Healthy Meals that kids like too??-Easy to cook

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josieweier
josieweier Posts: 2
in Recipes
I do child care in my home and have to feed between 10-12 kids a day. I need some meal ideas that I can make but are also easy to make, as I dont have much time to cook with 12 kids running around the house. I eat with the kids so that is why I'm looking for healthier meals to make them for lunch each day.

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  • missy4eva
    missy4eva Posts: 2
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    you could try home made pizza's.. get the kids involved too.. and that way you know exactly whats gone in
    for example you could use low fat cheese, fresh tomatoes, sweetcorn etc.. and everyone likes pizza :)
  • elmct57
    elmct57 Posts: 594 Member
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    easy ones are tuna melts, PB on whole wheat, string cheese, celery sticks with PB, almond butter or cashew butter, apple slices, orange sections, grapes.
  • maddox22
    maddox22 Posts: 91
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    If you have a little prep time, you could make oven fries (use sweet potatoes if you want: cut them into strips and bake in a pretty hot oven--around 400 F--until they're cooked through and crispy). Individual pizzas is a great idea; you can use english muffins for the base, or buy (or make) pizza dough. Un-sandwiches can be fun: give kids slices of low-sodium/low-fat deli meat and cheese (or use string cheese), plus some wheat crackers or a slice of bread. They can roll the meat and cheese together and eat it with the crackers, or make their own sandwich. Apples, cheese, and crackers is also good, and as long as you get good crackers, it's pretty healthy.

    Fruit salad is fun, or fruit/veg kebabs--just use raw (or lightly steamed) veg and fruit and put them on a bamboo skewer with some light ranch or sour cream to dip in. (You can cut off the pointed tip from the skewer if they're young.) You could also do kebabs with chunks of lean mean (such as boiled or baked chicken breast or low fat/sodium ham), cheese, and veg (cherry tomatoes are good for that). A lot of kids really like finger foods and things that are novel, so that could be fun for them.

    If your budget is a little higher and you have some prep time, you can make your own chicken nuggets/tenders: cut boneless, skinless chicken breast into pieces, dip in milk, then dip in some seasoned (or unseasoned if the kids are picky) breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes. Bake them until they're golden brown and the chicken is fully cooked. Lots less fat and sodium than the frozen chicken fingers, and they taste just as good.

    Ants on a log are also fun--PB spread in a celery stalk with raisins put on the PB.

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