Fussy toddler friendly - batch cooking meal ideas

[OneDay1234]

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas for meals I can batch cook for my 3 year old. She is incredibly fussy :( will only eat pizza, pasta and chicken nuggets currently. I batch cook a hidden veg pasta sauce to get some veg into her but she is getting bored of it. I've tried so many different meals and she resists any new things, but I am determined not to give up.

I know people will say she needs to eat what we eat, but me and her dad both work full time, and he has to get dinner on the table for her as soon as he gets home, and he is not a great cook! I don't get home from work until she is already tucking into her dinner and her bath is being run. So I need some batch cooking ideas.. something I can do at the weekend and her dad can grab from the freezer and whip up quickly after work.

Thanks in advance!

I feel your pain with a fellow fussy eating toddler. Try getting yours into soup. Mine loves dipping his toast in and by some miracle will eat any soup I put in front of him as long as he has toast to dip. Also another hit I’ve had are homemade fish cakes, which is literally mashed potato, tuna, mashed carrot, mashed broccoli and mayo. Mix it all together then dip in flour, egg and Panko breadcrumbs. Both of mine go crazy for any version of these. Apparently anything in breadcrumbs is a win.

Could you buy pizza bases, and use the hidden veg sauce as the tomato layer? And maybe increase the toppings slowly?

If she eats nuggets, would she eat fish fingers? Or home made nuggets - we make one with cornflakes. So fresh rather than processed chicken?

Basically, take what she will eat, and either make it healthier, or widen her taste by offering something very similar.

My DD was a good eater until 4 then became quite fussy. She's nearly 6 now and much better again and getting a bit more adventurous. It's quite common at that age but it should get better.

Bangers and mash?

What about chicken curry? I blend up onion, garlic, ginger, tinned tomatoes and a cooked carrot. Then add some mild curry powder and coconut milk. Sweeten with a bit of brown sugar if needed and season.

Does she like Bolognese? If so she'll probably like chilli as well. Mild obviously but easy to get the hidden veg in.

My DD also likes tomato and basil risotto and paella.

Does she go to nursery?

Thank you so much for the ideas everyone! Love speaking to fellow parents of fussy eaters, makes me feel like I'm not a failure!
@Nosleepforthismum that is a cracking idea. I have tried a tomato and red pepper soup for her before but she didn't like it eye roll.. but that was a good year ago now. So I might give soup another go. Easy to make and would probably do a few freezer meals.
@SnowsFalling yes that's a good idea! We have made our own pizza's before and its great for a weekend, it's just these midweek meals that we need done in a few mins that are killing me at the moment. But increasing toppings is a good shout, perhaps we could get further than tomato sauce and cheese one day haha.
@Illpickthatup yes a chicken curry sounds like a batch cooked winner! She has tolerated a curry before so perhaps if I make a few portions up she will accept it into her usual dinner rotation. Bolognaise was a no go, she gagged last time she tried it. I think it was the texture of the mince because the taste was lovely if I do say so myself! If she would just eat it, that would be a fantastic batch cooked meal for her. Thanks again for the suggestions. I'll try bangers and mash too.. fingers crossed! xx

DD won't touch the stuff now, but when she was a toddler, I used to make "red pesto" for her.... basically, a huge vat of roasted veggies including tomatoes - so usually tomatoes, butternut, onion, aubergine, courgette. Roasted with some garlic and olive oil. Then I'd blitz it in the blender with some cream cheese and a bit more olive oil if needed. Sometimes I'd get super fancy and add some walnuts!

That was then "red pesto" and it froze really well in convenient portions with pasta.

If she'll eat regular pesto, adding some peas or corn to the pasta when it's cooking and then topping with some quickly fried bacon or chicken breast slices can be good (although not batch cooking - more "cook in 10 minutes" cooking)

What about meatballs if she won't eat bolognaise? In a tomato sauce, they freeze well.And you can always up the nutrition with additional blitzed veg in the sauce?

Sausage casserole? Mine don't really like the casserole bit but I just give them the sausages if necessary and keep the sauce for the rest of us!

The sauce for this freezes well www.yummytoddlerfood.com/5-ingredient-butternut-squash-mac-and-cheese/

Dd loves these without the spinach www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/toddler-recipe-sweetcorn-spinach-fritters

These are eaten well if the cauliflower is cut very small www.srnutrition.co.uk/2021/04/cauliflower-macaroni-cheese-bites/

Just remembered these savoury flapjacks I used to make dd for lunch www.myfussyeater.com/savoury-carrot-flapjacks/

And this normally goes down well realfood.tesco.com/recipes/chicken-katsu-with-extra-veg-sauce.html - the sauce freezes

Just remembered another that I made a few times last year https://www.myfussyeater.com/hidden-veggie-sausage-rolls/

I would still go with making her what you eat for dinner. But have it be from the night before. Ours have almost always eaten late as we both work, so dinner has been 6:3/7/730 when they were toddler. But when eldest was quite little and I felt pressed for time, I'd save her back whatever we had for dinner the night before and re-heat for her if she was eating earlier.

So then she got normal varied meals, no convenience foods, and no one had to cook two meals.

When we made something for dinner that wasn't suitable, like a spicy chilli or curry, I had extras in the freezer, like spag bol, or lentil soup, or we'd make an easy thing like a jacket or scrambled eggs with toast or a mini pizza with raw salad veg on the side.