meal ideas for 18 mth old

[howiloveanicecupoftea]

Hi can anyone give me me ideas for my 18 month old please. I'm after both hot cooked meal ideas and cool sandwich type ideas. Thank you!

My 18mo DS is a fussy thing who won't touch 'undisguised' veg. We have most success with all-in-one meals like fish pie, spag bol, cottage pie, mild lentil curry - all with as much veg as I can cram in. Will usually make a big batch for a family meal at the weekend and then freeze leftovers in individual portions that I can whack in the microwave when I need a quick meal for him.

If i need to rustle something up really quickly, scrambled egg with tomatoes or couscous with tinned mackerel and sweetcorn are my go-to meals-in-5-mins.

Cold meals I find harder to make healthy - it's normally a sandwich and some fruit here. I can sometimes sneak grated carrot into hummus, but he is getting wise to it. My standard non-perishable meal on the go is rice cakes with peanut butter and a babybel.

For dinner you can try and eat at the same time and he/she can just have whatever you're having.

In this house we have toast and porridge as the only breakfast options. Yoghurt, cheese, breadsticks, fruit (halved grapes mostly) as snacks.

Lunch time is when mine is most likely to be eating by himself so this is when he would be having his own meal rather than just eating wharever I'm having.

Here's some of the things we do:

• 1 egg mini omlette sliced into fingers, with peas, and ketchup for dipping. Takes about 3 mins to make as I do the peas in the microwave!
• Sandwiches : cheese and marmite, cream cheese, peanut butter
• A selection of little things such as cheese slices, ham, fruit, small piece of bread, etc.
• Leftovers from our previous dinner such as macaroni cheese
• Tinned stuff like spaghetti hoops or tinned ravioli with toast
• Soup and bread. Good way to sneak in veggies. Messy if they insist on spooning it themselves!
• Mini pizzas made from halved breakfast muffins topped with some tomato sauce, passata or puree, grated cheese, herbs and whatever finely chopped veggies or meat you wish to add. These actually taste really nice and I end up eating them too...

Yes, cheese features heavily as my toddler loves it.

Breakfast here is always a banana and toast/waffle.
Lunch is normally pasta and grated cheese, cheese on toast and cherry tomatoes or a small selection of bread, cheese, tomatoes, fruit, eggs etc
Dinner is normally with us. Best successes are cottage pie, sausage and bean pie, pasta bake.
If we're having something I know she won't eat then it's normally pasta with pesto or fish fingers/chicken nuggets, chips and veg.