meal frustration

I need some help with some new meal ideas, although I'm not sure there is much I haven't tried!

My girls are good eaters, if I find what they like. For the longest time one of their staples at lunch was mac and cheese, and sometimes grilled cheese. Now, they won't touch either one of them. I have tried sandwiches (deli meats with cheese, without cheese, just cheese, peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly), pasta, quesadillas, and they won't touch any of it! They might eat a bite or two but then they are done.

They do eat a yogurt at lunch everyday, and have still been eating that. So I offer them Cheerios after yogurt if they have refused whatever I've prepared, and that's been lunch for days. They do get a good amount of fruit and occasionally veggies in throughout the day, but we have those worked into other meals, so we can't do them at lunch too.

Dinner is another issue. There just isn't much they like. They used to eat chicken like it was going out of style, and now they won't touch it. So most nights it's been turkey dogs and sweet potato fries. They love it, but I don't love that they are eating this a few nights per week.

I am looking forward to any and all suggestions you have for other things to give them and also how to get them more interested in trying stuff.

 

:hug99: I hope it's just a little nongrowth spurt phase where they don't feel like eating much for you. I'll just tell you what my kids LOVE and see if it's any other ideas for you. First, they'll eat french toast or pancakes any time of day! We often just do string cheese and deli ham or turkey along with some frozen veggies for lunch. My kids will love broccoli more than anything, and have often made that a meal.

Other things they love:
burritos
lasagna
mashed potatos/roast
cooked carrots with a brown sugar/butter glaze
chicken casserole
rice salad

Just some ideas for you.

 

Chelley, are you sure you aren't talking about my boys!!??? This is where I am at too with my boys. It's SOOOO difficult to figure out what the heck to feed them.

Here's a couple things that mine like:

Mashed potatoes with carrots & peas or corn or green beans all mixed together
mashed sweet pots with corn mixed in
Watermelon (they've been eating it like it's going out of style!)
Beefaroni or alphabets with meatballs
Meatloaf (this is a hit or miss though)
All of a sudden they LOVE tomatoes (the little grape ones)

OK, now I'm reading this list and it is pathetic. K, I'm not helping much!! Sorry...I truly know where you are at though and it's really hard. People just keep telling me that they will eat if they are hungry enough. Still hard though. I know mine aren't starving and they look healthy but I always worry about them.

Good luck Chelley!

 

Hopefully it's just a phase for you. I'm probably not much help because mine pretty much eat anything and I don't fix them separate meals at dinner, they eat what we eat or they don't eat.

For lunch we rotate, mac and cheese, fish sticks, PB&J, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, hotdog and about once a week we meet cousins at Chick fil-a or McD's for lunch. THye always get a cookie or cracker and a fruit with lunch too. They love strawberrys, so we have done that a lot recently. For dinner I just make what I know everyone will like, but there really isn't any dinner they won't eat. They both love chicken, steak, any kind of meet, pasta, and we sometimes do breakfast for dinner too.

I know there was a time when Trevor didn't eat much and I always just tried to make sure I made one thing I knew he would eat and then something new for him to try too. I find my two definitely eat better now since they use a fork and spoon, when they used their finagers they were more particular in what they would eat.

 

Chelley, I'm in pretty much the same boat as you. Grilled cheese & mac & cheese were my staples, now they aren't eating them very well. They will eat the grilled cheese better if I give them ketchup to dip it in. They will also eat cheese tortellini if I just mix a bit of pizza sauce with it. There have been many days where I have just given them yogurt & fruit because that was all they would eat. I don't cook anything different for them for dinner, they either eat it or they don't. I will offer them fruit after dinner & they will almost always eat that, so they will have had something. Hopefully this phase will pass quickly because I know it is frustrating, but they are growing, healthy girls, so I wouldn't worry too much! :hug99:

 

Nuggets were the main staple in this household for a long time. It gets better, trust me.

 

Sorry about the anti-food stage hitting! I think it's a phase though b/c mine went through it too but are much better now. Some ideas to try, ie things mine love...

rice mixed with seasoned ground beef (BIG hit with my girls)
beans with seasoned ground beef (or do all three together! :lol: )
meatloaf or meatballs
couscous is a winner here too
they really liked baked chicken, breaded different ways.
Spaghetti, or as daddy calls it...brains!
Any type of long noodley pasta with butter like angel hair or fettucini
diced potatoes, they WON'T touch mashed.
Spaghettios are a lunch time fav with a little parm cheese
Deli ham they like too, but I have the deli guys cut it thick then cube it for the girls...they prefer it that way.
And of course the SUPER big hits of chicken nuggets, hot dogs, french fries, hamburgers, all the GOOOOOD stuff. They have these often for lunch. :unsure:

My girls have gotten much better about eating lunch and dinner, my problem has been breakfast. They can't seem to stand ANY breakfast food. We still eat that baby oatmeal cr@p! :blush: Hope this helps some!

 

Chelle, we go through stages too.

Sometimes we just have things like Nutrigrain bars, dried fruit mixes, yogurt covered raisins, crackers, cheese crumbles for lunch. For dinner, I just started trying to give them certain things that we are making. If there is a veg (like cauliflower), I give it to them with a little salt and they actually will eat it. We also have during the week--hot dogs, mac n cheese, usually a rice dish, pasta of some sort, and meats which Kevin will eat but mostly breads too. I just get whatever I can into them. I also do breakfast for dinner a lot because they like waffles, pancakes, french toast and scrambled eggs (with ketchup) as well as little bacon from time to time. Ketchup is a huge help too! I put it on fries and nuggets and they will eat them!

Good luck! :hug99: It does get better. I swear it does.

 

Thanks for the ideas ladies! They do eat, but it's just junk. They could live off of mini pancakes, bananas, goldfish and graham crackers.

I'm going to try some of these ideas, and I also remembered (when I read one of your suggestions) about Becky5's recommendation to let them dip! It's going to be messy...but I'm going in!

 

I do the dipping for my kids, but let them see me doing it. They will eat ANYTHING that is dipped.
I think the best idea is to introduce new foods all the time. My kids get somethign new almost every day. It's complete hit or miss if they will eat it, but we try.
I just gave them pork chops with black bean/corn/salsa, and they ate a ton. I couldn't believe it. And tonight I gave them chili pasta bake, which they ate too. I was shocked.
If they won't eat a brand new recipe, then they get cheerios with milk (which they LOVE). But only if it's a new recipe.
You never know what they will or won't eat. They love to keep us guessing!

 

We found that we had to cut back on snacks (quantity, not frequency). They just weren't hungry for their meals.

 

I'm going through this as well. It's very frustrating and a LOT of wasted food. Right now, my girls will "generally" eat the following (and not always both girls, they have different tastes in food )

-grape tomatoes cut in half with dressing to dip it into
-cream cheese sandwiches on cinnamon bread (toasted or not)
-muffins (any kind, mini, large, any flavor)
-poptarts (on occassion)
-cereal in milk (pretty much any kind, Lucky Charms was a recent hit)
-apples (I only do MacIntosh and Golden Delicious because they are soft and I peel it and hand the whole apple to them. They LOVE it)
-Nutrigrain bars
-cottage cheese with fruit (I throw in those individual containers of fruit; peaches, pears, mixed fruit or I cut up blueberries or strawberries or bananas)

There is more but that's all I can think of for now. Hope you find some foods that work! Hang in there.

 

my kids have become terrible eaters but here are some ideas that i had expected them to like..

fish sticks
chicken nugets
periogies
rotissery chicken
chicken salad
veggies and dip

good luck

my kids are living on fruit and string cheese these days with some occasional cheerios mixed.

 

We go through picky stages too, and still, they aren't big meat eaters. Some of our more nutritious staples that they normally won't balk at are:

Quesodillas with various things in them (besides just plain cheese) like kidney or black beans, chicken, shredded beef, sometimes mashed cauliflower or squash mixed in the cheese, you can also do this with a grilled cheese sandwich.
Bea is real big on beans, Ainsley not so much. She will eat them just plain, not even heated up, just about any kind too.
Avocado - lately they like avocado sandwiches
Tofu - Sometimes I get this ready-to-eat tofu that comes in fruit flavors, it's in the produce section at the grocery store.
Cereal bars - I get the Nature's Choice ones, muchbetter than most standard cereal bars.
Yotta bars - They have hidden veggies in them!
Yogurt with various fruit mixed in.
Sweet potato fries
Pancakes with pureed squash, pumpkin,or sweet potato mixed in the batter. You can make ahead of time and freeze for quick serving.

Hope this helps! I know it's annoying to get stuck in a rut.

 

I am so jealous My girls are allergic to dairy, eggs, wheat, beef, squash and bananas so they can't have a lot of the typical kids food. In a way that is probably good

For breakfast, we do a bowl of applesauce (mixed with their medicine) rice crispies with rice milk, rice yogurt with granola, cheerios with rice milk or hot oatmeal.

For lunch, the daycare gives me the menu and I create the same meal only with foods the girls can eat. As long as it looks the same as the other kids they will eat it.

For supper, we use a lot of ground turkey, pork and chicken. They love mashed sweet potatoes with ground turkey mixed in. Mashed potatoes, chicken, corn and gravy all mixed together. Goulash made with ground turkey. We do pork ribs, chicken and rice, pork cutlets, pork loins, ham and turkey burgers. They also get some sort of potato (they love tater tots), a veggie and a fruit at every meal. If we hide the meat in the potatoes or in the full meal they eat it better.

We luckily have had any phase of not wanting to eat the food I prepare. They do get 3 snacks a day plus a bed time snack due to having ketotic hypoglycemia. We did have to cut back on the 5pm snack since we eat at 6pm and they weren't eating well. We cut it back to just a few bites of something so they would eat supper.

 

I was going to suggest anything pasta-like. Lasagna, meatballs, etc. I have found that mine like elbow noodles better than any noodles. I've experimented before and if it's not elbow, they won't eat it. Go figure.

I do a lot of beans at lunch. They sell ones that don't have sodium added, so check and see if your store has them. I add pasta or rice and maybe some shredded cheese.

It's tough because once you think they like a food, you make it and you're all confident and proud, and they toss it right off the table. Little buggers.

Oh, and I agree with the snacking. I feel bad if they don't eat well at bfast and/or lunch and compensate with snacks. I have a feeling this is going to bite me back soon. Thanks for the reminder on that one!

 

Count me in! I am more frustrated with lunch meal than breakfast/dinner. I don't give them any mid-morning snack but I do give them fruit/bars w/veggie juice or water. They're going through some change with taste bud. Ugh!

Breakfast:
-eggs with cheese
-raisin or cinnamon (toast)
-cream cheese sandwiches on cinnamon bread (toasted or not)
-muffins (any kind, mini, large, any flavor)
-poptarts (on occassion)
-cherrios with milk on the bottom
-oatmeal (blueberries)
-sweet potatoe pancakes/waffles (organic)
-once in a while I give them apple strudel (yummy)

Lunch:
-Deli meat (ham, turkey, or chicken) in cream cheese, roll up (cut in small slices)
-baked beans
-corn
-mac & cheese and cold pasta
-plain lettuce with ranch/honey dijon dressing


Snack:
-apples, bananas, apricot, peaches, grapes, and etc.
-yogurt
-cottage cheese with fruit
-healthy bars
-water/veggie & fruit juice
-smoothies

Dinner:
-varies of chicken
-pork chops (cut thin) w/apple sauce
-carrots and peas
-cream spinach
-butter pasta
-tater tots
-sweet potatoes (a bit of brown sugar/marshallows)

We do chicken casserole, meatloafs, and etc. once a week