Quick toddler dinners

[CuriousEgg]

What are your go-to weekday recipes for toddler dinner. I have about 30 min between finishing work and pick up to make her a meal.
I like giving her something i can scoop in to a bowl and give her a spoon to eat while she watches Duggee (yes, i know - dinner in front of TV is not a great habit 😬) and i get bath time set up.
Ive got about 3 on rotation that are healthy and quick enough for a week night but… my god, i feed that child too much pasta. Need more variety.

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Hope this helps! MNHQ

I used to do DD a sort of creamy smoked haddock, leek, spinach and cheese concoction that she particularly loved. Can easily be made in advance, thrown in the freezer and reheated with a few baby potatoes and peas to go with it.

No need to defend your parenting!! Your DD is obviously happy, fed and loved - that’s all that matters

Omelette or fritata are pretty quick
Cheese, courgette and pepper quasedila.
Baked lemon and herb cod with rice, broccoli and green beans
Cous cous with peas and sweet corn and haloumi

Chicken and spinach pasta
Cheese and mushroom quesadillas
Salmon stir fry
Cod, oven veggies and rice
And of course, if all else fails, fish fingers, chips and spaghetti hoops

My go to was always a “goody plate”, cheese, carrot, hummus, apple boiled egg, prawns, basically lots of healthy bits.

Pre cooked rice packets with tomato sauce and peas/ courgette/ spinach.
Pearl barley instead of pasta with any sauce.
Cook a chicken breast on Monday and it can do for a few days added to quick meals.
Potato salad or just plain potatoes boiled on the weekend and reheated.

Vegetable fried rice www.healthylittlefoodies.com/vegetable-fried-rice/

Sesame chicken noodles www.myfussyeater.com/sesame-honey-chicken-noodles/

Pitta pizzas are also easy to eat in front of the tv realfood.tesco.com/recipes/ham-and-sweetcorn-pitta-pizzas.html

Just make extras from your own dinner the night before and reheat. Why anyone makes kid specific meals is beyond me

Lower salt content, less spice, different dietary requirements, I could go on. It’s hardly rocket science to figure out why

LOVE these suggestions. Thanks so much everyone. Quite a few that are good whole family meals too!
i swear sometimes the hardest bit about organising dinner is just thinking of what to make. I will be bookmarking this thread.

I had a book by Annabel Karmel which I used a lot when DD was little.

Karmel

My kids love a picnic tea - sandwich, chopped up fruit and veg, crisps or crackers, cheese, ham.

We also do a creamy pesto pasta. Cream cheese, green pesto and some water mixed together to make a creamy sauce, chuck in sweetcorn/peas/chopped up ham and pasta and it's done.

Sometimes we do just have cheesy beans on toast or toast and scrambled egg

Leftovers from the night before are the easiest

But things you can make extra of and freeze or whip up quickly: lentil soup and toast, or dal with naan, or cheese taquitos (cheese in wrap, rolled up into a cigar shape and baked for a few minutes) - all of these I usually serve with salad veg on the side, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots.

Also things that are egg based - tortilla, quiche (both store bought), dippy egg and soldiers, scrambled eggs and toast - also get in some added protein that you don't naturally get just from pasta.

Batch make bolognese, chilli etc and reheat
Omelette
Jacket potato with cheese, beans
Picky tea - sandwich, cucumber sticks, cheese sticks, fruit
Macaroni cheese
Scrambled egg
Pizza - my son made one at a toddler group once and loved it pizza base, tomato puree, cheese, any other topping then put in the oven
Pasta with tomato sauce
Beans on toast
Soup and toast

Salmon cooked in foil with microwave rice/couscous
chicken breast and pepper kebabs (with rice or flatbread)
tinned sardines if she’ll eat them - on toast
hot dogs
halloumi and salad flatbreads
sweet potatoes with feta and tomato salad
jacket potatoes with tuna or beans, etc (start in microwave, finish in oven)

"Leftovers from the night before are the easiest"

Yes, whatever the adults had had, cooled very quickly, then chopped/minced,

Mash potato beans and grated cheese

Sweet potato fries and sausages sliced up with cucumber

Picky bits!

Whatever you are eating is fine for toddlers. They really benefit from sitting at the table with you.

Fillet of Cod or salmon, rice and veg
Sausages and new potatoes with baked beans
Spaghetti bolognese
Omelette
Chicken curry with rice and naan
Roast chicken dinner
Spaghetti hoops on toast
Scrambled eggs on toast
Pasta with veg and tomatoes

Cottage/shepherds pie with cook from frozen mince and mixed veg
Jacket potato with tuna, mayo & sweetcorn or beans & cheese
Soup with cheese toastie
Potato, broccoli and cheese bake
Stir fried veg with rice noodles & a peanut butter based sauce
Quiche & salad. Mine goes mad for a bit of quiche and it freezes
Pancakes with fruit or savoury with spinach & cream cheese

Snack bits - pitta, humous, cucumber, ham, cheese, tomato, avocado, carrot and a yogurt for after

Always my favourite type of comment. The ‘...beyond me’ part is just perfection.

🤦🏻‍♀️🙄

Yep. Last nights leftover whatever you had.