To ask what your primary kids eat in a typical week?

[Wildflowers99]

In terms of breakfast and dinner (not school dinners - nowt I can do about those outside of the menu!). I thought I was doing ok with mine but another thread has made me think twice; so interested to see what the norm is. Thanks!

Might be better if you give an example menu over a few days and people can give you advice based on that.

I have three I’m still responsible for feeding. The older three have flown the nest but actually do turn up now and then and expect food!

The 14 year old isn’t a big breakfast eater and eats lunch at school. She eats her evening meal with us though.
The 11 and 10 year old usually have something like:

B- bake in the oven croissants with fruit and apple juice
L- sandwich or pitta, crisps, yogurt, fruit, a little chocolate bar (packed lunch)
S- fruit and a biscuit or small chocolate bar.
D- roast/ curry/ pasta/ fajitas typical family meal
S- crumpets or toast before bed

They are all very sporty and train 4/5 times a week.

Some have porridge with seeds most mornings, some toast or cereal. For dinner I aim for a protein, a carb and a vegetable. So chicken, pasta, and salad, or tofu, rice, and broccoli, or chicken soup with orzo, or meatball and vegetable soup with garlic bread, or beef casserole with dumplings. Just mix and match

5 and 9 year old

B - cereal - usually weetabix or similar, and a banana/apple or a smoothie
L - sandwich, raw veg (cucumber/pepper/tomato), crisps and fruit
D - roasts, curry, pasta, sausages, fish etc, with veg, and a yogurt
Snacks - cereal bars, dried fruit, Ice lollies, flapjack etc

Luckily mine are pretty good eaters, but one is coeliac which makes it a bit harder, and more expensive

B - Weetabix, Shredded Wheat or porridge, sometimes followed by toast, cornflakes or rice crispies.

D - very often have: pasta with a smooth but veg heavy sauce, bean chilli and rice, homemade pizza, fish fingers and homemade wedges, stir fry, curry or roast dinner. Nearly always have a pudding of something like a couple of chocolate fingers or a scoop of ice cream.

They drink water maybe 95% of the time. Occasionally milk or fresh apple/orange.

10 and 8 year old here:

b - porridge, w/bix, various cereals - sometimes fruit or some toast. Sometimes scrambled egg or crumpets. Variety really!

L - usually sandwich or bagel with ham, tuna, peanut butter, marmite, smoked salmon (try to only have ham twice per week). Then add 2x fruits/veg, sometimes crisps, yogurt (vary frubes or plain), sometimes a baby bel, or a small biscuit. That’s for packed lunch. At home it could be beans on toast, scrambled egg , soup, pasta….

D - at after school club is limited and often pixza/pasta etc. at home it will be a chilli, spaghetti bol, sausage and mash, salmon and rice, roast, curry, jacket potatoes, meatballs, homemade chicken burgers, not homemade beef burgers, fajita type wraps and salads.

snacks - fruits, veg, biscuits, cake if we have it, ice cream. Try to do healthy first. Rice cake and peanut butter is a good one.

ETA - drinks: water, squash, milk and fizzy for a special occasion or a Saturday sometimes.

10 (ds) and 6 (almost 7 dd)

Breakfast is one of the following: small bowl of cereal or porridge, slice of toast with jam, Greek yogurt with honey, 2 homemade pancakes with fruit with either a glass of milk or water.

Dinner is trickier due to likes/dislikes. Tonight we had roast chicken with new potatoes and salad. Tomorrow it will be chicken noodle soup made from the leftovers with a soft boiled egg and brocolini. Other stables include bolognese, chicken or fishfinger burgers with chips and salad. The night (tues) we're super busy after school is soup and a toasted sandwich. Friday is often make your own pizza with various toppings. Dippy eggs and omelettes always go down well.

Ds will eat most things. Dd is harder but loves prawns and smoked salmon so can usually give her those instead if we're having a protein she doesn't like.

We eat dessert maybe twice a week but I often offer fruit with dinner. That started as a "picky" plate thing when ds was tiny and far more picky and has stuck.

9 and 11 year olds:

B on a school day: 2 egg omelette followed by cereal of choice or sourdough toast. In the holidays, I might do lean bacon medallions, scrambled egg and sourdough. Daughter will have Greek yoghurt, homemade granola (takes 5 mins in air fryer) & fruit

Dinners: creamy garlic chicken, paprika chicken, chicken sausage stroganoff, fry up, curries, stir fry, salmon, chicken pizza (just flattened chicken breast with pizza type toppings), pork schnitzel, roast dinners, fajitas, steak & homemade chips.

I aim for high protein dinners, lots of veg and a usually potatoes for carb or homemade flat bread. We rarely have pasta or rice as neither are huge fans

Breakfast: cereals few times a week as they eat in nursery/school
Lunch: whatever place they go to provides
Snack: shitton of fruit
Dinner: roast chicken, fish, mince with pasta, chicken soup, some sort of meat in cream sauce, seafood mix, some sort of junk food.
Basically above rotates every week with slightly different spices so I can call it "italian/greek/asian".
During weekend we have at least one lunch that is egg based.
Thry drink yogurt and milk, somwttimes juice when unwell just to get something in them.
And I do feed ice cream, chocolate, cookies etc. almost every day in a small amount.

Kids aged 7 and 9

Breakfast usually cereal - always have a few options- shredded wheat, cheerios, shreddies, weetabix. Sometimes toast or a crumpet. Often a piece of fruit too. Porridge and berries at weekends sometimes.

Lunches at weekends- cheese toasties, ham/peanut butter/tuna sandwiches, avocado on toast, eggs, beans on toast, hummus and veg and toast to dip, usually involve tomatoes, cucumber, raw carrot and raw pepper with all those options. Dessert will be fruit, yogurt, biscuits, chocolate/ cake if we have some.

Snacks - fruit, cereal bars, crisps, babybels etc

Dinners - feel like we have a small and shrinking rotation of meals! Roasts, spaghetti bolognese, chilli / burritos, prawn/chicken stir fry with noodles/rice, omelettes, curry, lasagne, tuna pasta bake, easy oven dinners (pizza/chicken dippers/quorn nuggets/chips) with carrots/sweetcorn/broccoli/green beans/ beans. Desserts same as lunch

8 year old
Breakfast: mix of shreddies and rice crispies with milk (small ikea bowl), and a second bowl with fruit and either cucumber or cherry tomatoes

Lunch: school lunch, otherwise crumpet, bagel or brioche roll with cheese, carrot sticks and cucumber, or omelette/ scrambled eggs/boiled eggs with raw vegetables and a slice of bread

snack: apple, grapes, carrots, cucumber

Dinner: either pasta with vegetables, omelette, breaded chicken breast with vegetables and pasta, rice with vegetables and meatballs , sausage and rice with veggies

Dessert: ice lolly , yoyo,

Meals

chilli, chicken curry, homemade chicken nuggets, spag Bol, pie, mince and dumplings, pizza (frozen and homemade) , cheese and toast, boiled egg ( my youngest doesn’t like sandwiches) 😟

fruit 100 apples a week, several punnets of grapes and blueberries

other snacks, chocolate biscuits like penguin, crisps, pepperami,,Babybel

DS is 8.

Breakfasts are usually one of : eggs and toast, fruit salad, homemade muffin, cornflakes, toasted bagel with jam, pancakes with Nutella, Greek yogurt and granola with compote. Always plus a glass of milk and if not had fruit, a piece of fruit.

Dinners are a real mix but a typical week would be:

chicken stir fry with loads of veggies
pasta with cream cheese, bacon and roast veg
chicken or beef tacos with salad
soup with cheese on toast and veg sticks
baked salmon with jasmine rice, cucumber salad, broccoli and avocado
friday night- take out- sushi, Chinese, pizza or burgers
Sunday dinner -usually roast chicken or pork

And I must spend £50 a week on fruit, cucumbers and carrots, plain tortilla chips, bread for toast, popcorn kernels, dried mango and ice pops. He never stops bloody snacking!

DS year 6:

Breakfast - 2 wheatabix with whole milk and a banana.

Lunch - Cheese sandwich, cucumber sticks, strawberries, yoyo

Snack after school - small chocolate bar

Dinner - A home cooked meal but fairly basic e.g. spaghetti bolognese, macaroni cheese, homemade pizza. Mostly at least 2 portions of veg included and probably a banana after.

More wheatabix if still hungry later.

All drinks are water.

Weekends is a similar breakfast and lunch with plenty of fruit and veg but more likely to have a takeaway or convenience dinner.

Mine won’t eat school dinners (don’t blame them, they’re rank).
Breakfasts are things like scrambled egg on toast, Greek yoghurt with fruit and granola, Weetabix, Bran Flakes, porridge.
Evening meals things like chicken fajitas, chilli con carne, Thai green curry, bolognese, risotto, cottage pie etc.
For school lunches they take a thermos flask with either leftovers in (bolognese, chilli etc) or I’ll make a batch of soup (leek and potato is their favourite) and they’ll take that with a small baguette. Alongside it they’ll have fruit and a yoghurt, or some cubes of cheese.
Loads of fruit for snacks, then treat stuff like popcorn or chocolate at weekends.

Mine usually have cereal, porridge, or Greek yoghurt, fruit and granola for breakfast. Occasionally eggs.

Typically dinner is something like:

Veggie sausages with sweet potato wedges and green veg

Tacos with beef, black beans, tomato salsa, guacamole, sweetcorn, pickled onions (all home made)

Homemade curry with brown rice

Pasta with homemade sauce

I just asked my son what he ate today 😂 (I was at work!)

He had Cheerios, raspberries and a banana for breakfast, chicken sandwich with tomatoes and cucumber for lunch, and a mixed bean chilli with rice and broccoli for tea, then an ice lolly for pudding.

I’d say that’s pretty typical, I’m constantly on at them to try and get a bit more protein in at breakfast so on days I don’t work I usually cook eggs and sometimes they will have Greek yoghurt and granola. However if left to it they’d live on Cheerios 😂😂 I don’t eat meat so our dinners are generally pretty bean/legume heavy, lots of chilli, daal, butter bean pasta, and tofu stir fry etc.

DS eats a (large) bowl of cereal or 4 slices of toast plus a yoghurt. Glass of water and/or a glass of milk.
DD is somewhat more picky and will only eat what she feels like. I'm just happy if she eats something before she leaves for school. Her most usual choices are:
A tomato. Or an apple. Or a plain yoghurt with olives. Or a yoghurt with gherkins. Or dried meat. Or leftover pasta salad. Or a boiled egg. Or a cereal bar. Or a slice of toast with chocolate/caramel/cheese.

dinners would be:
chickpea curry
bolo (either with meat or lentils)
chile con carne (sometimes with lentils instead of meat)
chicken or pork stew
fish fingers
scrambled eggs and veg
pasta bake
pizza
As a rare treat if DH is out ham, fried eggs and chips with a side of cherry tomatoes and cucumber! (This is not considered a proper meal as the veg isn't cooked 🙄)

B - cereal or toast
L - hot dinner
D - anything from Spag Bol to curry. DS is a good eater so I cook what I fancy and 9/10 he will eat it. Usually consists of meat with potatoes/pasta/bread and then veg.

We don't don’t do desert, sometimes do when eating out. Dinner is usually finished by fruit and/or yoghurt.

He will also snack on fruit, cheese, crisps, bread etc.

And he is 6 sorry.

Weetabix or toast with peanut butter or butter, sometimes Nutella, weekend pancakes one day

School dinners 🤮 or leftovers from last night’s dinner

A home cooked meal: roast chicken with veg, pasta maybe one day a week, beans or lentils stew, fish and broccoli, a curry, fajitas…

2-3 servings of fruit for snack or pudding

Something sweet almost every day at pickup - a biscuit, a few chocolate coins, chocolate covered pretzels etc. Trying to cut down on that.

9 and 12

breakfast: fruit with either cereal, toast or grilled cheese & chorizo muffin; I bake breakfast muffins (seeds, flaxseed, banana, oat) when I can so sometimes one of those

lunch: school dinner or picnic style at home (sandwich, fruit, cucumber, crisps, cheese)

dinner: whatever we cook (curry, stir fry, pasta etc). Tonight was chilli with baked sweet potatoes and guacamole

I have an eight year old son

Breakfast- Mostly porridge or weetabix made with milk.
(He would happily eat toast but I prioritise him getting some milk in the mornings as he gags at cheese or yoghurt.)

Lunchbox/lunch at weekends - chicken or ham sandwich, and at least one piece of fruit or chopped cucumber/tomatoes for something healthy. Other bits vary like biscuits.

Dinners - Usually either pasta dishes, jacket potato or meat/fish and 2 veg type dinners. Eggs or beans on toast sometimes.

I've accepted the aversion to cheese but still hoping he might like spicy food one day🤞

DS is 9. For breakfast he has cereal, toast, porridge. I’ve just done our meal planning for the week ahead and for dinners this week we’re having spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread, roast, chicken fajitas, pizza, omelette, sausage and mash and homemade curry.