Food/menu timetable

[Lollipopslife17]

Hello all, I am wondering if anyone is got and can share quick, simple recipe balanced diet kids meal timetable for a week with me. I am a disabled single mother of 2 (age 7 & 4), and I am currently struggling as I never know what to feed them as they are very picky. HELP ME PLS I am feeling like a failed bad mother

You're not a bad mother! Feeding kids can be difficult, especially if they're fussy.

There are tons of online resources for meal planning with kids - I've linked a few useful ones below. They focus on healthy meal plans for fussy kids

www.myfussyeater.com/category/meal-plans/

www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/seven-nights-healthy-budget-family-suppers

www.eatingwell.com/article/291114/7-day-healthy-dinner-plan-for-picky-eaters/

Sorry my first two links have smushed together a bit. There's a myfussyeater one and a bbc one there.

Can you say what they are fussy about? It maybe easier for people to suggest individual meals that would work rather than find a plan to fit the fussiness.

Yes please can you tell us what kind of fussy they are - what foods do they like and what will they not touch? In particular are there any fruits/vegetables they will eat, and do they eat any/all meat, and what about cheese, eggs and milk?

Also what's your weekly food budget (roughly)?

Oh my, they don't eat a lot of things/food. They only like
My eldest 7 year old son likes
potato waffles, fish fingers, cheese (nibbles & grated cheddar in a wrap) boiled & fried eggs, apple juice, coco pops, crunchy nuts, bagel,

My little 4 year old daughter likes
Oat porridge, bagel, coco pops, yogurt, rice

These are the only things they eat

This is harder than I thought! Will they try new foods because for the little one particularly I’m not sure there are many meals that can be made with the only ingredients being rice and bagel!
What happens if you go out for lunch or to friends?
Will your older ds eat rice? I’m wondering if egg fried rice could be the next step? What does he have for lunch at school?
Have you tried cooking with them?
I’m thinking pizza bagels perhaps?

@AtleastitsnotMonday glad someone else is saying it is hard as I am beginning to go crazy. They don't eat when we go out but my son tend to eat his sch lunch most of the time especially when he sees other kids eating. Egg fried rice? Bingo thanks

Actually hold on to the fact the your ds will eat lunch at school, some kids get really phobic about food and would literally only ever eat the foods you listed, I think there is definitely hope!
Maybe try and get him on side. Sit down with him on his own, say you are really worried about what the little one is eating and that you want his help to try and improve his diet. Work together to work out a really simple menu and ask him to role model, be really brave and enthusiastic to help his brother. Say you might need his help in the kitchen to do this. I’m thinking macaroni cheese, basic pizza (use bagels as a base if the familiarity helps, even if little one ends up with cheese on toast that’s a massive step.) maybe homemade burger served in a bagel, try threading things on skewers chicken cherry toms etc the stick is a distraction. If older ds eats fish fingers fishcakes have to be worth a go, if you make your own you could eventually start hiding veg in them. Try to play it cool (ha ha) and offer afterwards regardless of what has been eaten. it may change bugger all for the little one but I think it could help your elder ds. Good luck!

I agree, it's good that he eats a good lunch every day, with that and a solid breakfast you can be confident he's unlikely to starve even if dinner gets rejected. I'd give them whatever they'll consistently eat without stress (within reason) for breakfast - so porridge is great, coco pops is fine - hard boiled eggs are good so maybe you could make a batch once a week and he could have a boiled egg and toast/bagel a few mornings a week?

If your DD has lunch with you then again stick to what she likes. Give them both nice big glasses of full fat milk or milkshake made with real milk if they will drink that, they will get lots of nutrients from the milk.

Then dinners is when I would try and gently introduce a bit of variety. The key thing is for you to not get worked up about it as they may pick up on your stress and get anxious around food themselves or act up around food knowing it pushes your buttons. If they reject what you've made, then calmly remove their plates, maybe always have some bread and butter available on the table alongside whatever else you are serving so there is always a part of the meal they'll eat.

Like Atleastitsnotmonday says, I'd build on the things they do like and gradually add a few new elements. So if they like cheese, try cheesy pasta? Then if they find they like pasta, you could try different sauces on the pasta, e.g. creamy cheese with peas and ham, or tomato sauce with blended veg? Dippy eggs and toast could be another good one, and from there you could move towards beans on toast, peanut butter on toast etc? What about sausages or nuggets, most DC like them, you could try chopping up small to start with and eventually they could have sausages, waffles and beans?

None of this is super nutritious and I'm sure would make the organic home-made quinoa crew go but I believe in starting with baby steps, get them more confident in trying new things and at least expanding their diet a bit. Bear in mind that they may reject one day what they ate the other (they're fickle at that age!) but no big deal, just keep trying and I think you'll find gradually they do increase their range. As a child I survived for a good few years on bread, tinned spaghetti and milk only, and am now a healthy adult who eats anything, so don't despair!

bacon and potato bake?

thinly slice potatoes and layer then in a dish with bacon, pour over some chicken stock and then sprinkle cheese. Bake in oven.

If there are any vegetables they will eat i.e peas or sweetcorn, you can throw them in there too. Its mostly the cheese on top that will convince them!

Pizza bagels is a great idea, get them involved by spreading the tomato paste/sauce, then sprinkling on cheese, bacon, ham, sweetcorn etc - can have a competition for the best design etc

I would actually suggest slightly a different approach. I have an incredibly picky 5 year old, who seems to only genuinely like 'beige' food, i.e. white bread, egg white, yoghurt, cereal, porridge, pasta, some fruit and veg, sweets and treats. Yes, a carbivore.

The only thing that actually worked in the end was talking to her about being healthy and taking her to the doctor's, who also talked about the importance of eating well. I also ended up using bribery of sorts, not with food but screen time.

No TV, iPad etc unless this bit here is eaten/tried etc, depending on how 'exotic' the item was. Now she eats home made breaded chicken, omelettes, some meat, wholemeal bread, home made pizza etc. Still doesn't like many things but has learned to just swallow and get on with it. I keep the amounts reasonably small, no point of freaking her out with a mountain of something dubious. This is all followed by lots of talk how she is being healthy and she often asks 'is this healthy' before eating something.

We have far less tantrums now too.

How are you getting on Lollipop? :)

That is hard with such limited choices. Is there any scope to offer breakfast and dinner that they definitely like and then experiment at tea time? Then you know they have eaten but hopefully they start to try new things?

My dd was very fussy for a long time and until I was "harsh" and stopped giving her alternatives nothing changed. When I eventually did stop pandering as much (she still had what she liked at breakfast and lunch) she slowly began trying much more. She eats almost anything now.

Do they not eat any veg or fruit?

What does your son like best at school lunch. Could you re create it at home?

I had 2 fussy eaters. I didn't force or encourage them, I just quietly gave them what they would eat but also put a very small spoon of a different veg or carb or fruit on the plate and then left it. Did the same every meal. Eventually they usually tried the extra thing, but I never commented. If they started to eat the thing, then I started to serve it too. Some things have never worked. My son has had 4 peas on his plate for the past 12 years, he invariably leaves them (he's 17 now! ) but he does now eat corn ,carrots, broccoli, mushrooms etc. and is well over six foot.

Give them a good multi vitamin if it would help allay your fears.

My friend is an NHS dietician she recommends building on from what they will eat. If they eat potato waffles then will they eat potato in another form? chips, mash, roasties, potato cakes etc what happens if you add in a bit of gravy? and she says you must never show annoyance at food wastage if you say try a different cereal out. Don't worry too much if the food is not that unhealthy it's just better to get them to start widening their range.