what food to send to daycare?

[neonalee]

DS (10.5 months) is apparently wanting more food while he's away for the day.  We've been giving him roasted sweet potato for after his lunch bottle and sometimes if we have bananas we send a half to eat with breakfast.  The provider has a box of organic whole grain cereal that they make pretty thick oatmeal consistency, not "baby cereal" consistency and apparently she gives it to him in the morning when we don't send banana.  Sometimes we send organic Puffs things.  His main nutrition is 16 oz of BM from 7am - 4pm and nurses whenever he wants at home.

What else would be good and easy at this age?  He eats pretty much whatever we give him, which has been things such as:  lentils/beans, bits of fish, scrambled egg, fruits, rice, etc.  He has 4 top teeth and 3 bottom if that matters at all.  I feel like he should get something other than sweet potato every day but it's so easy, inexpensive and he loves them.  Ideas?

[Hannah32]

Something with protein is a good idea, to help him feel full and to fuel his activity level. Do you eat meat? Tiny bits could be chopped up and mixed with the sweet potato. I cook up chicken breasts and put them into my son's baby food for a heartier lunch. It's really easy to bake up a bunch of chicken breasts by wrapping them in tin foil. They steam cook and there's little mess. 

If you don't do meat, you could do beans. 

[Wolfcat]

Steamed broccoli, cauliflour, and green beans are perfect for little hands. We also give them string cheese, strips of meat.

[neonalee]

Thanks for those ideas :)  We do eat meat, though we try to keep it to the non-factory farmed stuff so sometimes we go without.  I'll add to our shopping list!

Wolfcat - what do you mean by "strips of meat"?  Like steak cut the way you would for fajitas?

[Ellien C]

Hard boiled eggs

Avocado.

Start sending a whole banana.

I've got an EATER in my 15 month old, but he was chowing down on people food by 5 months.

Mac-n-cheese or just mac or just cheese.

Red beans and rice

other fruits - cut up strawberries, blueberries.

steamed carrots.

"soy" meatballs (we can't send regular meat at our day care).

cheese ravioli

often when I'm cooking dinner, I can set aside a small cup of food for the baby for day care - like with the ravioli.

anything you feed him at home - like the rice, scrambled eggs and fruit should be fine to send in to daycare.

FWIW - my son only ever had a few jars of babyfood. He just didn't want it and I saw no need to continue buying. He's been eating people food since about 5 months. I'm sure by 9.5 months I was sending 3 jars of food plus maybe 10-12 oz of BM.

[Wolfcat]

Originally Posted by neonalee 

Thanks for those ideas :)  We do eat meat, though we try to keep it to the non-factory farmed stuff so sometimes we go without.  I'll add to our shopping list!

Wolfcat - what do you mean by "strips of meat"?  Like steak cut the way you would for fajitas?

Pretty much, yeah. Or like if you cut up a chicken/turkey for sandwiches (not "salad" sandwiches). Pretty much small enough for a good grasp, but larger than "bite-sized".

[One_Girl]

I'd send stuff that you would eat yourself for lunch and ask them to cut it up into small pieces and give it to him.  In the infant room I am in we go by USDA guidelines so all kids are on the main menu once they are one.  They are served about half of what the preschool children are served but they sometimes eat 2-3 times that much depending on the item and whether they are growing or not. 

[JudiAU]

Can he pick up food yet? Canned beans are a great choice. Organic tofu with a little soy sauce. Irish oatmeal freezes really well and has more nutrition than the baby food. We froze it in cubes and then added a little fruit puree and yogurt. Small whole milk yogurt containers.