To just feed 2 yo DS simple "kids" meals?

[Boysclothes]

He's 2.9 and I feel I'm still just sticking to the basics with his dinners. I used to cook lovely things for him from kids recipe books etc and it just wasn't getting eaten, so I decided to give myself a break and not worry. However I've never got the get up and go back. Does it matter?

He'll eat spag Bol with hidden veg, omelettes with cheese and ham and cuke, fish fingers chips and peas, sausage mash and broccoli, tuna pea pasta, quiche, fish pie and cottage pie and chicken with veg. I don't really give him anything else for dinner! He has fruit afterwards and a raw carrot mid afternoon, lunch is sandwiches or pitta and dips etc. Just drinks water and milk, fruit kid morning and weetabix or porridge for breakfast.

I like to eat with DH when he gets in. We tend to have a lot of things like fish fillets etc which are tricky to scale up as I'd have to buy three sea bream fillets, which are expensive etc.

AIBU and should I branch out a bit or does this sound OK? My friends tend to be either the spaghetti hoop brigade or going all out with homemade different dinners every night.

I'd be happy if my 4 year old would eat that variety.

Sounds fine to me. I thought you were gonna say he had chicken nuggets 7 days a week.

What are your friends feeding theirs? Quinoa wraps with chili sauce? Sounds fine to me.

Bloody hell if you're worried about that I should be really worried! That sounds great to me.

Basically everything I do for him takes two minutes, I'm a feeder by nature and put lots of love an dedication into meals for DH and I, but then bung some fish fingers under the grill for him! The balance seems wrong.

Sounds fine to me.

Sounds good to me - more or less same as I feed mine!

And tbh, I rarely make the fish pir and cottage pir mentioned above, maybe once a month each? And quiche is again once a month. The other meals are pretty much on a rotation!

Um...your DS has to have cheap kids food so you and your DH can afford to have fancy stuff?

That's a bit odd. Not that he has pasta and fish pie (which sound lovely), but that you won't budget for him to share in what you have. Why don't you and DH also have the more basic meals half the time so you can afford for your kid to have the expensive food when you have it? Buying more ingredients is not "tricky" and cooking three fish fillets instead of two is trivially easy.

Some of the meals are fine, others less so in my opinion.

Can you feel him what you eat. Either cook your meal earlier or give him your left overs the next day.

My toddler eats the same 4/5 meals week in week out. I've given up worrying. We try her with something new once a week but it is invariably refused.

Sounds very similar to what my dd has and I think she eats well. A lot of those meals don't even sound like 'kids' meals, I was imagining you meant more like waffles, chicken nuggets and beans every night!

Sky, we could afford it. But it seems wasteful. He's just as happy with fishfingers. And of course we share in the spag Bol, pies and quiche as everyone can eat that.

I suppose I'm just stuck in a rut with the way I cook. I cook for DH and I and used to set aside some for DS to heat up the next day. 90% of the time it would be rejected and also I liked him having a "fresh" hot meal rather than reheating a plate of fish or whatever. I also would ideally like to eat with him during the week but the thought of having my main meal at five thirty... I feel a bit guilty generally.

It's different if it's fish fingers, sausages and bought quiche on rotation (just the salt levels really). We tend to eat earlier and one of us would sacrifice a corner of fish fillet for DD to push around. She would eat the starch and veg and try the fish IYSWIM.

We don't do kiddie food in our house, we all eat the same thing and it's what ever I fancy cooking - bean salads, curries, crab etc. Mostly the kids like my meals but they have been bought up with a wide palette and have a very wide range of foods they will eat.

This week for instance were having chorizo and rocket salad with prawns, salmon and pak choi and noodle broth (he will have some of this), spag Bol, and one night I'm out for dinner so DH will fend for himself. Then we're on holiday so not a typical week but you can see about half our meals don't work for toddlers really?

I also think the diet sounds ok but agree it's off that you feed him different food out of 'ease'. He sounds like he woukd enjoy the variety and a family meal the three of you is good for all of you.

DD has her dinner at 4pm, and dh and I arent ready to eat til 7.30 ish and she is in bed by then. As such, she has dinners made for her and are quick and easy ones.

Fish fingers, rice, peas and sweetcorn
Pasta bake
Bangers and mash and broccoli
etc

We do eat breakfast and lunch together every day (Breakfast is her main meal of the day she loves it!)

Dont feel guilty.

His diet sounds fine. The problem might come longer term when all he will eat is very plain food and won't even try anything more adventurous.

It might not be possible for you to eat with him during the week, but do you all eat together at weekends? Seeing you and his Dad enjoying other foods is crucial to encouraging children's curiosity and willingness to try a wide variety of food.

Sky what tge point in feeding a toddler expensive food if it's going to be not eaten! What a waste, I don't blame the op one bit, ds 2.7 years is like that. Tge kid is getting a balanced diet, with what sounds like delicious home made food, what's the problem!

My ds ís the opposite, he loves the more adventurous food.

Cook and give him his main meal at lunch time, then leave a plate for your dh to heat up. Then you can also eat a lighter tea with him. Weekends/days off you all eat together. I hate the idea of children being fed special meals individually, I'm sure they eat better with company.

Yes, we all eat at together at weekends. Generally a roast one day and then one of the pies mentioned the other day, or homemade pizza.

I would say all of those would work for a toddler. I can understand not wanting to move meal times if you hate eating earlier (although I would compromise on this sometimes if you can - eating together is such a good family experience, even if it's a quick easy meal).

But the meals you describe (as well as sounding lovely, and a perfectly good diet for a little boy, I'd say) mostly take a fair bit of prep, definitely more than 2min - assuming you're making them from scratch?

I'd say if he's happy with that lot, go with it and don't worry a bit - my 3yo is just coming out of a rather fussy phase with food, and wouldn't have eaten all the things on your list. Aided by Mumsnet, I've never stressed about it and have just carried on offering him different things, only asking him to try one bite and then leave it on his plate if he doesn't like it. I didn't get cross if he refused to try something, just let it go and tried again another time. Pudding is also dependent on having had a reasonable crack at the main course. We talk about healthy eating - what foods are good for helping you grow big and strong, and which aren't so good.

All of a sudden, it all seemed to click with him - he started trying more things, eating more meat (which previously he hardly ate at all - his iron levels fell low, so I ended up pureeing meat into his pasta sauces etc...), asking if particular foods are good for helping you grow big and strong, and he even randomly decided that he likes broccoli!

Lately many of my home made meals have been greeted with "mmm-MMMM! Deeeee-LISH-us!", which is enormously gratifying

Obviously eating issues can get very complicated and I don't know a lot about them, but unless I've missed something major there doesn't seem to be a real issue with your DS? Is it more about you really, and your feelings about wanting to put a lot of effort into his meals...?