For several weeks, I’ve been promising you some whole day food plans for your toddler, and here they are. I compiled all of these menus from the preschoolers area of MyPyramid.gov.

Toddler Menu #1

Breakfast

• 1/2 cup of cooked oatmeal, mixed with 1/2 banana cut into slices (before cooking)
• The other 1/2 of the banana
• 1/2 cup milk (at this point in their lives, it’s okay to start offering low fat dairy options)

Snack

• 1/2 slice of bread
• 1/2 large orange

Lunch

• A taco – 1 small tortilla wrapped around a filling of 1/4 cup salad greens, 2 tablespoons chopped tomatoes, 3 tablespoons shredded cheese, and 1 ounce of cooked ground meat OR 1/4 cup refried beans

Snack

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup carrot sticks

Dinner

• Spaghetti & Meatballs (1/4 cup cooked spaghetti with 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce and one 1-ounce meatball, and sprinkled with 3 tablespoons of shredded cheese)
• 1/2 cup steamed broccoli

Toddler Menu #2

Breakfast

• 1 small pancake topped with 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup milk

Snack

• 1 graham cracker (2 squares) spread with 1/4 cup mashed banana and frozen until hard – makes a healthy “ice cream” sandwich
• 1/4 cup apple juice

Lunch

• 1 ounce whole wheat crackers, 1 ounce deli ham slices, and 1 slice of American cheese (ham & cheese should be cut into cracker-sized bites – this makes a homemade Lunchables lunch)
• 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Snack

• 1 string cheese
• 1/4 cup tomato juice

Dinner

• Beans & Rice (1/4 cup cooked brown rice, 1/4 cup black beans, 1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1/2 medium-sized ear of corn on the cob
• 1/2 cup milk

Next week, I’ll share two more sample menus.

Grace’s Kitchen Friends

Please join in Grace’s Kitchen Friends! To play along, all you have to do is fill out Mr. Linky below. (If Mr. Linky isn’t there, leave your link in the comments.) You can link up any post that talks about kids and food:

• feeding kids
• cooking with kids
• play with food or play kitchens
• crafts with or about food
• and probably a lot of other kids and food things I can’t think of now.

I’m easy like that, Dear Reader. The only thing I ask is that you link back here to Grace’s Kitchen Friends in your post. I can’t wait to see what your kids are doing!