Food for Toddlers... Help

:Berhaps vienaa sausages might work. When I was growing up in 1950's we did not have electricty, so my school lunch was peanut butter mixed with honey or vienna sausages. All I can say is you put a "balanced meal" table : If they eat fine. If they don't also fine. Like my cats they will eat when hungry. My 2nd boy also ate every other day. He still with us. Hugs rosebug

Let me see if I can help this out a bit... as for the dinner thing, this may be a way to get the kids to eat ground meat. Get some beef flavored raman noodles (any brand works) and about a pound/pound and half of ground meat. Boil the noodles (about 4 packs should feed everyone). Once they are cooked strain them and brown the ground meat in the same pot. Do not pour off the grease. Add the noodles and season packs and mix it up. That with whatever veggie you can get them to eat should about do it.

Hope that helps you.

hi, I have a 2 year old and find it easy to get in a food rut eating the same things. But I just got the cookbook called <deceptively delicious> by jessica seinfeld and it is great. the gist of the book is to puree healthy foods your kids might not eat alone. it sounded like alot of work to me but I just take 1 night and cook the veggies and some fruits and then portion out and freeze. she has great suggestions in the book to make things easy. she also recommends healthy snacks. sometimes putting fruit or veggies/dip on the table while you are cooking dinner might get them interested (if they are hungry). my daughter loves anything she can dip-like fries and ketchup! but also healthy snacks like red pepper hummus and spinach/cheese dip. some suggestions about ground meat is to puree it, or try pureeing ground turkey. maybe they don't like the consistency? good luck

Ok, here's my attempt to help. :) haha As far as breakfast goes, will your children eat cereal bars, waffles, pancakes, french toast sticks, bagels? You can get the frozen waffles, pancakes, and french toast sticks. Kroger's brand waffles and pancakes you can get for just over a $1 (a lot of time they will have the 10 for $10 sale--you just buy the # of boxes you want and they're still $1 a box). The french toast sticks are good on their own without syrup. Will they eat oatmeal? You can get the instant kind and they're quick and easy to fix. Scrambled eggs? I hope I'm not annoying you. It's difficult to suggest things when I don't know your children's preferrences. Lunch: Do your kids like PBJ's? My girls live on those. They also love tuna salad...weird, I know. :) Carrot sticks, yogurt, pretzels, cheese sticks, fruit cups. Dinner: Do they like grilled cheese, or grilled turkey and cheese, etc. Fish sticks, meatballs, spaghetti, buttered pasta, beans (pinto, great northern, etc.), raviolli. What about rice dishes? My girls love the broc/cheese rice, beans and rice w/ sausage & cornbread, chicken stir fry. Note: get the frozen meatballs (store brand)...they're so quick and easy to pop in the microwave. Will they eat quesadillas (cheese/chicken)? My girls also like those rotissirie chickens you can buy in the grocery story. These are somethings I can think of off the top of my head that my girls like to eat. Sometimes we have tell them this is what is for dinner. I hope it helps! Feel free to PM me if you want to talk recipes. :) I'm all about the quick and easy.

Hi Bobby:

I had a picky eater until I got tired of catering to him, I put my foot down and decided he will have to eat what we eat... they might not eat for one meal, but they will for the next. I know its hard when you are rushing to get out the door so maybe for breakfast you can try dry cereal without milk... or toast or ask them what are their top 3 breakfast choices and make those... for lunch have you tried turkey and cheese rolled on tortillas... like pinwheels? also carrots and dips, jello and fruit... lunch is hard because you are not there. For dinners I would do dinner and that is what it is. About ground beef, I use ground turkey which we love and I do some meatballs in the oven which are great. Ground beef, 1 egg, breadcrums, little milf, and parmesan cheese -roll them in to balls and to the oven. They are really good and then you can do many things with them.(put them over pasta, serve them with a sauce etc)I hope this helps... T.

I think sometimes parents give their children too many options when it comes to food. My 10 and 7 year old will eat almost anything but that stems from not having the option of eating something or not when they were little. Now that they are older I do give them options now and then but they are limited between this or this and that is the final word. Since they know this we do not have a problem anymore about what they eat. That is our job as parents in developing their healthy eating habits. My son use to not like potatoes either but I kept giving them to him everytime we had them. He eats them now, only he does prefer gravy on them and that is fine with me. It makes me cringe when I hear parents say in front of their children "oh you don't like that." A childs food prefrences will change several times and it takes approximately 15-18 times for a child to taste something before they actually make a decision. If you only give them 2 options of things you want them to eat I promise they will end up eating one of them. Don't worry they are not going to starve themselves they will eventually give in and eat the thing you are making available to them. Be creative with their food, try taking cookie cutters and cutting out fun little shapes out of their sandwiches. Let them help you, yes they may make a mess but when a child is involved in cooking a meal they are more likely to eat it.
Good luck!!

I feel your pain, lol. I have picky eaters. I have found that a good quick food/snack are either peanut buttter cracker or just plain cheese and crackers. Since you say they liek the turket lunchable then get some sliced turkey and put cheese and crackers with it. Have you tried spaghetti or ravioli? Raw veggies are sometimes a hit.

Hi B., For your kids lunches try some baby carrots and other veggies with ranch dip (you can buy individual servings or put some in a small container for them) and breadless roll ups---use turkey or what ever lunch meat the kids like and put a slice of cheese or pickle in the center and roll the meat up around it. If you are allowed to pack peanut butter for their lunches you could try pb&j "sushi rolls" cut the crust off some bread (it must be a soft bread) spread with a thin layer of pb&j and roll, if you are feeling crazy put a little jelly on the outside and roll in sunflower seeds. For dinners I would say make what you want and if they don't eat it; well, they don't eat. If you aren't comfortable with this then you could offer one other option that can be put together quickly--a hot dog or something like that. Just be careful you don't turn yourself into a short order cook!! I myself don't like many breakfast foods so I'll eat a sandwich or soup some mornings; so you may want to try going an alternative route there too and offering something that isn't the norm. The 5 and 4 year olds can actually start helping put their lunches together (to avoid running late try doing this the night before) wich may make them a bit more excited about eating their creations. You can also make dinner time a family event, my kids 5&3 help make dinner just about every night and if they don't help with the cooking then they help set the table..........they love to be in the kitchen with mommy and they are willing to try the new foods that they helped cook. If your's have never helped in the kitchen you could start with having them make their own chicken nuggets. Cut up some chicken tenders into bite size pieces, put your coating (you can use shake-n-bake or make your own with crushed cornflakes> the kids can crush them) into a sealable sandwich bag, put the chicken in and seal. Then let the kids shake the bags until coated, put them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake.........Of course always have them wash their hands well before and after. While your making dinner ask them if there is something else they think would be fun to cook and keep them in mind while you are planning your menus.
I hope some of these ideas help. Good-luck