Toddler friendly family meals

[supergolden88]

I am stuck in a food rut where feeding my 19m old son is concerned at least. I have to prepare and freeze food in advance as don't have time to cook fresh on weekdays.

So far he has been mostly having bolognese with lots of veg thrown in (with either mash or spaghetti) and lamb stew with lots of veg on cous cous. He used to have a kind of thick vegetable soup (with/without chicken) but think that he is outgrowing the very mushy food stage. He enjoys a roast dinner but most of the food that is not chicken ends up all over the floor. He has funny ideas about vegetables on their own as well - loves it to chew but does not swallow it and again it ends up on floor. He will eat egg whites but not egg yolk and no scrambled eggs.

Don't know what to make at all. Ideas welcome.

[hellosailor]

How about

risotto?

fish cakes

breaded chicken or fish strips (your own fish fingers / chicken nugget type things)

macaroni cheese

tortilla

buy fresh gnocchi cos it only takes 2 mins on the hob? stir in pesto or grated cheese

must make more of these myself, mini sailor pretty much rotates the same 5 casseroles / pasta dishes...not very good at being experimental when I find something she will happily eat!

[oimissus]

mild curry

risotto

soup (mine will eat pea, celery and tomato soups)

cheese and tomoato puree on toast

beans on toast

jacket potato

pesto pasta

cauliflower and other veg cheese

for my 2 and a half year old I still do some recipes from my baby and toddler book which are proper meals but she still loves.

[Pickle]

Be brave and within reason serve up what you're having. I've done this with my older two since they were little and have really good little eaters now. This week they've had an Italian style chicken dish, Moroccan lamb & couscous, fishcakes and beef stew. So much easier doing one meal for all of us.

[Polly D]

Fish pie

Shepherd's pie with sweet potato topping

Chicken curry - my 3yr old loves this

All good to make in advance and freeze.

[KateW]

My daughter is the same age as your son and I too tend to batch freeze her meals. Currently she's having:

Cottage or shepherd's pie (made with sweet potato and white potato mash)

Chicken korma (I just then cook the rice as needed)

Cauliflower cheese which I blitz to a smoother sauce with pasta

Tomato, courgette and cheese sauce with pasta

Bolognaise sauce

Chicken goujons or chicken and apple balls (AK)

Cheesey beans and mash

She has a love/hate thing with fish pie (some days loves, some days hates)

She also has fish fingers or sausages and chips once or twice a week

She stopped eating scrambled egg a couple of months ago so I now do eggy bread with cheese on the side sometimes

Pizza

[nunheadmum]

Are you giving him a full tea after nursery in the week? I always presumed they got enough and usually didn't give them anything more. Or if I did, it was more a snacky meal like cheesy toast, eggy bread, pasta etc that would fill them up but - on the presumption that nursery usually got more varied goodness into them than I managed - I didn't worry too much about the nutritional issues other than avoiding the obvious no-nos.

I found with my second that they got onto normal meals much quicker than first time round as I just didn't have the time to do separate stuff. They soon learned how not to go hungry!

[supergolden88]

Well I think some days he gets back from nursery hungry - they have tea at 4ish. He gets a meal at 6.15 when he gets home and more ofter than not will have a portion of food (hot meal) plus/or toast, yoghurt, fruit. And a full bottle before bed as well.

I think he is rather picky about what he eats at nursery and will not have the tea if he does not enjoy it.

I will try a chicken rice dish and a few others to see how well they are received. Am off work as of today anyway so in theory more time to cook stuff fresh (*not that I intend to do that daily).

[One Sweet World]

My 21-month old really likes frittata-type omelettes, where I cook some vegetables with oil (onions plus ribbons of carrot/sweet potato/courgette), then mix with beaten egg, return to the frying pan till cooked underneath and finish the top under the grill. It's by far her favourite way to eat veg. She has it in fingers to eat with her hands and likes it hot or cold as a packed lunch. We eat it too mind - I probably wouldn't bother if it was just for her! Hmm - not sure it would work with just egg whites though.

She's also got into homemade pesto (I freeze it in small pots), and chicken in onion/garlic/passata sauce. Toast and hummus as a snack if she needs filling up, and she'll eat as many cherry tomatoes as she can get her little hands on.

[Saffron]

Yes, works with egg whites, but texture is a little different.