I REALLY don't know what to feed them!

Last night I dream that I was at a restaurant and asked the chef to just put a side a sample of the food she made
every day so that they could be eating different foods...
I got really comfortable making a soup with all veggies and some chicken, blending it and frezzing it so
all I had to do at meal time was put in the microwave

but now I know they should be trying different foods that they can bite.... and I just
don't know what to give them! - They say give them what ever you eat but by the
time I put them to bed my dinner are usually ceral, sandwich...pizza or pasta...
I have a mental block right now!!I is different cooking for yourself than with two babies climbing the
stove while you cook...and I still want them to eat healthy...
what do you do daily????
or for the moms that work..what do you give them to take to daycare or cook when you get home?

 

We rarely give them what we eat too, as we pretty much always eat after they are in bed, they probably wouldn't eat what we're having and I try to give them natural/organic stuff and there is no way we could afford it for the four of us (plus dh only gets home when they are eating).

For lunch they get toast with something on it (ham, cheese, tomato, hummus, cream cheese etc) and sometimes almond and jelly sandwich(don't really want them to get used to sweet stuff for lunch though) and some fruit. That should be relatively easy to fix that at home and just have them reheat it at daycare. For dinner we try to have some sort of meat/fish (meatballs, sausage, fish sticks, fish burgers, turkey burger, chicken nuggets etc) and some veggies (always plain veggies and often a veggie burger as at least they usually eat that). Twice a week they get homemade mac'n cheese, sometimes we give them raviolis with all kind of stuff in it too. If they finish that stuff or it's low on veggies they get fruit too.

So yeah... definitely not as healthy as I'd like but at least the junk they eat is natural or organic, lol! We give them what we eat when we have guests and usually they don't eat it. We keep trying new things though but unfortunately so far plain fish or meat doesn't seem to cut it (and we just threw away the veggies for 6 months before they started to pick them up occasionally).

But yeah I absolutely dreaded it as I hate cooking but overall I guess it's not too bad... just tough when they don't want to eat, but oh well.. they've gone to bed hungry a few times. But the kids are gated out of the kitchen or they'd probably get burned every day...

 

I used to eat the same- cereal, yogurt, etc.and it has been a change trying to plan real meals for all of us. While a pain sometimes, I try to cook in evenings after they go to bed or weekend time when my husband is home. I mess up the kitchen, get out all the equipment and chop until I can't chop anymore : ) I'll make a few things and freeze them for the week- salmon is quick in the oven so I recommend that as an easy protien if you are willing to try that. We have 2 servings of salmon a week at the most. Meatloaf was a good one the last few weeks, made chicken thighs (which have more iron) and pulled off meat, they ate that and then i made some chicken, bean enchilada/quesadilas and froze them- thaw and heat, ready to go. By planning it out, while I dread the planning it makes me SO happy for the rest of the week that I don't have to worry about it- good luck!

 

I am a working mom and cook over the weekend or something fast during the week...the kids eat whatever we eat...for example, this week I made a green bean stew (middle eastern) for tonight, tomorrow is ravioli with sauce, and Thursday is breaded fish. I take a lot of help from the store and try to spruce it up with veggies on the side.

As for daycare, we are fortunate that our daycare provides meals and snacks, so the girls eat whatever they serve--turkey and mashed potatoes, pasta with chicken, sloppy joes, pizza, etc...they actually have a wide variety of food.

 

Our boys do eat a lot of what we eat, especially on the weekends. Their breakfast usually consists of cereal, yogurt, toast, scrambled eggs or schtirum (which is kind of like scrambled egss), bagels or fruit.
Lunch at daycare is provided but we either pay a certain amount each week for groceries or sign up to buy staples for her cupboards. They get various veggies and fruits, sandwiches cut into quarters, noodles and various sauces (cheese, spagetti, alfredo), soups and stews, baked chicken strips, fish sticks, potatoes cut into shapes. Basically they eat whatever the older kids are eating.
For dinner through the week they usually get leftovers from what we ate the night before that I put aside for them or a gerber graduates microwavable meal since DH starts their dinner before I get home. Basically if I make us chicken, I make an extra piece for them and put it in a container for DH to heat up the next evening. I try to do this with all of our evening meals so that even though we eat after they go to bed they are eating the same types of things we eat. They really like pastas (lasagna, spagetti, tortellini) and chicken. They love hot dogs and hamburgers and the bun. They eat veggies and fruit without a problem. They like coleslaw and cold salads/pastas. Their favorite thing right now seems to be saurkraut and small cut up kielbasa with spatzle/kniffles (German noodles) which we probably eat a lot more than we should since it's my favorite meal too.
It was a transition for sure, but it's actually easier for me to cook the way I always did before they were born and make a little extra than to buy them somthing totally separate. I will say though that the little micro-meals are great if we're in a rush or eating somewhere other than at home when I'm not sure what they will be served.

 

I got a lot of good ideas from this website:
http://www.gerber.com/Nutrition_Feeding/SHSH_Menu_Index.aspx?focus=SHSH_Toddler_Menu

Course I don't buy all Gerber products. . . just take their ideas and put my own spin on it!

 

Here is link of TS'er's suggestions from the Toddler Guidebook:
http://www.twinstuff.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=28248

Breakfast time during 12 to 15-16 months was pretty easy, my son usually ate cheerios with milk and DD still was eating baby cereal. Once they both hit about 18 months, they wanted nothing to do with it. Now they will only eat cereal without milk, drink their milk sippy and eat some fruit with breakfast
Lunch time is a variety: PB&J, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, pasta, vegetables, yogurts, fruits, waffles, pancakes (some of these are also used for breakfast)
Dinner is usually what we eat, they aren't too fond of tomato sauce so if we are having pasta for dinner, they'll have plain pasta with some butter and cheese.
This age is tough to keep happy eaters. I thought as they got older, feeding would get easier!

 

Our girls usually eat earlier than we do too, depending on what we eat. DH and I like to eat spicy stuff sometimes and I don't think they would like it. But like tonight, we had bowtie pasta with squash and zucchini and they ate that plus half a banana each. Other things they like are mac&cheese, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, any veggies, mandarian oranges, pasta, ravioli, grilled cheese, etc.

Our daycare also provides meals so we don't have to worry about sending anything.

 

My kids are not in daycare so I am not much help there. But here are our menu's usually.

Breakfast: Cheerios, Kix, Bagels w/ strawberry or regular cream cheese, or toast w/ peanut butter. Weekends- pancakes or waffles. Sippy of Milk, and fruit (either banana, or a cup of fruit, rinsed w/ water and drained.

Lunch: PB&J sandwhiches, ham/cheese sandwhiches, cheese ham and ritz crackers, or mac n cheese. Sippy of ice water.

Snacks: Goldfish, raisins, Cheese its, Graham crackers, or fruit, such as grapes. Sippy of ice water.

Dinner: 2x a month I make breakfast for dinner (pancakes, eggs, bacon). I make chicken pot pie, pinto beans rice and cornbread, chicken cheesey rice bake, a lot of stuff that I find at kraftfoods.com, I also search allrecipies.com. We try to stay in a grocery budget including diapers and wipes for 150/two weeks. So our food choices may not be the healthiest, but it is way more healthier than what I grew up on. The only pre packaged meals I make are mac and cheese. Some kraft recipies call for pre packaged foods. Other than that I make everything. My kids love brussel sprouts (I can't stand them), brocolii ( I can't stand them) and other veggies that I was ruined on growing up. So just experiment. Our kids eat everything we eat, and more (like the veggies I stated that I don't like).

 

Breakfast: eggo waffles with cream cheese, mini pancakes, scrambled eggs, fruit (1/2 banana, etc), multigrain cheerios in yogurt, fruit in cottage cheese

morning snack (send to daycare): nutrigrain bar, mini pancakes, banana, cereal

lunch (send to daycare): pb&j (cut up) with side of veggies, left over dinner, mini lunchables, gerber meals, turkey and cheese wrap with shredded carrots(cut up), tuna sandwich with veggies snuck in,

afternoon snack (send to daycare): goldfish, fruit, yogurt, applesauce, nutrigrain bar, banana, kiwi, strawberries, cut up grapes, chex mix with chex,cheerios, and small raisins,

dinner; spinach ravioli, asparagus and chicken, broccoli and cheese, mac and cheese with veggies, veggie and chz quesadilla, any pasta with veggies and cheese is a hit.

 

Daycare feeds them during the day, and I don't take anything. They have everything from chicken nuggets to sweet and sour chicken to chef salad. They really are very imaginative!

At home, we do the basics like chicken nuggets, mac n' cheese, grilled cheese, quesadillas, way more turkey cheese dogs than a kid should eat. But, we also get inventive. We learned that the LOVE tortillas, so I sneak all kinds of stuff into them - cheese and veggies, spread with guac (my kids love!), salsa, hummus, PB&J and variations, rolled up with turkey slices and cheese, tortilla pizzas, etc. They love tortillas, so they are game for all of it. They also love toast, so we spread that with a lot. They eat our leftovers, and we have determined that they have a crazy love of meatloaf. Really surprising, but good because I make a meatloaf with spinach in it.

For easy stuff, I buy little cans of cut up veggies and little fruit cups and feed them those. They eat applesauce and yogurt. We sometimes buy those little Gerber meals just for a quick 30 second option. I try to brainstorm new things they haven't tried every week at the grocery.

Totally forgot breakfast - that's the easiest meal. Waffles, pancakes, toast with various toppings, oatmeal, bagels, english muffins, cereal. They love it all!

 

Thank you so much for all the great ideas!!! I found that for lunch time, they will eat anything I give them so
I take taht opportunity to try new things that I read here and give them the most nutrious meal...since

For dinner, I don't know why, ds has been crying through out it and spitting up all the food. The only thing
he wants to eat in the evening (4-5 pm) is yougourt..or custudards or cereal,

do they HAVE to eat veggies again for dinner??? I think that as far as I get a really good healthy lunch for
them I can be more flexible with dinner.

Thanks again!

 

My twins only eat lunch and dinner. Both meals they get veggie, meal, then fruit for dessert.

*Remember the pizza cutter is your friend...lol

Veggies: Frozen peas, broccoli, peas and carrots (because they dice the carrots small in that mix), mixed veggies with corn removed (humans really cannot digest corn so it is just a filler where nutrition is needed at this age not filler). Canned green beans w/o salt cut in half. Trader Joes Egg Plant Cutlet toasted in toaster oven and cut small. Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger toasted in toaster oven and cut small (also bought at Trader Joes). Cut up cucumber really small with seeds and skin removed. Grilled zucchini with seasoning. Sweet potato fried toasted in the toaster oven (bj's or costco sells a giant bag of these). If you want to feed with a spoon which I don't you can do frozen squash too.

Fruit: Fresh cut up small- apples, canteloupe, oranges, pineapples, plums, peaches, nectarines, bananas, grapes.
Canned (in winter) Peaches, pineapples, mandarine oranges, pears -all of the cans though are the kind in fruit juices. Don't give them the kind in syrup.

Meals: Meat balls-make or buy and freeze..defrost a few when needed, hamburger -beef or turkey we made and bbq ourselves cut up small with ketchup on it, meatless meatballs (trader joes), pizza from the pizzeria if we are out, peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese, boneless grilled chicken marinated in whatever that we make on the bbq, fresh chicken nuggets not that gross bird beak frozen stuff, corn soy dogs (from trader joes), once in a while turkey cold cuts cut up small, side dish of string cheese cut up small, chicken nuggets we make ourselves toasted in toaster oven with cheese on them. Rice most any variety. Cheesy chicken we make for whole family in crockpot..ask if you want recipe. Noodles, coleslaw, macaroni salad.

Starches if the meal is just meat--- Kashi Frozen Blueberry Waffles w/ extra fiber, Trader Joes Waffles, Homemade corn muffins, Pancakes that we make ourselves and freeze a few each in a sandwich bag, french toast we make ourselves frozen individually in baggies. Graham crackers. Baked french fries.

I keep it really simple. I try to have the fruits and veggies cut up and in containers in the fridge so all I have to do is pull them out when needed in the frenzy that is meal time. I keep a lot of individual servings bagged in the freezer and I defrost in a glass dish in the microwave or toast them up real fast in the toaster oven. Another key is to give the kids the veggies first, then meal, then fruit so they don't just pick out what they like. They are more likely to eat veggies if served first before the other foods. I can make my kids a meal in under 5 minutes when the pressure is on and it is usually pretty healthy too! Trader Joe's is really good because most of their stuff is w/o chemicals added.

My kids eat everything we eat now but looking at the age of your twins they didn't at that age. By 19 mos old they started to eat whatever we do.

I hope this helps