What does your 3 year old eat in a typical day?

[ThreeBecameFour]

My dd can be a fussy eater as all little people can be at the age of 3. I end up cooking the same things so it is getting a bit boring. Please can you tell me what your 3 year old eats in a typical day & what their favourite foods are to give me some inspiration?!

My DD today:

Breakfast: Scrambled egg. She makes this with me so that is part of the appeal I think. Half a slice of wholemeal toast.
Lunch: Half a buttered scone (raaa).
Snack: Chopped grapes, homemade gingerbread man (again she made these with me) and cheese.
Dinner: Plain pasta as she won't eat any sauce. 2 peas. Large bowl of mixed blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and banana. Piece of easter egg.

She is also fussy, I feel your pain. She regularly refuses almost everything and just as I start to panic on about day 3 she will suddenly eat her own body weight. Quite good with fruit but won't eat veg so the 2 peas today was a minor miracle for me.

My three year old is fussy too. I sympathise with worry over then eating nothing only to have them eat huge amounts on the third day- sometimes it's like she's taken up the 5:2 diet!
Mine would happily eat fruit and nothing else all day everyday. But she consistently eats pasta- I give it to her with sauce, Bolognese, carbonara, pesto, cream cheese and asparagus, tomato, but she eats the pasta bits and leaves all else. I was very happy when she ate a third of her Bolognese this week. Pasta is my fallback meal if she hasn't eaten any dinners in a few days. I serve whatever I am making and she can eat it or not, but pasta does feature a lot as she wouldn't eat dinner at all otherwise.

For lunch time I am afraid she gets pretty much the same thing everyday. Bread and butter ( she won't eat sandwiches) cherry tomatoes, cucumber, cheese and a yoghurt. It is something she will eat, and as she so regularly refuses the family dinner I give it to ensure she's had something that's not fruit ( I know tomatoes are fruit but I'm fighting a losing battle as it is!) she will also eat beans with bread and butter and sometimes egg and soldiers .

A normal day would be

Breakfast- a weetabix, a banana and juice
Snack- pear or apple. ( both or more if she has come up with yet another way to get to the fruit bowl- previous methods have included scaling and swinging from the curtains, and standing on the dog)
Lunch- bread and butter, toms, cheese and cucumber with yoghurt
Dinner- toad in the hole with peas and broccoli ( she will eat the peas, maybe a bit of sausage)
Supper- warm milk and a bit of fruit cake / malt loaf.

The next day dinner will magically be a pasta dish if she didn't eat the day before - but the rule is the same- eat it or leave it I won't make more than one meal.

Mine eats virtually anything (sorry). Yesterday:

Breakfast: porridge with walnuts and banana
Lunch: salmon fillet and pesto, broccoli and cauliflower.
Snack: cubes cheese, blueberries and a kiwi
Dinner: roast chicken, roast potatoes, asparagus, Yorkshire pudding. Lemon yogurt

Doesn't really like bread but most other things go

DS eats curry, chilli con carne, rice, burritos, lettuce,tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, scrambled eggs, ham, salami, chorizo, lasagne, bolognese, soup, pizza, bacon, sausages ,most fish, any fruit going, bread, cake, chocolate, biscuits and yoghurt.

He won't eat anything not listed above no potato or veg although I put carrot and celery in my bolognese which he does eat but not on their own

I do make stuff I know he won't eat, I serve salad with many dishes or bread and butter. He often tries things but rarely likes them.
I try and make safe dishes 3 or 4 days and other food the rest of the time. I don't fuss over him at mealtimes, if he eats great if he doesn't fine but he does have to sit nicely at the table, and not play with food.
I have 4 DC and it is hard trying to cater for everyone's likes and dislikes all the time without cooking loads of different meals.

Mine is not fussy (sorry) but appetite does definitely wax and wane which can be irritating at times.

Today
Breakfast- piece of toast, glass milk, grapes and jarlsberg cheese
Lunch- baked beans and toast, apple
Snack- pear
Dinner- salmon, carrots, new potato and corn on cob. Yoghurt

No day is typical with my 3 yr old and food! Today has been an eating day and she has had:-

Pre-breakfast (at 6am when I was up feeding DD2 and she just couldn't wait)- 1 banana and 1 satsuma
breakfast- large bowl of porridge and honey
Then she ate 1/2 my breakfast so had 1/2 slice of thick homemade toast and peanut butter
snack 1- apple
snack 2- babychino and marshmallows
lunch - 2 portions of pasta bolognese
snack - bar of chocolate at a friends house (far larger than I would give her normally so she was delighted! )
tea - nearly a whole ball of mozzarella cheese, 5 butter oat biscuits, 10 cherry tomatoes and a small pot of grapes. 2 glasses of milk

The other extreme is that she will only have a few mouthfuls of each meal. The food doesn't seem to make much difference as long as it is fairly familiar some days she is just hungrier than others!

favourite main meals are:- spaghetti bolognese, chilli and potato wedges, fish korma and rice, fish tagine and cous cous, tuna pasta, meatballs, sausage casserole, prawns with rice and peas, prawns with spaghetti, garlic butter and peas, kedgeree and paella.

favourite lunch/tea- hummous, beans on toast, broccoli pasta, crackers/oat biscuits and mozzarella cheese.

she will eat lots of other things too but she doesn't particularly love any of them. I am yet to cook anything with chicken in it that she has been very fond but if she hungry then she will usually eat what i put in front of her. She will only categorically NOT eat melted cheese, soup, anything even remotely spicy, avocado and shop bought pesto - which is annoying as they are some of my favourite things!

Ds is 4 but its not changed a lot since he was 3.

Today he has had

Salmon and egg muffin for breakfast
BBQ chicken pasta for dinner
Enchilada for tea

Some mango fingers and a cheese scone for snacks

Today:

Porridge made with milk with honey and blueberries

An organix oat bar

Left over lamb and aubergine bolognese with cous cous, a petit filous, a satsuma

A small banana

Avocado on toast, a cherry tomato, a bit of Brie. A glass of milk.

Mine is infuriatingly fussy.
Today though she was really unwell and actually vomited poor little pickle so I have to cut her some slack.
She ate 2 pieces of white (grrr) toast (one Vegemite one peanut butter)
A cup of apple juice
Apple & raisin bran muffin (she picked out and ate all the raisins- I ate the rest)
Red grapes
2 dry crackers
A banana
A slice of pizza (I know )
Plenty of water.

Favourite foods:
Pasta (I blend in vegetables to the sauce) she will not eat any non tomato based sauce though
Pizza
Corn (on the cob)
Chicken
Beef
Sausages
Fish fingers... Oh the shame.
Noodles (we try to do stir fry but she picks out vegetables or worse pushes the whole plate away and has a breakdown)
Rice (loves rice. Plain rice. Sometimes I try to fry an egg in and add some peas and corn... She picks the peas out or again... Melt down)
She does not usually eat eggs.
Can sometimes get her to eat wheetabix.
She also eats baked beans.
She will eat chips but not potato
Loves most fruit (apples, banana, strawberry, orange, grapes)
Bread (but won't eat sandwiches!)
Likes grated cheese on top of spaghetti sometimes but won't eat cheese on it's own, unless occasionally a babybel.
She sometimes eats yoghurt but only petite miam. No other brands. Have tried everything.
My usual meals for her are either pasta or casserole style meals where I can hide vegetables and blend all into the sauce. She is pretty good with spice and will happily eat a mild curry.
She really prefers food she is 'familiar' with. We have bought her some Mickey Mouse multivitamins which we use as 'bribes' (for example if she tries a new food, she gets a 'special treat')

My DD yesterday

half a bowl full of rice krispies with milk.
2 pieces (about 1 inch each) of fresh pretzel
the sausage from a sausage roll
a left over fairy cake from DH's birthday the day before
a glass of milk
a slice of toast, eaten infinitely slowly
a handful of grated cheese

I'm going completely mental and am thrilled giddy to find this thread. Dinner times are the worst worst worst parts of my day, with DD picking and DS (10 months) wolfing and then wailing because he's bored and stuck in the highchair. But if I take him off, DD won't eat at all. I would pay someone actual cash just to come in 3 times and feed my children so I feel your pain

Today dd had

1.5 weetabix with banana and milk
Cheese and cucumber sandwich on seeded bread with hummus on the side
Apples
Stir fry with Turkey mince, baby corn, pak choi and carrots and teriyaki sauce
Yoghurt and banana and some chic milk

She was awful around1.5 but is pretty good with different food and trying new thing now.

Mine used to be awful but she's getting much better -

Typical day:
Breakfast - Pancakes or scrambled egg on toast
Fruit - pears, grapes, strawberries
Lunch - Hummus wrap and veggie sticks, salmon avocado on rye, soup and oatcakes.
Dinner - Roast chicken or spag bol, dahl and rice. pasta pesto, fish and chips
Snack - homemade flapjacks or muffins

Mine tends to be a bit picky and so does her brother, sometimes they can be fine and just wolf it down but yes I resort to bribes to get my children to eat. I don'y know what else to do

Yesterday

Breakfast - Bagel with Nutella (I know BAD) eaten at the speed of a snail
Lunch - Scrambled egg with wholemeal toast and some tomato's (she ate the bread and the tomatoes but not the egg)
Dinner - Fish Pie (mash potato eaten off the top and a small bit of fish

Snacks - Mango strips, Banana, home-made fruity flapjack. Hummus and carrot sticks ( i say this but realy she just ate the carrots)

My DS is another good eater, and will eat pretty much anything, as long as it isn't spicy. He loves cooking and often helps out in the kitchen so that probably helps.

Yesterday he had:

Breakfast: a big bowl of porridge with apple, cinnamon and dates and a small piece of chocolate chip brioche
Lunch: a roll with soft cheese and cucumber, some tomatoes, a Babybel, a few mini cheddars and some more cucumber pieces. That was followed by a yogurt and an apple
Tea: filled pasta with a cheese sauce, peas and peppers, followed by a small bowl of Angel Delight