Meals for baby, toddler and me - rescue me from my feeding hellllllllllllllllllllllllll

[oliveoil]

Have decided that I am not making separate meals anymore for my two. Dd1 is 2 years 9 months, dd2 is 11 months (tomorrow!).

At the mo I do dd2's food which I am not that bothered about but I am not doing anymore for dd1 - some days she eats it some days not and I am buggered if my only spare time is going to be spent slaving in the kitchen for her to turn her pretty nose up.

So. I need quick, easy to prep/cook meals for 3, 4 if dh is about.

Please help as I threatened a mutiny yesterday and said she would be on cheese butties for the rest of the week. Or omlettes.

Ta

x

I have been thinking along these lines too.

some meal suggestions that you can all eat:

spaghetti (sp?) and cheese
spag bolognaise
shephards pie
mince stew (mince, all spare veggies in a gravey, yummy with potatoes)
pasta and cheese
cauliflower cheese
cheese and potato pie (mashed potato, grated cheese - mix together and bake for about 45 minutes)

You could cook the mince dishes in bulk and freeze.

I've given my pair (3.5 and 19 mths) real comfort food which my Mum used to make for us ... mince fried with some onion & garlic and a tin of heinz/campbells tomato soup chucked on top (if it's Campbells you'll need to add the milk/water as per the directions). Serve with veggies and mash. Absolutely gorgeous and leftovers freeze well too.

tuna melt - white cheesy sauce, tuna, pasta and whatever veges we normally have mushrooms, onions, very finely cut up green/red/yellow peppers, sweetcorn, peas.

dd has been eating our food since 6mths sometimes she eats it sometimes she doesn't.

Risotto is another, cook risotto rice slowly in very diluted stock and then add slightly precooked veges like stirfry ones and chicken or a salmon fillet.

We tend to chop a bunch of veges up when kids are in bed and then they last a couple of days in the fridge and it makes prepping food a lot faster as it is the chopping and washing that seems to take up lots of time.

Do you all pre-prepare (is that a word?) food or do you cook from scratch all the time? I get in at 4.45pm and feed the girls normally at about 5ish, usually just reheat frozen prepared stuff.

We are tentatively thinking of moving our tea (me and dh) to 6ish from 7pm and all eat together, but I think this will be too late for the baby.

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fish pie (cod in a creamy sauce topped with cheesy mash)

spaghetti bolognaise

shepherds pie

chicken a'la king with rice

chicken nuggets with veg and chips

baked potatoe with cheese and beans

if I am feeling very lazy I sometimes give my two Eggy Bread with a Fruit Salad for desert

We normally cook from scratch.

Baby has a bit of finger food but mainly I spoonfeed her.

Dejags - how old are your children?

I think I am just putting off the inevitable and will have to move our peaceful eating at 7pm, to a madhouse of all eating together grrrrrr.

These ideas are all great by the way, thanks!

x

you could try a baby cookbook: i really like carol timperley's veggie one, stuff like simple palatable curries, lots of bakes, stews, puds etc.
it's veggie, but nutritionally checked out & i'm sure you could add something meaty to the stuff if you really wanted to.
hth

Oliveoil - I just give my two (DD1 is 3.2 and DD2 is just over 8 months), what we've had the night before. I just mash it up for DD2. That way we can still enjoy a peaceful 7pm ish dinner, and give the girls a good healthy, hassle free lunch the next day. Tea time is just sandwiches for DD1 and a bit of mash veg for DD2.

Good idea. BUT dh is a bit of a curry fiend, so not sure. Could maybe add milk to take a bit of the spice away.

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We tend to mix and match when it comes to whether we all eat together. If it's something that the dd's will eat like shepherd's pie ( make at least 2 at a time then freeze any spare ones!) then we eat together. Sometimes I give the dd's plain chicken if we are having a curry. They like the rice, chicken and naan bread and we have the curry sauce too! I sometimes give the dd's a versuo of our tea at say 5pm, then they come back for a nibble when we eat at say 6ish - or at least sit at the table with us and create havoc!!

Sometimes for the sake of our sanity (and our marriage - we eat later when they've gone to bed