What would you put on the kids menus that are heathier than nuggets?

daliseurat

Member
Original Poster
Okay, I ranted over in a different thread over the whole Fried Chicken strips being changed at WDW. I didn't care about the change, just the fact the virtually everyone was posting that their kids only eat the strips or nuggets or macaroni and cheese(as long as it's not the low fat kind) This makes me crazy. We have an obesity problem with children in this country. That's why WDW changed their kids menus. But, I think we'll all agree, the menus aren't very good. Sparse choices, that our kids don't want anyway. So...what SHOULD they put on the menus that are more healthy than Fried Chicken Strips/Nuggets or High Fat Mac and cheese? You know, stuff kids will actually EAT...

Here's a few of my ideas:

Mickey shaped sandwiches. PBJ, TUNA, TURKEY, HAM
Mickey shaped pasta w/wo meatballs. w/wo sauce
Pizza (still better than nuggets and fries)
Little stacks of meats and cheese and crackers like LUNCHABLES
Fruit salad
Salad with grilled chicken
wrap sandwiches (same as Mickey shaped ones)
grilled chicken with dipping sauces.
Vegetable sticks and dipping sauces

Now, some of these are available some places. But I'd really like to see a better variety of choices everywhere for the kids. Anyone else have some ideas?

Or am I just a loon...
 

baz212

New Member
A LUNCHABLE type meal is actually a really good idea. My DS4's favorite snack is the Mickey shaped cheese we get at Wal-Mart. I would suggest a good old-fashioned grilled cheese sandwich. My DS4 would live off of these if we let him. It's a better option than something fried and a sure-fire kid pleaser.
 

zeroFantasy

New Member
I HATE fried fast food.
I don't know how people eat that stuff. Just the word "nuggets" makes me sick because it sounds like "maggots" (and full of fat).

I like the sandwiches and fruits ideas. I am a firm believer that good eating habits should be started early BY PARENTS!
 

Adreamisawish

New Member
OK...so granted, we were NOT at WDW, but I just had dinner tonight with my 19 month old granddaughter....we gave her NO choices....she ate what we ate at Red Lobster....she loved the cucumbers and tomatoes in the salad as well as the Cheddar Bay Biscuits and even ate some crab, but she much preferred to suck on the crab shells.....in other words....she was far more interested in the same things we all ate than eating anything we 'thought' she would eat off the children's menu.

Think about it...why would you want to eat anything your parents weren't willing to eat?

OK...so I'm opening myself up to 'flaming' here......

GET OVER IT PARENTS!.............Your kids will eat anything you are willing to eat! They LOVE to imitate you!

OK....I'll shut up now........
 

Mikester71

Well-Known Member
Okay, I ranted over in a different thread over the whole Fried Chicken strips being changed at WDW. I didn't care about the change, just the fact the virtually everyone was posting that their kids only eat the strips or nuggets or macaroni and cheese(as long as it's not the low fat kind) This makes me crazy. We have an obesity problem with children in this country. That's why WDW changed their kids menus. But, I think we'll all agree, the menus aren't very good. Sparse choices, that our kids don't want anyway. So...what SHOULD they put on the menus that are more healthy than Fried Chicken Strips/Nuggets or High Fat Mac and cheese? You know, stuff kids will actually EAT...

Here's a few of my ideas:

Mickey shaped sandwiches. PBJ, TUNA, TURKEY, HAM
Mickey shaped pasta w/wo meatballs. w/wo sauce
Pizza (still better than nuggets and fries)
Little stacks of meats and cheese and crackers like LUNCHABLES
Fruit salad
Salad with grilled chicken
wrap sandwiches (same as Mickey shaped ones)
grilled chicken with dipping sauces.
Vegetable sticks and dipping sauces

Now, some of these are available some places. But I'd really like to see a better variety of choices everywhere for the kids. Anyone else have some ideas?

Or am I just a loon...

Love your meal choices, so I definitely don't think you are a loon. I couldn't agree more with your reasoning too. Kids can be picky eaters, we all know that, but maybe if they offer them a better and healthier choice, we can all benefit and be happy. :sohappy:
 

tigsmom

Well-Known Member
Nuggets and strips can be made healthy, you can bake them or not use oils with trans fatty acids. As for those lunchable things, some are full of fat and most have way too much sodium so they aren't really a healthy choice for the most part.

Disney changed the menu in the past to include fruits, veggie dippers and the like and people complained. It all comes down to what your kids are used to eating at home. While mine love nuggets/strips from the CS places, they also eat salads and the like when we go to TS...its all about balance.
 

GoofyDadKB

Missing my mind...
Premium Member
My son loves fruit so I would love to see more fruit options. As for meat he will only eat chicken nuggets or ham. We have tried to get him to eat PB, hot dogs, grilled chicken, burgers, steak, fish and just about everything else you can think of and he won't even touch it. It would be good if they could add some ham steaks to the menu so we would have another option instead of chicken.
 

The Mom

Moderator
Premium Member
Nuggets and strips can be made healthy, you can bake them or not use oils with trans fatty acids. As for those lunchable things, some are full of fat and most have way too much sodium so they aren't really a healthy choice for the most part.

Disney changed the menu in the past to include fruits, veggie dippers and the like and people complained. It all comes down to what your kids are used to eating at home. While mine love nuggets/strips from the CS places, they also eat salads and the like when we go to TS...its all about balance.

Mine also ate a modest, healthy breakfast (plain cereal, lowfat milk (1%, or skim, if I could find it) OJ, and fresh fruit. I would also make sure they had fresh veggies at TS dinners, no desserts (unless there was fresh fruit) etc to balance the fatty CS lunch.

They were fine with the mickey pasta (no meat) but would never eat Mac n Cheese. My kids also like broccoli, which was frequently on the menu.

I've never had a problem with my children making the adjustment back to the "real world" after vacation, be it food, bedtimes, or even the amount of attention Mommy and Daddy could give them. :lol:
 

Kristamouse

Well-Known Member
Eating healthy is easy with little kids, my kids at 18 month would eat anything I was eating. Then they turn two and everything changes. Not just eating pattern but I digress. My DH and I stay on top of our kids to eat what is good for them and only offer healthy choices for meals. Our kids eat what I make or don't eat. And we have many many long nights of fights over food. They usually do eat it or at least some of it so I hope our constant vilgance pays off.
I would love to see some good turkey sandwichs on the kids menu. On whole wheat, the only bread my kids have ever had. If WDW could go the extra mile and cut the crusts off or make the Mickey shaped than great. On our last trip our kids ate grilled chicken from an extra sandwich we bought cut up and shared with the grapes and carrots that came with thier meal. So grilled chicken would be great for kids. Turkey Hot Dogs are also a good option. We have them for lunch here twice a week. Like the OP said thoose lunchables are really high in fat and scary high in salt. But a simlar offering with crakers, good quality healthy meats and good quality healthy chesses (not fake cheese) would be great. Pizza is always a good option and whole grain crusts would be perfect.
With all this being said I still let my kids eat ice cream every day in WDW. It is vacation. But hey sometimes it has pineapple in it.... at least that is a fruit!
My last .02$ WDW does a great job with kids food in general compared to what most Parks offer. I love all of the fruit, pretzles, veggies and yogurt options avalible in some carts and in most resort stores/food courts. I wasn't that concerned with my kids food while there, it was DH's Taco bowl thing from Pecos Bills that looked good but really bad for you. LOL!
 

daliseurat

Member
Original Poster
OK...so granted, we were NOT at WDW, but I just had dinner tonight with my 19 month old granddaughter....we gave her NO choices....she ate what we ate at Red Lobster....she loved the cucumbers and tomatoes in the salad as well as the Cheddar Bay Biscuits and even ate some crab, but she much preferred to suck on the crab shells.....in other words....she was far more interested in the same things we all ate than eating anything we 'thought' she would eat off the children's menu.

Think about it...why would you want to eat anything your parents weren't willing to eat?

OK...so I'm opening myself up to 'flaming' here......

GET OVER IT PARENTS!.............Your kids will eat anything you are willing to eat! They LOVE to imitate you!

OK....I'll shut up now........

Yeah. I'm with you. I would love it if every restaurant offered a KIDS PORTION of the regular menu. My kid eats what we eat, and we frequently wind up sharing our meal with her and we share her meal. And Many times the KIDS MEALS that were offered were lousy. No prob when we DON'T have the meal plan, we order appetizers. But the meal plan forces you to order from the kids menu. And, it was less of a problem for me because I did my homework. So that's my new wish. Kids portions of the regular menu. And it wouldn't COST Disney anything to offer it!
 

Stephers

New Member
Fish sticks. Cheese sandwiches. Nachos with cheese (I know it is not the healthiest but kids will probably eat it and you are at Disney after all).

Some kids will eat breakfast foods better than other foods as well and they like the novelty of eating them for lunch or dinner like the mini pancakes or the french toast sticks.

:slurp:
 

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Okay, I ranted over in a different thread over the whole Fried Chicken strips being changed at WDW. I didn't care about the change, just the fact the virtually everyone was posting that their kids only eat the strips or nuggets or macaroni and cheese(as long as it's not the low fat kind) This makes me crazy. We have an obesity problem with children in this country. That's why WDW changed their kids menus. But, I think we'll all agree, the menus aren't very good. Sparse choices, that our kids don't want anyway. So...what SHOULD they put on the menus that are more healthy than Fried Chicken Strips/Nuggets or High Fat Mac and cheese? You know, stuff kids will actually EAT...

Here's a few of my ideas:

Mickey shaped sandwiches. PBJ, TUNA, TURKEY, HAM
Mickey shaped pasta w/wo meatballs. w/wo sauce
Pizza (still better than nuggets and fries)
Little stacks of meats and cheese and crackers like LUNCHABLES
Fruit salad
Salad with grilled chicken
wrap sandwiches (same as Mickey shaped ones)
grilled chicken with dipping sauces.
Vegetable sticks and dipping sauces

Now, some of these are available some places. But I'd really like to see a better variety of choices everywhere for the kids. Anyone else have some ideas?

Or am I just a loon...
Many of the items you have on your list are what I call pseudo-healthy. At their core they contain healthy items but their processing and or condiments ruin any health benefits. IMHO these pseudo-healthy options are worse than the unhealthy ones because people think they are making a healthy choice when in actuality they are not. There was a great article on this on MSN health and sadly I can not find it.

Sandwiches-When using wholegrain breads and unprocessed meats they are great but start putting on mayo, cheeses and less expensive processed meats and the heath benefits go out the window.

Pasta- Most pasta is made from heavily refined flours which according to some increases the rate of carbohydrate adsorbstion vs whole grains and will lead to blood sugar spike. The sauces can lead to a myriad of problems as well. Providing he sugar content is kept down tomato sauces are great but cream sauces are almost always liquid death.

Pizza- Veggie and or lean meat pizzas with good quality cheese and whole wheat crust can be healthy but they are not the best tasting pizzas in the world and not how they are commonly served.

Meats and cheese snacks- Very commonly made of highly processed meats and cheeses which in turn makes them very high in fat and calories.

Fruit Salad- Great providing that that is all they are. When they are packaged in high fructose corn syrup you might as well just eat a snickers bar.

Salad- The killer is almost always the dressing. The average person will put on around 600-900 extra calories and about 30 grams of fat worth of ranch dressing to a dinner size salad.

Wraps- In terms of health flour tortillas are the devil. They contain more calories, sugar and carbs than pretty much any together sandwich breads on the planet.

Veggies and grilled chicken with dipping sauces- Again it is the sauces that can kill you. 2 tablespoons of ranch dressing will have 140 calories and 14 grams of fat.

While most of this sounds like it falls into the "you can not eat anything but wheat grass and 100% organic, free range, fair trade blueberries" category do not despair. You can use this information to make what you are eating healthier by looking for and reducing the things that take the health out of your health food.

When it comes to Disney two or three healthy options are nice but it is starting to get a bit nuts. Disney does not need healthy mac-n-cheese or Pizza. People need to take a little personal responsibility and practice a bit of moderation. You can eat a double bacon cheeseburger with a side of gravy fries, just not every day.
 

GrumpysGal

New Member
Turkey burgers, too! I think if restaurants tackle better choices, it can lead to families choosing better meals. Just my opinion. We've all gotten to the point of bad choices this way. We can turn back.
 

tigsmom

Well-Known Member
Fish sticks. Cheese sandwiches. Nachos with cheese (I know it is not the healthiest but kids will probably eat it and you are at Disney after all).

Some kids will eat breakfast foods better than other foods as well and they like the novelty of eating them for lunch or dinner like the mini pancakes or the french toast sticks.

:slurp:

Grilled cheeses sandwiches would keep Princess #2 very happy as she could live on them. Nachos & cheese would be great for Princess #1.

The best lunch day in school is breakfast for lunch day! Kids love having those french toast sticks and hash browns for lunch. :king:

Princess #2 would never tough a fish stick, but give her some calamari, shrimp or grilled mahi mahi and she is in heaven. :lol:

We don't use the dining plan because of the restrictions as well as the fact that we just don't eat all the food allowed on the plan on a regular basis. :shrug:
 

maryszhi

Well-Known Member
my view is they should keep there old regular kids menu as well as all fo there reg. menus, then offer healthy alternatives. also they should offer kids portion of the adult entrys for kids who like it, but kids things for kids who dont eat other stuff. that way everbodys happy. i think disney is gone to health crazy, fast food is great once and a while but some people have it more, which is the problem. when people are on vacation tehy dont always want 100% healthy
 

maggiegrace1

Well-Known Member
Not all kids will eat what their parents eat.

So even if you do not offer them stuff on the kids menu and give them regular stuff off the regular menu they sometmes will not eat that.

We will give Maggie whatever she wants whether it is veggies and fruit or chips and chocolate..(her faves)..as long as she eats we are fine with that...:)


She is tube fed so when she does want food of any kind we are happy..;)


I also think that alot of people just say .."Hey we are on vacation so let us eat differently then we do at home..splurge a little"...I know that I do that when I go there..I eat things I normally do not eat while at home.
 

maggiegrace1

Well-Known Member
Many of the items you have on your list are what I call pseudo-healthy. At their core they contain healthy items but their processing and or condiments ruin any health benefits. IMHO these pseudo-healthy options are worse than the unhealthy ones because people think they are making a healthy choice when in actuality they are not. There was a great article on this on MSN health and sadly I can not find it.

Sandwiches-When using wholegrain breads and unprocessed meats they are great but start putting on mayo, cheeses and less expensive processed meats and the heath benefits go out the window.

Pasta- Most pasta is made from heavily refined flours which according to some increases the rate of carbohydrate adsorbstion vs whole grains and will lead to blood sugar spike. The sauces can lead to a myriad of problems as well. Providing he sugar content is kept down tomato sauces are great but cream sauces are almost always liquid death.

Pizza- Veggie and or lean meat pizzas with good quality cheese and whole wheat crust can be healthy but they are not the best tasting pizzas in the world and not how they are commonly served.

Meats and cheese snacks- Very commonly made of highly processed meats and cheeses which in turn makes them very high in fat and calories.

Fruit Salad- Great providing that that is all they are. When they are packaged in high fructose corn syrup you might as well just eat a snickers bar.

Salad- The killer is almost always the dressing. The average person will put on around 600-900 extra calories and about 30 grams of fat worth of ranch dressing to a dinner size salad.

Wraps- In terms of health flour tortillas are the devil. They contain more calories, sugar and carbs than pretty much any together sandwich breads on the planet.

Veggies and grilled chicken with dipping sauces- Again it is the sauces that can kill you. 2 tablespoons of ranch dressing will have 140 calories and 14 grams of fat.

While most of this sounds like it falls into the "you can not eat anything but wheat grass and 100% organic, free range, fair trade blueberries" category do not despair. You can use this information to make what you are eating healthier by looking for and reducing the things that take the health out of your health food.

When it comes to Disney two or three healthy options are nice but it is starting to get a bit nuts. Disney does not need healthy mac-n-cheese or Pizza. People need to take a little personal responsibility and practice a bit of moderation. You can eat a double bacon cheeseburger with a side of gravy fries, just not every day.
:sohappy:
I agree..
 

happymom52003

Active Member
My kids eat very healthy at home, so I don't mind if they do not eat as healthy while on vacation, since we only go on vacation once or twice a year.
Now that being said, I do try to get as many fruits and veggies in them as possible while at WDW. While I do not like the nature of a buffet (I hate all of the getting up and down), they do give us a chance to load the kids up on some healthier food.
I do wish that they would offer more choices at some of the places though. I wish that grilled cheese, strips of grilled chicken, and plain pasta were on more of the menus. Not so much for health reasons, but to just have more variety. While alot of kids love mac and cheese, there are also alot of kids who do not like any kind of cheese or sause on their pasta.
And I wish they offered more variety with their sides....my kids do not like applesause, and they got really tired of tired of the grapes and carrot sticks by the end of the week.
And Maggiegrace is right....not all kids eat what their parents eat! It always bugs me when someone says "my kids eat anything becuase we have always given them what we eat" and then assume that ALL kids would be that way if only their parents would have done the same thing. Well, I am happy for those parents....but alot of it is LUCK. We have two children who are 3 1/2 years apart....we have raised them the same way when it comes to eating....we have exposed them to many types of food, and always make them try new things.
But they are two VERY different eaters, and they each have their likes and dislikes....even though we have done the exact same thing with both of them.
All kids are different!
 

Kristamouse

Well-Known Member
[qote/]And Maggiegrace is right....not all kids eat what their parents eat! It always bugs me when someone says "my kids eat anything becuase we have always given them what we eat". Well, I am happy for those parents....but alot of it is LUCK. We have two children who are 3 1/2 years apart....we have raised them the same way when it comes to eating....we have exposed them to many types of food, and always make them try new things.
But they are two VERY different eaters, and they each have their likes and dislikes....even though we have done the exact same thing with both of them.
All kids are different![/quote]
That is what I meant when I said it is a big fight!! I dread dinner most nights b/c of the fight and whinning I know will ensue. But I am the Mom and the Chef (although not nearly the chef Remy is) so I try my best to make a healthy kid and parent friendly meal. Sometimes it works but most of the time someone doesn't like the chicken or the green beans or whatever. I am just hopeing the persistance pays off and soon they will, dare I say, like the healthy food.
As for WDW I agree that the health food need to be healthy and not fake healthy! Hidden fat, processed flour and etc like the OP said does catch up with you.
Also more than grapes and carrots would be nice too! If McD's can get apples to stay fresh with lemon juice than WDW can. What about strawberries, peaches, bannans or even orange slices. Oranges can't be that hard to find, WDW is on what used to be an orange grove right??
 

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