please share - what do you feed your toddlers?

[rachelgreen]

I'm running out of ideas of what to give DS (17mo) to eat for quick easy meals. He eats what we eat for meals, and I do freeze portions for when we're having takeaway / lazy tea etc. but I'd be really interested to hear what you feed your toddlers to get some fresh ideas. i'm pretty much covered with all types of pasta, stews, roast dinners, casserole type meals, but any suggestions most welcome.
TIA

have you tried fishcakes, frittata, quiche?

ooh the fishcakes, I'll definitely try, but I just can't get him to eat eggs of any kind at the moment.

fish curry
spag bol
chilli
cottage pie
meat balls and spag
pasta and pesto for a real quickie tea
chicken with couscous
salmon and lentils
the list is endless

TBH my DD eats exactly the same as we eat and always has.

Lunch is either soup (when it's cold) sandwich, pasta, salad (cheese or ham)

Breakfast is more of a challenge and she has either museli, fruit and yoguart, toast or anything else that tickles her fancy that particular morning.

just realised you specifically wanted quick. Well I suppose that's how you define quick because I could have most of them cooked in about 20 mins.

Lentils you can cook before hand and just reheat.

oh yes, noodles go down a treat.

tofu in with noodles/veg or veg/pasta/pesto
salmon hash
tons of lentilly stuff
my ds not so keen on meat, though ate a little burger yesterday

I make pancakes with veg in, they do pretty well

am going now before I make myself hungry

I have 3 children and DD3 is 22 months.

She loves haddock fishcakes (Tesco do some nice ones with potato, cheese and leek). I also do reloaded potatoes - baked jacket potatoes, scoop out the inside, mix with cheese/beans/tuna/cream cheese and then put the filling back in the skin; she loves scooping it out.

She also likes cheese on toast, buffet lunch (breadsticks, cheese cubes, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, ham, cocktail sausages etc), scrambled egg and soldiers, beans on toast.

My 6, 2.5 and 10 month old all eat the same thing these days, pretty much.

Some favourites are:

Apple & chicken balls with jacket potato and corn on cob / veggies

Pitta bread with falafels, houmous, cucumber, tomato, bread sticks

mini naan breads made into pizzas they decorate into faces themselves with veggies etc, like red pepper strips, mushrooms etc

boiled eggs & soldiers

chicken stir fry with or without sweet & sour sauce adn noodles

mini chicken and veggie home made pies with puff pastry lids

rice and veggies and with our without meat

picnic type teas/lunches inc chicken drumsticks, cheese & crackers, soft cheese and breadsticks for dipping, prawns, cucumber, sarnies cut into shapes, veggie scotch eggs, veggie sausage rolls, bits of smoked mackeral

omlettes

DS is 17mo too. He will eat most things except salad. Things not mentioned which work here:

omelette made with cooked brocolli & chopped fresh tomato, topped with cheese
cous cous with some combination of chickpeas/roast veg/passata
fishcakes
falafel
samosas
sardines in tomato sauce mashed on toast

DS also just getting into sandwiches which is something of a relief after having to produce two cooked meals a day. Cream cheese and chopped dried apricots is his fave at the moment.

He also loves soup (sounds mad!) and thankfully is happy to take this from a large spoon from me. Courgette, pea & potato with fresh herbs went down very well.

My son is 12mo, and he loves:

meatballs
curry and rice
vegetarian sauasges (grated carrot, grated courgette, egg and breadcrumbs and fry!!)
Spag bol
lasagne
cottage pie
sausage and mash

ooh the list is endless. I got an annabel karmel bk out of the library and her recipes are really quick, and I got a few ides from it!

Very quick fish pie - mashed potato (if you cut into small chunks may well only need 10 minutes cooking) add some tinned tuna/salmon (I use the one in Spring water as less salty). Serve with whatever veg your dc will eat - e.g. a few carrots sticks popped in to cook alongside the potato.

Also quick cheese and potato pie; as above and add grated cheese. If child prefers finger foods leave the potatoes in chunks and either sprinkle with grated cheese or small chunks of fish.

Hummus dip with pitta bread or potato wedges (oven baked or steamed/boiled if in a rush) and veg to dip. Either cucumber, carrot etc, or cooked veg if preferred.

oh thanks so much, lots of ideas here!

rachel I always think if you see something written down as a "recipe" - like some of us have done here; it looks more like a "proper dinner" rather than a few oddments you have chucked in a pan.

I am saving this thread for more ideas, I think all of us get stuck in a rut at times.

My two favourite quickies are:

couscous with bits of chopped chicken/ham, leftover veggies, scambled egg... or whatever's in the fridge

mashed potato with veggies, chicken, cheese, ham or whatever's in the fridge (is there a theme?) - then lightly fried so the outside goes a bit crispy

scrambled egg and baked beans or spag hoops with some toast on the side

oh yes and pizza-toast - basically some toast with tom puree, grated cheese and whatever meat/veggies are in the fridge on top - then popped under the grill for a few minutes

love the cous cous ideas, that'll make an easy lunch for both of us. just started him on spag hoops, i don't know why i haven't tried beans yet, and the pizza toast sounds great too. thanks.

beans and toast
scarmbed egg
stir fry chicken strips,onion,veg, noodles
mashed potato
rice and stir fry vegs
home made soup/pasta sauce

soup is popular here too, we like the convent garden leek and potatoe one

cauliflower cheese, though tbh i never know what to serve it with

corn on the cob, bulks out a snack to a meal

soup is popular here too, we like the convent garden leek and potatoe one

cauliflower cheese, though tbh i never know what to serve it with

corn on the cob, bulks out a snack to a meal

i make soup/pasta sauces freeze them.oh and cheesy beans(add any ole cheese)

and lentil spag bol is a fave

corn on the cob
omelette with veggies in it
scrambled egg on toast
tinned pasta on toast
beans on toast (a theme here?!)
spaghetti bolognese
pasta with plain tomato sauce
fish fingers
chicken nuggets and chips
pizza
lentil soup
butternut squash soup
leek and potato soup
tomato soup

there you go....the sum total of what my 2.5 year old will eat....