Welcome to YTF Community, a place to safely share in the challenges and joys of feeding our families. And make all of it easier!
Welcome to the recurring series where I share a look at what I actually served during a random week. My goal is to be more off-the-cuff than I am in my videos on social media—or in the photographs here on my website, which are taken by a professional photographer when my kids are in school, at camp, or at their dad’s house—as another way to share the reality of feeding kids.
And since the internet is FULL of cute, unrealistic kids lunches, here are some real ones that might even give you ideas for how to more easily feed your kids, too.
Mainly, I want us all to remember that if making a kids lunch feels too hard in anyway, you can just opt out of it—any of it.
You do not need to use cookie cutters to turn carrots into flowers or make sandwiches look like bear faces if you don’t want to. You can use the same lunch box year after year if it’s working for you. You can choose to remind yourself that the social media lunch you are judging against the ones you’re making at home was never even served to a child.
You can pack mostly the same foods each day to ensure the kids have enough food they can easily eat—because that is actually the thing that matters most.
To prove all of this and to attempt to balance out some other messages you may hear in the next few weeks, here are a week’s worth of real life toddler meals that are a little bit less fuss, but still include a variety of ingredients, textures, and flavors.
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Thank you for this! I’m currently struggling with/stressing out over what to put in my 20-month old daughter’s lunchbox (she’s being a bit more selective about what she’ll eat these days, resorting to mac and cheese or air most days). This was a great reminder that some pancakes and yogurt (two things she is currently into) = a great lunch. No need to fuss or try to create some savory option that she doesn’t want.
It can be so hard and I hope the yogurt and pancake options are useful!