What does your 4 yo eat?

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Need some inspiration as I feel like I'm cooking the same 5-6 meals a week.

What nice things does your 4 yo like to eat? DD is semi-fussy but pretty good with strong flavours.

TIA :)

Mine ate whatever we were eating at that age. I didn't make anything special for them. So bolognaise, curry, lasagne, pasta sauce, fish, whatever really.

5-6 meals! Your doing great! Ds is a pain and will only eat raw carrots, raw peppers, houmous, cheese string and crisps. Sometimes he will venture into toast and eats dry cereals. Drinks pints of milk.

No meat, no cooked foods except pasta and pesto:( I figure when he starts school he'll either starve or stop being fussy

Anything but pasta and raw veg, only in soups (hence lots of soup making).

Fusspot, for tea he eats carrots, chips, pasta, mash, mince. Precious else.

During the week DD eats dinner earlier than us so we tend to make something just for her. On the days she is at pre-school it is a lighter meal, like cheese on toast, as she has a proper dinner there.

At the weekend she will sometimes eat the same as us but usually it's the same combination of fish fingers/sausages/chicken with potatoes/rice and peas/broccoli. She likes pasta with pesto sauce, tomato soup (but no other flavour) and can sometimes be cajoled into eating lasagne/spaghetti bol.

It's a no to stews, other soups, curries, anything that looks too "complicated" on the plate. She will eat things at pre-school, like pizza, that she'll never eat at home.

DD is very fussy and always has been. She'll eat, mash, spaghetti, pasta, cheese, toast, yoghurt and fruit. Nothing else unless I hide it somehow in the above meals and has decided all by her 4YO self that she wants to be a vegetarian

I would say 5-6 meals is fairly good going too!

DS1 will try most things, but is very fickle and what he happily wolfs down one day will be rejected the next. I tend to batch cook and freeze the usual suspects (cottage/shepherd's pie, lasagne, bolognese sauce, homemade fish fingers, fish cakes) and give him what we're having the rest of the time. Homemade pizzas are usually a safe bet and can be made to suit more than one child (different toppings in different areas).

If you're looking for inspiration I like the 'River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook', the 'Busy Mums Cookbook', 'Cooking with Coco', 'Dear Francesca' to name a few.

It is very tricky though and I would say you're doing pretty well already!

DS is 3.9 and is quite fussy/suspicious of new things so we've got into a bit of a rut too.

He won't eat rice at all and pasta is very hit and miss. Normally he will have veg with his meals - I use a frozen mix of carrots, cauliflower, broccoli. He veers between eating all 3, disliking one or only eating one (usually carrots - they're a constant) With this he'll have chicken nuggets/fish fingers/sausages/salmon/burger/steak/pork chop. Sometimes I'll do potato waffles too, and he likes baked beans.

One off meals are mini pizzas from tesco (I usually put veg with those now as well) and sometimes he will add his own ham, sweetcorn or peppers on top. Spaghetti bolognese, or a version of Chicken Arrabiata I made without the chilli, although he won't touch that now. He did also like chicken in a chicken-tonight type sauce but has stopped eating that, and stir fry.

He'll happily eat McDonalds (of course!) and KFC (DP introduced him to this!) but won't eat oven chips cooked at home.

Well, I am a little heartened, but think we could do better if we tried a bit harder.

Chicken in a bland-ish sauce might open the door to curry in the future, at the moment she's deeply suspicious of sauces, especially if they have lumps!

Come on, where are all the mums of little darlings who eat squid and anchovies and olives and pancreas??? Or do they only exist in my imagination?

Well my 3.6yr old eats olives, prawns, squid. He loves nuts too.
He doesn't like veg apart from carrots and peas. Won't eat soup either.
Will eat anything else although can be fickle. We give him our usual meals. Won't eat hot food although will eat spice in the form of samosa, mild chicken curry etc.

Pancreas? Mrs Lecter's son Hannibal perhaps?

My DS is one, and I'm just nosing to see what's in store, so can't be a help. He loves pasta sauce made with sausagemeat, and pesto risotto, both of which are good for hiding veg, if that's any use?

My 3.5 yo eats basically everything...even broccoli which I hate. Only thing she wont eat is eggs. No seperate meals, just whatever we eat.

Starting to think shes abnormal. Every child I know is picky except her.

Whatever we're eating, but with a lot less salt.

Curries, stir fries, pasta dishes, sausages and mash, chilli etc, etc.

Any vegetables, including things like seaweed. She's not too keen on mushroom, but will eat them if they're part of a meal. She's mad on houmous at the moment.

Never been a problem eater and will try anything, so that makes life easier.

My dd who is 3 loves this egg pizza thing I make. You basically fry up some mushrooms and put them to one side. You then whisk 2 or 3 eggs with some dried oregano or italian herbs and make an omlette base, cook it until the bottom is golden then pop under the grill to cook the top bit, smear with equal amounts of tomato puree and tomato sauce mixed then top with mozzarella, mushrooms, ham...whatever. Its mega quick and fairly healthy and always gets demolished!

My 3.5 yo DD eats most things. She isn't "keen on" mushrooms but will eat if she can't set them.

Omelette is a favourite and a good one for getting veg in.

Chicken curry made with korma paste, apricots and plain yogurt is adored.

Doesn't like pesto or cheesey sauces much but anything else on pasta is fine.

Loves fish but not bothered by Fishfingers or fishcakes. Prawns, calamari etc are all fine.

All of a sudden she likes roast dinners with lots of gravy.

The more I involve her in cooking the better the mealtime is.

Unexpected - at 4 my DS was one of those incredibly adventurous eaters, much more so than I am - he would happily try mussels, squid, prawns etc etc.

I appreciate we were very lucky but he just ate whatever we ate ......... (except for baked beans) it wasn't really until he got to school than he began to get a little fussy, but not too bad compared to some of the stories you read.

Like SKiBum's DD my DS loves fresh fish but refuses to eat 'school type' fish meals and won't touch the roast meals at school, says they are not 'real' meat - probably true. He now takes packed lunches to school as he's become a bit of a food snob !

Anything and everything just about. She hates pastry though, unless covered in custard at nursery.

I found nursery really helped her with sauces as she wasnt keen. Have you spoken to nursery?

I found that having the only rule is you have to try everything on your plate has helped too. Often it's then eaten. If yuck and spitting it out is tge answer then it's still a positive because she tried it.

Little Unexpected will not eat egg in any shape or form, v. irritating.

Or mushrooms,which are my very favourite food.

Korea recipe sounds good, wil try it this week :)

Korea? Korma!

From memory, the faves with my wee ones (4, 3 and nearly 1) include;
chicken curry
lasagne
spag. bol
pizza
shepherd's pie
tuna pasta
baked potatoes & fillings
toad in the hole
thai curry with sticky rice
veggie noodles
veggie risotto
carbonara
spaghetti & meatballs
sausage goulash with couscous
macaroni cheese / cauliflower cheese
beef stew & dumplings
stir fried rice
chicken casserole w/ couscous

We also have a few 'quick' meals like eggy bread which we need for certain days when we're back late and kids are hungry. You don't need to tell her they've got egg in them!

Just a wee thing about eggs...they are not digested well by little ones and so they tend not to like them. So while they may be fussy, this could explain the egg thing :)

ONMF - she'll eat stuff at pre-school that she won't touch at home, they are miracle-workers :)

With the chicken tonight sauce thing, he had it first at a relative's house (who he adores) and they told him it was gravy.

DS1 eats meat (chicken,beef,steak,lamb) but only if plain, pasta, roast poatoes, waffles and rice, peas, carrots, brocolli, cauliflower, banana, apple, strawberries, raisins, cheerios and bread (dry), yoghurts, cheese. Will eat nothing if it is in sauce, touching other foods .

At pre-school they ask them to give the food a kiss even if not eating, tried that at home, he had eaten some new things doing this