Which meals do your children LOVE?

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5yo ds is getting fussier and fussier - he likes chicken (roast, pie, homemade nuggets), pasta with tomato sauce, 'green' soup (courgette, pea, potato), homemade burger/pizza, mashed potato, roast potato.

It's a huge battle to get him to eat anything else and it's driving me mad! He's shot up in the last few months so has got taller but is a skinny minnie and I'd like him to put on some weight.

I cook from scratch most days (or reheat leftover soup/stew) and keep trying new things. I have a db too so it requires some organisation to get a healthy meal on the table every evening - dh is still at work so it's just me and the boys and it's soul-destroying to have him turn his nose up at whatever I've made or start whinging that he doesn't like it.

What are surefire winners in your household? Please help!

He's allergic to fish and nuts, btw.

Oh. I was going to say Salmon..!

I made mashed potato with mixed veg in and called it magic mash and it went down a treat. What works best with my two is letting them help/get involved with cooking the dinner. And keep trying! They don't always eat a lot the first time but the second or third time (took four or five goes for dd to eat pizza but she does now). Familiarity with food, that's my aim.

Oh, and a friend says 'you might like it when you're bigger!' great way of acknowledging their feelings now, but keeping it open. Dd often says 'oh, I didn't like sausages but now I'm bigger I do'

(but your son sounds like he eats quite a variety anyway tbh)

Thanks - he's not terrible, but it feels like most mealtimes are a battle, which I just can't stand. Particularly as 13mo just sits there shovelling whatever it is into his mouth, clearing his plate. Ds loves to help too, but as 13 mo is crawing/walking, I can't spend ages in the kitchen so try to do most of the prep while he's out at nursery and db is napping, and do the minimum when he gets home (apart from the w/e, when dh can help out with db).

I also don't want to force him to eat anything, of course, if he really hates it, but often I think it's just because he wants to get down and play, and just can't stay focused, unless it's something he really loves.

Plenty of parents will be envying the range he eats!

Spag bol is the all time longstanding favourite in our house, and all DS's freinds seem to like it.

But in truth, I would try not to stress about it - DS was very wedded to a small menu at 4 or 5, (having eaten anything as a toddler), suspicious of anything new, but now at 8 has become very adventurous again.

The only meat my daughter would eat for a while was chicken; she moved on from this when I tried her with very nice spring lamb cutlets from the butcher, with the meat cut off the bone for her. They are very tender; the problem with red meat had been the texture.

Otherwise, trial and error: I had one child who liked meat and veg and to be able to see each individual ingredient, and one who would eat anything as long as it was in a casserole, sauce or soup. We'd just about reached the stage where they would both eat most things, when the younger one went veggie...

Take it slowly, don't force, don't worry (especially about him being skinny if he's growing rapidly upwards). Add new things here and there, let him see you enjoy a variety of food, give him nutritious things that he does like as often as poss, and await developments. He has a good diet anyway, it's just a bore for you that it's a bit limited.

Just rotate what he eats already - they don't need variety!

Does he eat fruit, or vegetables when they aren't in soup?

Yes, he eats fruit and veg (not all, but enough). He used to love spag bol, but not any more. It just feels like such a small range of meals - when I'm making him 7 meals a week plus 2 lunches at the weekend, I'd rather have a bigger selection to choose from! Especially as we all eat the same - gets so boring after a while.

Roasts all sorts
cold meat and jacket with salad
toad in the hole
chicken drumsticks with homemade wedges
casserole/stew with rice

Very boring here as well, but I just think it is fairly healthy and I can always do something more adventurous for myself if I want to

Ds is fussy, but likes almost any pasta dish - baked macaroni cheese, chicken and pasta bake, spag bol, spag carbonara, pasta with tomato sauce and grated cheese... He used to only like macaroni cheese, but I started slightly adapting it (adding a veg or some ham for instance)and eventually morphing it into a completely different dish (took many times of trying each dish for him to accept the changes and like somethnig different, but in the end we did get there!).

He also likes homemade meatballs with pasta, so morphed this into homemade mini burgers, which he likes.

He loves sausages and hotdogs (I buy the veggie ones - God knows what Quorn is, but it's got to be better than pig's bollocks!).

Jacket potatoes with various fillings are a new favourite.

He hates eggs but will eat eggy bread or savoury pancakes.

spag bol
no veg or green bits
krabbie patties ( aka waitrose burgers)

cheesy pasta

fried rice
noodls with bacona nd soy and sweetcorn

pancakes

mmm

Chicken fajitas.

Roasted chicken drumsticks or thighs with roasted veg and cous cous.

Chicken casserole.

(they both love chicken)

Pasta and pesto.

Sausage and mash (well, ds doesn't eat much mash but he has a little) and vegetables.

Eggy bread and beans.

Cheese omelettes, chips and salad.

Lovely fishcakes (waitrose do melting middle ones that have a sauce inside yum) and peas or salad.

These are their favourites, I know I won't get any complaints from either of them. We do have other things, natch.

Homemade beefburgers

Homemade fish fingers

Squidgy beef (strips of fillet marinaded in sesameoil and vinegar then wok fried) with noodles

Roast chicken

Soup

lasagne

chicken pesto

chicken thighs roasted with stuffing on the top with potato wedges

Would he like the tomato sauce with something else like cous cous? Or put some chicken with noodles for a stir fry?
Chicken in wraps or pitta bread - maybe with some salad or houmous.

I posted too soon! My DD is very keen on tomato sauce and it is something she likes with pasta/potato/cous cous/rice etc - add a few vegetables and maybe some cheese and its a pretty balanced meal.
She oddly is a pretty hardcore veggie (none of the rest of the family is) and really likes food I'd say is very wholefood tasting - bean/lentil casseroles that kind of thing. One particular favourite is red dragon pie - which is aduki beans/bulgar wheat/carrots/onions, cooked in some stock and flavoured with herbs, soya sauce and tomato puree and is actually rather nice - then topped with potato a bit like cottage pie - but I also give it to her with rice or whatever, some extra veg and she quite happy. Had it tonight with mash on the side, broccoli and sweetcorn. One good 'hidden' veg tip is some well cooked cauliflower mashed into potato - fooled my very fussy DSD.

I think you've got to remember that the huge range of foods available in the supermarkets sometimes makes you feel like you should try and get your DC's to eat all of them. Don't forget when we were young there was very little variety in our diet. I don't know about you but it was the same meal every week repeated according to whether it was monday, tuesday etc!! We all love a variety of foods now we are adults despite our 70's and 80's cuisine don't we?

As long as he is getting a range of the different food groups try not to worry. Keep to the routine and say once or twice a week do something you want to eat. If your DS won't eat what you provide that day then he will survive till breakfast! This is what we've been doing with our DD and happily this weekend she finally tried curry on the basis that we described it as 'indian gravy'.

Mine like all the usual standards listed above. But most of all they like meals that they can assemble themselves. So we have a range of tortilla wrap based alternatives - chicken fajitas, spiced beef mince with stuff you would put into a burrito, a turkey mince one. Also things they can stuff into pitta - marinated chicken or turkey with a salad eg tabbouleh and tsatziki or hummus. That sort of stuff. But I do think your boy seems to eat a fairly good range for a fussy one

Oooooh I love that Cranks red dragon pie Jaynie. Good reminder.

would he eat stir-fry? I have one carnivore one veggie so I do chicken breast strips stir-fried with cooked egg noodles and veg- usually broccoli, carrot strips, leeks and mushrooms, then give them some low-salt soy sauce to add at the table and maybe some sesame oil. The veggie has quorn chunks instead of the chicken. You can add cashew nuts or peanuts if no allergies to them. both kids love that.

Also various types of chicken casserole with couscous. Chicken or veg risotto goes down well.

Any kind of roast or sausage and mash with yorkshire pudding combo. Potato gratin (thinly sliced potatoes baked with cream, cheese and/or onion) with some kind of simple meat or omelette/pastry thing or soufflee goes down very well with my kids.

Also various uses for bolognese sauce - can use it in lasagne/sheperd's pie etc - you could keep lots in the freezer and use a batch each week in a different format.

All sorts of burgers and buns with wedges go down well - chicken, quorn etc

Fajitas, buritos, enchiladas and tacos popular here too - i often put bowls of fillings out and kids help themselves. Same goes for pitta/jacket potato fillings at lunchtime.

Also never met a child who didn't love homemade pizza - same idea about toppings applies.

my DD likes most chicken meals. the ones i try to make often are...

chicken casserole

spicy chicken and rice

chicken pasta with sauce- honey and mustard is a current fave

she will also try most types of pasta meals like

tuna pasta with sweetcorn and onions

pasta bolognese

pasta bake with bacon and chilli

she loves roast dinners especially lamb

she used to be a baked baens and weetabix gal but only recently she has started to try alot of new things

i find making a small amount for her to try (like preparing the meal to freeze and keeping some out for her) helps to push aside any unwillingness to eat what i prepare as she already knows she likes the dinner IYSWIM

it does sound like he is happy to try things and already has a variety of foods (as in he isnt only eating bread or cereal and refusing all else) dont worry as soon you will be going spare as he is eating you out of house and home

if he likes pizza then he'll love calzones, great fun making! my boys love curry also, get some nann & poppadoms to go with it. mushroom stroganoff with rice or pasta. veg lasagna goes down a treat!

Parmesan chicken
Spag bol
Cheese and pesto quesadillas
Sausages - with veg and potatoes or toad in the hole
Homemade pizza and dough balls w raw veg
Fish pie
Shepherds pie
Roast of any sort with all the extras
Meatballs - either beef with tomato and pasta or spicy pork ones
BBQ food mine go mad for

I want to try mine with souvlaki this summer. BBQ some lamb, do a garlicky yoghurt sauce, salad and pitta.

fajitas

I must make enough for a family for 12. not a scrap left.

That reads like I want to put my DC in a souvlaki.

I meant I would like them to try it. Tired. Off to bed.