Ideas for kids’ picky tea

[Rainallnight]

(I know some people hate the phrase picky tea but bear with me).

My DC (3 and 5) have started at after school club where they eat a not terribly healthy dinner, which follows a very good and healthy school dinner at lunch time.

They’re obviously not hungry for a dinner when they come home but they do want something so I’ve been doing a picky tea which seems to be going well.

I try to use it as an opportunity to get a bit more nutrition into them so I’ve been doing chopped veg (eg red pepper, cucumbers, carrots), some fruit, a protein like cheese or hummus and then a carb like breadsticks, rye crackers etc.

I’m keen to mix it up a bit and wondered if anyone had any other ideas? I’m a bit of a fussy eater myself and I try to be conscious that there’s stuff I might just not think of because I’m not keen.

Btw, we are not veggie, it only happens that everything I’ve mentioned is. Happy to include meat.

Little mini frittatas
Sliced hard boiled eggs
Berries
Cubes of tinned salmon
Mini stuffed baked potatoes

Cocktail sausages/veggie sausages
Ham
Cold chicken
Fallafel
Hummus
Hard boiled eggs
Olives
Roast veg
Wedges
Cold Spanish omelette slices

Homemade soup?

Cheese straws, mini sausage rolls - meat or veggie, pork pies (quartered)

Boiled eggs with soldiers
Beans and grated cheese on toast
Scrambled egg
Fruit salad
Toasties
Rice cakes with peanut butter
Babybels

Soreen / fruit loaf / flapjacks / oat cakes / healthier cake type stuff.
Cheese and pineapple on sticks - or any other combination of stuff - you could even pretend it's a special kebab if there's a fair bit of variety.
Open sandwiches.
Healthy wraps cut into small pieces
Tortilla pizzas with assorted toppings
Scrambled egg with ham or bacon bits
Scotch eggs

Mini mozzarella balls, mini beetroots, make mini frittatas in a bun tray, chicken fajitas are fun and work as a whole family meal too. I would actually suggest trying to move towards whole family meals because it really helps family dynamics as they get older, allowing free discussion at the table etc

Hard boiled quails eggs, for fun.
Selection of different types of cheese, sliced or cubed.
Savoury popcorn.
Different types of cooked meats such as pastrami, salami, pork loin etc
Olives, grilled artichoke slices.
Rice salad and pasta salad, potato salad.
Different types of fish, tuna mayonnaise, sardines on toast etc.

It sounds like a good opportunity to try them with small amounts of new textures and flavours.

We also toast pitta breads, and then cut them into slices to dip into hummus, with sliced peppers, carrot and cucumber.

Eggy bread

Olives
Crackers
Cheese
Halloumi slices
Pickle or chutney
Salad
Spring rolls
Sausage rolls
Boiled egg
Chips
Ham

Oatcakes and pate.
Handful roasted nuts (cashews are popular here).
Baked Edam 'crisps' (roast edam on baking paper in med oven for about 30 mins til crunchy)
Nachos - tortilla chips, home made tomato salsa (blitzed tomato), guacamole and soured cream.

Also, prawns. Ours like the prawns in breadcrumbs that you could get over Xmas- hold by tail to eat (although may be best to cut that off!), mini samosas, pakoras, bhaji? Chicken satay skewers?

These are all brilliant ideas, thank you!

Thanks @gogohm, I’m familiar with the concept of family dinner times. It doesn’t work with my and DP’s work schedules on after school club nights but one of us always sits down with them and we do family dinners on other nights.

We do porridge with fruit or stuff like bran flakes with chopped banana.