Can you list all the things you cook for your kids that are reasonably healthy and they reliably eat? Seriously need some inspiration!

[ElmMum]

I seem to be constantly wheeling out the same things for sheer ease. DDs are 5 and 1.5. I used to cook much more complicated stuff for DD1 but over the past couple of years I seem to have reduced my repertoire because DD1 got fussier and I got busier.

Here's my list of weekday stalwarts:

• Scrambled eggs on toast
• Dippy egg and soldiers
• Pasta (pesto/peas, tuna/sweetcorn)
• Fish fingers/breaded fish fillets, chips and peas/baked beans
• Baked beans on toast
• "Picnic" (sandwiches, humous, yoghurt and fruit etc in front of the TV)
• Chicken drumsticks, chips and peas/sweetcorn
• Veggie hot dogs in bun with corn on the cob
• Heinz tomato soup and toast
• Pizza (homemade because DH makes dough and freezes it)

Occasionally:

• Chicken in breadcrumbs with mash and veg

And at weekends, if we all eat together, we might have:

• Roast (chicken or lamb) with roasties and veg
• Casserole (lamb) with mash and veg
• Chicken pie with mash and veg

That's pretty much it! I feel a bit embarrassed looking at the list now. Looks so limited and not a lot of rainbow veg going on - veg for the DDs is mostly sweetcorn and peas. They do eat A LOT of fruit and plain natural yoghurt.

What I really want are things that are as easy as beans on toast, but more of them so I can vary it up a bit!

TIA

Macaroni cheese always goes down well in this house- my kids won't eat it with veg stirred in, but they will happily have a load of broccoli and carrots on the side.

If you have the time to make it, or maybe batch cook at the weekend, homemade soup is cheap and easy and a perfectly filling midweek meal served with cheese on toast.

I have just discovered Cornish Pasties, they seem to like them.

Other popular meals withmy DC are fish pie, shephards pie and chicken mournay (chicken in a cheesy sauce).

Ooo, Cornish pasties. Will try that!

Thanks everyone! These are really good suggestions.

DD1 is a tiny bit intolerant to tomatoes (raw ones make her go red round the mouth) so I've always steered away from tomato-based pasta sauces, which is daft because she eats her body weight in ketchup when she can. So, yeah, spag bol is back on the menu!

She also is a bit 'meh' about potatoes (other than oven chips), so baked potatoes are no good. Of course, DD2 loves potatoes.

I've just bought a weekly planner pad thingummy from Tiger (for 2014 but hey, I'm prepared) so I'm going to start planning their meals more in advance, so I can mix it up a bit more. New year, lots of new foods on the menu. Cool!

Have you tried your dd with tomato pasta sauces? I ask because my dd is the same with raw tomatoes (goes red and blotchy around her mouth and complains her tongue is itchy) but she doesn't have a problem at all if they are cooked.

Why is it that you only cook adult meals at the weekend?

Favourite quick/easy supper - egg soufflé. Grease a ramekin with butter, sprinkle in a bit of grated cheese. Crack in an egg, and mix with a fork. One minute in the microwave and you're done. Perfect on a toasted muffin, and my 6 year old can make the whole thing herself. (If you are doing more than one, microwave each one separately for a minute, don't try and cook several together, the timings are tricky and they end up rubbery if overcooked).

You can vary this with small bits of cooked veg, ham, salmon.

Thanks for starting this thread and for the great ideas. My DC are 4 and 1 and both going through particularly fussy phases.

Both refuse to entertain potato in any form (always have), although DD (4) now loves potato cakes (mash with flour to make a dough and fried). We've also had success with a fish pie topped with pastry shapes instead of potato - fish, with a white sauce, sweetcorn, peas and the pastry topping.

Both licked some broccoli today, so I may risk it in a cheesy pasta sauce over the weekend.

They used to eat everything while weaning. It's depressing.

Also, DD is in love with Katy 'I Can Cook', so has asked to make some of her recipes. She can generally be persuaded to try a bit then, so I'm going to keep up with these.

We have 2 Ds's (5 and 7).

They like to eat:
Spaghetti bolognaise
Chilli - can do with or without wraps (add lettuce, grated carrot etc)
Lamb casserole
Sausage casserole,
Salmon with cous cous and veg
The usual things on toast
Fish fingers or breaded chicken goujons
Fish pie
Gammon, egg and chips!
Pasta and pesto - chuck in whatever's to hand veg and meat wise!
Sausage and mash or toad in the hole
Lamb cutlets (BBQ style!)
not quite homemade pizza - I buy the mini pizza bases, use red pesto instead of tomato then they add their favourite toppings.

Great thread idea. I'm feeling inspired!

I'm lucky that DS (2yrs) will eat anything and everything (I'm the fussy one) so the meals we have often are...

Spaghetti Bolognese
Chicken Biryani
Chilli Con Carne
Cold Weather Hotpot (with some warm bread)
Cottage Pie
Saucy Sausage Pasta (I do this one loads because it's so easy and really delicious)
Spaghetti with Hot-Smoked Salmon & Rocket (I leave out the capers and sometimes use smoked mackerel)
Sweet & Sticky Wings (I sometimes used thighs & drumsticks instead because wings can be a bit low on meat!)
Sweet Potato & Chicken Curry
Smoked Salmon & Pea Frittata

These are just the ones from the BBC Good Food website that I use often. Sainsbury's Live Well For Less is also a really good website for some inspiration.

My dc love-
Tuna pasta, we eat it cold with sweetcorn, peppers, spring onion & mayo (use leftovers in lunch boxes instead of sandwiches)
Spag Bol
Fajitas (sometimes serve with mini jacket pots-those tiny ones I cba to peel)
Thai green/red curry (often made with roast leftovers)
Chicken kievs
Fish fingers with chips/mash beans/peas
Any leftover roast meat often chucked in slow cooker with diced veg, pots, and stock with crusty bread.

My ds used to dislike mash so I would mix it well into things like shepherds pie before he saw his serving. He is a bit better with it now...

Chicken fajitas
Fish tray bake (Jamie 30 min meals one)
Chicken drumsticks - cajun or garlic and lemon flavour with potato wedges and chopped salad
Middle eastern roast lamb - rice, salad and pittas
Lamb kofta - rice, salad etc
Pasta pomodoro
Italian meatballs (I use pork mince)
Chilli con carne with lots of veg (I don't add cayenne - those who want heat have to use Tabasco)

Went with post too soon. Mine a 'meh' with mash but spicy potato wedges get through, plus super crispy roasties. Oh and potato latkes. Are you spotting a theme here?! BTW - sorry about the roast lamb line. It is lovely, and they would eat as much as I'd let them, but it does need a long time in the oven.

Fake pizzas? On scones or pittas etc
Frittatas - great for dealings with leftovers

Your list is much longer than mine, btw - I'm using it for inspiration!

Lots of good stuff on here, most of which make a regular appearance in our house too. Kedgeree is another favourite with both DC and very quick: fry chopped onion in butter, add some curry powder and turmeric, then chuck in cooked rice, lemon juice and flaked smoked mackerel or smoked haddock, cook until everything's hot, serve. Not in the least authentic but very tasty!

Fake pizzas work well with us too. Basically glorified cheese on toast but with tomato based sauce (I freeze in batchs - tinned toms, onion, grated carrot, maybe squash or beetroot). Top with tuna, sweetcorn, anything you had that they'll eat.

Mine actually love tinned mackerel and sardines. I do these with pasta.

If DH and I have stew (slow cooker staple - DD hates it), I make leftovers into mini pasties. They love these.

This is a nice and helpful thread. All too often, a thread that starts like this turns into a boast fest about how some posters' DC will eat anything and everything. Or about how we should all, always, be eating the same as our DC.

Mine loves soup thanks to her old nursery so leek & potato soup, kale & lentil, fish chowder, etc
Baked sweet potatoes with tuna sweetcorn
Jamie Oliver fish pie with the spinach and tomato in it
Fish fingers, peas and corn
Salmon, potatoes & vegetables

We're in a rut though and are trying to introduce more variety. This is made more complicated due to various dietary complications which reduce the range of meals eg no dairy, no gluten and no meat.

You're doing great!

I find it massively stressful cooking while looking after 2 young ones so cut some corners - I vary the veg accompaniments to fish fingers etc to make it more exotic, I use sweet potato chips in place of normal ones. And I batch cook one meal every week, putting 3-4 portions in the freezer. That means that I generally have a casserole/chilli/fish pie meal etc from the freezer about 3 times each week. Then stir fry one night. A rice dish another and wing one other night. I try not to cook anything that doesn't freeze!

Also meatballs, jacket potatoes and chilli, salmon pasta, are all easy and quick.

More good suggestions. I'm going to go through this thread tomorrow and note them all down properly.

I did try rice with peas and egg but DD1 didn't like it and got a bit fed up with me insisting she tried it properly. DD2 liked it to start with and then liked chucking it around more. So not massively successful, but DD1 agreed that she would try it again as a side dish to a chicken drumstick, rather than the main even, so all is not lost.

Oblomov - we only eat adult meals with the kids at weekends because on weekdays they eat lunch at school or nursery and they're usually ravenous for tea by about 4.30/5pm. Neither me or DH want to eat our dinner at 4.30! So they have tea together and me and DH have dinner later. On a weekday, if plans allow, we'll eat lunch together, or plan an early dinner (for us)/slightly later dinner (for them) so we can all eat together.

I'm sure that's the same for lots of families. When they're a bit older and can eat later, we'll eat together more, I'm sure.

main *event that should have said in last post. Dur