What about sliced olives? You can also steam small bits of peeled apple to make them soft enough to gum. My kids adored (adore, really) avocado, but chunks of that might get brown by lunchtime. Cooked egg yolk, maybe? (From hard-cooked eggs)

Kids that age are pretty texture sensitive and wary of new foods, so don't give up if she's a little hesitant to try new things:). Since she wants to feed herself, you can make it easier on yourself by giving her a bowl that has "suction" on the bottom so that it stays on the table. If she's starting to use utensils, a spork might be easier to use.

Fruits: Soft foods for fruits are usually easier: bananas, peaches (maybe slightly softened/boiled?) since the kind I've seen kids like are canned

Vegetables: tricky because of texture! I'd suggest pureeing vegetables...maybe sweet potato with coconut oil, mashed potatoes with some other veggies like carrots and some liver slipped in

Protein: maybe some paleo turkey slices, chicken strips like you said, fish patties with some veggie purred in, cheese cubes, maybe drinkable yogurt if it's too messy (if you do dairy)

Fats: drizzling olive (or alternative) oil on veggies, avocado, coconut oil on food, eggs if she can tolerate it

Since she's under 2, make sure she gets plenty of fat for her little noggin' to develop.

Just avoid small things like whole grapes or berries, which are a choking hazard for kids that age.

And maybe a bib to keep her from wearing her food/decorating her shirt:)...messy for you guys, but excellent practice for her little fingers!

I make a big batch of sweet potatoes every week, mashed with ghee and coconut oil to the consistency of regular mashed potatoes, plus a dash of cinnamon. I can get the kids to eat almost anything when coated in the mased sweet potatoes, and its easy to incorporate meats and veggies in there. I send my daughter to school almost daily with either this or spaghetti squash with meat sauce. Tomato sauce is another great cover for veggies and mixes well with most. I bake the squash (cut in half and put cut side down in glass baking dish w about 1 inch water) 350* for anywhere from 75-95 mins depending on the size. Scoop out the insides, add to browned ground beef and ur choice of tomato sauce. If i have time i make my own with just tomato paste and spices. One of our fave meals! Good luck!

You're going to not only bring meals, but maybe plan for treats. I've caught my mother (grandma of the l'il one) shoveling crackers in the toddler's mouth. -sigh- Then there is the juice boxes, fruit crews, cookies, etc.

My 2 1/2-year-old grandson gets crap at home - frozen pizza, Hamburger Helper, instant oatmeal, etc. When he's at my house I compromise and give him grilled ham and cheese sandwiches (pastured pork, raw milk cheese and sprouted wheat bread), some sort of organic fruit - he'll eat just about any kind - nuts, carrot sticks with dairy-free ranch dressing, and celery stuffed with almond butter for lunch. That's also a typical lunch for my 17-year-old. It will take some work, but take note of good foods she will eat, and send them with her to Grandma's house - after you have a talk with Grandma, of course, to let her know that Kid Cuisine is NOT acceptable.

I don't have any kids myself, but I lived with my friend and her toddler when we were both transitioning to paleo. Some great "to go"'s that we sent to day care were:

-"Monster Smoothies": Spinach, coconut milk w/ extra coconut oil, cocoa powder, berries, banana in a cup with a tight sealing lid. I would sometimes cut grapes in half for "eyeballs" for the fun factor. It was easy for her to drink out of sippy cup (make sure it's thin enough) and it was a filling, yummy thing to drink especially around breakfast/snack time. Easy filling substitute for juice or a meal.

-Spaghetti squash with tomato and meat sauce: the texture was really fun for her, and this was really easy to make and the daycare could just microwave it at lunch (which grandma could do pretty easy in this case!).

-"Smorgasbord"- this is great when they want to really get their fingers involved and are done with being spoon fed. If you cut everything up all at the same time at the beginning of the week it makes it MUCH easier. We did little cubes of cheese, nuts, chicken, steak, various veggies, salmon, fruit, and some dips, and would put it all out at once so she could choose whatever she wanted. The veggies and meats became much funner if she could work on trying to "dip" them in the sauce, and she could grab whatever she wants whenever. Having a wide variety of well sealing tupperware is key, and makes this much easier for other caretakers to just lay everything out without having to arrange it.

Smoothies. There's a great fat bomb smoothie. Great additions are coconut milk Raw egg (the whole egg in order to prevent biotin deficiencies) Coconut oil Cinnamon Avocodo 1/2 tsp of honey Macadamian nuts.

Also I found coconut chips (sautee them in cinnamon and salt or curry powder and salt) produces a great snack alternative. Organic pepperettes, chicken salad and shrimp and pork kebabs are always a big hit. Also make sure to drown those veggies in butter or coconut oil, makes them far more appealing and that way you can absorb the fat soluable vitamins.

More ideas-

Hard boiled eggs. The best quality eggs you can get.

Ripe fruit in season. My little one had an amazing ability to recognize what was perfectly ripe and would leave other fruit alone.

Slow cooked soup or stew made with the bones. Add all kinds of veggies in the last 2 hours of cooking. Meat gets very soft and veggies well flavored.

Don't know if you do dairy, but whole milk yogurt, ricotta or cottage cheese are good for kids who can handle dairy.

Maybe for a slightly older child: almond butter on celery or apples.

Raw veggies and hummus, maybe for slightly older toddlers. Not strictly paleo, but I don't really care. A plate veggies and hummus is way better food for a kid than SAD crack any day in my book. I make hummus at home in the blender so I can use all olive oil, rather than the industrial seed oils in the commercial type. Much cheaper homemade too. Put one can garbanzo beans in a blender w 1 clove garlic, a couple spoons tahini, olive oil, salt and lemon juice to taste. Purée until creamy.

I also work all weekend with my partner feeding our kid pizza too often. When I leave a tub of hummus and cut up veggies for easy snacking they are happy.