What quick and easy meals do you make for your toddler when not eating with you?

[Bumperlicious]

We all normally eat together and DD (2.5) has what we are having, but now morning sickness has hit my eating habits have become more suspect so sometimes she will have to eat on her own.

What quick and easy meals do you make for your LOs when it is just them? She is a bit of a fussy bugger too, so fish fingers and the like don't cut it with her, and there is only so many omelettes and pasta pesto the poor girl can eat!

My standby is individual portions of "hidden veg" sauce in the freezer, which DS gets with rice/pasta and chicken/sausage/quorn etc.

Thanks cyan, that's a good idea, do you mean like a tomato sauce with veg in it?

8 minute jacket potatoeswith any sort of topping, beans on toast, quick fried tofu and veg, cold smoked mackerel and veg, tortilla wraps with any filling,we usually have some cous cous etc in the fridge from dhs lunches so any of that with cheese and tomato.

But mostly picnic meals where its a real hodge podge but all the food groups are represented ahem...

I usually have a big batch of tomatoe sauce with hidden veg too, i lightly fry onion and garlic then add mushrooms and peppers and a carrot or whatever veg ya hav fry for a few min, then add a tin of chopped tomatoes cook till all veg soft blitz... I usually add a handful of sweetcorn after iv blitzed as they like that, i use it like that with pasta of various types (sometimes i add a spoon of pesto or two triangles nd laughing cow melted through to make it really creamy) or added it to cubed cooked chicken or prawns and served with rice or mash pot or have it thinned out as soup, its so easy its a must for my fridge. Yesterday i used da creamy version (which had peppers aubergene & corgette hidden n it) added to a bag of quorn mince and some sweet potatoe chips also works great as a 'sloppy joe' n a burger/hot dog bun or pitta wit some grated cheese on top... Hth

Sorry tomato and potato without e's

Beans with toast
Pasta with parmesan cheese
Omlette
Tin of soup
Ham sandwiches [perenial favourite], raisins, cucumber, tomatoes.
Boiled eggs and bits and pieces.

Scrambled egg with cheese through it.
homemade potato wedges with cheese and salsa or creme fraiche
pizza they do their own toppings, sometimes let them do the bases too. Depends how messy I can be bothered with
tortillas with hot or cold filings, ham, chicken, cheese, corn, pineapple, coleslaw
toasties, paninis with similar fillings
pasta with homemade sauce tomota sauce and I just chuck in a bit of whatever else is lying about in the fridge, peppers, corn, onion, little chunks of meat or DDs faves, fresh mozarella dropped in at the last minute so it's all gooey.
DD2 loves most things but sweet potato. DD1 similar, they do eat fish fingers occassionally and I do homemade chicken strips etc but most stuff is pretty quick and easy if its just for them or the three of us. DH not as much of fan of mini toasties

French toast (eggy bread); wholemeal bread cut into shapes with biscuit cutters (I do elephants). Dip in beaten egg and milk, and fry in butter. Dust with cinnamon and serve with crispy bacon.

Humus and crudites

Rice and peas cooked in chicken/veg stock

Brocolli cheese - steam brocolli til soft. Make up a white sauce with cheese and nutmeg. Mix with brocolli - serve with bread and butter.

marmite sandwich as thats what DS prefers, folowed by a piece of friut.

pesto and cheese quesadilla

use wraps, dry frying pan, smear on pesto, grate on cheddar, fold in half like omelette, flip over takes 2 mins.

also do it for DS (6) as well as DD (3) when he has after school tennis with a 30 minute turnaround for tea before going out again.

raw veggies on the side natch

Pasta, cream cheese and peas (+ salmon if I feel extra protein is called for) is the much too commonly served store cupboard fare in our house; thankfully DS never seems to tire of it.

Omelettes of course with cheese / onion / tomato / mushrooms / peppers, take your pick.

Cheese on toast with beans.

Pitta bread halves filled with grated cheese (carefully, i.e. keep them upright as they descend) toasted in toaster.

Cous cous served with quick tomato / veg sauce or peas and chunks of fresh tomato if it's a major hurry.

How about bulk cooking a couple of times a week and freezing home made ready meals so all you have to do is microwave them. Many of these are our grown up dinners, I just make lots and then put mini-portions aside before adding salt.

I find the following freeze well:
= meatballs in tomato sauce and pasta
= smoked haddock fish cakes (mashed potato with smoked haddock and peas added)
= sausage and bean casserole (just freeze mini tupperware pots of grown up dinners)
= beef stew

my ds1 loved and still loved potato rosti
grate a peeled spud, pat dry
heat olive oil in pan (a decent amount) (heat med)
drop in the grated spud and shape into a patty with a fish slice, fry until golden then flip and repeat
drain on kitchen paper
chop and cool
mine love it
also chicken breast, with yoghurt and korma paste, marinated and baked then chopped, with cucumber and a toasted wrap...
you can bulk make the chicken too...

Hi Bumperlicious. We're the same as you and try to eat together whenever possible. It's just not always possible though is it?

Tonight I had to do DS's separately (as I fell asleep on the sofa - I'm pg too - and was too late to make dinner for us all). I did pasta with a little butter and a spoon of grated parmesan stirred through it. Broccoli on the side, and he wolfed the lot.

Another good one that goes down well is one of those frozen fish in butter sauce portions, flaked up and mixed with rice and peas.

Otherwise I do what cjn27b does and freeze portions of larger meals for future use. I also make more of a sauce that I need and freeze portions of that for serving with pasta.

DS is a pain in the neck and has gone off baked beans, spaghetti hoops, fish fingers and pasta pesto. GRRR.

My DS loves gnocci which takes less than 5 mins to cook. I sometimes do a cheese sauce with some bits of broccoli in but he's just as happy with some grated cheese on it or maybe grated cheese with some tinned tomato/onion/garlic style sauce.

Scrambled egg with some cheese with baked beans.

Quorn with some tomato type sauce with some veg mixed in.

Beans on toast.

Thanks for all the tips, I will give some of them a try (though without too much hope as she is generally pretty fussy - eats very little veg , not even beans!).

Eggy bread is something that I hadn't thought about, will make a nice tea for me too!

I base my "hidden veg" sauce on Annabel Karmel's (only thing I cook out of that book) which is garlic/onion/carrot/tomato as a base plus a selection of pepper/courgette/mushroom/leek/whatever with a tsp each of sugar and balsamic vinegar and a chicken stock cube for flavour. Cook much like Poohbearsmum describes.

Liking the idea of adding cheese triangles for a creamy sauce - will give that a go!

I keep a bag of frozen mixed veg in the freezer - you can get good quality ones and they are actually just as good if not better than "fresh" as they are frozen when freshly picked which means they retain more nutrients. It is much easier than preparing loads of veg, having to remember different cooking times, etc.

I do these with sausages, chicken nuggets, fish cakes, veggie burgers, etc.

Also reheat portions of frozen food, chilli and spag bol and casseroles work well too.

Or just someting on toast - beans, cheese, scrambled egg etc. Can always do fruit for pudding if no veg in meal. Cheese on toast I sometimes spread very thin layer of tomato puree and add a few bits of whatever we have in - mushrooms, peppers, leftover chicken, etc, which makes it into a sort of quick pizza.