Easy toddler meal ideas while struggling with pregnancy sickness and heat

[Goodenoughmummyme]

Please lovely people of mumsnet can you help me. I am 7 weeks pregnant, recovering from food poisoning and in the throws of morning sickness living in 35+ degree heat in Paris. The issue is my toddler, I have gone from cooking a wide range of healthy meals from scratch (lamb tagine, lasange, ragu, shepherds pie) to barely being able to pull together anything more than chicken nuggets and chips in the evenings - husband works long hours plus I've chronic migraines on top of the sickness so I am really struggling to get to the shops or to plan ahead for my son. I just feel like I am failing him. Its worth mentioning he's a very picky eater so tends to favour saucy pasta, meatballs etc - though he will eat broccoli, sweet potato.

My question, please in your infinite wisdom could you suggest go to easy to prepare and cook meals? The part of my brain that used to meals plan is fried from the nausea and im barely eating myself. So sorry for the woe is me post but am desperate and worried about my son's nutrition.

Get your husband to batch cook a load of the food the toddler will eat at the weekend (or do it together if you feel better) and just get one of those out to defrost for dinner each day. Do a months worth or more so this isn't a concern again for a few weeks.

In the meantime, carry on with whatever is easy, pasta and sauce, chicken and potatoes etc. That's fine for now.

I'd also recommend (and I know everyone hates this term) a picky plate i.e. don't worry about creating a meal just put something from each food group on a plate and be done with. It's just as nutritious served like this as when presented as a cooked meal.

You are asking too much of yourself OP, take it easy! I don't know what age your toddler is but in this weather (or other days were the energy is low) i do 'monkey platters' . My kids are older and still love them (they call it Party Plates). Usually i make them a plate with things like almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, dates/dried apricots, fruit and raw vegetables, a few slices of cheese and rice cakes/toasted slice of whole wheat bread..
When they were toddlers i obviously made it suited to what they could eat safely. I am sure your LO is a more adventurous eater than mine so maybe add thing like houmous etc?

Take care of yourself OP. You're growing an entire human!💪

Cassegrain ratatouille, pasta with butter and some mozzarella balls for protein and fat- easy and not too smelly.
Could you pop to Picard or get a delivery for frozen veg and bits. I like the pre prepared Mexican vegetables and beans from there you can heat those with microwaveable rice and some grated cheese on top.
My kids really like the stars and dolphins from the kids section too and they have no additives they also do some pasta meals in the kids section that I’ve never bought but they look reasonably balanced nutritionally.

This.

My DC loved “pick and mix” in the summer when little.

In Paris you also have the benefit of some amazing local food shops 😃.

I’d just put out things like sliced apple/strawberries , halved cherry tomatoes, raw carrot sticks and hummus and some nice chopped up ham slices/chicken a bit of nice bread/breadsticks and cheese cubes.

It’s not better because it’s “cooked” or “assembled”.

Just make sure you have covered the main food groups and job done.

Oh and actually the example i gave could also be something you could eat without feeling too nauseous? I would probably add something like a boiled egg with avocado or piece of salmon of you can handle it. Hang in there!

I have a 7 and 3 year old and don’t cook in this weather. I just put out a mix of the following items, and they choose what they want:

Cooked chicken (you can roast a chicken then leave it in the fridge)
Tuna mayo
Ham (you can buy nitrate free here)
Boiled eggs
Sourdough toast/rolls
Cold slices of pizza
Pasta with pesto
Coleslaw
Fruit - melon, grapes, tangerine, strawberries etc
Veg - carrot sticks (can buy these pre chopped), corn on the cob, cucumber, sticks of pepper
Yoghurts/frozen yoghurt with blueberries
Cheese slices

None of it takes more than 5 minutes (except the chicken) and once you get used to stocking up it’s easy to get it all on the table with minimum fuss.

Thank you everyone for such speedy and reassuring responses. I'll admit im very early on my mum journey and tbh it didn't really occur to me to do a "picky tea." Thanks also for the reminder about Picard (great french knowledge there from the poster) - I will hunt for some back ups on their kids section. Its all just gotten on top of me and I think mental health is also spiralling a bit and causing me to focus on what he is and isnt eating - my toddler is 2 by the way, and has always been a challenge to get food into since we offered him a carrot at 6 months old haha. I appreciate you all x

Awww hope you feel better soon. I had full blown hypermesis when DD was 3. It was such a struggle and food you can decant and just put on the table will be your friends here. Here you can buy preboiled eggs, precooked meat, bags of carrot sticks etc - I would stock up on things like this if possible.

OP, my kids lived on 'bits and bobs' plates until they were way past toddler years! It's a good way to get all sorts of food in them. Easy, and guilt-free. Faves in our house were: corn on the cob, pitta and hummus, corn cakes and nut butter, whole mange tout or sugar snap peas. Blueberries, strawberries.
My kids liked little bowls of frozen peas as a snack! Or buy peas in the pod and show your toddler what it looks like to pod them and eat them raw :)
Don't worry about what he eats each day - think about what he eats over a month/week and you'll see that he's having a good varied diet overall.

Hope you feel better soon OP and you also might find “picky” meals suit you as well insofar as having “bits” in the fridge you can eat as you feel able.

Don't be so hard on yourself op. Pasta is easy, scambled eggs, omlettes, spaghetti hoops and toast. If you can manage it batch cook some breakfast muffins or spinach and cheddar muffins, mine always liked them. Also toddlers love a " picky plate" , fruit, rice cake, cheese, crackers etc. Also yogurts are good to, protein and dairy.

Batch cooking is great. Just freeze little pots.
my toddlers favourites are - sweet potato and beans, chilli, noodles, soup and bread, boiled rice, pesto pasta and beans on toast. Honestly she’d eat beans every day.

Hey ladies,

Hope it's okay to jump in, but it's pretty relevant, especially for OP.

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Hope to chat to some of you there.
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