Feeding Littles Lunches: 75+ No-Stress Lunches Everyone Will Love: Meal Planning for Kids

I really like this inspo book for the following reasons: - The pictures are lovely and great for kids. My daughter looked through this with me and marked lunches she thought looked good. - It’s so practical. The lunch ideas are realistic and don’t have specialized ingredients. They are also easy for kids to prep! My my toddler and kindergartener are able to help prepare their own lunches. - It’s so nice to have variations on a basical, go-to lunch as well ideas for “deconstructing” meals to make them packable lunches. My kindergartener is still learning to like some foods so this is a great option for her to be exposed to new things that feels safe to her. Also, I think the highest recommendation to be offered is that my kids are both actually eating the lunches that are packed.

There are a lot of reviews on what a great book this is. If you are like me, you’re thinking “great, but my family is different. Will it work for us?” This review is for the parents of selective (picky) eaters. My boys both have autism. They probably eat less than 20 foods. Even most kid-food they don’t touch. So why do I love this book? ❤️ First of all, if you follow Feeding Littles you know there is no judgment. It is really hard to get my boys to eat something other than a PB&J (three times a day). I love that the authors “get it” that your kiddo might not eat some things, and it is not a reflection on you as a parent. I struggle so much with providing balanced food choices but also food my kids will eat. Then there is a lot of text with tons of helpful info in the front half of the book. They explain their lunch formula to help you guide you to packing a great lunch with whatever you have at home. I really appreciated the sections on picky eaters as well as how the cafeteria environment can affect what your kid does/does not eat. They walk through examples of a lunch and how you can modify it each day to mix it up just a little. One example used PB&J which is the safe food of choice for my son. The rest of the book is sample lunches. Real actual photos of lunches. There are so many photos! My boys can be super selective but books and pictures help them get excited about a new food. Some families just put a small portion of a new food on a plate, we start with just looking at a photo. It is a great way to talk about the texture and appearance of a food and prepare to taste it. I can show the picture and they can point to what they want or what they are willing to try. Choices and questions can overwhelm them, so a visual picture they can point to is SUPER HELPFUL. Lunches they “want” get packed and “willing to try” we plan to introduce on weekends when their safe foods are nearby. Did I mention there is a “picky eating tip” on EVERY SINGLE LUNCH!! 🤯 GF/DF/SF? Yup there are allergy swaps on most lunches as well. Having a book where my boys can point to something to try in their lunch AND takes little prep work on my part… it is truly a gift. I hope that this review gives you the confidence to give this book a try. If you are anything like me, adding even two new foods to the lunchbox is worth its weight in gold.

I want to preface my review by saying I've bought so many lunchbox recipe books only to be disappointed because they featured recipes my picky kids would never actually eat. My oldest started Kindergarten this month and I've been faced with a new dilemma- packing lunches that are healthy, appeal to his picky nature, and are still tasty cold as there's no option to heat his food up. And he's expressed disgust with the warm food the cafeteria serves- so that's out for now. I pre‐ordered this book with little preview of the recipes inside but was prepared for another dud. I was expecting to return the book before it even arrived based on past experiences. I was wrong. This book is EXACTLY what I needed. It's not a recipe book. It's a suggestion book filled with so many great combinations my tired brain wouldn't think of by itself. Best of all, the suggestions are easy and realistic. It features foods that are in a standard fridge/pantry and food picky kids would actually eat. Important note: this is not a recipe book. It's an idea idea book! There are millions of recipes on the internet for free, and that's not what I needed. Sometimes a tired parent doesn't know what they don't know and just needs a single place with healthy food pairing ideas. This book is that and more. I already love this book so much. I hadn't heard of the authors before and bought this book with my own money. As someone who rarely leaves reviews, the fact that I felt compelled to write review this because the book exceeded my expectations says a lot. I highly recommend this book for parents who need healthy, delicious ideas but don't want to break the bank and can't (or don't want to) spend excessive time preparing gourmet lunches or cutting foods into cutesy shapes for a lunchbox. I will definitely be checking out the rest of these authors' offerings.

The mental load of parenthood is REAL. I really loved this book because of the practical lunches I can feed my growing toddler! I want her to have a variety of introductions of food and I am glad this book provides that! I love the visuals of the pictures of the food throughout the book. I also love that you can also eat the meals that you are packing. Makes it easier for everyone!

This book has been a lifesaver. My 5-year-old and I love looking at it together. It gives us so many different lunch ideas that are fun and healthy, and almost nothing comes home at the end of the day since they’ve had a say in choosing what they get. I love the format and the large, colourful pictures.

Like the other one star reviews, I expected easy RECIPES and was shocked there are none in this book. I regret not returning the book.

Lots of ideas for lunchboxes and snacks Really helpful from small children all the way to adults.

I really wanted to like this book and thought I’d find it helpful for my toddler who has packed lunch and tea at his childminders. However there are no new or interesting ideas - most are sandwiches (like peanut butter), fruit and snacks (like smarties). There are no recipes that I was hoping for. There are no ideas in here that i hadn’t already thought of sadly.

I am so glad we bought this book. Our family has always struggled with coming up with ideas for school lunches. This book gives so many ideas that are easy and simple, and they’re still healthy for the kids. And because it’s visual, it’s also easy for our kids to see and choose what kinds of food they would like to have for their lunch. Highly recommend this book!