This exists and has been one of our absolute favorite kid-related purchases! We have the BabyBrezza brand and have used the 10 pack for the last 4+ years - they are VERY hardy and stand up well to washing. I’ll link below.
Our usual move is to make a family smoothie (that adults and kids both have for breakfast) and then put the leftovers into the pouches. Depending on how soon you need them, you can freeze or put in fridge. We’ve found that a frozen pouch, taken out when leaving the house in the morning, is the perfect cool temperature and consistency by preschool lunchtime.
Also a very hearty vote for Pizza Beans as a great kid lunch option!
kumquat—Thanks VERY VERY VERY much for sharing info about those awesome pouches! Who knew? Also thanks for the additional thumbs up on the Pizza Beans.
Did anyone mention Gigantes, the Greek elephant beans in tomato and dill? There are cans of these beans, already prepared, available, too. Zante brand is the common brand in Ontario.
My younger nephew is a very slow eater, and would run out of time to eat his food because he was chatting with his friends .
Aside from telling him to eat first and chat later , my sil also told him he could eat some of the things later as a snack.
(Until then he was always ravenous after school and we couldn’t quite figure out why — turned out the first pre-school aide used to make the kids throw out anything that had not been eaten at the end of lunch).
ElsieDee—great idea; thank you.
Saregama—hummus and cuke sandwiches! I’m going to make those for her! Did you cut off the crusts to make them “officially” tea sandwiches? Did you use butter to prevent the hummus from soaking into the bread? Also, how did the tiny thermos work out? We would have to remind ourselves that we want the food to be pleasantly warm, not piping hot, at the toddler’s lunchtime and pack accordingly. Now I’m off to google “small thermos.”
No butter needed (or at least I didn’t use any, as there’s already tahini in the hummus), and yes I did cut off the crusts when he was little (though I don’t on the occasion he asks for them now, as a tween).
Fantastic.
Aside from beans and soup, anything else they preferred warm went in there too — pasta and rice dishes, oatmeal, and so on. Sometimes quesadillas went in a second thermos after wrapping in foil — insulated bento / lunch boxes weren’t as popular with them (though we did try a few types over the years as they fit more variety).
My friend’s kids took 2-tier bentos everyday, and a thermos only if there was something wet.
May I suggest this Simple Modern model? It’s a little bigger than the kid-sized Thermos brand ones, but it is AWESOME for keeping colds cold and hots hot. DS uses this every day and in 4-5 years the only issue is that I had to buy a replacement lid because the gasket came out when DH cleaned it a little too vigorously.
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, my sil also told him he could eat some of the things later as a snack.
