Add surprise to a young child's lunch routine at home with this low cost simple but novel way to serve breakfast, lunch or dinner.
At the grocery store, young kids often ask parents to buy lunches packaged in kid-sized trays and sealed with flashy, colorful wrappers. Food cut into fun shapes like circles, rectangles and squares fill the tiny tray compartments. The packaging is directed at and appeals to any discriminating preschooler.
Create a homemade version of this cleverly marketed meal that is budget friendly and provides more nutrition than a store bought packaged meal. With a clean egg carton as your serving dish, you can assemble a meal that offers as much kid appeal as the cute lunch trays in the grocery store. Children will smile with curiosity when served an egg carton filled with kid friendly finger food.
Egg Carton Kid’s Meal Directions
- Simply wash an egg carton with hot soapy water, dry and fill with your choice of nutritious finger foods.
- Close the carton, call your child to lunch, set the egg carton on the table and watch.
Solution when the Cupboards are Low on Food - Egg Carton Kid's Meal
Not much in the fridge? An egg carton kid’s meal is perfect for those days when you haven’t made it to the grocery store and have small portions of leftovers in your kitchen. Fill egg carton compartments with the leftovers for a meal with presentation flair.
Great for Picnics
Quick and easy assembly makes an egg carton kid’s meal a breeze for parents and a fun “lunch box” meal for outdoors. Make a sandwich and cut it into nine squares. Add pretzels and fruit and you're done.
Finger Food Ideas
- Vegetables – Carrots, broccoli and celery look cute and colorful when stuffed into egg carton compartments.
- Fruit – Fill egg carton bowls with apple slices, orange wedges, strawberries or raisins.
- Bread – Slice pita bread into triangles just the right size for egg carton cups. Crackers work well too.
- Dairy – Cube cheese or role cheese slices into tubes. Add a boiled or sliced egg.
- Meat – Cut deli turkey, deli ham, meat loaf or chicken into chunks.
- Legumes – Peanuts, cashews and garbanzo beans fit nicely into egg carton cut outs. You can also add hummus or refried beans to a compartment to use as a dip.
Egg Carton Kid's Meal Themes
For holidays or learning celebrations, create a theme for an egg carton kid's meal.
- Mexican - tortilla strips, refried beans, cheese chunks, tomatoes
- The Letter C - carrots, cashews, crackers, chicken, celery
- Red, White and Blue - strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, boiled eggs, mashed potatoes, fruit rolls, blueberries
- Red and Green - strawberries, tomatoes, kiwi, broccoli, peas
- Orange and Yellow - orange slices, sweet potato slices, pumpkin bread, bananas slices, yellow squash
- Italian - ravioli, pepperoni, bread chunks, lettuce, tomatoes, Italian dressing or olive oil for dipping, rotini noodles, cheese chunks
