Am I letting the side down with dinners?

[Youngie]

Hi, I'm a working mother of 2 kids (3 and 1), and feel like I'm not doing well enough with mealtimes. Generally I don't have more than 30 mins to cook dinner, and am always stressing about trying to give them home-cooked stuff and not too much salt, etc. As a result, I feel like although they're eating healthily their meals are pretty bland.

My 3 year old is becoming a difficult feeder, and I'd like to offer him more finger type foods as he eats mostly dinners made with mashed potato, but I draw a blank beyond chips (which I don't want to offer more than once a week). He won't eat rice or pasta.

Usual recipes for the two of them are cod with mash and vegs, spaghetti bol. sauce with mash, mince beef with mash and veg, salmon in a cheese sauce with veg. Although my 3 yr old can happily munch through chicken nuggets, he seems to hate chewing chicken or meat in mash dinners, so I end up trying to cut it into the tiniest pieces.

Am I letting the side down? I was reading the recipes on here and feel like everyone else is baking muffins and 3 hour casseroles.

Oh good god no, that sort of thing sounds absolutely fine.

Mash is far better than you might think. Home made mash has carbs, protein, vitamins and minerals - much better than white pasta!

Sounds pretty good to me. I introduce a new thing every now and then to see whether my ds will take to it. Often he surprises me. For example he never used to eat rice and now he loves it.

Have you looked in the mumsnet recipe section? It's amazing for easy meals, totally transformed me. I actually look forward to cooking now, and will even make a cake or something to relax!!! (totally unheard of before)

Have you tried couscous? That is also incredibly easy/quick to cook and he might like it as well as the mash?

When DS1 going through a really fussy period he would still eat this:

Fry raisins, spinach, apricots, tomato, (garlic and onion if you have time) with some cinnamon, cumin, ginger, parsley and coriander (or some mixed herbs and mixed spice).

Add some chicken stock (you can get the baby low salt ones from Boots), some frozen veg and simmer for 10mins. In the meantime, cover some couscous with boiling water in a pan, put the lid on and leave for 5mins. Add couscous to sauce and serve.

You could also try putting sweet potato or butternut squash with the mash to add variety.

Please don't worry. What you describe sounds like a good balanced diet.

I can't think how a working mother with a 3 and a 1 year old could possibly have time to do anything more elaborate. You have already got enough on your plate (oops, forgive the pun) - leave the homemade muffins for another day.

Agree with Suzihaha, couscous might be worth a try and is quicker and easier than mashed potato.

Thanks all for the support. Will try the couscous recipe as it's a long time since I've given him that, and he loves raisins.

Think what's started me stressing tonight is that I want to move onto family meals instead of the kids eating first, but I just couldn't think of anything quick and easy beyond my current usual meals. It just took me 3 hrs to do my Tesco shopping on line because I was getting all uptight over it!!

You sound like you're doing great, really.

There are probably lots of references to casseroles and stews on here because they are actually very quick if you spend 20 minutes in the morning prepping and browning and then leave in the slow cooker all day to cook. You then come home to dinner eady and a lovely smell in the house.

My DS was really fussy about carbs between 2-5 yo. Someone suggested spaghetti instead of pasta shapes when he was about 4 and bingo! I think its less flabby than pasta shapes, iykwim. Might be worth a try? Or noodles?

I tend to do meat or fish based from scratch meals every other day or two, and intersperse with easy veggie stuff like cheese on toast, omelette or dippy eggs or quesadillas which all take about 10 minutes, and then some raw fruit and veg on the side. This is especially the case when we have a lot on and can't hang about. Jacket potatoes at the weekend maybe when there's a bit more time?

Sounds really good & tasty.

We have You could try hiding carrot, swede, parsnip or leek in the mash if you're wanting to up variety.
We have a lot of stew or casseroles because you can make loads at once, so I freeze lots- just means less time spent in the kitchen!