let's talk meals

I need some easy, healthy ideas for lucnh and dinner b/c frankly we've eaten enough boiled chicken and stew to last a lifetime. Pasta is a hit or miss. Steamed veggies-been there and done that. Crackers with hummos or avocado-check!

HELP!!! I am going bonkers with planning these meals.

 

I found some great baked breaded chicken nuggets at my grocery store. They're whole grain with no preservatives...and they take one minute in the microwave. My girls love them! We did boiled shrimp for the first time today. It took them a little time to finish, but they loved it. Next week, I'm thinking about trying mini meatloaf. I have an Italian recipe which includes Parmesan cheese (they LOVE cheese). Instead of a huge loaf, I was thinking little meatballs. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I've done-grilled cheese, I've chopped up an apple and steamed it, or even served an apple chopped up with a little honey drizzled on top. Tunafish sandwiches were also a big hit here too. My kids also like the whole grain chicken nuggets that the previous poster mentioned. Dinner, they eat what we eat (pasta, meats, some seafoods, salads, etc.).

 

Hi - my kids are picky but some ideas: meatloaf is popular and easy to make, I make soup and then mashed potato and then pour some soup on the mashed potato (like gravy) - it is easier for them to eat it that way then plain soup and with the soup I can get some veggies and meat in, roasted veggies, fish in cheese sauce, quesadila's- so easy and my kids love them. If you like to cook then a simple risotto - my kids love that too and it is surprisingly easy to make. Meatballs and rice.

 

My boys love cream of potato soup as well as broccoli soup. Thankfully we are big on pasta-)) Mozarella sticks,bagel with butter, nutella sandwiches also make great, delicious lunch/dinner.

 

All the PPs gave great ideas. I've been struggling in this department too. My girls are eating so much. I was in a hurry yesterday and made scrambled eggs and toast for lunch and they ate almost all of it themselves (I thought I made enough for the 3 of us). Crazy!

I found this website and I've made some of the recipes from it. There are some good 2-in-1 and 3-and-1 recipes that you use the leftovers from one to make the next so it gives you meals that are different but require little work.

http://weelicious.com/

 

My guys mostly eat what we eat, but I do have some easy meal ingredients for the nanny to serve for lunch during the week.

As far as easy entrees go, my guys really like the following:
Fried bologna and cheese sandwiches cut into chunks
Diced hot dogs
Fish sticks
Meatballs
Chicken tenders
Quesadillas
Veggie burgers
Taco meat
Rotisserie/baked chicken
Shish (takeout or homemade)
Meatloaf
Spaghetti/meat sauce
Homemade pizza

For sides, I give them soup, cut up fruit, sweet potato fries, baked shoestring fries, any kind of bread (pitas are a huge hit), hummus/veggies, dried fruit, stir fried veggies (water chestnuts and zucchini are very popular), rice, noodles.

You can "healthy up" some of the above by making them from scratch so you can control the sodium, fat, etc. but this does take away from the "easy" part of the equation. Sometimes I will make batches of things from scratch and freeze them to eat later. This works out really well because it makes life easier when I'm busy, but I still feel good about the food I'm serving.

Hope this helps!

 

Rice in Milk (sounds gross but is really yummy): Cook rice in mixture of 1/2 milk, 1/2 water. Add just a bit of sugar.

Shredded cheese

Ramen noodles (omit the sauce packet)

Grilled cheese

Tositios pizza rolls

Tuna

 

I'm all about the quick and easy meals:

cheese microwaved in a torilla (then cut tortilla in strips)
veggie burgers cooked in the microwave
veggie meatballs cooked in the microwave
shredded pork (I slow cook it and then divide into individual packets and freeze)
steamed apple chunks (cooked for 45 secs in the microwave)
mini ravioli and mini tortellini (in the deli section in the supermarket)
easy fruits: whole bannana, blueberries, etc
easy veggies: steamed or roasted carrots (pre-cooked and frozen), peas, green beans, broccoli
dry cereal
basic omlet (I just throw in whatever I have on hand)


At this age my son was spoon feeding himself yogurt and cottage cheese and applesauce, but my twins aren't there yet. I really don't have time to spoon feed them - mealtimes are times for me to either work or eat (like at dinner time when we all eat together).

 

I find my girls aren't eating what we eat yet, and its soooo frustrating making different meals! I find I need things that are easy to do up ahead and freeze or easy to warm up.

-perogies cut up
-french toast (add cinnamom into the egg instead of using syrup on top)
- white fish fillets (cook in oven in foil packet and freeze)
-homeade pizza. I buy pizza shells and then make up 3 large ones and freeze them. Then take them out and cook as needed. ---roasted squash cubes in the oven
-steamed or roasted zuchinni sticks-- I find roasting an easy one time thing and then I can freeze it. Healthy and tastes better than steaming
-my girls like canned fruits, peaches, pears, apricots
-I roast a chicken and then freeze little portions of the meat to take out for future meals.


I also like the weelicious.com recipes but found my girls weren't quite ready yet for a lot of the toddler recipes. Maybe in the next couple months they will be.

 

We just did meat loaf and the girls loved it. I put onions, mushrooms, carrots and red peppers in it and they eat every bit of it. I often will do a ground meat w/ veggies in some sort of patty or meat ball and then freeze.

I've also found Dr. Preagers to be great. They have broccoli and spinage patties that are great and pure ingredients.

Lasagna works well for them too and b/c its a little chunkier they can eat it with their hands.

 

I just wanted to drop back by and recommend HappyTots Salmon Sticks. My girls ate every last bit of them, and I thought they were pretty tasty too. I got them at SuperTarget, but I think they're also available at Whole Foods. We tried the Veggie Bites too, but those didn't go over so well.

 

Thanks for the great ideas!! I have tried many of them and success, it still feels like such a chore some days .

 

I know you already got a bunch of ideas but I thought I would chime in with some of the things that my girls like (most of the time):

• Turkey meatballs from freezer section in Costco.
• Fresh veggie patties refrigerator section in Costco.
• Spinach pancakes from freezer section in Costco but also have at Whole Foods, etc.
• Garden Lites Egg Souffles (egg whites w/ veggies) from freezer section in Costco.
• Scrambled eggs with veggies (spinach, basil, cut up deli meat, etc).
• Multigrain waffles with low sugar jam or cream cheese or peanut/almond butter.
• Meatloaf (they only eat it with ketchup though).
• Raviolis in tomato sauce or pesto sauce.
• Macaroni and cheese.
• Black bean burgers (homemade so can mix in lots of veggies).
• Baked tofu (teriyaki/savory) from Trader Joe's.
• Lots and lots of blueberries.
• Lots and lots of freeze-dried bananas and strawberries from Trader Joe's and Costco.
• Baked apples with cinnamon.

A lot of times I'll just make a bunch of stuff over the weekend, then feed it them throughout the week so that it's a little faster at mealtime. Good luck!