Go-to meals for fussy children

[Littlepixie85]

After another evening of my children turning their nose up at a lovingly prepared home cooked meal I am at the end of my tether! They are 4 and 20 months, and eat well throughout the day, eat fruit ok but evening meals are becoming a bit of a battle as they just seem to eat less and less. My 20 month old used to eat everything put in front of him but has become increasingly fussy. So I'm looking for easy child friendly meals that anyone would recommend. They still eat sausage and mash, some pasta meals and some rice meals but trying to find something they both eat is a miracle! Thanks!

There’s some useful advice here: www.seriouseats.com/getting-kids-interested-in-food

I think the most important but I’d advice is not to label it as fussiness and respond as if they are true preferences because the choices and rejections tend to be totally unprincipled in young children. They need to be able to make choices, but they might decide to eat only peas for three meals and then eat anything but the peas at the next. It’s not really about the peas.

Ride this out or regret it for years

Children eat a healthy diet over the course of a year not a plate.

Put a healthy meal in front of them and don’t obsess about what goes in or it just becomes about control

It’s worth bearing in mind tired children won’t eat and getting dinner in front of them pretty early. I’d rather eat at 7 but my kid needs to eat by 5 or she won’t be interested

They eat at 5 everyday, they thrive on routine so we rarely deviate. I'm all for riding it out and letting them pick and choose but seem to have exhausted all my meal ideas so looking for inspiration from other people with similar aged children and any meal winners they have. I usually cook most meals from scratch so looking for things that are easy and quick to cook.

Do you eat with them at 5?

Most of the time yes

Baked potato beans and cheese. Plus or minus beans or cheese - I give them the choice. They can have either or both, on top or on the side.
I do the potato in the microwave so it’s not a slaving over a hot stove type meal. I’ll put a small plate of cucumber slices/carrot sticks out as well sometimes again, they can pick a bit, it doesn’t take long.

Thanks I think I'm doing this tonight! Was a little concerned about veg content, but veg sticks on the side is a great idea. Thank you 😊

@Dyrene

There’s some useful advice here: www.seriouseats.com/getting-kids-interested-in-food

I think the most important but I’d advice is not to label it as fussiness and respond as if they are true preferences because the choices and rejections tend to be totally unprincipled in young children. They need to be able to make choices, but they might decide to eat only peas for three meals and then eat anything but the peas at the next. It’s not really about the peas.

This is such good advice. So many parents label DC as " not liking x" when its just a blip. Just keep offering. When mine were this age they were often too tired to eat a big dinner so I did a hot meal for lunch and sandwiches, pizza or egg on toast. Teacake, crumpets and fruit also went down well.

Oh, and when I say give the choice, I don’t just ask them, I show them & spoon them out in front of them.

depends on how fussy, and what kind of fussiness - there are no universal answers. only tip I have is serving meals in kit form. everything in serving dishes down to the smallest possible component eg chopped herbs or chilli to be added at the end of cooking in their own weeny bowls. everyone helps themselves, and mine will often take a tiny taste of something they've previously disliked, and very occasionally be surprised to find they can tolerate it.

I make my own pasta sauce by oven roasting one of those trays of Mediterranean veg you get in the supermarket, then cover with chopped tomatoes with garlic and then blitz til smooth with the hand blender. Sometimes I add a spoonful of Philadelphia when heating it back up. My DD loves it as it’s nice and smooth and she has no idea it contains courgette, pepper, onions etc.

If they are tired at the end of the day some times even using cutlery can be too much effort! Things like chicken or falafel wraps, quesadilla, pizza or soup (can whiz in tons of veg) with bread or a toasty for dipping, every now and then can work.

My son eats only beige food. He used to be a decent eater but it’s all gone to pot now and I am a shit cook which isn’t helping. It’s chicken nuggets all the way down unfortunately. Plus he has allergies to egg and nuts (I think this is partially why he’s so picky as he does get quite anxious around food, having had a few hospital visits in the past) which limits our options further.

He loves pizza, so I’ve started making homemade pizza dough. It’s much healthier and less salty than anything store bought. Jamie Oliver has an excellent one on his website that my son loves. It’s actually super easy and very hard to get wrong. I make a big batch and freeze it in portions. I use a shop-bought pizza sauce with healthy ingredients but I’m planning to make my own one out of veg when I get the chance. I freeze that too in little silicon trays and defrost in the microwave.

The long term plan is to encourage him to add toppings to the pizza but we’re just consolidating the new bases right now! I’m also hoping to make pizza rolls but I feel like he’ll turn his nose up at them and it’s a lot of effort to waste.

Recipe: www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/pizza-dough/

Next step is homemade chicken nuggets but I think they’ll be a hard sell

I see @AtleastitsnotMonday mentioned quesadillas - we used to love those. So easy and you can disguise veg in them! But now they’re ‘disgusting’ apparently.

Thanks for the tips! Homemade pizza is usually a winner although my youngest sometimes turns his nose up. I do tortilla wrap pizzas for lunch too or as a light dinner which both kids will eat. Think I need to try a few new things, or try some old recipes that were rejected a few months ago like fish pie and shepherd's pie. I'm sure if I add enough cheese it stands a better chance of being eaten 😊

I found the Annabel Karmel weaning book a godsend. Still use the recipes like butternut squash risotto etc
www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/

Never offered puddings if they didn't eat the main... they will eat if they are hungry. Used to leave the food out on the plates and sometimes it was eaten an hour later!

Dear Francesca by Mary Contini also has great family recipes. You can pick up a copy second hand online. Lots of good tips.

All the best. You're doing a great job, I'm sure.

And this always goes down a treat: the-gingerbread-house.co.uk/rice-krispie-chicken/ absolutely delicious.

Oh wow never seen that rice crispie chicken will give that a go! My youngest struggles with meat sometimes so that could work. I do actually use the Annabel karmel book too still, I find the chicken curry is generally a hit, will look in it again for ideas. Although she does advise strange things for picky eaters like a rainbow pizza, my kids are not going to eat peppers and red onion just because it's on a pizza! Thanks for all the suggestions, getting a bit tired of meal planning and thinking of new things that just end up getting wasted (or I have for lunch the next day as food is too expensive to throw away!)

If it works for your routines, you could try thinking of lunchtime as the main meal time to further reduce pressure on the evening meal.

When mine were small one thing that often went down well was salad sticks (plus breadsticks for a serious treat, didn't get them often), with a little bowl each of mashed salmon/mayonaisse, or humous, or both. Particularly useful as a "do you want to eat in the garden today" option when it's warmer!

Lots of kids enjoy the same few meals in rotation, familiar, no surprises. I wouldn't worry about having a really wide range to be honest. As long as it's reasonably varied so they get a balanced diet I wouldn't stress.
Good suggestion to make lunch their main mealtime if they are less interested in the evening.

At this age I always did the main meal at lunchtime and evening meal was more 'tea' like, mini sandwiches, chopped up veg, dips, poached/scrambled egg/baked beans on toast, sometimes even porridge with some fruit. If it was a sandwich and fruit type tea we sometimes had it on my bed upstairs so I could sit with my feet up feeding the baby with an audio book on for the others (aged 20 months and 3). Sometimes everything got eaten, sometimes it didn't.

We serve everything family style on the table so they can choose what goes on their plate. I try to make sure there is a carb, veg and protein element they like. So if we are having curry there will be naan, chicken and carrots. If we are having stir fry there will be rice, prawn toast and broccoli. If we are having lasagne there will be garlic bread, grated cheese and cucumber.
This works well for us. I'm not making something completely different for them, and everything is available if they choose to try it.

I might try main meal at lunchtime at the weekend, it's not so easy in the week as I will have to cook separate meals which I try not to do too much. Like the idea of different food groups on the table to pick at, I think I'm a bit guilty of just putting everything on their plate which might be a bit overwhelming!

@Dyrene

There’s some useful advice here: www.seriouseats.com/getting-kids-interested-in-food

I think the most important but I’d advice is not to label it as fussiness and respond as if they are true preferences because the choices and rejections tend to be totally unprincipled in young children. They need to be able to make choices, but they might decide to eat only peas for three meals and then eat anything but the peas at the next. It’s not really about the peas.

These are great!

Toad in the hole?
Macaroni cheese (you can add cauliflower)
Pesto pasta - you could add tuna or ham?

My 4yo is going through a good phase but I was similarly despairing a few months ago.

Through sheer perseverance he will now eat (after flat out refusing for aaaaages):
Spaghetti bolognese
Chicken curry (I just use a jar of mild korma)
Mashed potato
Fajitas (the crispy chicken one and not wrapped up, but as separate items).

I also get similarly stressed about it as I just want to make one thing for us all and I felt very restricted when he wouldn't eat saucy things, mince or mash!

Good luck they will get there.