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

You can quietly blend up a handful or 2 of spinach with pesto.

Will he not eat tomato based sauces, even on pizza?

What about avocado? Would he eat it mashed on toast/stirred into pasta/as a dip wit breadsticks?

Another tip with eaters like this is to keep trying him with the foods he doesn't like. Leave a reasonable gap obviously but don't rule things out forever! Don't ever tell him he doesn't eat those things, or talk about it so he can hear.
Take the opportunity when he is really, really hungry one day, to give him one of the items. Main thing is not to make a big deal about it.

Fish cakes are similar to other things he eats, maybe try fishcakes & peas or sweet potatoes? With home made ones you could add an egg.

White sauce with cheese and veg as mentioned upthread, used to fill pancakes? White sauce again with flaked fish folded in filling rolled up pancakes. Simple fish pie?

Keep offering small portions of things he won't eat, so he gets used to the shapes smells colours etc.

Oh spinach in pesto is inspired! Thanks for all the ideas.

I might make a batch of pizza sauce with hidden veg too... or a batch of pizzas I have made with this sauce.

BMI centiles are used for children rather than actual BMI..... 14 is OK for a little boy. What centile is he on?

Worked out that my DS had a bmi of 14 at 5 (17kg, 110cm). He was perfectly healthy, just on a different percentile for weight and height. Have you been told that his weight is too low?

Also would you allow him to dip bread in soup? Some families are dippers and some are strongly anti-dip, but I've found with children who flatly refuse to eat veg one of those garlic flatbreads cut into strips and dipped into veggie soup is a winner. If you just offer a couple of strips to start with and he gets more if he's dipping rather than just eating them plain.

If he'd eat popcorn the plain old stuff you pop yourself counts as a 5-a-day. You can do it in the microwave in less than a minute, and sprinkle it with salt as a healthier alternative to crisps.

Sweet potatoes are supposedly more vitamin intensive than ordinarys

BBQ veg is tasty! Stuff like courgettes, red peppers and mushrooms are lush. You could make them into a kebab interspersed with halloumi. Not exactly the healthiest meal but if it helps break his 'I don't eat vegetables!' mindset that's got to be good.

You mention concern about his protein, but I do see some good sources in there - lentils, peanut butter, hummus, baked beans, dairy. I'm vegetarian and a lot of these are my go tos.

Have you considered slightly adjusting some of the things he will eat - lentil pasta becomes a simple dahl with naan or pasta (if rice is a step too far - but if you can spare the extra pan doing rice for adults, so he can see how other people eat it!).?Chickpeas with his peas and pasta - he likes hummus, explain that it's made of chickpeas. Maybe introducing other beans, too, as he likes baked beans?

You could probably hide some veg in homemade baked beans (and reduce salt/sugar/artificial sweetener content while you're at it!) - I use this recipe, though use less sugar and soy sauce than she does www.easycheesyvegetarian.com/homemade-vegetarian-baked-beans/

Thanks again. He always followed 2nd centile and I was always told that was fine. But I've just had a letter fron the NHS through school saying he is significantly underweight with a BMI of 14.

Yes what is the healthy BMI for his age? It'll be very different to the adult one.

His diet sounds ok to me, it's more that you are bored and he is having quite a lot of "white" food.

You say he eats lentils and beans. Work on that - Some kids absolutely love the texture. Refried bean wraps, beans in chilli sauce, dhal, lentil casserole, chick peas, falafels.

Wraps are generally a huge hit in our house. My kids will eat anything in a wrap with some cheese or dip inside. Not being able to see the sauce seems to help. I would try refried beans as a base and you can grate carrot, courgette, pepper, mushroom in with chopped onions.

Also don't do afraid to go with strong flavours. At one stage my son would eat no fruit at all but he did eat olives and rocket (how very MN!). He will only eat lettuce with Caesar dressing and anchovies... obviously not ideal to be slathering the lettuce in dressing, but I view it as a step along the way.

Yes to spinach in pesto! You can add loads and it's near impossible to tell. What about red pesto? You can make red pesto with added red peppers along with the tomatoes. And maybe have the dinners you normally do but have some extras like pasta toppings or cook some ham for your carbonara. If everyone is adding these extras to their dinner maybe he'll be inclined to try on his own terms and you get less bored!

Sorry crossposted on the BMI

Oh yes. Red pesto with pepper... I will try refried beans again!

Tesco Goodness Pizza Cheese And Tomato , it's a kids one. I add extra grated cheese. But there is carrot in the base.

There are quite a few adult pizzas with veg bases if you go searching.

My DS hates peas and we just serve what we have to him. Tonight he was suddenly eating peas. So there you go. He has at times removed all peas from his plate, but other times he just leaves them.

My DS has just got a fast food van toy. It has burgers and hot dogs cooking and now he wants to eat these. Not the best foods in the world, but toys could help with the power of suggestion. Make your own pizza toy etc.

Try him with rice pudding you make yourself. It's so much nicer than shop bought and sweet.

There is also pasta that is shaped like rice, so you can get him used to the texture.

Do you allow sweet stuff like puddings? Apple crumble is lovely.

Oh god that is a really varied diet compared to what mine will eat.

I just keep offering.

I'd concentre on very high calorie snacks to be honest

Cod/haddock/lemon sole in breadcrumbs, so sort of similar to fish fingers.
Macaroni cheese.
Crumpets/potato cakes.
Cauliflower cheese.

Annabel Karmel has a recipe for tofu with fruit, which was sweet and creamy (if he’s eating yoghurt he might go for it). I can’t find the recipe, but she has one for a smoothie which could help with protein intake www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/dairy-free-summer-berry-smoothie/ agree with PP about getting him to help make things and try new flavour combinations.

My dd’s List is similar. She is 10yo at this point. I gave up trying to o lay make one dinner a long time ago.

Most nights for her entree She gets to pick from an always available supply of
Peanut butter with no jelly
Tuna on crackers (max once a week)
Cheese quesadilla
Kraft Macaroni and cheese
Hard boiled eggs
Egg salad

I add fruit to that. There are no vegetables she can eat without gagging.

These are all easy to keep on hand and prep just for her. She gets bored, but has no real suggestions since I won’t just let her eat pancakes or cereal for every meal.

Occasionally I will make risotto, tortellini with pesto, or mashed potatoes as part of the meal for everyone else and she will eat those.

So when the nhs letter came with “underweight” on, was there any suggestion to see your GP?

I think his diet actually looks ok for a 5 year old. I’d be inclined to take him to the GP first, get any medical reason ruled out.

When you say he doesn’t eat much at school, how do you know? Do you pack up or is it school dinners?

Oh, I forgot my veggie trick. Dd likes smoothies and I don’t even have to hide the spinach, she will drink them willingly.

It just said if I have concerns to ask the school nurse.
He has school dinner but the teacher says he eats very little or refuses completely until they make him a cheese sandwich.

Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall does a sweet potato and peanut butter gratin in his veg everyday book. It is food of the gods and rather calorific. Meant to serve 6 i think, but lasts 2 adults 1.5 meals in our house.
It's amazing. Look it up. I think it's online somewhere.