Muffin Tin Monday (also known as MTM)

If you are a mom of a picky eater, you may want to check this out.  I came across this idea about two years ago and think it is fabulous!  I can't wait to use it for my own kids.  What it is essentially is serving your kid a meal (usually lunch) in a muffin tin.  The idea is that by serving the meal in the cute little compartmentalized tins that it will be more fun and exciting for your child to eat.  Also, there is a blog carnival over at Her Cup Overfloweth that follows weekly themes and shows the fun tins they made.  Some moms use it to just get rid of all of the odds and ends in their fridge and cupboard.  Some moms use it to introduce new foods.  And some moms use it just because it's so stinkin' fun.  From what I understand, the kids LOVE it.  Plus, the moms really get into it as well.  The trick is to choose one day out of the week and do your tin then.  That way it is exciting for the child to eat, and they may be more willing to try something new.  They use fun supplies, such as these....

 

 

 

 

Wouldn't you have loved to have your lunch prepared like this when you were a kid?

I don't do it every Monday because little man isn't as in to it as I would like.  He has his five foods he wants to eat and that is it.  Half the time he doesn't even want to eat.  I think if I would have started it when he was a little younger, it may have seemed more cool to him.  Who knows.

This is our last muffin tin.  I wish I had some fun supplies, but all I had is this mini muffin tin.  It has twelve spots, but they are so tiny that you can only fit a few pieces of whatever you are using.  I think a six cup regular sized muffin tin would work the best.

Top Row: Marshmellows, goldfish, banana chips, dinosaur fruit snacks

Middle Row: dried cranberries, sliced string cheese, snow snap peas, applesauce

Bottow Row: 1 regular sized hot dog cut up, ketchup

Some of the fun themes I've seen are: colors (i.e. all food orange), shapes (all food cut into squares, circles, triangles), a book theme, numbers, bugs, cars, etc.

It's not always for lunch either!!  I've seen people have ice cream with a tin of toppings, or yogurt with a tin of toppings.  I've also seen it done for breakfast, with dips, or homemade pizza toppings for english muffins.  So cute!

Let me know if you join the Muffin Tin Monday revelation!  I'd love to see what you come up with!