What can I feed this child?

[3in4years]

My 5 year old is fussy and underweight. I am not a brilliant cook, and have little time. He doesn't eat much at school so I need to give him dinner in the evening. Any quick meal ideas appreciated.

Won't eat:
Meat
Meat substitutes
Fish (except fish fingers)
Tomatoes
Any veg
Rice
Couscous
Eggs

Will eat:
Mashed potato
Fruit
Bread
Houmous
Peanut butter
Pasta
Cheese
Chips
Yoghurt
Pizza
Lentil/ pea pasta
Baked beans
Dried fruit
Cereals and porridge
Pancakes

My go-tos are tortellini with pesto, gnocchi, carbonara without ham but with hidden egg, past bake made with soup, fish pie with tiny bits of salmon, macaroni cheese, lentil/ pea pasta with cheese sauce, fishfingers and chips, pancakes with ground almond, peanut butter sandwiches, sweet potato and houmous.

I am so bored of the same meals all the time, and worried about his lack of fruit and protein. Any ideas gratefully received. Thanks

What fruits have you tried him with?

He loves all fruit!

How can you be worried about his lack of fruit if he eats any fruit? He is also eating plenty of protein. Sounds fine to me.

Have you tried other things with pasta? Pesto maybe? It is quite calorific.

Sorry, I made a mistake. Not lack of fruit. Lack of veg!

I have an extremely fussy 4.5 year old who's food list would be less than yours. But he does he fruit not veg. I spoke to a paediatrician about it and their answer was that the same vitamins and minerals are in fruit as what's in veg so not to stress.

Fish fingers, mash and baked beans, old school food of the gods....

Jacket potatoes?
Noodles and stir fry?
DIY wraps. Put put a secection of sliced salad stuff and veg and cheese and wraps on the table and let him fill his with whatever he likes
Lentil cottage pie?

Much better than my dd who is 6. She only eats tomato/veg/red sauce with pasta, boiled eggs, crumpets, toast, peas, carrots, apples, bananas and some cereals. She refuses all meals bar pasta in a red sauce 😭 She’s also a coeliac and autistic. Sounds like your son is doing okay. Maybe he could try some off your plate at weekends.

Just keep serving the same as everyone else is having, if he doesn't eat it then there's nothing else.

Maybe try jacket spuds. Or could try you get what your given. Sounds harsh I know but soon enough he will eat and gain weight. Or carry on as you are and try adding in high calorie drinks from the chemist. They have lots of added vitamins to. Kids grow out of it and your doing amazing

Thanks all. Sorry for the confusing posts. He loves all fruit and anything sugary. He won't eat any veg except sweet potato, pesto, frozen peas or pea pasta, and the filling in tortellini!

He won't eat anything in a sauce or anything that looks like meat, or any salad. No to noodles too! So no no cottage pie/ bolognese/ tomato sauces. Only white sauces, so much harder to hide veg!

Have you tried getting him to help with the shopping and cooking so he can pick a meal to cook
Or does he have a fav tv character that you can persuade him really likes meat or whatever you want me to get to eat at the time so it must be good ( like with Popeye- spinach)

Well I'd just hide the stuff tbh
So put an egg in the mash or mash in parsnips etc
Make pizza, and do a hidden veg sauce
Hidden veg in pasta sauce.

Give him different fish fingers.
Try him on chicken fingers (that look the same)

And keep offering the meats beside the stuff he likes.

Will he eat peppers and cucumbers or even water melon? They're less sugary. Raw carrots?

What are you most worried about?

Honestly I think this doesn’t look too bad.

I would just have the main part of the meal something he does eat and then just add a new thing at the side. Don’t say anything- just put it there.

I also read a tip about varying the things he does eat as much as possible. So for the tortellini he eats try and get different varieties and colours etc.

There is a great Instagram account called ‘kids eat in colour’ which has tips

Have you tried mash made from parsnips, swede etc? It’s kind of orange so could be mistaken for sweet potato?

Google a recipe for hidden veg macaroni cheese. You can do it either with chopped up veg or purées of veg if they won't eat obvious veg! You can also freeze it!

Oh to add - you can hide veg in Mac and cheese (or any white sauce) if you use a nice orangey cheese then hide carrots or butternut squash purées. If not, parsnips, courgette, onion are all nice and white when puréed.

My underweight DS has a complan shake made with full cream milk alongside his breakfast. Then I know he's getting vitamins and minerals (as they are, I think, nutritionally complete). As your ds is little maybe he could split one and have milkshake at breakfast and as an after school snack or some such. I stress much less about his food now he has complan each day - which, funnily enough, means he eats more....

His diet doesn't look too bad!

How underweight is he? Is he under a dietician?

If he will eat smoothies then you can bump up calories with these.

Home made ice cream also good.

Thank you. Lots of good ideas which I will try.

I finely grate carrot and courgette into spag bog.

He won't eat peppers or cucumber or any veg. His BMI is 14. I am most worried about the lack of protein and veg.

I don’t think it looks too bad either, but some good suggestions ^^

DD has oral allergy syndrome and it’s made her a bit fearful of trying new foods, or even foods she thinks she’s reacted to. We’ve found being creative with naming foods helps, she won’t touch jersey royals, but will happily eat “fairy potatoes” 🙄 She won’t eat peas, but will happily eat “Gautamalan peas” (don’t ask)
It’s tiresome, but I keep telling myself it won’t last forever....