Perfect meal planning/ snack routine & young kids

[Soggybiscuits17]

My children are 5 & 2 and I've never been consistently on top of meal planning/ meal & snack times. I'm starting to realise that routine is key to all of this.. So for those of you with a perfect routine and young children - how do you do it?
Would love to know what time you eat, if you eat together, when you offer snacks and generally what is on offer? Many thanks from a slightly lost mum!

@Soggybiscuits17 I only have one child currently who is also 2. When we are both at home we eat all emails together generally.

Breakfast 7.30ish (porridge, shredded wheat, Weetabix on rotation!)

Snack about 9.45/10 something small like cheese/cucumber/breadsticks.

Lunch together about 12 (used to be earlier when she napped but no nap now) - sandwich, fruit, crisps, scrambled egg etc.

Snack about 2pm (rice cakes, pepper, cucumber, milk brioche roll with peanut butter, milk)

Dinner together at 5pm (we all eat the same).

She's been a bit more hungry lately afternoon but it try not to give her too much after 3 so she's hungry for dinner. She has recently started asking for frozen peas or raw sugar snaps which are ok just before dinner if she's hangry as don't fill her up too much!

Ours is not perfect at all with a 3yr old & 1yr old but we do a routine 4 days and a relaxed 3 days per week. Just cuts down some of the mental prep the 3yr old is less resistant to food when she knows what to expect. So mon- thurs theres only shreddies & banana on offer for breakfast, every mon night we have pasta & veg, every tues night we have jackets & veg… all snacks are fruit or savoury. Then Friday we often have pizza dinner but on the sofa, and Sat/Sun we take more time over / are more flexible about food. Just an idea to start with if the idea of a full on routine is too much.

I think it highly depends on your circumstances. I think we have got meals well sorted, but both DH and I are part time and he works from home 3 out of his 4 days a week. Neither of us have to leave at the crack of dawn for work. We both really enjoy cooking. We plan all meals and shop for the exact ingredients weekly. All of this makes a big difference. If DS is at home (ie not the 2 days he is in nursery/at PILs) we eat with him.

Generally breakfast is simple midweek - overnight oats or cereal that we all eat together at about 7:00. Weekend might be something more fancy, eg pancakes or eggs. DS will have a small snack at 10ish - maybe a bit of cheese and a cracker or half a banana. Lunch is at 12 and is usually quick as he doesn’t tolerate being ignored for too long : jacket potato/omelette/scrambled eggs on toast/vegetable pancakes are all hits. Bigger snack at 3ish. Tea is at 6 and is always something cooked. Risotto/curry/gnocchi/pasta bakes are common. We tend to cook evening meals on a Sat/Mon/Wed as that’s the days that suit us - they always do us for at least 2 nights. We are big believers in leftovers and would no way have time to cook every night. We tend to get a takeaway on a Friday as that’s a nursery day for DS.

We started being super organised to save money on maternity leave but actually it’s been really helpful on going back to work. Like you say, a predictable routine is everything.