I'm trying to come up with some exciting options for kid's meals on my menu. The only real restrictions are construction time. Prep time is not a restriction. I'm just trying to offer something besides what I am doing now: PB&J, grilled cheese, Children's pasta w/ marinara,alfredo, or just butter, and chicken fingers. Any suggestions would be a great help. Thanks!!

We put a kids finger food platter on our menu and it sells pretty well. It's ham and cheese tortilla pinwheels, veggies and dip, fresh fruit and french fries. All can be prepped ahead of time.

Our kids menu also includes any of our adult menu items in a kid sized portion for our standard kid meal price of $2.95. This has been very popular, and we haven't had to do hardly any of the complicated menu items like omlettes or the big sandwiches, cuz kids generally don't like those. Having this on the menu really just means that parents can come in and be pretty sure that they can find something healthy and different for their kid without having to buy a full portion.

Of course, we are a small cafe where we (the owners) can keep a handle on everything. It might be harder to do this in other situations.

We experimented with different pizzas for months. The problem was that the kids loved it, but volume made it impracticle. Microwave- GONG, lousy product; Grilled- GONG, not enough room; Salamander- GONG, ten seconds late, blackened zza.
Wallah! An eight inch thin crust par baked cheese pizza. Thawed, it goes in a 475 degree oven (on the hot line) for five minutes and its done and looks great centered on a 12" charger. We offer toppings from existing ingredients at 75 cents a pop. Good luck.

I have seen some really great ideas in the small (kraft, pillsbury) type cookbooks at the grocery check out line.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I decided on bowtie pasta and marinara, red butterflies. PB&J on a flour tortilla PB&J buritto, Cheese quesadillas, and Dino-tots. Not real original but I had a deadline to keep. Thanks again!!

Edgartown Ed, How are things on the vineyard this fall? I'm assuming your on the vineyard because I lived in Chatham for 15 years and I've never heard of another edgartown. Living out west now and really miss the ocean. Hope you had a summer filled with lots o fresh seafood!! Don't go stir crazy over the winter.

Chris, The "summer people" are all but gone. The bass and blues are running strong. This is my favorite time of year. D.C. in December, back in April. Have a good winter.
E.E.