Meals From Jars & Gerber Graduates Boxed Meals

Hello,
I'm feeling guilty about not feeding my (18 months old)kids "real" food for breakfast, lunch and dinner on a daily basis. Every Saturday and Sunday my kids eat three meals-breakfast, lunch and dinner & during the weekdays, they eat just lunch and dinner only. I send stage 2 Gerber jar foods or those Gerber Graduates boxed dinners with them to daycare for lunch every day. In the evening, I usually cook something for them or if i don't have time - I'll give them something canned or jarred, such as canned chicken noodle soup, canned raviolli, etc. Is it horrible that I'm mostly giving them jarred, canned or Gerber Graduates boxed meals? I know those meals are full of Sodium. What do you all do for lunch at daycare or dinner at home? please help me not feel so guilty. :mellow:

 

I would definitely be concerned about their sodium intake if they are eating primarily prepackaged/preprepared food. At 18 months they really should be eating pretty much whatever you eat and not baby food. I think the occassional meal in a box is ok, but not ideal. Has your daycare given you any suggestions as to what they want you to send or what you cannot send?

For breakfast I would keep it simple and feed them something like a banana and a whole grain waffle, a bowl of oatmeal with raisins or even dry cereal and some fruit.

For lunch I would send things that are easy to make ahead and put in plastic containers like pasta and sauce with turkey meatballs, peanut butter and jelly (if permitted), diced ham or turkey and cheese (you can buy individual wrapped cheese), grapes, apple slices, raisins, small individual containers of diced fruit, applesauce, etc. that are meant for packed lunches. Smuckers makes uncrustables pb&j and grilled cheese that you just defrost and/or microwave. They're in the freezer section. You could also send packets of Annies' Mac & Cheese that the daycare could just microwave with water and feed them. It has less sodium, etc. than Kraft Mac & Cheese.

For dinner I would feed them whatever you're eating for dinner and just cut it up in small pieces. You can give them canned veggies, just buy the low sodium ones or use frozen.

HTH Also, see the sticky at the top of this thread for toddler food ideas!

 

Look for the low sodium soups, we get the Healthy Choice ones. You don't really need to get them the Gerber soups anymore, they really aren't much different than regular soups. I just drain off about half the broth and let them eat that. We also do a lot of leftovers from last night's meal for lunch, and they are starting to get the concept of sandwiches.

 

i am all about the vegies..

i do 5 vegies and 6 meats

brocoli peas corn frozen
green beans carrots (gerber diced) better than canned

and

salmon, tuna,
chicken meatballs , crab.. beef

tuna is canned..
salmon fridge (smoked so its pre cooked)
cken is precooked salad cken from sams in a bag..
meat balls are precooked in a bag and frozen
beef is frozen so i hav to cook it 1x per wk..

i did pre cooked tv dinners for about a month when my issues hit the fan with divorce.. but i always
added 3x the vegies .. and the soup they had was vegie soup low sodium plus more vegies..

ok im a vegie nut..
and a low sodium nut..

i also do jarred/ canned fruit..
manderine oranges/ peaches.. and fresh stuff too..

all of that being said..
if your not picky what your kids eat no one else will be..

you have to set the standards grocery shopping..
i buy 8 bags of frozen vegies 3 bags of frozen meet

20 jars of baby carrots/ green beans diced..

thats every week..

i made up my mind that it was easier and cheeper to feed vegies than anything pre made..

that being said im not comming down on you.. i have just given you an alternative to what your doing ..
that is just as simple and doable .. i work a 40 hour wk week..
we do picknicks every other night.. with precooked / pre jarred food.. its just that its vegies..

plus i have an x husband who feeds them mac and hotdogs but its only every other wk..
so they are still being given the bad stuff.. just not by me..


i hope my alternatives help.. pm me with how to questions..

ppss i did go through a two week period where it was easier to feed them tv dinners than cook.. i do understand that but i grew out of it for
their health - i dont want them to look like mommy..

 

QUOTE
Look for the low sodium soups, we get the Healthy Choice ones


Exactly what I was going to suggest. My guys LOVED these soups, and still do. BUT I have to let them feed theirselves, which is so messy, but hey, they eat!

 

Thanks to all of you!! I feel better now and I have more meal options for my kiddos. I work 40 hours per week and some days the thought of cooking a real meal is exhausting, but I have to make it happen and they can eat leftovers for one or two days afterwards. You ladies are the BEST!! Twinstuff rocks!!!!

 

To you ladies who feed soups - they eat these OK with a spoon? Or pick things out with their fingers? I would like to try soups, but they make an enormous mess with spoons.

We do sandwiches on whole wheat bread almost every day for lunch. Soy butter/jam (Polaner All-Fruit), cheese with mashed avocado tomato, turkey with cheese and tomato, grilled cheese, egg salad, fried or scrambled egg with cheese, etc. We often add shredded carrots to sandwiches. Hummus is also great.

For dinners, we try to keep it simple and make enough to have leftovers the next night. One dinner always is enough for 2 nights in our house.

I feel for you - it's hard being a working mom and keeping the meals straight!

Michelle

 

We do a lot of leftovers. I work FT too, and there's no way I can cook dinner every night. When I do cook, I do it after the kids are asleep, and we have it the next night. I refuse to make anything that doesn't keep well and make at least 6 servings.

My kids will not actually eat soup (I can't figure out why -- they won't eat it with a spoon, and they won't eat the solid pieces if I drain the broth...), but they eat casseroles, pasta, enchiladas, pizza....

There is nothing wrong with the occasional convenience food, but I'd rather feed them takeout pizza than something from a box. Also, processed and packaged food is ridiculously expensive -- pizza is probably cheaper (per serving) -- especially if you get it at Costco.

You don't always have to cook, either. Yesterday for lunch Amy (who was home sick) had sliced cheese, crackers, milk, and some baby carrots that I cooked in the microwave for 2 minutes till they were soft. She was just fine with that. And it was probably just as fast as heating soup from a can.

And we do keep some packaged stuff in the house, but it tends to be frozen rather than boxed -- mini quiches, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, burritos. HTH!

ETA: It is really tough that you have to send them to daycare with lunch. I have a hard enough time figuring out what to take for my own lunch, but at least our daycare provides lunch. I feel for you there!

 

I personally don't think you should feel so bad. You are doing what you can. I'm not so much of a cook myself and a lot of the foods that I do make are often heavily seasoned so I end up not giving it to them. Some things I make I give them the following day. Like when I make meat sauce, I will usually make enough for 2 days worth and will give it to them for lunch. Pastina is so quicky and easy to make and I will mix it with the meat sauce and put in small tupperware containers for the girls to eat. I also do the frozen veggies (especially the peas) and will make the whole bag at a time and put it in tupperware and use as I need. I will put a little butter and a tiny bit of salt to season it a bit and they LOVE to eat those because they are so perfect for tiny hands. If your kids like cheese or ham or balogna or other coldcuts you could easily cut those up and put in a container for them to take to daycare. Do they like cream cheese? My girls love toasted cream cheese and jelly sandwhiches which can be cut up into small pieces. I think it's ok to give them canned and jarred food but as with anything, everything in moderation. You're doing the best you can. I was raised by my dad who was an only child raised by only his mother so when he took custody of me when I was 6, he wasn't much of a cook. I lived on T.V. dinners, chicken pot pies, Stouffers, and Chef Boyardee and I turned out just fine.

 

I wasnt going to post but I cant let it go. It is not good for your children to be eating strictly out of can or a box. Not to mention the sodium but it is all over processed food that contains very unhealthy ingrediants not to mention preservatives.

I understand that you have little time to cook/prepare a meal but maybe you should *try* to find the time. Maybe cook it the nite before, or do something quick that is healthy too. Everyone needs to eat unhealthy food every once in a while but every day is sending the kids into a spiral of unhealthy eating that will continue throughout their life.

A few things that are simple that I feed my kids, and they are healthy...

for lunch:
Organic mac&cheese
Pot Pies (I make my own though)
pb&j sandwich on wheat bread
grilled cheese on wheat bread
organic fresh fruit (bought whole and cut up)
diced ham/turkey
organic cereal bars <snack>

for dinner:
any meat (not fish) w/ veggies like peas, carrots, broccoli, green beans, potatoes
casserole of some kind. In my house we eat tuna casserole once a month (too much mercury to eat more than that for me) and chicken casserole once a week.
organic spagetti (still better then out of a box)
organic chicken alfredo

These are just a few things that my girls get. They eat 90% organic, the only meal that isnt organic is breakfast but we do use organic jellies and syrup. Organic is great b/c you dont get the additives, preservatives, or the over processed food. Even if you dont want to buy organic, the things I mentioned above are quick, easy and healthy.

I am not trying to make you feel bad so please dont think that. I just think that maybe you needed some more ideas for a healthy meal plan in order to start trying it....

 

Mine eat whatever we eat, and I do very little pre-packaged stuff. If I do, it comes from Costco, and they normally offer pretty healthy choices. They do occasionally get a Gerber graduate meal if we are on the go - those are easy.

Have you ever tried the Dream Dinners, Super Suppers, Supper Thyme type of options? You go and fix 12 meals you can freeze. You can control the amount of salt and other spice you add. You put it together, they clean up after you. Bring it home and throw it in the freezer, and take out your meals for the week on Sunday for thawing. Very easy, very tasty, and pretty darn healthy too. We love Dream Dinners around our house, although now that life has gotten less hectic I am back to cooking pretty regularly. It's still nice to pull a frozen meal out when I need it though.

 

I HATE to cook too, hate, hate, hate. I find it such a waste of time but I do want them eating healthy food. I read that what they eat from 1 to 2 will set the pattern of their eating for the rest of their lives. Why don't you make one huge batch of food every weekend. Like one big pasta..put chicken, zuchini. carrots, brocoli etc.. in it with healthy pasta sauce. Make the pasta and freeze them in little ice cubes and you can use them for ages. Also cook a big batch of veggies and freeze them too. Fruit is really easy you just peel it and they will eat it. Good luck.