To ask for toddler meal suggestions? We're stuck in a rut

[Xuli]

18mo is a good eater and a BIG eater but we're surviving in that boring pasta and veg, peanut butter on toast etc rut. And breakfast is a head scratcher at the moment too.

He can't have eggs (but does tolerate them baked in something) and has recently gone to limited dairy. This means breakfast has gone to pot at he won't eat porridge or Weetabix with oat milk, so he has dried Shreddies and fruit a lot - which doesn't seem to be filling him up, so the morning goes wrong. But I'm wary of a bread based breakfast as he generally has some form of bread for lunch...

Dinners are fine, but again tend to be based around pasta, rice or noodles so if I don't do bread for lunch, he might have pasta and then I worry about his whole diet being too carb heavy.

What do your toddlers like? How can I mix this up a bit? I live for the day he can have scrambled egg and a good protein heavy breakfast!

(Oh, and we have no microwave and no room in the world's smallest kitchen to put one so things like jacket potatoes require a degree of planning we don't always have time for after a day out!)

Can he have nuts. If so chopped apple with peanut butter, and ham for lunch (maybe some bread sticks too for carbs). Could do similar with hummus (it's easy to make) and chopped veg.

For breakfast what about fruity flapjacks, I add raisins and dried apple, I know they are still sugar heavy so aren't an everyday solution but you can use dairy free spread which is helpful. Or a sugar free muffin like this
mykidslickthebowl.com/baby-led-weaning-muffins-apple-banana-carrot/

I know it's not always practical to eat the same - but it's useful to have extra portions that you can get out so it's worth getting into the habit of freezing what you can.

What about a mug of home made soup heated in the microwave for breakfast, filling and quick. You could give a plate of thin cut ham, cucumber and tomato to follow, again quick.

Will he eat fish? Fish cakes for a quick lunch, flaked salmon fillet, or plaice fillet with mashed potatoes when you have time?
Baked potato with tuna for lunch?

DS2 is 2 & a half and has CMPA, he won’t have dairy free yoghurts either (can’t really blame him, they’re vile!) so he has little blended fruit pots or pouches, they’re aimed at weaning babies but they’re just fruit and I suppose the equivalent of a smoothie really

Breakfasts he generally has: pancakes, crumpets, toast, fruit, baked porridge fingers, l raisins, granola or cereal (thankfully he will have oat milk but we tried alot of dairy free mills before he settled on oat, maybe try some different ones, almond/rice etc)

Lunches he generally has a sandwich, wrap, some kind of pasta; tuna/tomato/chicken etc or savoury rice mixed with chicken & sauce, omelettes, tortilla pizzas, falafel, soup, fishfingers, leftovers or just snacky plates with lots of nibbly bits, all served with veg & fruit obviously

Dinner he eats what we’re having and I just separate a bit off if I need to change anything for his allergies; pies, soups, stir fry, curries ... just normal meals

Why not switch to a bread-based breakfast (so toast and some fruit, or toast topped with bananas and peanut butter) and then base your lunches around something else?

What about something like fish/chicken with vegetables and potatoes, or chicken thighs/drumsticks with cucumber, carrots and tomatoes with some kind of dip? I had this kind of lunch a lot as a kid - just a mixture of salad bits, but served separately so I could eat what parts I wanted.

Then dinner could be pasta/noodles etc.

Kids do need lots of carbs - if he's a big eater he's probably very active. Also - 18 months is pretty little. It sounds like you are trying very hard to make sure he has a very varied diet considering his allergies - I wouldn't worry too much. He'll definitely be getting the nutrition he needs.

It’s the lack of microwave not the allergies that’s holding you back btw!

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm definitely going to move to some of these. I think he needs a bread based breakfast so I'll do that and find something else for lunch.

And yes, I am worried about him getting picky and having a limited diet so I'm probably worrying too much about it!

Apples, it really is! But there is absolutely nowhere to put it at all.

If he is not taking to cereal could be the oat milk he doesn’t like rather than the cereal. Perhaps try another type of milk?

My 2 year old loves fish. Baked salmon, fish fingers, fish curry.
Also soup. I usually make veg and lentil soup and freeze portions.
We often have a 'meze' lunch of humus, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, bread sticks and a bit of cheese or chicken.

Overnight oats a good one. I do with yogurt and a fruit pouch but maybe coconut milk would work if he doesn't like dairy free yogurt? Or a hash of veg like sweet potato, carrot and Apple. Baked oats also good if he can tolerate egg well cooked. Potato waffles topped with baked beans or plum tomatoes. My girl has an egg intolerance too and a good protein rich breakfast really is a pain without eggs!!

Corn beef hash done in the slow cooker is the biggest hit with my 2 and 5 year old.
Beans mixed with woster sauce, with layers of thinly sliced onion potato and corn beef.

Can you do stir fried rice with veg or kedgeree etc - do it with pré cooked rice from a packet if you're short of time? Or you could do rice pudding with coconut milk and fruit for breakfast?

I've heard banana and oat pancakes are good but haven't tried them.

You can make oat 'cookies' or oorridge fingers with any liquid so mashed banana or other fruits and you can do them in advance. I make peanut butter oat bars and freeze them, I put other nuts and seeds and chocolate in them but you could leave out the chocolate, they've got lots of good things in them and are filling. They have got a bit of sugar in them but not much and you can always substitute chopped dates for sugar to be healthier

A really simple meal which my kids love is mash potato, tuna and sweet corn bake. I add cheese as well (not sure if you have a dairy free cheese alternative you could use) - it’s sort of a deconstructed fish cake 🙄😄 as they wouldn’t eat it as a fish cake.

They can eat what you eat unless your cooking processed food

Tbh most of our meals contain dairy... I'm trying to think what doesn't! Last night we had veggie sausage with roast veg. That went down well. Also baked sweet potato, maybe with tuna? We eat a lot of curry (had tofu, brocolli, and cashew nuts the other night which was nice) usually without bread/rice, just a big bowl full. And stir fry as well, often with tofu, and a splash of lime, ginger, and soy sauce dressing. Uuuuuum... soup we have every few weeks. Falafals with couscous in spicy tomato sauce is popular as well.

DS hates cow/ oat/ almond milk but will tolerate it on his cereal so no help there I'm afraid. There's a great toddler friendly recipe for banana oat cakes which I found on Pinterest. We usually use them as snacks but I'm sure it'd work as a breakfast food too... literally just combine ripe mashed banana, peanut butter, and oats in whatever quantity gives you a cementish mixture, shape into cookies and bake for 10 mins. I usually add chopped nuts and raisins to. DS loves them.

And for lunch he just has sandwiches with some cherry toms, carrot sticks, and fruit. It's dead repetitive but I can only be arsed to do so much food wise.

I like some of these ideas - I’m definitely making the pinwheels tomorrow! . My 14 month old eats with his teenage sisters so does try lots of different things, some more successful than others.... Little baked filo samosas are great as are mini feta and spinach pies - they freeze well too and are v easy to assemble. What about lentil ragu (basically spag bol recipe but with lentils instead of mince). I freeze in portions then just bake with mash or serve with pasta.

My two DDs love fish tacos - basically a bit of pan fried spice crusted salmon in a wrap with salad and homemade wedges. I just do a little side bit for DS without as much spice. It’s a good way to make a piece of salmon go further.

Avocado with pittas are good lunch staple too - mix avocado with a bit of yoghurt and lime and a pinch of coriander spice. Mush up and done. V messy though....

The finger foods for babies and toddlers is a really useful book although I can’t look at it now without becoming all teary eyed that the original ‘baby and toddler’ that the book was for is now 17.