Fussy Four Year Old

[lobsteroll]

What do you feed your four year olds for dinner? I need some inspiration!

My four year old used to be a fairly good eater but is becoming increasingly fussy with dinners. My 18 month old is now starting to watch them very carefully and is now rejecting the same things, I'd love to nip it in the bud for both of them and have pleasant meal times again

For convenience I mostly make the same thing for al four of us for dinner but I'm running out of ideas that won't cause a big fuss and I don't want to eat pesto pasta 7 days a week 😂

I feel like it's mostly a control thing rather than genuine dislike but I also think she's gone funny with texture rather than flavour. Lots of suspicion/poking around/complaining of "bits".

Chicken noodles www.myfussyeater.com/sesame-honey-chicken-noodles/
Vegetable mac n cheese www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3-veg-mac-n-cheese
Tuna meatballs www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tuna-balls-pea-sweetcorn-pasta
Chicken fried rice www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-sweetcorn-egg-fried-rice
Fish cakes realfood.tesco.com/recipes/crumbs-fishcakes.html
Cornflake nuggets realfood.tesco.com/recipes/cornflake-chicken-nuggets.html
Sausage rolls recipes.lidl-ni.co.uk/recipes/hidden-vegetable-sausage-rolls Yes we have these straight from the oven for dinner sometimes!
Pitta pizza www.childrensnutrition.co.uk/full-recipes/pitta-pizzas
Cowboy pie realfood.tesco.com/recipes/cowboy-pie.html
Burgers
Ham and cheese pancakes

Thank you! I'll have a good look at these 👍🏼

Home made pizza. Everyone eats it (so I’m not making multiple meals) but toppings can be tweaked so DC1 doesn’t get onion, DC2 gets a different vegetable to everyone else etc. Only takes a few minutes. Even better when they “build their own” and try and like something that they otherwise wouldn’t.

On similar lines, fajitas - DC1 can avoid onion and anything remotely “sauce like”, DC2 can have extra cheese etc. Build your own burger - everyone has a bun with a plain burger (DC1 has theirs on the side), but onion, sauce, lettuce, cheese etc can be added as wanted.

Basically, I like things that they can serve/build themselves and that while we are all eating “the same” can be tweaked to accommodate DC1 incredible fussiness - they have ASD and only eat about a dozen foods.

@Theotherrudolph thank you! You're definitely onto something as we do homemade pizza often (had it tonight actually 🤣) and fajitas too. She really likes both.

Burgers she's a bit more funny with but I know she's eats them at school so I'm a bit 🙄 about it sometimes.

All great suggestions though; thanks!

I don’t know if it is an age thing or a lockdown thing but my 4yo has suddenly gone off loads of foods she has previously enjoyed. It’s a complete pain.

She’s 4. Don’t make anything special, just offer what you cook. I’d say to try and make sure there is one veg you know she’ll like on the plate. Give a glass of (hot) milk before bed if she doesn’t eat much.

Serve the food in dishes on the middle of the table and allow her to take what she would like. Then there can be nothing to refuse.

Baked potatoes with whatever filling they will eat.
Omelettes, with whatever veg they will eat. Or bacon!

@Dustyhedge I have been thinking it's a bit of a lockdown thing too. She's homeschooling, missing her friends, trying to claw back a bit of control somewhere. It's tough for them.

@NotWithMyShoes I don't make anything special; we all eat dinner together, as I said in the first post. She's actually fine with the vegetables/salad items. It's usually the protein portion of the meal that she fusses over. And she doesn't love things that are all in one such as cottage pie/curry/casseroles which she used to be absolutely fine with.

I don't give big drinks before bed because I don't want her to her up in the night for the loo or have an accident but they do have a bit of Greek yogurt and fruit after dinner most nights.

@Loopylobes yes this is a good idea and we do this now and again but could definitely do it more often. I think the choice and independence is appealing to them.

@Leeds2 - I love a baked potato, we do have them from time to time but it would be nice to have them more often, thanks for the reminder