Lunches that don't require reheating

I'm doing this post partially because this question comes up a lot on the mommy boards I frequent, and partially so that I don't lose this information myself :)

When we first selected Littles' preschool, I posed the following question in a number of different parenting forums:

My daughter will be starting preschool in June, just before her second birthday. Her preschool has no facility for refrigerating or reheating lunches. Anyone else in the same boat? Any suggestions for things that will keep well in a cooler bag with an ice pack, and then will taste good without being reheated?

I got lots of great responses, which I've compiled in a list below.

Be sure to cross-check this list against any rules at your preschool. For example, Littles' preschool does not allow nut products, and they ask that we don't send yogurt tubes, just regular yogurt in a cup. Also, if your preschool provides any snacks, you might want to figure out what types of snacks they usually serve. At Littles' preschool, it's almost all refined carbs (Goldfish, Cheerios, animal crackers, etc.). So we try to minimize those kinds of carbs in her lunch, because she gets plenty at snacktime.

One big tip that I got was to heat food at home and send it in a Thermos. We purchased two Foogo food jars, which can safely keep food hot for up to 5 hours. We pack her lunch at around 8 AM for her to eat at 11 AM, so we're easily within that 5-hour window. (Tip: I found the cheapest prices on these food jars at Wal-mart. They only sell them online, but you can get free shipping using their Site to Store option.)

The full list of suggestions:

• Sandwich suggestions beyond the ordinary deli meat/cheese on bread:
• Waffle with cheese and thinly sliced ham
• Whole wheat bagels or mini bagels with cream cheese or Laughing Cow cheese
• Tortilla roll-up with chunks of chicken and cheese
• Hummus (I’m thinkin’ this would be good as a tortilla roll-up with some veggies, too!)
• Chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad - try it in a pita
• "Homemade Lunchables" - send your typical sandwich meat/cheese with crackers instead of bread
• Cream cheese and jelly
• Peanut butter and jelly, almond butter and jelly
  
• Main courses that can be served cold:
• Pasta salad - toss cooked pasta with veggies and Italian salad dressing and parmesan cheese, serve cold. Or try cold noodles with peas.
• Cut-up pieces of roasted chicken or turkey
• Tofu cubes
• Hard boiled eggs
• Search for "bento boxes" for tons of ideas. I found this blog by a mom of a preschooler that has lots of creative kid-friendly bento box ideas: http://lunchinabox.net/. She has a great post on lunchbox food safety, too, BTW: http://lunchinabox.net/2007/05/08/food-safety-for-packed-lunches-updated/
  
• Hot food in a Thermos:
• Soup
• Mac and cheese
• Rice, noodles
• Soy chicken nuggets
• Mini corn dogs
• Beans
• Leftover pasta, Spaghetti-o’s (one mom said her child likes these straight from the can!)
  
• Veggies:
• Edamame tastes good cold.
• Cooked veggies – send warm in a Thermos (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, green beans)
• Some parents said that their kids don’t mind cooked veggies served cold, or canned veggies served cold.
• "Use frozen peas/corn/broccoli - they will thaw in time for lunch and are delicious cold! (I promise!)"
• Raw veggies: cucumbers, cherry or grape tomatoes, carrots/baby carrots/shredded carrots for younger kids, celery
• Send some sort of dip with veggies
• "If you want soft veggies - Walmart sells veggie cups (by the same makers of the fruit cups).  It is veggies w/water.  The carrots are perfect - they are small squares and are soft.  My son loves them.  They also have green beans, corn, and peas.  I’ve only found them at Walmart, but wish they sold them elsewhere - they are perfect for young children."
  
• Fruit:
• Raw fresh fruit
• Apple sauce
• Fruit cup
• Canned peaches
• Mandarin oranges
• Banana
• Apple slices
• Fruit bar
• Fruit leather
• Dried fruit
  
• Sides/snacks:
• String cheese, slices of cheese, cheese cubes
• Yogurt - try throwing in some granola or Cheerios on top. Or try GoGurts (yogurt tubes)
• Granola bar
• Fig Newtons
• Veggie Booty or Veggie Chips
• Tortilla chips
• Pretzels
• Cashews or peanuts
• Goldfish crackers
• Raisins, yogurt-covered raisins
• Blueberry muffins, made with squash puree rather than oil

Unfortunately, right around the time that Littles entered preschool, she also entered a bit of a picky-eater phase. We're now used to veggies coming home untouched, no matter how we prepare them, and she's hit and miss on main courses too. Oh well! We'll keep trying stuff.

The preschool transition

I've been meaning to do a post for a while on Littles' preschool transition -- but, well, life has been busy. Due in large part to the news from my previous post :)

The transition went fairly smoothly. The first week, the main issue was napping, or lack thereof. She didn't nap at all on Monday or Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, she was so exhausted and sluggish that I thought she might be getting sick! As you might imagine, she was also super crabby at night, so for that week, we mostly brought her home, got dinner on the table immediately, and put her straight to bed.

She did nap on Wednesday and then again on Friday, and she's been doing well with napping since then. Every now and then, she has a day where she naps poorly or completely skips her nap, and then she's crabby in the evening again, but it's fine as long as it's not every night!

The second week, I was in Seattle, so I don't know how she did, but I didn't hear any major complaints from Hubby.

The third week was rough because she started clinging to me and crying at drop-offs. Luckily, this only lasted for that week, and then she was back to being happy at drop-offs. In fact, she gets really excited and says, "My school!" when we pull into the parking lot.

(Now, we have the opposite problem, which is that she throws a tantrum when we come to pick her up. Literally, screaming "No! No! No!" the minute she sees us, stamping her feet, crying, even hitting. Makes me feel like Mom of the Year, let me tell you :( This little "phase" has been going on for a couple of weeks now, and I wish it would end already.)

Another minor transition issue (warning: this may be a little TMI!) was that she refused to poop at preschool for the first month or so. She used to poop regularly after her nap, but I think the napping issues that she had threw her "schedule" off. She wasn't actually constipated -- she just pooped at random times at home, rather than daily after her nap at sschool. Then, suddenly, one day in early July, she pooped three times in one day while at preschool, and she has had no issues in that department since then :)

All in all, the transition was smoother than I thought. I actually expected the napping issues and the crying at drop-off to last longer than they did!

Overall, I'm glad that we made the move when we did. Littles really seems to enjoy all her new friends and the activities that they do. Hubby and I have a few little quibbles with the school (such as sending her home one day with a huge fruit-punch face, after we had specifically requested "no juice"), but as I've written here before, no child care situation is perfect. Littles is clearly safe, happy, and surrounded by people who care for her -- those are the important things!

Guess what's in my belly?

That's right -- for those of you who didn't already know, I'm pregnant again! The little one who we're calling "Noob" is due in February 2010, which puts me 16 weeks along right now.

Working has been much easier during this pregnancy, compared to when I was pregnant with Littles. With Littles, I was still doing a lot of onsite customer work, traveling almost weekly throughout the first trimester. I also struggled with a lot of pregnancy-related nausea and fatigue. Let me tell you, it is no fun to be onsite with a customer while you're praying that your breakfast stays down and your eyelids stay open.

This time around, the nausea and fatigue weren't as bad. Plus, I'm working from home, so even when I did feel lousy, it was much easier to manage.

The one part that sucked is that my nausea/fatigue tended to kick in right around 5-6 PM. So Littles would come home from preschool and I'd barely have the energy to get off the couch and play with her. But I really had only maybe 2 weeks where I just couldn't overcome the fatigue, a far cry from 8 weeks of feeling like absolute crap when I was pregnant with Littles.

So anyway, that's the big news! Hubby and I are already talking through issues like maternity/paternity leave, child care, and nursing/pumping... more posts to come on all of these topics, I'm sure! :)