What do you feed your 2.5 year old?

[Nikster11]

Hi,

I'm looking for ideas about what to feed my 2 year old for dinner. I work full time, and sometimes just don't have the time and energy to cook a nice, exciting meal.

Could you throw some ideas at me please??

Thank you!

Every now and then I batch cook just for my toddler so I've got a store in the freezer of stuff just for her for when we don't all eat the same. I'll do tomato or Bolognese pasta sauce, beef stew, veg curry kind of dishes, split them up and freeze. Because her portions are small I get loads of meals! I also keep pre chopped potato, sweet potato and carrots to go with dishes for her.
Quick meals to make fresh:
Pitta pizza - half pitta bread with tomato puree, cheese and pizza toppings grilled for 5 mins. She loves to help!
Omelette - any filling.
Banana pancakes - 1 egg, one banana. sometimes also add mashed sweet potato and/or spinach.
Pasta with cream cheese, peas & ham.

'baby led weaning cookbook' app has lots of good ideas :)

Salmon goes down really well with the two year old I look after, I spread a little bit of pesto on it, wrap it in foil and bake for 20 min. I serve it with a baked sweet potato (prick it with a fork and microwave for five min) and some broccoli. If you cook two pieces of salmon, you can save one for the following day and make a salmon pasta dish.

I batch cook.
Fish pie, spaghetti Bolognese, veg curry, veg chilli, risotto, Shepard’s pie.
Or omlette, scrambled egg even tinned sausages and spaghetti and mash (microwaved potato and then scrapped out) if we’re short on time.

He eats the same as us. Today I pan fried some salmon, with rice and vegetables left over from lunch. Yesterday was meatball pasta ( with tomatos, carrot, onion, mushrooms, celery). Friday was prawns stir fry with veg, and plain rice.
I don't plan meals ahead, and just fry together some sort of protein and 2 types of veg (whatever will expire first), then add rice/pasta/noodles/potatoes.
When I am tired, I just microwave some frozen veg and heat up a pizza or fish fingers etc.

He eats most things and doesn't care whether the dish is new to him.
He does care about the cutleries.

Rainbow omelette (grated peppers, carrot, spring onion and cheese)

Shepherds pie (or put mix in a cupcake mould add a smiley face on top instead of mash)
Spag bol
Tagliatelle with garlic prawns
Chicken casserole
Sausage casserole
Roast chicken
Fish pie
Salmon with a splash of soy sauce and rice
Boiled egg and soldiers
Chicken stir fry
Spelt crackers, cheese, fruit slices picky tea
Fish goujons and rice
Tuna meatballs and spaghetti
Vegetable lasagne
Soup and homemade crusty bread

Honestly I would just feed them whatever you’re eating yourself. So much easier! If it isn’t possible for you to eat together i’d portion out some and put it in the fridge for the next day so they end up having what you had the previous night.

Amazing! Thank you so much for the ideas everyone!

Unfortunately, she has a dairy intolerance and so I make her meals separately as everything we eat seems to be covered in cheese or contain cows milk etc.

I will get cooking some of the above ideas with dairy-free alternatives.

Thanks very much

My quick dairy free kid meals are:

• Beans on toast

• Omelette with home made wedges

• Meatballs (ready made) and pasta

• Stir fried chicken with noodles and veg (all to be eaten separately - kid won't have them mixed together)

• veggie sausage and mash

• salmon or chicken fillet with rice and veg