Baby Food - Lunch

Just like breakfast, it is also hard for me to come up with good meals for lunch for my little man that are also healthy and nutritious. It would be so easy to give him chicken nuggets and french fries, but he needs some veggies in there too. By the way, has anyone been watching the show Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? In one of the episodes, a french fry was actually considered a vegetable on the school menu!! What has our food world come to?

Anyway, I try to make sure that he has at least a fruit and a vegetable for lunch every day...although some days it may be one or the other. Some of the fruits he loves are diced peaches, pears, pineapple tidbits, grapes, and mandarin oranges. One thing I like, which I recently discovered, is that Walmart makes a Great Value brand of canned peaches and pears that do not have any sugar added. Instead of heavy syrup, these canned fruits are packed in 100% pear juice.

Another thing I like about the Walmart Great Value brand is the veggies. They make several kinds of canned veggies that are No Salt Added (I've only found peas and green beans so far), and they also make little take-along packs of veggies that are perfectly diced for little mouths. I've found carrots, green beans, and corn in these packs.

I know fresh veggies and fruits are the best way to go, but sometimes you need the convenience of canned foods. Although, I am a lover of frozen fruits and veggies as well, and sometimes they are considered even more nutritious than fresh.

Some other things I have been feeding my little man for lunch are: Grilled Cheese sandwiches, rice, soup, mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, hot dogs, spaghettios, and Chef Boyardee microwaveable meals (although not that often). One of the Chef meals that I don't mind feeding him, though, is this one:

It has rice, chunks of chicken, peas and carrots in it. The only thing I am not too crazy about is the sodium content.

Okay, so I know a lot of the food I listed is either canned, processed, or not as healthy as it could be. That's why I need ideas and suggestions! What about you? What do you feed your children? What do you eat for lunch?