What does your 3-4 year old LOVE to eat?

[DustingOffTheDynastySuit]

DS - now 3.5 - went through a really quite fussy phase, where he was fairly limited to chips, things that went with mash (fish fingers, sausages), thinks that went on bread (toasties, eggs, beans, sandwiches), very occasionally something with rice (one particular type of curry, but never homemade, sausage casserole on a good day). He also ate home made fishcakes, home made chicken goujons, and any of the above that came out of a packet. He outright refused pasta.

It wasn't a problem to get good nutrition into him - he'd eat protein, carbs, some veg (peas, sweetcorn, roasted parsnips, sometimes carrots), as much fruit as he could get his hands on, eggs, cheese etc - but it was getting a bit inconvenient and repetitive. A bit high in processed pork too (he LOVES ham, sausage and bacon).

He has now decided he loves stir fried noodles, and the other day I managed to smuggle some peppers and mushrooms into them. He will now eat home cooked pasta, although not at school (to be fair it does look rank). Under duress he'll eat lasagne, and yesterday he ate Spaghetti Bol, despite complaining he didn't like it at all he cleared the whole bowl. He also polished off a plate of roast dinner with beef and yorskhires on over Easter.

Frankly if you'd have told me he'd eat that a year ago I'd have laughed in your face.

So, looking for inspiration of other sure-fire hits in your house to capitalise on this!

SO far thinking about quiche, omelette (both refused outright previously), fish pie, maybe some other curry recipes. Not sure the food DH and I eat is particularly suitable - lots of pasta with strong flavours like chilli, onion, rocket etc - so I'm not going to start there.

DD is less fussy, although much less keen on meat.

Macaroni cheese (with lots of veg in) is my 3.5yo favourite.

Quiche has gone down well. Anything with cheese or fish really.

Can you zone in on a favourite food and develop around it? That's how o try to get new foods tried. He'll eat anything if there's chorizo in it. But chorizo is a bit of a treat and not soemthinf id give him in other contexts so I guess he realises that it's the only way he'll be getting some.

So maybe try some stuff you can add bacon to? Risotto, pies etc.

Also I know it will be said a thousand times and you maybe aren't looking for this kind of advice (so apologies if this is irritating) but honestly I find all eating the same thing at the same time is the single best thing to combat fussy eating.

Mines deep into his fussy phase, and like yours would really like to live on bread and processed pork.

My eldest is adventurous with food and my 7 yo getting more so (he would eat everything til he was 3 then did the fussy thing for 3 years...) so in all honesty I just serve a family meal and nearly 4 yo mostly has to like it or lump it. I do a lunch time meal primarily aimed at him at least twice a week though.

The surprising and healthy thing that DS2 likes is home made soups - obviously they are an easy way to feed him veg. I make proper home made tomato or mushroom or veg soups but his ultimate favourite is MILs recipe - which turns out to be peeled and finely chopped potato and carrot cooked in stock cube stock - that's it My older two will eat it too, so I make it sometimes when I only have the kids to feed, though it's not something I'd put in front of anyone else!

He also likes a good jacket potato with beans :o

He probably leaves 8 means out of 14 totally untouched, but he eats apples and carrots between meals and isn't under weight... so I'm mainly ignoring, esp as I've seen ds1 go through the same long, long phase and still come out the other side the second tallest child in his class :o

DS1 (3.6yo) is coming out of his fussy phase, and is pretty much eating everything now, apart from stuff like chicken nuggets , fish fingers, anything that's standard "kids food" in many pubs and restaurants.

He loves curry, although I always make it mild as that's all I can tolerate. He'll eat pasta in any form, cottage pie, casseroles, soups, and has finally started enjoying roast dinners.

We have always eaten the same meals since I really can't be doing with cooking separate, and when he was mega fussy I just put it down in front of him, then let him get on with it (or not!) without comment. One of the first things he started eating when he was coming out of the fussy phase was home made pizza. He loved putting the toppings on - was quite often one bit on the pizza, one in his mouth! I try to involve him in cooking as much as I can which also helped him get better at eating.

There are some things he won't eat at home, but will for nursery, like fish pie, or scrambled egg.

Sunday I'm sure you're right but it's not practicable for us. They are in preschool two days a week and come home starving and needing to eat early, with a nanny two days a week and while she eats lunch with them every day she does dinner around 5 to give her time to clear up, and then DH doesn't get home until 7 at the absolute earliest.

We might share a supper at the weekend, but that's the limit of it for evening meals unfortunately.

Thanks for the ideas. Pizza is a big hit with both. He won't eat macaroni cheese although DD would quite happily live on it.

Jacket pots is a good idea, they do like them I just need to get organised to remember to cook them next time I have the oven on.

Soup... hmm. They love Heinz tomato soup. Will see what else might appeal. Parsnip probably (disgusting in my book so doesn't help with eating together, but DH likes it!).

Risotto is a great idea, i cooked it for them as a babies but now I could put lumps of roast chicken and parmesan in I'm sure he'd go for it.

Anyone got any good curry recipes for this age group? I'd really like to get some pulses into them as well might have veered into cloud cuckoo land there

Given he ate spag bol
The other day what about adding red lentils to that? I do mine half mince half red lentils (along with lots of veg) and cook for ages. I really like the texture it creates.

Curry:

Marinate chicken (I use thigh but breast fine) in yoghurt lemon juice tiny pinch of ground cloves, ground cumin, smoked paprika and garam masala and some grated ginger.

Soften some onions then add ground cumin, smoked paprika and garam masala. Add garlic and grated ginger and chopped chilli (optional of spice not a goer). Then a fair bit of ground almonds. Then passata/tinned toms, simmer for a while then add coconut milk.

Grill the chicken along with wedges of lemon and whole chillies (this way you can choose to have chilli on your plate and spice up your meal or not).

Lots of fresh coriander.

It's essentially a tikka masala I think.

I add chick peas too.

What does he think of pastry? I do a lot of pies and pasty type things that go down well presumably because of the safe beige exterior!

Sunday, he would love that I think. He loves squeezing lemon on chicken nuggets.

Logically he should like pastry but is yet to be convinced by sausage rolls. This surprises me too!

I forgot to say garlic in the marinade as well.

And a bit of chicken stock in the sauce if you have any.

Which was the shop curry he liked? I might try it with mine. He'll eat the anove curry but grudgingly claiming it's too spicy (even if I leave the chillies completely out!)

Slight embarrassed to admit this, but it was the Ella's chicken and mango one (the Stage 3 packets), which I used as a sauce to cook with fresh chicken and sometimes a bit more yoghurt or coconut milk. Am sure it's mostly psychological though, about recognising the packet.

Just baked beans, on its own infact, nothing else. Weetabix in the morning, every morning and a mashed banana at bed time. That was the menu for the first 3 yrs of life.

Hahaha! There I thought you were going to say Patak's Korma.
Does he like it because it's sweet maybe? Could do a chicken and mango curry of Your own design.

My DGS is not quite 3, but adores cous cous .
I make it by gently frying shallots and cherry tomatoes in oil, while the couscous is cooking ( I make it with a veg stock cube and a knob of butter) add sweetcorn/ peas and tuna .
Takes about 6 minutes!

How about tomato soup? Grated carrots, onions, red lentils, passata (pureed tomato), cook for half an hour, blend till smooth. Maybe add a tea spoon of sugar if needed. Really good with cheese on toast

Mine are sometimes fussy and sometimes not. Dishes that have not (yet!) been refused are
spaghetti and meatballs (mix mince of any kind, we use pork or turkey, with a good handful of parmesan and brioche breadcrumbs, roll into balls and chill before poaching in sauce of onion, carrot, courgette, basil, tinned toms, knob of butter and tsp of sugar, simmered for 30 mins before whizzing);
homemade pizzas where they do their own toppings, roast dinner with yorkshires (they eat so much veg when with a roast);
homemade chicken breast nuggets and coloured mash (green broccoli, orange carrots etc);
tomato risotto with peas prawns or chorizo.
Other dishes are a bit more hit and miss but my two are also mad for pork based things like chorizo and sausages and would eat anything containing them.

my 4 year old loved sausages so he has them in pasta bakes with loads of veg added he hasn't noticed it yet I do him sausage and mash with beans or vegetables its hit and miss if he eats the veg. He also loves fruit which I suppose is a bonus considering how he is with his veg.