Finger food ideas

Boy I have some DETERMINED self-feeders on my hands!! To the point of temper tantrums if I do not let them control ALL aspects of eating (I like to feed oatmeal, it's messy) Even Chicken fingers, if I don't let them have the bowl/plate, they will be on the floor arching, screaming, you name it.. (I like to hold it and let them 'pick' it off the plate, otherwise they tend to throw everything on the floor and eat it from there)


What types of foods are GOOD for them, and easily eatable fingerfoods?? We feed them fishsticks, chicken fingers, corn dogs (little ones) Hot dogs cut up.....

I'm having a hard time though keeping VARIETY. I'll try to feed them what we eat only cut up, and try to add vegetables in there, but there again, they want to eat with their hands or throw it on the floor and eat pick it up from there to eat. They aren't yet old enough to spoon feed themselves, they are still learning the concept of the utensils.

 

I also have very determined self feeders, if I feed it off a fork Alyssa spits it out, looks at it and then puts it back in!! I have recently found these new favorites... like most things I found they liked them when they were screaming at my feet while I am cooking supper!

Pepperoni rounds
sliced olives
Canadian Bacon rounds (can you tell I made pizza the other night LOL)
cut up pancake, waffles... today was banana pancakes! And when it is mixed in with the pancake they dont mush it up!
Green beans
Cooked carrots
Toast with butter and jam
Toast with chipped beef sauce spread on it (chipped beef we can ourselves, cream o mush soup, melted velveeta, pretty easy)
Grilled cheese
sausage
fried egg
hard boiled egg
corn nibblets
and today they even managed to self feed spaghetti

 

You can pretty much give them anything that can be cut up into small peices and that can be easily gummed if they have no teeth. I think waffles was one of my best discoveries. I had no idea how they just practically dissolve in the mouth. At first I just buttered them but then I taught them how to "dip dip" into the syrup. They seemed like they would be too hard once toasted but they are great! French toast is great too. Grilled cheese sandwhiches also melt right in the mouth and can be cut up into little pieces for them to feed themselves. Only thing is you have to let it sit for a few minutes after you cook it so the cheese solidifies a little before you cut. Otherwise it's a mooshy mess. And make good friends with you kitchen scissors. I discovered their FANTASTIC use a little late in the game but once I did, wow! made cutting up food sooooooooo much easier.

 

Like the pp said, just about anything is a good finger food as long as it cut-up small enough. My boys have always been determined self-feeders as well, here is what is popular in our house:

cheese sticks, cut up
tofu cubes
peas, broccoli florets, carrots (all soft, cooked and cut-up small)
banana slices, any berries (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries all get cut in half)
meatballs, cup up
mini wheat bagels
mini wheat pita cut in half and filled with hummus
any mini-pasta shape, penne is easy to pick up
toaster waffles or toast cut into strips
veggie burgers, cut up
goldfish crackers
scrambled egg with melted cheese mixed in

Good luck!

 

My girls practically self-feed everything. While they are feeding themselves (I'll list below what we eat even though its probably repetitive to pp's), I try to spoon feed some other foods like applesauce, yogurt, oatmeal, etc.

Here is what they eat and LOVE:

Chicken
Turkey breast (rotisserie style)
Ham (I limit this though- only deli meat once in awhile)
Tuna
Ground beef
Scrambled eggs
Toast with cream cheese or margarine
Pasta with meat sauce (messy, but we serve it on bath nights!)
Mac and cheese
Green beans
Cooked carrots
Peas (I have to squish these since the 'skin' is a little tough to gum)
Canned no sugar added Peaches
Canned no sugar added Pears
Cheese
Potatoes
Cheerioes (of course)

Thats all I can think of right now.. pretty much whatever we eat, they eat and then I try to sneak in some spoon feeding too. Its messy and takes longer, but they love it and do great with it. Oh and BTW, Meara only has one little nub of a tooth (just came in two weeks ago) and she is a champ at gumming/chewing everything.

 

Elizabeth is only 10.5 months, but so far she eats:

waffles torn into pieces
bananas, pears, apples, strawberries, canteloupe, avacado, etc. (diced)
mixed veggies (the frozen in the bag ones with peas, carrots and corn)
beans, carrots, squash, etc. that are cooked very soft and then diced
pot roast, salmon, chicken
graham crackers, goldfish, etc.
spinach/cheese stuffed ravioli, spaghetti with sauce, macaroni & cheese
yogurt & applesauce (you can use those Lil Dipper things)

That's all I can think of right now...

 

I know someone mentioned kitchen scissors for cutting, that's a great idea. My tip is to use a pizza cutter. It's fantastic! This morning I cut up 3 pancakes in literally 5 seconds.

 

My determined self-feeders eat pretty much anything I can make small enough. I haven't given them goldfish crackers or hotdogs yet. They don't have very many teeth and they both tend to eat so fast it makes me nervous. I still cut things up almost small enough that if they swallowed it whole it would go down anyway.

Here are some of our favorites:
Microwaveable mini pancakes & french toast
Eggos or homemade waffles heated in the toaster
Brown & serve sausage links - TOTAL FAVE!
Frozen meatballs
Bologna
Cheese, cheese and more cheese!
Green beans, peas, carrots, peas & carrots, black-eyed peas
Fruit bars
Fig Newtons
Bananas, apples, pears, cantelope (sp?)
Bread, mostly wheat bread & hawaiian bread
Cheerios, Kix, Rice Krispies
Ravioli
Peaches in the little fruit cups (i rinse off the syrup that they're packed in)

Yesterday they tried mini-marshmallows for the first time and that was a BIG hit!

Non-self-feed foods that they still let me feed them include baked beans, alfredo noodles, yogurt & applesauce. But I've found that if they have a couple of things on their trays that they can eat with their hands, that they have more patience for taking a bite of something off a spoon. So, I load up the trays and then feed them the messy stuff myself.

Oh! And pp mentioned the scissors and the pizza cutter, which we use too. But for cutting up canned veggies, I use my pastry blender thingy most often. I wasn't even sure what it was called, so I had to look it up. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about.

 

we have done all of the above and one thing my guys love and you can take with you are freeze dried fruit packets.
we found them at costco and when they didn't have them we ordered them online.
here is the website
http://www.brothersallnatural.com/
the strawberries come whole so you would have to cut those up but the apples and peaches have been great!

 

QUOTE(mac+evie @ Mar 17 2008, 11:52 PM) [snapback]674160[/snapback]
Oh! And pp mentioned the scissors and the pizza cutter, which we use too.



Oh yes yes yes... I have the sizzors and a little hand held plastic pizza cutter.... they are now my ne favorite kitchen accessories!