Lunch Ideas

[TaRhLi.]

I need some inspiration on what to offer my kids for lunch....

My boys have ASD and one is a white food eater, while the other has dairy intolerance but my DD is fine so I'm looking for ideas on what I can offer them for lunch everyday.

My OT and I have just worked out that I need to establish a good routine for our days to hopefully promote better sleeping patterns and behaviour as my boys don't cope to well with the 'go with the flow' method we currently use.

So I'm now working on setting up a daily roster of when they eat, play, sleep etc so thought if I'm going to that extreme then I might as well include meal options for the 'eat' section so that everyone knows what they will be eating at our set meals.

So hit me with some quick and easy lunch ideas that are more than vegemite sandwiches and crackers (which they currently live on).

I don't want to have to spend every lunch time cooking meals but would like to offer some variety if possible, although I may trial a lot and find that they won't eat it anyway...

I'm thinking we will have days where the options will be
Vegemite Sandwiches on Multigrain Bread (something they will eat)
Tuna or Salmon Patties
****tail Franks (something they will eat)
Ham, Cheese, Tomato toasties - or variations on that as they all won't eat everything
Pita Bread with Hommus and Carrot & Celery Sticks

Any other ideas on what would be a good lunch option - taking into account they will also have Breakfast, Morning Tea, Afternoon Tea and Dinner as part of the meal plan so lunch doesn't need to be huge.

[peanutter]

A colleague's son is also an ASD only white eater.

He has a lot of plain pasta, occasionally with a small amount of cheese, and a lot of shaved turkey sandwiches.

Other ideas are potato bread, cauliflower bake, (peeled) zuchini slice, sushi and pinwheels.

[Lenny]

Do they all do eggs?
Mini quiches, scrambled eggs, French toast?
It's not white, but chicken mince (and peeled grated zucchini etc) is fairly whiteish when made into sausage rolls.
I make yummy vegemite scrolls and pizza scrolls too. I can send you the link to her recipe. You might be able to sneak whole meal flour in.

[TaRhLi.]

My white food eater won't touch a fruit or vegetable and him and DD won't do eggs.

Man it is so hard trying to find foods that they will all or are able to eat. My plan is to offer 2 choices at breakfast and lunch and if they eat neither then that's it until the next meal as I spend so much time in the kitchen everyday just handing over food that they will each eat individually.

I was thinking vegemite scrolls and maybe mini pizza's but didn't think of pizza scrolls would appreciate a link for sure

[Ginger]

My white eater loves cruskits with Swiss cheese and those yogurt covered apricot balls.

[Arcadia]

What if you grated apple and put it on bread? It's white too. Apple sandwiches were one of our favorites as kids.

Jacket Potato with optional extras do they can make their own (my kids love being involved). We put these in small bowls on the table and kids can choose: sour cream, avocado, tuna, cheese, corn (that way dd gets lots of choices and other two are limited only by their specific requirements each).

Wow it's a tough combination of issues. I can think of lots of white but then it has dairy or egg, then lots of egg and dairy free but not white!

[JLeigh29]

DS is a pretty much white only eater, and doesn't eat 'mixed things' (so sandwiches, quiches etc are a no no). Things that work for us:

Cheese jaffle (though it gets pulled apart)
Flat bread/mountain bread
Cruskits
Corn cakes
Plain pasta
Polenta (I make a big batch with a big chunk of puréed cauliflower and freeze it in portions)
Crumpets (with whatever topping, though DS will only ever have butter and honey)
Savoury pike lets. Try adding grated cheese, cauli or peeled zucchini (puréed if you need to). These freeze well.
Pizza pinwheels
Salmon 'dip' - cream cheese and tinned salmon mixed together. Lasts a couple of days in the fridge.

It's not savoury, but DS loves his honey/banana wholemeal muffins. I had to hide the banana at first (ie 'look over there!' and wham, in goes the banana while he's not looking) but now DS 'knows' that you can't make muffins without fruit, or they don't work! Same with pikelets. I can post the recipe if you like - really easy, whole meal flour, no sugar and you can replace the banana with puréed apple or pear (or a mix). They freeze really well and DS usually eats them straight from the freezer

Nice to hear there are so many other 'white eaters' out there...

[amy798]

Mine loves Spinach Cheese Pasta. I modify the amount of condiments according to his taste. I also make banana carrot muffins. They are very easy to make. I make around 12 in one go and store them for breakfast or lunch, whenever he decides to have them.

[HotI]

roast chicken shredded (blender works well) with or without mayo on sandwiches. optional cucumber, celery, cheese.