does he like tomatoes? or would that be to acidic with his reflux? I dont have picky eaters, but Im trying to remember what my kids ate at his age. Ill be back with more suggestions....My brain has been working on this since I read it earlier this morning

and just so you know, bread is actually very easy to make at home, and would be super easy to replace the egg with the powdered egg replacer (we do it when making cakes/cookies so MIL can have them) Maybe I can find a few recipies for bagels or baked goods of the sort that he can have for both breakfast and lunch.

ETA: see I told you Pita bread might be another option for both breakfast and lunch.

[Oriyan]

Oooh keep the ideas coming

Tomatoes are on the list of no no foods for his reflux. He does eat sausage, but we only give it to him maybe 3 times a month. He won't eat carrots anymore (he used to LOVE them, not sure what happened?). The only veggie we can get him to eat are peas and avacados.

He does like turkey and chicken. He won't eat chop meat but he will eat steak. He LOVES pork but we are gonna have to make that special for him -- we got one of those pre-seasoned pork roasts from BJ's 2 weeks ago and he had an allergic reaction! WTH!

Pita bread.. never thought about that. When we go food shopping on Saturday, we'll have to look into that! There is one bagel we found without egg -- its Thomas's 100% whole wheat. He will eat it, but only with butter or peanut butter. (Picky!)

[~*Bethy*~]

It was probably the spices it had in the roast. What other veggies have you tried? squash? does he eat corn, celery, or broccoli?

Pretty much with a picky eater, and you needing to replace eggs, he will need a higher protein diet. Meats, cheese, almond butter (doesnt have the sugar in it that peanut butter does) Maybe use cream cheese instead of mayo, or veggionaise (egg and wheat free) ok now bella is needing sleep...Ill be back with more ideas LOL

[ShannonMVT]

I think a cinammon raisen bagel with peanut butter paired with a veggie would make a good lunch! I use sunflower seed butter, it's like PB but has less saturated fats and more omega fats. Matthew won't eat though of course. I looked and my sara lee bagels don't have egg in them. Neither does my nature's own honey wheat bread.

For veggies, just keep offering him different ones even if he won't eat them (I need to be better about this too). matthew wouldn't eat brocolli at all and I gave him some on a whim and now he LOVES it. So you never know. Try the carrots again, brocolli, butternut squash, sweet potato, green beans. I've heard of others making a sauce with veggies, but it would be primarily tomato based, so that might be out for you. I tried with Matthew and he wouldn't eat it.

I'd do string cheese since he can eat dairy, no mess and good fat/protein.

[Resi]

The only thing I could come up with without thinking for long is cottage cheese and rice if he will eat if cold. That is a hard one because they don't heat up foods. Btw, I didn't read the replys above so maybe those two have been mentioned.

[KatiInCT]

I don't have a toddler yet so I can't speak from experience but maybe looking around this site will help give you some ideas! My friend is always making bento finger food lunches for her daughter and her daughter loves them. Lunch in a Box: Building a Better Bento

[bittersweet]

You could make him a cracked wheat (burgal) salad. Boil the cracked wheat until soft and all water absorbed. Toss with tiny cut up pieces of cucumber, olives, parsley, maybe some sweet red peppers (in place of tomato since he cant have that). Add in some olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice (or try a little garlic if the lemon juice is a no no). It is great cold....not sure if a picky eater will like it, but it is very healthy and might be worth a try.

Rice was my next suggestion, but Resi covered it.

[~*Bethy*~]

Originally Posted by KatiInCT

I don't have a toddler yet so I can't speak from experience but maybe looking around this site will help give you some ideas! My friend is always making bento finger food lunches for her daughter and her daughter loves them. Lunch in a Box: Building a Better Bento

I was totally on that site yesterday my friend is into making bento box's for her and hubby. Was looking at new and cute idea's of doing food for my kids!