Do your toddlers eat what you eat?

[ghostpop]

I'm in a bit of a rut with my two, heavy rotation of meatballs, spaghetti bolegenese, cheesy pasta, sausages and fishfingers. Oh and homemade pizza.

I know people always say "just give them what you have!" but AIBU to think it's not that simple? This week me and dh have had halloumi salad, a spicy curry, tuna steak, a morrocan chicken stew thing (which I did offer leftovers of to the kids but they didn't touch it).

We eat together at the weekend so they get introduced to stuff then but in the week I just offer what I know they will probably eat tbh.

What are your meals that you can share with your toddlers?

Thanks everyone, I've learned a lot from this thread, someone mentioned just SEEING a different food on a regular basis might make them more likely to try it which I think makes sense, so if I start serving up curry (chillies added for me & dh at the end) once a week maybe they'll try it once it becomes less of a "new" thing.

I might try and eat with them a bit more aswell, dh gets home later but he can eat on his own . We often end up eating dinner in front of the tv anyway so it's hardly a social occasion for us!

We share everything with ds and always have.
He eats about 20% of it and asks for pasta, cheese sandwiches, or mince 😂

He sees everything, has tried everything, has had a take it or leave it approach, and still only wants pasta 😂

DH cooks amazing food for us all the time. Honestly better than most restaurants. DS (2 year old) won't touch any of it. At nursery, he eats seconds of everything put in front of him.

try and get them involved.asking them to pick the chicken out the fridge.how many chicken breasts to go in.can they stir,pour,measure etc.then they become more interested unknowingly often.
when you eat if you cook different make mmm noises and say this is really good what do you think.ask what else they think it needs.does it taste ok.
I think all of what you mentioned they can eat or an adaption of.sorry

I think all of what you mentioned they can eat or an adaption of.sorry

What's the sorry for? I do a lot of what you suggest already.

Mine have always eaten what we have, but it was an uphill struggle with the youngest. Just starting to win it.

My two (2&4) won't even eat the same as each other! I have one who likes spicy food and carbs and won't touch vegetables, and one who has to have everything bland but loves her veggies. Me and dp are fussy as well

I got them to try hummus today, though. They both hated it but at least they tried.

My 10 month old eats everything I eat. Pesto, fish, any and all cheese, olives, curry... you name it she will eat it!

I’ve never served separate meals - my two DDs always ate what I was having. I served green veg with every dinner, and when they were toddlers I used to play games, making the vegetables “talk”, to encourage them to eat their broccoli or asparagus or whatever. We used to have a very snooty “Queen of the Broccoli”, who would shriek at the children in a very posh voice and defy them to eat her - which made them gobble her up with gusto!
Both DC ate home made curries, roasts, casseroles, stir fries, even liver, perfectly happily. If you introduce a wide variety of healthy food right from the start, they seem to accept them.
Mine have never seen a chicken nugget, or crossed the threshold of a McDonald’s. But even as 4 and 5 year olds, I took them to restaurant meals in France on holiday, and had no problem getting them to eat snails in garlic butter.

The best thing about having a toddler is the excuse to eat hash browns and chicken nuggets for lunch.

(Oh, and I think the whole thing of making a huge virtue of eating veg is self-defeating. Children are not stupid. If it's clear you don't think veg are worth eating for the sake of the taste, they will realise. Personally, I eat lots because I like veg, so DD doesn't see any reason not to like them.)

No she'll have a bite and then constantly put her hand over her mouth haha

We all eat together. Dd age 12m eat everything myself, dp and the teenager eats.
Casseroles, stews, chilli, curry. Fish chicken. Literally everything.
Her favs are bolognese. Chilli and curry. So I always freeze some down and they're used if we have a take away or a meal like, burger and chips..

So far only thing she doesn't like is sweet and sour chicken

We have a very short rotation.

Protein:

• dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets (no other form of chicken will be touched)
• specific sort of fish fingers
• bacon
• cashew nuts

Lots of fruit, won't do veg except carrot and pear mash and under sufferance cauliflower mash

Bread, occasionally fries

Won't even eat pasta, pizza, cheese, anything with sauce...

I used to try really hard but basically given up now. DH and I are both fussy eaters who got better so fingers crossed.

Mine eats mostly what we eat, but we do eat a lot more pasta and a lot less curry than we used to.

This week though, he’s eaten pasta with pesto and peas, pasta with feta and broad beans, lentil shepherds pie, jacket potato with beans and cheese (his absolute favourite, we ate baked camembert), veg chilli with rice, and pierogies with peas. He would eat an entire plateful if halloumi if we let him, he loves it.

They didn’t and to be honest still don’t ( 8&6) as they will eat before I get home in the week and at weekends we normally eat out and about. Even DH and I don’t eat the same meals though. Dc are both slight protein shirkers but eat a tonne of vegetables.

I dont really stress about it. I was the worlds fussiest eater as a kid. As an adult I eat most things ( obviously have preferences but bar runny egg I could eat anything I was given)

My toddler twins are going through a phase of “if Mummy isn’t eating it neither are we” so I’ve made them the same breakfast, lunches, dinners DH and eat but add things like salt to taste or extra spices, after their portion has been divvied out. It’s a pain in the butt when I do batch cooking but I rely on that as I’m pregnant with baby 3 (14 days until due date and horrific insomnia yay!)

That said there are also plenty of times where the whole family eats the basic potatoes, protein and veggies diet I grew up on because I do not have the energy to be more creative :’)

My DS eats everything and loves spice and garlic, but there’s nothing I’ve done or not done to make that happen. Lots of kids only eat pasta and fish fingers when they are young - I know only one NT person who still eats like that as an adult. Don’t worry about it too much.

Mine do. They love curry (if it's a bit too spicy we mild it down with a yoghurt). They love rice, soups, pastas, etc. There's not much they won't each though! So I think we got lucky

Mine have always eaten what we eat, although now, at six, my eldest has decided several meals are toxic (he eats at school, so it’s his choice, and has to just eat the accompliments. No special alternative is offered, as he is certainly not a child who would quietly go hungry!).

This week they have had:
Lentil tagine
Lentil ‘meatloaf’ Roast (w/brocoli & carrots)
Jackfruit stir-fruit
Chickpea & spinach curry

As others have said, we altered our diet slightly once the children were eating solids, and often add ingredients (e.g spice) later or take their portion out earlier.

BTW, while my children have eaten unusual foods in very nice restaurants, they also really like McDonalds and Subway!

Mine were fine as toddlers, pains in the arse from 2-4/5 and much better from then.

We all ate the same thing, but it was just me lowering to their level for a while . No way was I cooking twice! chili sauce on everything for me though.

I always reminded them that they may not like something today but they might in the future. They eat it all now (7&8).

My toddler eats cheese sandwiches, some raw veg, chicken nuggets and bread. He's happy with most sweet things, but won't touch 'dinner' food. It's the bane of my life and we've tried everything. About 3 months into blw he just decided he wasn't going to try anything else and now he's 3.

There is nothing more I would love than to cook one meal for our family. It is my big great hope! I swing between offering him foods that I know he won't touch and will go in the bin, and just giving him what I know he'll eat as I don't want our meals to become battle grounds.

We've seen the dietitian and health visitor as he became anaemic, but they were useless so now I just hope he grows out of it.

5 days out of 7 he’ll generally have what we have- roast dinner, egg, bacon sausages, fried potatoes, mushrooms and beans are a winner. Potato hotpot with leeks carrots beans and cheese on top, fish and chips (batter removed) - with added avocado, pork chops in a cream and cider sauce, pasta

All these people talking about throwing food away... Do you honestly throw food in the bin if your kids don't eat it?
Why wouldn't you pack it up as leftovers?
Unless it's gone on the floor or been vomited in, surely it's fine to put in the fridge and reheat for later?