Feeding a toddler on camping trip

[TurquoiseTranquility]

Hi there,
DD (nearly 15 months old) is a pickle to feed. It seems like she's just not interested in food much. She'll play with it, but if left to her own devices, little (if any) makes way into her mouth, and if fed, still a struggle - needs lots of entertainment and distraction. She'll eat most things but not enough of anything, and no particular favourites we could stock up on.

We're planning to go camping for 3-4 days. What we usually do is cook some porridge for breakfast and then eat out. We could of course bring a ready meal or two with us, but we only have a little coolbox that will defrost after 24 hours. We haven't picked a campsite yet so no idea whether we'd be able to freeze blocks on site, or whether there'll be a supermarket nearby. Obviously when we go sightseeing we'll probably drive past something that sells ready meals but so far it's not looking easy!

Any suggestions?

Pasta, sausages (great fun dipped in ketchup), DS likes to have done of our bacon in the mornings

Some

Porridge is fine, and easy too cook.You can make your own "ready meals" with pasta, rice etc that could be eaten hot or cold.

Sandwiches, carrot batons, sliced cucumber, quartered tomatoes, fruit chopped, dried fruit, fish and chips, boiled eggs, baked beans, cheese cubes.

It is only a short time- just bits of things. She will eat enough. If she is hungry she will eat. Let her get on with it.

Lulu, sadly letting her get on doesn't work! I tried that at home, but because she's still breastfed (part of her bedtime/naptime routine), she'll just starve during the day and then milk me like a cow at n

She's good with fresh fruit and veg but they have no calories in them :( DS was pretty much the same until recently but he'd at least open his mouth if spoon-fed!

She's more or less ok if I do a "buffet", i.e. lots of various little nibbles, but that's hard at home (I'm not a restaurant!), no mind on a camping trip where we're just not going to be able to bring lots of different stuff :(

Rice and pasta she's generally good with, but won't eat them twice in the space of 2-4 days :( same with everything really, one day she'll eat it, the next she'll spit it. We're fighting over pasta as I type, and the last time she had pasta was on Thursday (and with a different sauce).

Well who knows maybe in a different environment she'll eat better.. or worse gun-to-my-head emoticon

*at night

Hi turquoise firstly I would make sure that you book a site with freezers so you can keep stuff cool.

It is hard enough camping with a toddler so make it as easy as you can, we let Dd3 who has autism eat pretty much what she wants when we are camping and we take lots of carby things to keep her full up.

I know its not the perfect diet but to make your holiday happy something may have to give a bit

I disagree that fruit and veg dont have calories!! Bananas are great for filling up toddlers!

What about little cubes of bread and butter with a plate of fruit/cheese/salad?

I wouldnt worry too much about "proper" food, just let her enjoy what she likes.

Good luck

you're right, patience, but bananas are the only one that comes to mind! She'll eat bananas but only once like everything else.

Bread yes, and biscuits, but she won't usually eat cheese. Not cubes anyway, only as pasta topping or I recently got a few spoonfuls of cheesy coleslaw into her (I mixed it to about 50:50 cheese and slaw)
We'll just have to see how it goes I suppose :( still not sure where we're going either, needs to be within 2 hr drive and with easy access to kiddie attractions/beach/wood!

Lots of snacks..... we only have crisps and sweets when we go camping and its doesn't 'break' them....

You could start another thread asking for recommendations for sites but you will need to put a rough area so people can help

If not have you looked at Ukcampsites ?

My DS was like that but worse (wouldn't do buffet). When we went away with him at that age we did lots of Ella's pouches and HIPP meals as needed no refrigeration and you could get most places to heat for you or provide hot water.

He's nearly 3 and while not the world's greatest eater, we can now find 2-3 things at least on the average menu he'll consider. It gets better!

patience yes thanks, UKcampsites is my no.1 camping website :)

Re fruit and veg, avocados are also good for general nutrition, also nut butters if she will take them and you're happy with them. Fruit salad with fromage frais/ cream/ full fat yoghurt also possible.

I thought cooking over a fire was one of the main attractions of camping? What's the point of going camping and eating ready meals?

Campfire cooking is rubbish if you are asthmatic. (Or don't like charred food.)

We eat lots of pasta and packet rice and lentils. Ainsley Harriott spelt and risotto and Jamie Oliver ones. We add packets of prepared veg or tinned sweetcorn, cheese and tofu and halloumi. My 15 month old eats what we do, if he feels like it and supplements it with babybel and frubes. He picks out the bits he likes. Sometimes he eats loads and sometimes an apple and nothing else. He won't touch baby food like Ella's kitchen (even the 12 month + ones), but in a lot of ways it's easier. We tend to eat out in greasy spoon type places and there he has beans on toast or scrambled egg on toast or whatever is on our plates (omelettes, mushrooms, chips etc).

With my 18 year old aspie stepson I order 2 meals that I don't mind eating and let him have one. (Sometimes he can't choose), and I'm starting to do similar with the little one.

Surf lol gone are the days! 99% of campsites don't allow camp fires these days - fire risk!
Those that do, few people actually bother to use campfires for cooking. Takes ages so only makes sense if you're going camping for weeks. We're only going for 3-4 nights and will be off site most of the time. No time watching the fire!

cycle, ooh, lentils! Good idea! Are they the pour boiling water and leave to infuse type you're talking about? Never bought those before, had a lentil pot on a flight once (and enjoyed it) but that was much too spicy for my DCs. Are there any with no spice in them? Or at least no chilli.

Yes order a meal I'd eat myself, that's what I used to do with DS, luckily he's now old enough to make up his mind. But I still tend to steer him towards something either I or DH will eat if he won't, and I always pick food for myself that one of them might fancy, too.

DH is harder to persuade, he doesn't like sharing! Especially if it's sausages... luckily DD isn't keen on sausages

I had an infant who would eat no shop-bought baby food, even the nice ones. Not so great on a campsite (hadn't got the teeth for very solid food yet)...always thought it was because of a lack of red wine in the baby food packets .
She lived off scrambled eggs and cheese sandwiches for the best part of a week without obvious harm.
Mine are always starving when camping so maybe your little one will be more up for trying food than usual.

we always BBQ every night of camping regardless of how long we are there. put babies in highchairs if we can't watch them. and feed them easy food and don't worry about it.

You can get pouches of ready cooked lentils in supermarkets, usually close to the cous cous etc.

Will she eat grated cheese?

Just remember, the food doesn't have to be hot, she gets lots of calories and nutrients from you, and it's only for a few days.

There is also a range of food in long life pouches (don't need to be refrigerated), the range is called Look What We Found and they have things like stew, meatballs etc and they are good quality and v tasty. Lots of campers use them. They have them in big Sainsbury's and Waitrose.

I always take frozen food for the first couple of days - one meal defrosting on the journey there, the other frozen in the cool bag keeping everything else cold.

Soup, with bread to dip in?

Last time I took pain au chocolates for breakfast and they went down a treat. (not very healthy though)

We do too Blu (over a campfire unless there's a fireman or it's raining) but we're in Aus and I think I just can't quite comprehend English style camping. We regularly do 3 meals a day on a campfire and we've camped for over a month at a time in the past, very rarely in an official campsite though and rarely within easy access of any shops, cafes or any other food alternatives.
I will henceforth refrain from commenting on any British camping related posts!

fire-ban not fireman!