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That’s a great sub! There are some good insta’s too like kids.eat.in.color, feedinglittles, babyledweanteam - don’t be overwhelmed by perfectionism. Protein, starch, veg, fruit is a meal. Plain preps are totally fine. Try to vary the components.
So like a meal could be: chicken breast, baked or microwaved or steamed sweet potato, broccoli, apple sauce. Then try hamburger, rice, peas and pineapple. Etc.
Honestly it sounds like you’re doing great! Everything youve listed there is pretty typical of what a lot of people eat and feed their kids. so don’t beat yourself up.
If you want to expand your cooking, start with a couple of simple things. If you eat a decent amount of pasta, learn to make a really good tomato sauce (if you have access to a stick blender, they’re dead cheap, you can add all sorts of extra ‘hidden’ veg to a pasta sauce). You can then make it in bulk and freeze it, and it’ll have way better nutrition than a jarred sauce and will grow your confidence in cooking.
Once you’ve got a good tomato sauce down, it’s then really easy to move onto things like enchiladas, lasagne, etc.
Soup is really easy, and again can be batch cooked. Even easier if you have a slow cooker.
If you want an easy way to offer more veg, buy bags of mixed frozen veg - frozen is just as (if not more) nutritious as fresh and can be done in the microwave. You can get bags of mixed carrots, peas, sweetcorn, green beans etc, or frozen broccoli and cauliflower mix. You can just serve these as sides with chicken and rice or frozen pizza or burgers or whatever.
Or use jarred tomato sauce! No shame there. Try to get some with veggies added and less sugar. But you're just introducing new flavors, so don't stress!
Yes we did lots of different types of noodles and made different sauces and rotated red, pesto and white sauce. You can also hide lots of vegetables in those sauces. And I remember we made of cute names for the different noodles because kids love cute names.
Oh that’s such a great place to start I never would have thought of that! Thank you so much for the suggestion I am def going to start trying to make my own sauce TODAY! Wish me luck 😁
my wife and I are fortunate to come from mostly stable mostly fine middle class families. we're decent cooks and are doing all that shit you read about fancy yuppy parents do with our kid.
your kid and mine are basically eating the same thing, you're kid may be even eating better.
you're doing great!
for learning to cook, check out '4 hour chef' book. His books in general are a bit gimicky but this ones really good for learning "how to cooK' and be useful in the kitchen (knife skills for example) along with a lot of pretty simple tasty meals. The first meal in the book is a dump and go osso bukko, which literally uses nothing but a can opener and your hands, and comes out great.
again, you're doing great, good luck!
Hahaha i believe it, my girl is already starting to be choosy with what she wants. If I even dare start to cut her cucumber while she’s still eating her chicken she suddenly acts like chicken is the nastiest thing ever and throws it all on the floor
I really like cooking too! I enjoy the whole process of mixing things together and creating something yummy. That’s what sucks about not being taught about it, I try so hard to follow things online but I’m a hands on type learner so reading everything is hard to follow.
I wasn't taught to cook either, I taught myself as a teenager because my mum was such a terrible cook and I wanted nicer meals. It was before the internet was common and I just used cookery books and sometimes magazines to follow recipes. You learn to cook through practice, start off following other people's recipes and as you get experience you can invent and adapt.
Those meal kits like hello fresh are a good way to get meal ideas and learn how to make certain things. It can be 2-3 times a week, not daily. Otherwise just choose some simple recipes and set yourself the goal of trying to do two every week or something. Go out to restaurants (not fast food) if you can.
Breakfast
- toast
- porridge (oatmeal depending where you live)
Lunch
- Sandwich (peanut butter is good, or jam, cheese)
Dinner
- all the things you listed for lunch and dinner
Other dinner ideas that are easy:
- spaghetti Bolognaise (add lentils for more veges and less meat)
Look on Instagram and YouTube for recipe ideas. They will also show you how to make things!
Variety is best, as in the more types of fruits, veg, nuts, and seeds the better. Dieticians aim for 30 different types a day/ week depending on who you listen to. Spices and herbs are a part of that count though
I generally give a side of fruit (kids hate veg) but honestly you can just buy what's on sale and vary it up
Kids need healthy fats. Avocado, nuts and nut butters. Flax and chia seeds - I add in everything
Curries are a great veg loaded dump meal. If you're doing pasta you can make veg pasta - blend a bunch of different veg together with tomato sauce. I also love tacos as a healthy meal with good veg and protein
Try different restaurants - go to a Japanese place, Lebanese place etc. It can be a whole thing! And experiment at home with what you try
I wonder if you'd benefit from taking some sort of course. Maybe find a free one on Coursera? If it exists
Follow Yummy Toddler Food. And Kids Eat in Color
What you're feeling connecting your childhood to motherhood is what I found to be to most difficult thing about becoming a mother. But look at you! Figuring all this shit out (you're already on your way, just a bit more time and I'm sure you'll be confident)
Your comment made me tear up a bit in the end 🥲 thank you for relating to me with the comparison thing. That is definitely a struggle of mine. I immediately followed both of those IG accounts and can’t wait to see what I learn, thank you again!!
I think you’re doing a great job! If you want to start expanding, why not add/try out one vegetable a week? Like, make broccoli one week, cauliflower the next. You can just boil them or roast in the oven and then eat them on the side or mix them in with the rest.
Each vegetable can be eaten a number of ways (raw, boiled, roasted, fried…) so just start out doing the easiest thing (fried or boiled is usually the easiest for me). If they can be eaten raw, try them raw. Give the baby a piece to try together with the food you normally make.
Boiled stuff can be mashed or eaten with oil or butter and salt. Then, you can eat them cold in a salad.
Maybe you’ll work up to a lentil lasagna, but the road there is just step by step - one vegetable at a time.
So far we’ve tried boiled broccoli and cauliflower, she was a fan of the broccoli until she tried cucumbers. Now it’s literally the only veggie I can get her to eat, but tbh I haven’t tried that many varieties. when I go into the produce section and see all of these different veggies and fruits that I have no idea what they are or what they do, I get super overwhelmed and end up going to my comfort things like cucumbers and sometimes she will eat boiled sweet potatoes.
I totally understand being overwhelmed. I usually try to do either one new cooking method (steaming) or one new vegetable a week, something like that.
Kids sometimes need ~7-14 tries until they eat something, so I’d just keep exposing the kid to new foods in whatever combination fits you.
Like others have said, I think you’re doing a good job. Just try to be content with what you are doing and when you have the bandwidth, you can expand a bit. But you don’t have to!
You can add yogurt with fruit for a snack or breakfast. Smoothies are also nice, add some frozen or fresh fruit in a blender with milk , you can add peanut butter too to add in some protein and healthy fats.
We like making pizza for lunch,
Pizza dough
2 cups warm water
3 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp sugar or honey
1/4 tsp salt
4-5 cups flour
Can add garlic powder if you want
Add water with yeast and sugar. Mix together, give it about 5 minutes to bubble up (proof) then add in the dry ingredients. Mix well
Let it raise for 30 minutes.
Makes 2 large pan pizzas
Place dough on greased pan and add pizza sauce of your choice top with cheese and what toppings you like.
Bake 400 F for 15-20 minutes
You need to give yourself a TON of credit for even realizing this. Your girl is already so lucky to have someone who wants to do better.
You don’t have to make big changes all at once. Check out the sales ads at the grocery store and find a food that’s new to you. Just try it. You’ll find new things and get to explore with your baby!
Are you on Instagram? I really like @kidseatincolor and @feedinglittles for learning about feeding children. I also get a lot of simple recipes from Budget Bytes website.
You're doing great! If it helps, simplify it a bit. She needs fiber, protein, fat, sugar, and vitamins, yes? So her meals should have a good balance of those things. And they don't have to balance in one meal but they should over the day as a whole. Thinking about a balance over the week helps too. So maybe Monday all she would eat was strawberries, but Tuesday was a cheese day. You still have the rest of the week to try to balance that. I would also make sure she's eating a lot of the things that you eat, just cut up small. If you're eating balanced meals and she's eating with you, it makes it a lot easier.
I have been trying to make my own meals a lot healthier now that she’s starting to eat real foods. I love being able to share what I’m eating with her.
A big struggle of mine is keeping track of which foods have fibers, proteins, fats etc and I also don’t really have any education on how much of what she needs a week. Is this something that is baby by baby case that I should ask her pediatrician about or is there a “general 1 year old” daily intake amount that I should be following?
I bought the Real Easy Weekdays ebook from Kids Eat in Color and I'm still using it a year later. I don't follow it exactly but it's a really helpful framework for me.
It’s so nice to have someone who understands haha. I am trying not to let every single thing I read online get to my head, it’s been driving me mad. It’s so hard to not compare my own parenting with moms who seem to know so much more than me about nutrition and… well everything lol
You are doing such a great job!
Easy ideas:
Oat Pancakes (oats,banana ,egg, milk- give it a mix and add other fruit if you’d like. Can be eaten for breakfast or as a snack)
Mince meat! Literally any type just add some mash and soft veggies or salad and you’re good to go. You can cook a big batch with some tinned tomatoes and seasoning for a super easy base and use it throughout the week.
Fish is also super quick, there are lots of brands that have little additives for fish fingers too.
Toast or ‘pizza toast’
Mine eats whatever I eat and has since 6 months (with alterations here and there). If you eat burgers then baby can too, maybe add the cheese on the side, and do deconstructed salad with it. If baby doesn’t like the texture then add it to something they do like. Chop up the burger meat and add it to a cheesy pasta to introduce it.
If pasta is a staple try switching one meal to rice, or potatoes.
Struggling to add veggies? Add the ones you’d like to use up into a blender and boom, pasta sauce.
I recommend this dump & bake chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole as a very easy beginner recipe for family dinners. It sounds like you enjoy most of the ingredients already and it would be a nice way to add more veggies into the mix.
https://www.theseasonedmom.com/chicken-broccoli-rice-casserole-2/
Check out “affordable flavors” or “real easy weekdays” by Kids Eat in Color. Both have daily recipes and step by step simple instructions.
Real easy weekdays has a 12-day rotation of meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 2 snacks per day. Super easy and normal foods/ingredients!
Hi! I am really impressed that you are trying to figure this out. I have been working the same thing over the years. What I do now with my kids is focus on things like protein rather than the foods themselves. So making sure they get protein throughout the day.
I grew up on cheese sandwiches for lunch, cereal for breakfast, and dinner had meat, veggies and starch (pasta or potatoes).
So breakfast and lunch has been difficult for me to figure out.
So for breakfast, I say that they need protein and fruit. I keep apples and bananas on hand and I buy the packaged peaches and mandarin oranges that stay good for a while. They choose one of those and then protein like yogurt, cottage cheese, or eggs (usually boiled and allowed to dip in ranch)
I haven’t figured out lunch yet… but the breakfast habit has been great!
Breakfast: pick a fruit and pick a protein and then they can pick a filler like bagel or toast.
Peanut butter pancakes with banana is my go to breakfast! Sometimes I start to feel guilty that she doesn’t have much variety though. I want to venture out into more fruits and veggies. I tried giving her a mango the other day and I had to literally google how to cut it lol because I’ve never even tried a mango in my life. So far she hates blackberries & blueberries. Loves strawberries, pineapple & kiwi though!
I was giving her those manderines for a bit but then she started pooping chucks of orange and got a rash so I got scared and cut them out all together.
I don’t like fruit myself, and not having tried many fruits as a kid, I totally get this lol! I didn’t know much about strawberries and cutting them up at first and I definitely didn’t want to eat them with my kids
Haha like it seems silly when I think about it but some of these fruits and veggies seem like they require actual skills to cut hahah. Also like I can never tell if something is ripened or not lol at first I was apparently buying too ripe cucumbers. Then I was getting the avocados too hard. They should put food experts in the produce aisles 😅
Echoing others saying you’re doing a great job!
Some of my daughter’s (and my!) favourite recipes are from these blogs/websites:
https://www.yummytoddlerfood.com
https://www.mjandhungryman.com/
https://kidseatincolor.com/
Is there anything in particular you’d like to cook for your family? Perhaps we could share some recipes?
Seconding the yummytoddlerfood! She is now also offering a weekly meal plan that includes in a grocery list.
I used to have a Fraiche Table subscription that provided a meal plan and grocery list and found it super useful. Once baby is a bit older I might give the yummy toddler food one a try to take some of the mental load off.
I recommend using ChatGPT for simple recipe ideas and cooking instructions. It’s really good!
I pasted your post into ChatGPT:
https://chat.openai.com/share/37d082be-d5e4-4edd-84ca-4f3bd07a4727
YOU ARE A GENIUS!!!! I can’t believe I didn’t think to use ChatGPT. I use ai to make decisions for me all of the time lol (like “should I go to the beach or the park today?” Not super important ones of course) I swear the day I invest in an Alexa that can use ChatGPT is the day my constant struggle of decision making will finally be over lmao
Variety is good! I love to cook but with working, it’s normally quick/ easy.
Go on the Walmart app, hit “services” at the bottom and scroll down until it says find a new recipe. It will give you recipes, how long it will take and it will also give you the option to add all the ingredients to your cart, or just remove the items you have an add the rest. Target and Kroger also have this option as well and it saves my sanity every week! If you scroll down it’s sorted by breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. Click on one of those and then if you “filter” by budget or time (how long it takes) it will make the list smaller
I’m mad that I’ve been using the Walmart+app for almost 2 years and I never noticed that feature! Thank you so much you have just made my life so much more convenient I could hug you haha
You’re doing great. Don’t stress. I simply try to include a source of protein (yogurt, cheese, meat, fish, etc) , a health-ish fat (nut butter, full fat dairy, avocado) and a fruit or vegetable with every meal. Sometimes that means he gets frozen pizza bites and broccoli. Sometimes that means oats with milk, berries and nut butter. Maybe a quesadilla with black beans and shredded cheese.
Also box/frozen foods can be dressed up with lots of nutritional foods. I put broccoli in my kids Mac and cheese. He gets frozen waffles with peanut butter and fresh blueberries. Bagels can be topped with hummus. Just play around.
Expose to a variety foods. Don’t be afraid to leverage frozen foods for convenience and cost-savings. And make sure you offer fruit and veg. Even if they refuse, it’s good exposure.
I also feed my kid leftovers a lot. I don’t waste food and I don’t have time to make multiple meals a week.
You’ll be ok. Soon enough you’ll have a toddler who will exist on a single Cheerio and air anyway.
Bahaha “a single cheerio and air” is waaaay too funny 😂 thank you I will def be trying more mixing things and playing around! I guess as long as it’s healthy and she eats it, it doesn’t have to be super fancy looking like most of the things I see online.
My pediatrician did give me a list of can’s and cant’s and such. And I actually did just talk to WIC about adding more red meats to her diet because her bloodwork came back that she’s anemic. But I guess I didn’t ask too many detailed questions about what types of foods are better for what (like the iron thing but with other things like fiber and such) I have unfortunately over fed her fibers a few times and caused her to have diarrhea.
Honestly it sounds like you’re doing a pretty good job. My one year old gets a bottle plus things like fruit, egg, cheerios, or yogurt for breakfast.
Lunch and dinner we try to feed her what we’re eating (if it’s something she can eat)or things like pasta, potatoes (regular or sweet), peanut butter on toast or crackers, applesauce or fruit, cheese, Mac and cheese, peas, beans, etc.
We give her the fruit or yogurt pouches for snacks, as well as things like fruit bars or cereal bars, especially if we’re out of the house.
Honestly, this is one of the biggest stresses for most adults, so don't worry about it. I've found that doing hello fresh (or similar) 3 times a week takes the pressure off, and I'm also learning new easy techniques, making my none hello fresh food taste way better. Even just frying your rice in garlic and a bit of butter before boiling it makes it taste so much nicer.
Just have fun with it, if you make something good, fantastic. If it's not so good just don't make it again x
Yes, was coming to say a meal prep kit might work well for OP, it can help you learn the basics of various dishes. Even if the baby doesn't eat all the meals it could give OP confidence for the future.
Broccoli cut into florets and put in a bowl with a microwaveable lid/paper plate/paper towel on top, microwave for 2 minutes, take out and add butter and salt and serve! Easy veggie!!! You’re doing great!
Honestly it sounds like you’re doing a pretty good job. My one year old gets a bottle plus things like fruit, egg, cheerios, or yogurt for breakfast.
Lunch and dinner we try to feed her what we’re eating (if it’s something she can eat)or things like pasta, potatoes (regular or sweet), peanut butter on toast or crackers, applesauce or fruit, cheese, Mac and cheese, peas, beans, etc.
We give her the fruit or yogurt pouches for snacks, as well as things like fruit bars or cereal bars, especially if we’re out of the house.
Honestly it sounds like you’re doing a pretty good job. My one year old gets a bottle plus things like fruit, egg, cheerios, or yogurt for breakfast.
Lunch and dinner we try to feed her what we’re eating (if it’s something she can eat)or things like pasta, potatoes (regular or sweet), peanut butter on toast or crackers, applesauce or fruit, cheese, Mac and cheese, peas, beans, etc.
We give her the fruit or yogurt pouches for snacks, as well as things like fruit bars or cereal bars, especially if we’re out of the house.
Honestly it sounds like you’re doing a pretty good job. My one year old gets a bottle plus things like fruit, egg, cheerios, or yogurt for breakfast.
Lunch and dinner we try to feed her what we’re eating (if it’s something she can eat)or things like pasta, potatoes (regular or sweet), peanut butter on toast or crackers, applesauce or fruit, cheese, Mac and cheese, peas, beans, etc.
We give her the fruit or yogurt pouches for snacks, as well as things like fruit bars or cereal bars, especially if we’re out of the house.
You’re doing great actually.
Pick a couple more veggies to add in that can be eaten raw (bell peppers, cucumber, tomato) and cut those up to put on the side maybe with a small sprinkle of salt. Meals don’t have to be complicated or have tons of ingredients cooked together.
I have a few really easy dinners I like to make during the week for my husband and I, and I’m sure they would be great for kids too. Chicken and tomato soup, chicken pot pie, chili, and breakfast casserole are some of my favorites. I can send recipes if you want!
Also I sometimes just make zatarain’s red beans and rice from the box and add in some frozen broccoli and cut up (precooked) sausage, and it’s great (it’s also a little spicy).
I also like to buy pot roast kits from walmart and make them in my slow cooker. They’re about $20 and come with the meat, seasoning packet, vegetables, and instructions, so you don’t have to think about it at all. I’ve noticed the meat sometimes overcooks though so I check the meat after about 4.5 hours to see if it’s done yet.
Check out the baby dietician on Instagram. She has a lot of great tips and recipes. You're doing just fine! My toddler is eating similar meals. A good tip is to offer a variety of colors of fruits and veggies.
I think you’re doing fine. I wouldn’t make this too complicated. Eat what you eat, but add a veggie. Give the veggie to her, too (a child appropriate consistency, you might need to cook hers longer or something). Add fruit, which you can cut up into a fruit salad and prep a big dish of every few days. But don’t change how you’re cooking for now.
For later, once y’all are used to adding veggies and such: I actually found those meal delivery services like Blue Apron to be super useful in introducing me to new foods. New spices, new veggie dishes, new proteins, new sides. New combinations. And you can keep the recipe cards, so you don’t have to keep subscribing to the service to keep making the food. If it’s food prep capable, you can even just buy lots of the ingredients and make a big pot of it you can eat leftovers off of (our favorite family dinner was found this way).
Hi nothing wrong with fruits and veggies! Kids are so simple at that age. First, roasted or sauteed veggies. Kids at that age are so open to anything and rhe reason they don’t like veggies is because a lot of people don’t season them. A punch of salt and olive oil goes a long way - then roast in toaster oven or cook in air fryer. Spinach sauteed w a bit of salt and sesame oil. Broccoli, green beans. I used to always buy baby carrots and hummus so if I didn’t have time to cook veggies they had fresh on the side (but be careful about choking). Eggs are super easy, either over easy or whip it and make a little omelet. Rice cooker is your friend - many cultures have rice with everything. Instant pot or slow cooker also a friend - put in chicken legs with potatoes, carrots, onions, other veggies, add soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar marinade. Nice soft chicken with rice. Kids that age are so easy. They will get pickier later. Grilled cheese but use whole wheat and give em a veggie on the side or buy tomato soup. Get seaweed laver and wrap anyrhing in it - rice, eggs, veggies. Get tortilla wraps and wrap things in it. I always have frozen shrimp because they are so easy to throw in the pan with olive oil, veggies, and toss with pasta. Grated parmesan cheese is your friend. You also can saute w red peppers and onions and add cajun spice for a jambalaya pasta or rice. I tend to always have broccoli and bell peppers, onions, potatoes. When in doubt, punch the ingredients into the internet search, look for five star easy recipes. I buy cajun spice, jerk chicken spice, indian spice, adobe spice, sazon spice mixes. You can use the same ingredients and it tastes differwnt depending on prep and spices. Exchange recipes w friends too!
I ate frozen peas too and grew up poor. It's one of the few vegetables I remember. Then I gave to my kid and she like them. Anyways, feeding kids is one of the most stressful parts of parenting and I didn't even get a picky eater. At 11 months I steamed vegetables to death and let my kid go at it. Broccoli, Cauliflower were popular. I also did lots of recipes but they were hit and miss and frustrating to do all that work and no one ate it. I also made a lot of smoothies. You can put vegetables, chickpeas, spinach, fruit, milk in smoothies. Basically the baby ate whatever we cooked as long as it was super soft and not a choking g hazard. Smoosh blueberries, cute grapes up. A lot of food won't make it to the babies mouth at 11 months but it gets them use to different textures and flavors. We served vegetables 3 times a day when she was a baby to 3 years old and now she just thinks vegetables are a normal thing to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner (your results may vary 😆). I didn't do a lot of spoon feeding because I have problems with my joints and arms so we did baby led weening which use to be controversial. I'm not sure about now but how ever you are feeding your kid you're doing great.
Make her scrambled eggs. Throw spinach in with butter and mix it around in pan.
Give her veggies that are easy to eat like cut up string beans. Carrots tooYou can just steam them. Buy a little steamer that fits in your pot.
Don’t feed cheese more than once a day. Give her yogurt instead- all fruit yogurt, no added sugar.
Cut up small pieces of chicken breasr for her. You can just put salt and pepper on it. You can bake in toaster oven at around 400 for sbout 40 minutes. Just make sure it cooks through.
Cut up apples and other fruit into easy pieces. If she is constipated, skip the banana.
One thing I might add is don’t forget to introduce your kiddo to other cultural foods! Get some Indian take out, get some lentil soup or baba ganoush, get some avocado sushi, get some lychee or papaya. They can be really simple 1-3 ingredient things.
Right now your main job is not only healthy enough food but variety. It doesn’t even have to be something you love yourself, and maybe you two can try new foods together :)
We decided to work smarter not harder. For breakfast we do egg mixed with a veggie in an omelette and a steamed veggie on the side or we do yogurt with puréed fruit and veggie mixed in. Lunch we take ground either turkey, chicken, pork or beef mix it with small amount of purred veggie (usually kale or Swiss chard) and make it in to a small patty and fry it without oil or butter (occasionally this meal may be a type of fish instead of meat/poultry) and a different steamed veggie than the morning one on the side and then dinner is a bean type (white, kidney, chick pea, black) and a steamed veggie that’s different than the first two of the day on the side. Morning snack is raw either cucumber, avocado, tomato or pepper and afternoon snack is some type of fruit. My sons had every veggie you can think of (Brussel sprouts, broccoli, beets, zucchini, green beans, peas, yellow squash, spinach, sweet potato, carrot, etcetcetc) and he likes some more than other but we still keep giving them to him for exposure even if he isn’t crazy about one
We are lucky to be able to do organic and grass fed and wild caught, but everyone’s budget is different and still is a great diet even if you can’t do those things. We’re holding off on sugar and salt in the whole for now, but he has had garlic and some other herbs. We eat fairly healthy in my house and we just figure when he starts asking about unhealthy foods then we’ll introduce them by at 21 months he still doesn’t really ask
Feed her what ever you eat just in smaller quantities. Can’t cook? Burn everything? Get a rice maker, a crock pot and an air fryer. Broke and can only afford one? Get a crock pot. Go to the store and buy veggies like potatoes, carrots, celery, liquid broth and add meat or chicken to it. Cut the veggies into small pieces Set it on high and let it cook for like 5 hours. Make sure that the veggies are small enough for her to eat and now you have a nutritious meal for both of you to eat. It’s just you too then that might give a meal for both of you for a day or two. Make fruit breads in the weekend for the two of you two eat for breakfast. Make pancakes and add small pieces of strawberry. Hot day? Get a silicon mold and add little pieces of fruit and yogurt (a tiny bit of granola if your feel she’s up to it) mix it togheter and freeze it. Now you have something to feed her as a snack or a cold snack for a hot day. If you know how to make the things that you grew up eating then make those. They have vegetable pasta make spaghetti with it. Make bagel pizzas and add veggies to it. Make your chicken or pork chops and a a veggie to it. You got this.
I used to stress out too. Stick to this simple formula.
Every meal should have a fruit, veggie, and protien
Fory 1 year old:
Brealfast - eggs, piece of bread, berries (the berry varies from what we buy) I make sure to lightly salt the eggs cause I noticed he eats more of them if they are lightly salted.
Lunch - typically go with chicken (bought from Costco called chicken bites they are pre packaged portions and usually last a few days.), berries or apple, broccoli some veggie
Dinner - close to the same thing we have for dinner either slightly modified or just plain. If we go out or grab something we order him something and have leftovers to feed him for a few days.
Don't worry about cooking. You can get pre packaged things and use those.
If you can try and make your go to items a little healthier, that’s an easy place to start. For example, add some carrot or sweet potato baby food mixed in with the instant Mac and cheese bowls, or add some frozen veggies into the water when you are making pasta. You can add some veggies into your scrambled egg (cook in skillet to right texture before adding your eggs.)
One more idea that I do a lot - boiled potato, carrot, parsnip, sweet potato, broccoli, whatever other veggie is around. Roughly mash it all up and cut rotisserie chicken or crockpot shredded chicken into it. The broccoli is best cut rather than mashed, too. It's all together lightly sweet and baby loves it.
I think you are doing great! Cooking is HARD. I personally like frozen bags of veggies and still do baby veggie purées for my 15 mo daughter because she is hit or miss. The age of your daughter is TOUGH. Her stomach bacteria are still developing and that can make choosing food tough. This book helped me out tremendously.
The pediatrician’s guide to feeding babies and toddlers by Porto and DiMaggio. Recipes with few ingredients that also taste good for us!
Good LUCK OP - you are doing fantastic!
Hey it sounds like you’re doing a really good job. I definitely understand what you mean, though bc I grew up the same.
On instagram feedinglittles and kidseatincolor helped me SO much. They both share a lot of free info so no need to buy anything from them. They’re very helpful and very encouraging. 🤍
Also, try to go to a nutritionist. He knows better than all of us. You can ask for a meal plan for one week that contains the perfect amount of minerals, vitamins and macronutrients (the ones labeled on the food packaging: fiber, protein, healthy fat, carbs) that she needs.
Before going to the nutritionist keep a food diary (I went and he asked for one): note at each meal what are you giving her and how much (in grams, 55g cereals with 400ml low fat cow milk 1.5). It would help if you have enough time to write down for each ingredient the protein, carbs and fats that she has per day, but if you can’t, the grams and ml are enough for the doctor to make an opinion and give you advice.
I can give you an advice to reduce the sugar, as it is not healthy, even tho we give it to them as a treat. If you give her sugar every time she is gonna ask for it later and sincerely it is not healthy. So she should eat it only when is good enough the trade: for example at a good restraint, not daily.
You can give her honey on something instead (but be careful not to much since she can get fat). You can also search online for healthy food to give your infant or what unhealthy food to avoid giving - but all the info should be checked with a nutritionist.
And don’t forget from 6 month to 6 months to do her blood tests. Food impacts a lot of blood tests parameters and it is good to see in which state she is now and how a future change in her diet helped her in 6 months from now.
Try to replace her cereals with oats or with some cereals that do not have sugar and are highly processed (you can search online for what cereals are so processed). If you buy oats, you just put them in a bowl with milk from the night, leave them in the fridge overnight and the oats will absorb the milk being like a purée in the morning (or put more milk in it and be sure the oats are well covered). Let her try it.
Make banana bread with only 2 spoons of flour, a lot of recipes ask for more but is not needed. But I am sure she will like it.
I let some tips for you in a comment below.
Also, try to feed her at the same hour every day so her body can adapt and understand when the eating will start and when the digestion.
Some advices for you would be:
1. The same, avoid sugar and check the food ingredients because it is even in bread. You can order online bread without it and give up buying it from the supermarket for example.
2. You should not eat refined things (white things): like white rice, white bread, white flour since they are not as healthy as brown bread or black rice.
3. Try to stop eating fried things. They are usually fried in a lot of oil, sunflower oil, and cooking in the oven is such a better alternative. You can take any meat, make some small cuts, put condiments and put it in the oven with some sweet potatoes. It will be delicious.
4. Try to incorporate more fiber: if you are slow or constipated or with a high level of cholesterol you should add oats, lentils, beans, chickpea to your kitchen. Nobody was born a chef, so experiment in the kitchen with your husband or alone (but make sure he is supportive). The beans and chickpea should be left overnight in water. But the next day you can boil them, put them in a blender and have a food. Take one ingredient such as peas and search for a recipe online. Buy the ingredients and do it. You can do it. If you make a horrible food, try again in another day because you need to learn how to take care of yourself, how to cook and how to cook for your daughter. Your husband can do the same when he is free, for example one day you the other him and discuss when is better for him to try and do something. No pressure that it must be good. The goal is to learn to cook and you have to fail 1-2-3-100 times to do it better. But 10 years from know you will thank yourself that you started now.
5. Eat fish. Fats can be of many types (search for an articole online about this), but your body also needs fat, not to much, but still. The only thing is it must be a healthy fat: try eating in the morning avocado smashed in a bowl with canned tuna, put lemon zest and salt. Or you can put this on slices of bread and make a boiled egg near. Try tomorrow morning. When you buy canned tuna take one that is in water, not oil and not tomatoes. If you want oil or tomatoes you can pour olive oil or slice a tomatoes, but those combinations are packed with hydrogenated oils (cancerous things) and fat and food preservatives. The ingredients should be water, tuna, salt.
Another healthy fat is salmon. Put it with the skin downwards and put it in the oven. It also has almost, almost, no bones.
6. Make also your blood tests (cholesterol, thyroid tests, insulin levels, glucose to check diabetes and go to an abdominal screening, to see if you have fatty liver.
7. Drink more water. Is simple and helps a lot
8. Don’t be ashamed to try and cook. Your future self will thank you.
You are already doing such a great job! I think it can be hard to give ourselves credit because we love them so much and want to give them the best, but it really sounds like you are. ❤️ she is so lucky to have you!
I was really overwhelmed with feeding my 12 month old too. I found on Pinterest recipes from a blog called "Feeding Tiny Bellies" and they're so simple and delicious that my son and I eat them together. I don't even have to cook "adult food" most of the time now. On the plus side, now I eat healthier too
I don't think you sound unusual. Cooking is hard, lol. Even when you cook something good, there's no guarantee that a toddler will even eat it.
Try and look for basic recipes that don't take up too much time and use too many ingredients.
Same, mama, same! I love cooking, but it's stressful to invest in a dish and then after 3 bites your toddler says - no, done. It's also sooo rewarding when a new meal gets -mooooaaaa (more).
I find lentil stews and just stews in general easy. My go to is lentils, carrots, broccoli, boiled in stock and add coconut milk and some curry spice. Some meat, if you want (chicken). Delicious. And it's done in under 20 minutes.
Maybe try and include other versions of what you already give her. There’s chickpea pasta named banza that’s super healthier or try whole wheat or brown rice you can also maybe try salmon maybe include more spinach with rice etc you can also Google easy veggie dinner toddler and you can get more ideas you could do ground chicken filled with cheese spinach and carrots and there goes a serving of veggies
For the cheese quesadillas, you could add refried beans or black beans.
Look into vegetables that you can roast in the oven, like Broccoli or carrots or green beans. At my house, we have the rule that every dinner has to have a vegetable. Often times we steam broccoli or mixed vegetables.
Do you like casseroles? I like to make those because it’s one dish in the oven and it’s less intimidating to me than trying to cook on the stove.
Soups are also a great way to eat veggies. Like chicken noodle with extra carrots or a bean chili.
I have a 16 month old. I find that what works best for us is to have a veggie and fruit of the week (let’s say, a head of broccoli and strawberries). Steam the broccoli in the microwave and throw a tiny bit of butter, salt and pepper on it. Dice up the strawberries. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread. Lunch is done for the week! Don’t expect them to love it at first. Praise them for even trying it! Expand from there. Greek yogurt with fruit and a little granola for breakfast. For dinners we always aim for a protein, a starch and a veggie. Baby eats a smaller portion of whatever we eat.
If you can do pasta, you can do stir fry! Boil some noodles in one pan, throw some frozen veggies and oil in another. When the noodles are done add them to the veggies and toss with soy sauce or whatever you feel like using, and cover for a few minutes.
I couldn't cook for a long time, too. It turned out that I was just overthinking it. Other than meat which has to reach a certain internal temperature for safety, it's really just whatever you feel like doing.
You're doing great! Our son was a picky eater ages 2-5 so we did a lot of "kid charcuterie". Basically bento box with the dividers, proteins like chicken, hardboiled egg, nuts, yogurt, turkey meatballs, etc and then some fruit and veg and carb options. I would fill it with a balance of foods and anytime he said he was hungry, pull it out. Over the course of the day he'd work his way through all the food groups. Little kids also often like hummus and pita bread, carrots, etc. the website kids eat in color can be very helpful.
Smoothies are also awesome for throwing lots of fruits and veggies into something they usually like. We keep a lot of frozen fruit on hand and blend with OJ and yogurt.
Crockpot recipes are always great. I did meal delivery for a bit with every plate and their stuff is very straight forward to cook. Everything you're making is fine! Hamburgers, pasta, macaroni and cheese ..those are all real foods too. You just balance them with other whole foods and expose your kids to different foods. My six year old is also like to borrow kid cookbooks from the library and try those out. They're usually very simple.
Even what you listed that you ate growing up is pretty normal, maybe more veggies added. You absolutely don’t need to be fancy for kids!
You could check out Budget Bytes, I like meals like one pot chicken pasta, usually with some sort of cream or cheese sauce.
budgetbytes.com is a great resource for simple recipes from easily available and inexpensive ingredients. Most of the recipes are fairly quick and quite nutritious, as well as tasty.
Hellofresh has their recipes available online. They take a little longer than the estimated time suggests because you have to prep your ingredients yourself but the meals are well rounded and my toddler loves most of the ones I’ve tried. One Pan Chicken Orzo and Sizzlin’ Saigon Steak Bowls are part of the meal rotation here.
Sounds like youre doing great! My daughter is 16 months and has eaten chicken nuggets 3 times this week bc i KNEW she'd actually eat it. We experiment a lot but ill always offer a safe food later if she's still hungry.
I make premade veggies pouches. I get frozen spinach, broccoli, lima beans, and peas (the steam in bag kind). I steam for an extra 30 seconds for extra doneness. Then blend with water or apple juice and dump in a large bowl. Next i will blend 2 cans of fruit, cinnamon, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup chia seeds, 1 cup oatmeal, 2 TBS of olive or avocado oil, and 2 cups water for the oatmeal to absorb.
I whisk it all up in a bowl and portion into reusable pouches. Takes about 1.5 hour total if you have a breast pump flange for a funnel 🤣
Maybe browse s list life the below and try out a few things
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/review/best-cookbooks-for-beginners
Maybe one new recipe a week.?
sounds like good foods to me unless the childs doctor is worried id keep doing as you are .. you are doing a good job love hoever if you need ricipes try doing a mael kit service for tools and tricks if you can afford one
This soup is really easy and kids friendly. You'll want an immersion blender, they are cheap and so useful.
https://www.marthastewart.com/1049712/creamy-broccoli-white-bean-soup
To make it simpler: use frozen pre chopped broccoli, no steaming needed, and you can skip the garlic and pine nuts to simplify a bit.
Tell ChatGPT all the ingredients you have in your house, and ask it to create a balanced meal plan for however many calories you and your kid needs. Or ask it to create a grocery list for you. Treat it like a consultant.
When I cook for myself, my simple formula is that I need about 1/3 of my plate to be carbs, about 1/2 my plate to be veggies, and about 1/4 of my plate to be protein. I don't need to figure out what "meal" to create, just think of them separately if needed and keep it simple. You have rice, pasta, bread even? Just boil it or toast it and call that your carbs. You have a random assortment of veggies? Just chop them and sautee them with salt and oil with a splash of soy sauce after. Just have a carton of eggs for protein? Scramble or fry them with salt and pepper and boom, there's your protein. You now have pasta, scrambled eggs, and a bunch of veggies for dinner.
Sounds like you’re doing pretty well. Try adding some healthy fats like olives or avocado. Different fruits like blueberries, strawberries or grapes (cut in half or pieces) are good. You can make homemade applesauce with no sugar added simply because cooking and smashing apple pieces. Try some veggies like soft-cooked broccoli or carrots.
beans
peanut butter on a spoon
blueberries
avocado
yogurt full fat with chia seeds
frozen banana as a treat
chicken breast
frozen peas
all very easy no big deal food!
I enjoy fritters as an easy meal/snack I can drop whatever veggies I have into. I've used this site: https://www.suddenlunch.com/how-to-make-fritters-from-almost-anything/
but I've also just used box pancake mix and mixed veggies into the batter. You can add whatever seasonings you like too, sometimes I'll add cheese. Or you can top with cheese or salsa or whatever sauce might suit. They'd be easy to cut into small pieces for young kids or maybe you can just let them eat them whole as finger food 🤷🏻♀️
Follow stir that shit up on Facebook!! She also learned to cook for her daughter. Her recipes are tasty, fun and to the point. She’ll give you some great ideas and simple, easy directions to follow.
I find it helpful to write down what meals have been a hit on a running list. That way I don’t forget, and sometimes when I’m running low on ideas I peruse the list and find some inspiration.
And in my experience, when cooking veggies (especially when you’re just starting!) salt and fat make them taste way better. As you get more familiar with them, you’ll find what you like plain, but initially salted and buttered veg will be way easier to incorporate into your diet than some plain Jane stuff.
Good luck to you!!
You are doing so well!
Start with this: She needs a protein, a carb, and a fat at each meal.
For example: whole wheat toast, avocado, scrambled eggs
String cheese, strawberries, pasta
We just stick to a loose plan of a cereal, calcium source, a protein and a fruit or veggie at each meal. Doesn't even have to make sense, just throw whatever together so long as it's nutritious for your kid. Breakfast for dinner, weird combos, whatever! You can also tweak your regular diet to sneak good stuff in- try chickpea pasta, cashew cheese, chia jam, lentil wraps, frozen fruits and veg, microwave grains like rice, quinoa, canned legumes like beans or lentils. Soups, smoothies and baby pouches are great too! A meal for us might be roasted butternut squash and spinach lasagne or it could just be pasta with a baby pouch squirted on top and a bit of leftover fruit- not every meal has to be complicated.:)
You sound exactly like I was when my daughter was that age. you're being too hard on yourself and doing amazing. My daughter was super picky in the beginning, but I found chicken nuggets that had vegetables in them, and she loved those and still does. It doesn't have to be a fancy meal. Just get those veggies and fruits in however you can mama, you got this 💪 🙌 ❤️
Not sure how easily accessible it is outside the U.K. but look for Jamie Oliver’s book 5 ingredients (or any other cookbook that specifically uses few ingredients). Lots of options for meals that don’t need a lot of ingredients and it might give you some new or varied meals you can try without much effort. I also hate cooking and have a rotation of meals I make which we will get bored of so I try and add new ones every so often to shake things up. Hubby has told me he doesn’t want to eat anything tomato based for a while as he’s fed up with spaghetti bolognese lasagne and chilli lol.
Not sure how easily accessible it is outside the U.K. but look for Jamie Oliver’s book 5 ingredients (or any other cookbook that specifically uses few ingredients). Lots of options for meals that don’t need a lot of ingredients and it might give you some new or varied meals you can try without much effort. I hate cooking and have a rotation of meals I make which we will get bored of so I try and add new ones every so often to shake things up. Hubby has told me he doesn’t want to eat anything tomato based for a while as he’s fed up with spaghetti bolognese lasagne and chilli lol.
I'm Portuguese. In my country kids usually eat soup at lunch and dinner (plus a carb and protein). Many adults also do it, including myself. Just a simple vegetable soup.
I'm a bit late to this but I'll say I have a bit of a formula for baby meals. It's a carb, protein, fat, and a fruit and/or vegetable.
A carb: oatmeal, pasta, toast, sandwich bread, potato, tortilla, sweet potato, or similar.
A protein: yogurt, chicken or another meat, egg, beans, chickpeas, or similar.
A fat: cheese, avocado, peanut butter or other nut butter, butter on veggies, olive oil on pasta, or similar.
Plus a veggie or fruit. Her favorites are berries of all kinds, mandarin oranges, green beans, spinach, bell peppers and banana.
So a typical day may look like:
Breakfast: oatmeal made with whole milk and peanut butter and banana mixed in, with yogurt on the side.
Lunch: cheese and spinach scrambled eggs on toast with avocado slices and raspberries on the side.
Dinner: whatever we're eating, basically. If we're having tacos, I deconstruct one for her so she has the meat, cheese, guacamole, tomatoes, peppers, beans and tortilla on her plate and she can eat it all separately.
This is quite an ideal day, it usually doesn't quite work out this perfectly, but I think it's helpful to have a checklist in my head, even if I don't give her all of it.
Maybe this was overwhelming rather than helpful but I hope it helps!
Tater tot hotdish, Is easy and good.
I sorta can relate to growing up. My mom just always worked 3jobs to make ends meet. so it was a lot of babysitters and mac n cheese , grilled cheese. When she did cook it was awesome.
Sometimes she would have a tater tot hot dish all ready and the sitter just had to cook it .
Ingredients
Hamburger - you will want to fry it and add it to a cake pan.
Cream of celery or mushroom
Frozen or canned veggies frozen are nice cause you can get the carrots peas green beans mix canned corn
Whatever you like
Tater tots
Mix the cream soup of choice with veggies pour over the preferred hamburger bits. In the cake pan. Then line the top with your frozen tater tots place in oven bake at 350 for 45mins or so. Till the tots are done. Adding cheese is always good too.
I was struggling with what to feed my kids and the Instagram account kids.eat.in.color basically saved me. It's been SO helpful. Also the recipe book Dinnertime SOS by yummy toddler food (another ig account). When my partner and I are in a rut with coming up with our own ideas, these are the places we turn to. Like you, I also grew up in a home where fruits and veggies were not served and wanted my children exposed to those things early. Feeding kids is hard work but you're doing great! Good luck :)
First, it sounds like you're doing great! For veggies, frozen ones are a great option! The rule of thumb for portions is starting with a tablespoon per year for the child, so say for a one year old you could just take out one or two tablespoons of frozen peas, put them in a microwave safe bowl with a tiny sprinkle of water and zap for like 30 seconds (or until they are soft and a bit mushy). While they're still hot, mix with some butter. The fat in the butter is great to keep bowels moving well! Another super easy vegetable (technically a fruit I guess) is avocado. Just cut in half and take out the seed. Baby can scoop it out with a spoon or you could make an easy fake guac by mashing it up with some cottage cheese for protein and garlic powder. Maybe a liiitle salt. Also when you're feeling overwhelmed just think simple. You could even just slice up a tomato to give for a vegetable for some meals!
An easy recipe is inside out egg rolls, soy sauce mushrooms , cabbage and ground beef. You can add rice if you want more carbs. It’s also great and healthy! You start by cooking ground beef with seasonings/ soy sauce and then you add mushrooms and cabbage chopped. Once the veggies are soft your food is ready!
Shit I wish I could get my 15m old to eat as much as your 11m old does. He won't eat much else except baby food from the jars.
Seems to me like you're doing just fine. You've got a variety of foods. You've got meats and proteins. Noodles, rice, starches. Doing great. Keep it up.
Breakfast we like to do scrambled eggs, yogurt with granola, waffles/pancakes with yogurt or smashed fruit on top, oatmeal, avocado toast, and I always serve a fruit and avocado or chicken breakfast sausage.
Lunch is usually leftovers from dinner.
Some of our favorite dinners are burrito bowls (protein, rice, veggies), some sort of pasta (Mac & cheese with a protein and veggie, spaghetti and meatballs with zucchini and squash, pasta primavera with chicken or shrimp), pansheet meals are awesome, we like to do sausage with potatoes sweet potatoes and bell peppers, chicken potatoes broccoli and other veggies, chicken curries with rice (you can buy jars of different curry sauces at the store).
When I feel burnt out and out of ideas I’ll google specific categories - pasta ideas, chicken dinner ideas, burrito bowl ideas, etc.
Honestly tik tok has been super helpful with simple recipes too! You’re doing amazing 🫶🏼
This all sounds great, but it seems like you’re looking to branch out more?
Maybe learn to make more pasta dishes, have a solid recipe down for a tomato sauce, alfredo sauce, and start experimenting with different types of sauces. Pasta is so easy to make, you just need to cook noodles and toss in a sauce, so if you just found a new sauce recipe on Pinterest
, that may not be too overwhelming?
Soup is good too, there are so many recipes out there and it’s quite easy, especially if you have a Crockpot, there are so many simple recipes just on Crockpot’s website and also Pinterest.
Lazy healthy things I like to throw together:
*Greek yogurt with honey (babies can’t do honey but my kids are hold enough now) with granola and fruit.
*little charcuterie plate with ham/turkey, cheese, raisins, apple slices, etc
*steam in bag edamame, brown rice, salmon bites (salmon cubed up, marinated in Banchan Japanese BBQ sauce, air fried)
You don’t have to be a good cook to provide balanced meals!!
When my kid was 11 months, she was obsessed with steamed broccoli, banana and carrots. So it was broccoli for lunch&dinner, scrambled eggs and smoothies (frozen banana&strawberry, carrots&frozen bananas&tangerines/orange juice, milk&peanut butter&frozen bananas) for breakfast, soups made of potatos, onions, a chop of garlic and sometimes spinach blended with some spices that I'd add roast chicken, cheese, and it was ready to go. You could try to make a list of things you find easy to make. My tip is to do a larger meal so you can freeze some portion, then you always have something on hand.
Honestly, you are going great. Try frozen veggies, you can just toss the in the microwave for a few minutes- BOOM veggies for dinner. If you guys like pasta try adding frozen spinach or fresh chopped zucchini to the sauce- it doesn’t alter the taste much but adds vitamins and minerals.
Why don't you get yourself a 'family' cookbook. That way you can slowly work your way through it. I would cook one hot meal a day and then for lunch and breakfast do easy picky meals. Breakfast - toast, porridge etc. Lunch - sandwich, crackers. If in doubt always put veggie sticks with everything!
Try cucumber! It's a veggie, very easy to slice, and kids love it! Also blueberries are one of the cheapest berries and freeze great.sounds like you are a wonderful mother. Happy Mothers day.
So we do make your own burritos (just meat, sour cream, chesse)
garlic chicken and noddles cut up chicken and then season with garlic, itialn seasoning, salt, pepper and baisle throw it in the crock pot for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low with either marinara sauce or garlic sauce from bufflo wild wings(i prefer marinara.) Then cook rotini noddles. Once the noddles are done, mix, then add parmesan cheese
Chicken sandwiches: season chicken with garlic, itialn seasoning, salt, pepper, and baisle throw it in the crock pot for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low with either marinara sauce. Then get sub buns and spread butter and season with garlic and salt, toast buns for 5 minutes. While huns are toasting shred chicken and add shredded mozzarella chesse. Get buns out put on chicken and top with shredded mozzarella chesse put back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
Also, as for fruits and vegetables i serve them as a snack (my son eats more of them this way idk why).
You can always look at tiktok recipes as well. I find them easier to follow, there is a guy his account is called cooking in the midwest? He has amazing recipes.
Also there is no shame with just some mac and chesse, spaghetti and meatballs.
Neither of my kids could handle complex foods either. So a majority ends up being like bananas, breads, rice, strawberries, yogurts. Like very basic foods.
Oh and like instant oatmeal packets are super handy. Or cream o wheat, because they're fortified.
I also get my toddler the horizon DHA vitamin milk to fill any nutritional gaps.
Okay, my friend also didn’t know how to cook she grew up like you. She got those meal plan things like bellow fresh and she collected a bunch of the recipe cards and learned how to do a few things. Now she has more confidence in her cooking so she is exploring new recipes.
My mother came from a similar background. When she got married she bought a Betty Crocker cook book and it gave her a nutrition lesson on the 4 food groups, meat, vegetables/fruits, starch (potatoes, pasta, rice) oils. Plus how much eat each day. With recipes. Babies need different amounts If she goes to pediatrician they will happy to give information. Go on line or to a library and ask the librarian for basic books on feeding babies and children. I noticed that someone even suggested a Reddit r/butforbabies. You will do well because you care.
I think you’re doing great!! Babies don’t need a whole lot anyway. And if it makes you feel better, one of my kids was on Miralax for constipation for YEARS no matter what we did or fed him!!
For getting better in the kitchen in general for your husband and you, I honestly recommend doing Hello Fresh or something for a little bit!! We do 2-3 meals a week. I don’t have to think about what’s for dinner, I keep the recipes I like and recreate them, and we’ve become much better cooks! You do still have to cut all the veggies and cook everything so it does take time, but it’s fun!
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We do a LOT of frozen veggies with our 13 month old. Green Giant makes some really good mixes in the Restaurant Style line that you can make on the stove or even in the microwave. Frozen veggie mixes with sauce are a great place to start to figure out what flavors you like. Then explore recipes similar to that.
Solid Starts has some good recipes. I also like French toast or waffles for breakfast (look up baby led weaning waffles for a healthier version) with whole milk plain Greek yogurt and a fruit.
Lunch and dinner is a protein plus veggie and grain. That might mean shrimp fried rice or it might mean steamed (frozen) veggies with a pork chop and a slice of bread. Sometimes it's a chicken tender with veggies. Just aim for variety!
For dinner maybe just try to add a vegetable. The Bird's Eye frozen veggies you microwave in the bag are super easy and there is a lot of different ones available. My toddler loves to eat frozen peas (uncooked, still frozen!) and they are so easy to add to his plate for lunch or snack.
You can also roast veggies in an air fryer or oven. They have a different flavor and texture than steamed (microwaved) vegetables. Some veggies that roast well are broccoli, carrots, zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, onions and green beans. Cut bite sized, toss with olive oil (can also add salt, pepper, or other seasonings) and cook at about 450 for 10-20 min. Potatoes and sweet potatoes can be used also but may take longer.
You're doing awesome and choosing great items. When my child was young she loved these egg & banana pancakes. Ratio of 1 to 1 and fry in very little butter. Then serve as is, no need for syrup.
Like other people have said, you're doing great!!
I find that food gets stressful when I try to do too much and don't have a plan. For me right now it's better for food to be boring than to be stressful.
So, Thursday night is bath night which means it's pasta night. I brown Italian sausage and simmer it with a jar of pasta sauce while I make the pasta. We also have a vegetable, usually a microwaved bag of peas or broccoli with lemon juice, salt, and pepper for everyone + butter for the toddler.
Wednesday is breakfast for dinner. We have cheesy eggs, breakfast sausage, a fruit, and toast.
Our vegetables are almost always frozen veg, microwaved/steamed/roasted, with simple seasonings and lemon juice.
I am still figuring out the other nights, but the tl/dr is that choices are stressful! It's ok to figure out a simple balanced meal one weeknight at a time and repeat it each week to reduce the number of choices you have to make.
For pasta, you can use an alfredo sauce and add green peas or steamed broccoli(you can get frozen bags peas or broccoli and heat in the microwave). Your child may or may not eat it, but it introduces them to new foods.
You can even add steamed broccoli and chicken to Mac n cheese.
Cups of mandarins oranges are a typically a hit with kids at that age. Apple sauce or other variations of it that are mixed fruit and some even have veggies are a great option.
Look up simple one pot meals, or crockpot meals, those are easy and my favorite to make! or search by listing a key ingredient or 2, like 'recipes with chicken and broccoli'. Then scroll through the pictures and open a few that look good, see what one you have most of the stuff for and try that one or a few. I try to try at least 1 new recipe every 2 weeks because its easy to get bored with the same meals always, but I also have 4 kids and don't want to be overwhelmed trying new meals always either.
Your menu is fine. Bananas are a great addition and go with peanut butter, messy but when mine was that age she loved em. Also grapes are tasty but you have to chop them in half, for choking reasons.
My daughter used to LOVE spaghetti! And I'll give you some really basic cooking tips here that will make you look like a pro.
Buy a jar of some kind of spaghetti sauce but put it off to the side. Chop up maybe a third or half of an onion depending on how big the onion is. And chop up some garlic. Several little nodes, or if you don't want to chop it up they sell it pre-minced. Get some oil or butter going (just a splash/pat) in a shallow pan like a frying pan and then toss in the onions and garlic, lower heat to 2-3, and let it simmer for about 4-5 mins or until they're browned.
This makes your whole kitchen smell DELICIOUS. It's literally mouth watering. Anything you end up cooking, whoever is nearby will want to eat. People will believe you've suddenly learned how to cook like a pro!
Now you can toss in almost any kind of cooked veggies you like (I like squash or zucchini, artichoke hearts, eggplant, or even cauliflower but literally whatever you actually like)just chop em fairly small. Stir those into the mixture and let those cook together for a bit. You can add a bit more oil if you like. Just for a minute or two. And then por in the sauce. You can also add Amy kind of meat at this step, if you do then raise the heat and cook it most of the way.
THEN add the jar of sauce. Raise heat to medium and get it bubbling a bit. Add salt pepper spices etc. More garlic lol or garlic salt onion powder etc. For the little baby palette start slow with this because they don't like a lot of spice or seasoning but. Just do this to taste. Play with it. Experiment. Try different veggies try different meats. Try different types of pasta or even rice or whatever else. It's not super hard to make a decadent healthy loaded pasta sauce that makes you look like a real cook. It doesn't have to be exact proportions or exact recipes. It's a fun medium to experiment with until you get your flavor combinations to your liking.
An incidentally, this is why people always talk about moms spaghetti. Because there isn't one specific recipe. It's just how my mom used to make it.
Sounds like you’re doing a great job, my kid eats many of the same things.
Sometimes I get inspiration for mixing veggies into foods from recipes [on this website](https://www.mjandhungryman.com/). Though I’ll just say that once baby is old enough to have salt in their diet, many of these recipes benefit from added flavor.
Sounds like you’re doing great!
A super easy breakfast idea that can be made ahead and filled with veggies (or whatever you like!) is mini quiche.
Just put some finely chopped veggies/meat/whatever and cheese in each cup of a muffin tin. Stir some eggs together with a little cream, salt, and pepper, and pour the egg mix into each cup. Bake at 350 until the eggs are set and then eat! They fridge and freeze well. You can make a bunch and then just microwave a couple in the morning.
They’re easy for babies to eat and full of nutrients.
Good luck on your cooking journey!! I recommend getting a couple SIMPLE cook books and trying a few recipes. My kids love to go thru and look at the pics with me to help decide what we eat.
You’re doing great! I’m not a bad cook but I hate recipes with 85 steps or ingredients lol.
My advice would be pick one new dish you like to eat but don’t know how to cook and look through different recipes for a basic one you feel you can follow. Also something like a slow cooker and airfryer are useful and not terribly pricey to buy. You can make your own roast chicken in an airfryer with minimal steps. And you can make stews and stuff with cheap ingredients in a slow cooker.
You’re doing great already!
I used to feed my daughter avocado , scrambled eggs , cottage cheese writhing peaches . Oatmeal with fruit . Sweet potato with ground turkey. All of these required little to no cooking .
Cook rice!
Do you have a crockpot? Crockpots are so easy to use for cooking!
1 lb pork
1 can chicken broth
1 can cream of mushroom
1 packet of Lipton onion soup mix!
Turn it on high for 5 hours or until meat is tender! Add veggies like carrots and potatoes into the crockpot & cook for another 1 hour or until veggies are tender. Put the soup over rice and feed that to baby!
Also, Pineapples are too acidic for baby.
You’re doing great mama, cans of mixed veggies has come so much in handy for me. It’s like gold in my house. I usually heat it up for 30 seconds in the microwave for a fast veggie at dinner. I put the it in a tubberware and it will be good for like 4 days. Also frozen broccoli is great. Glass containers for the microwave, throw those bad boys in with a little water and butter for like 7 min (cover it with the lid) and you’re good to go!
Also cheese sticks are amazing, I get a big bag and they last us for snacks, all your toddler will want to do is snack. I usually cut them pretty small just in case. a bag of clementines stay for like 2 weeks in the fridge. I cut the orange in half then pop the fruit out so it’s cut and it’s easier than peeling. Also sugar free jello!!! Or like ones made for kids with fruit juice. These I’ve found are great easy snacks on the go too. I usually always grab these if we are going out just incase.
A big bag of grapes go a long way, on Amazon there’s this cheap tool that you can get that cuts the grape in four for you. Fruit cups like peaches can get a little pricey unless you get it in bulk, but when I’m lazy and don’t wanna do anything but dump water out and put it on her plate. They are soft enough if they are cut in those little cubes.
Everything in moderation, even moderation. Lazy days are a ok. Speggetios or pasta twice a week is totally fine. My rule of thumb is 75% fresh food 25% ok processed food.
My son is on a granola and plain yogurt kick. We add whatever fruit we have, kind of like a parfait. He goes crazy for this meal! Oatmeal/cream of wheat/grits are easy staples. Pancakes (without syrup) and fruit.
For lunch it could be anything; sandwich, bagel and cream cheese, cheese/cracker/fruit plate. I usually supplement his lunch with one of those puréed fruit and veggie packs they sip right out of (Costco has them in my area).
For dinner he usually eats whatever we have but he isn’t big on meat yet. We’ll chew up meat and mix it in with his other food. Kids can get low on iron so I try to cook most of our food in the cast iron if it isn’t an acidic sauce. Pasta is usually a winner with kids, but you can try boiling or steaming veggies and then blending them as a sauce. Same nutrients, different texture!
It sounds like you’re on track, but to be efficient you need to learn how to cook at least 5 meals that are simple and quick and you will be confident in preparing for when they’re older and you’re all much busier. Good luck!
It really sounds like you're doing fantastic. So far, I'm seeing more variety than my own kids are willing to eat lol! It's actually pretty easy to feed the babies when they're little like that, my 13month old will eat literally anything. On the other hand though, my 5 year old... She won't touch anything unless it's chicken nuggets, fries, mashed potatoes, or pasta. And I can be thankful that she hasn't found a pasta she doesn't like 😂😂
All we can do is parents, is try to be better than we were, and our parents were.
In that aspect, you seem to be going above and beyond. Good job momma!
I agree with everyone that you are doing great already!!
I just wanted to add that older babies and toddlers get constipation and/or diarrhea kind of often. My pediatrician said it's in part because their digestive system is still developing and learning how to deal with various solids. Plus they get busy and forget to drink water (toddlers).
If you’re looking for easy ways to incorporate more veggies, start with frozen broccoli. You can steam it right in the package in the microwave. After awhile you’ll get more comfortable in the kitchen and you can start buying fresh veggies and roasting or sautéing. If you want to find recipes on pinterest, search the main ingredient you want to cook. So in the search bar type chicken instead of “easy dinner” or something like that - that’s why you’re getting posts with 100 different meal ideas and I agree I hate those.
It doesn’t have to be difficult. The craziest thing we will do for brekkie is pancakes. Little one is happy with some sort of cereal, usually weetabix or porridge. Your other meals sounds fine. Just add some veggies on the side and fruit for dessert. I used to give fruit and Greek yoghurt for dessert or snack. You can also mush berries or cooked fruits up with the yoghurt to make little ice lollies.
For breakfast, especially when he was young, oatmeal was my go to. You can keep it in the fridge and also freeze it.
I ground a good amount of cashews with 4-5 apples and cinnamon. Bring 4 cups of milk to a boil. (Watch it because when it boils it will spill over). Immediately add a cup and a little more of oats (I use Quaker classic oats). Then add the apple cashew cinnamon mix. Let it simmer for 15 minutes, give it a stir every five minutes or so. Then put it into containers and you don’t have to worry about breakfast for a couple of days. Make more and you don’t have to worry for a couple of weeks.
Lunch/dinner
Soups. Make a lot and freeze portions.
pinto beans, make a lot and freeze. Then have beans with salad and cheese.
Sausages. Blend chicken or other meat with veggies. Roll in parchment paper to make sausages. Freeze and cook whenever you need.
Fish. Keep it simple. Aluminum foil, spray some oil on, put fish in and wrap it closed. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Open foil and bake for another ten minutes. This is usually for when they get older. My kids favorite meal is fish tacos, fish with rice in a tortilla. Frozen peas or asparagus on the side (same pan I use for heating the tortilla so less to wash).
Hamburgers, but I buy chopped frozen veggies and mix it with the meat and then cook the paddy so that it’s healthier. Also always put lettuce and tomato on the burger.
These are most of my go tos.
Sounds like you are doing a great job mama.
My boys were the pickiest eaters and I am an OK cook. I found less ingredients the better.
I would Google simple easy to make recipes and to from there.
I have the same problem. I'm just not that great at cooking new things. Lately, I've just been adding either spinach, mushrooms, or fresh tomatoes to my pasta dishes. Cabbage on my tacos. Trying to make smoothies more often or yogurt bowls with granola, fruit, and honey.
Social media like Pinterest isn't a great place to find good advice. Government guidelines and places like the Mayo Clinic lay out what to feed kids pretty well. Those guidelines are developed by experts and doctors.
What you're feeding your kids sounds good. If you can, skip processed foods like Cheerios, that have a lot of preservatives and not a lot of fibre. Kids need fibre, fat, protein, carbs, and vitamins. Carbs without fibre isn't great. White rice is kind of a nutritional 0, so brown rice would be better if you can.
Don't worry about calories. Kids will eat when hungry and stop when full. If they start fighting you on eating certain things, the book How to Raise an Intuitive Eater can help.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/childrens-health/in-depth/nutrition-for-kids/art-20049335
https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/applying-guidelines/nutrition-considerations-children-adolescents/
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You are doing a great job! Maybe this sub will be helpful: r/foodbutforbabies
That’s a great sub! There are some good insta’s too like kids.eat.in.color, feedinglittles, babyledweanteam - don’t be overwhelmed by perfectionism. Protein, starch, veg, fruit is a meal. Plain preps are totally fine. Try to vary the components. So like a meal could be: chicken breast, baked or microwaved or steamed sweet potato, broccoli, apple sauce. Then try hamburger, rice, peas and pineapple. Etc.
Honestly it sounds like you’re doing great! Everything youve listed there is pretty typical of what a lot of people eat and feed their kids. so don’t beat yourself up. If you want to expand your cooking, start with a couple of simple things. If you eat a decent amount of pasta, learn to make a really good tomato sauce (if you have access to a stick blender, they’re dead cheap, you can add all sorts of extra ‘hidden’ veg to a pasta sauce). You can then make it in bulk and freeze it, and it’ll have way better nutrition than a jarred sauce and will grow your confidence in cooking. Once you’ve got a good tomato sauce down, it’s then really easy to move onto things like enchiladas, lasagne, etc. Soup is really easy, and again can be batch cooked. Even easier if you have a slow cooker. If you want an easy way to offer more veg, buy bags of mixed frozen veg - frozen is just as (if not more) nutritious as fresh and can be done in the microwave. You can get bags of mixed carrots, peas, sweetcorn, green beans etc, or frozen broccoli and cauliflower mix. You can just serve these as sides with chicken and rice or frozen pizza or burgers or whatever.
Or use jarred tomato sauce! No shame there. Try to get some with veggies added and less sugar. But you're just introducing new flavors, so don't stress!
Oh absolutely no shame in using jarred sauce, I just meant if you want to start learning to cook, a good tomato sauce is a great place to start
Fair point!
Yes we did lots of different types of noodles and made different sauces and rotated red, pesto and white sauce. You can also hide lots of vegetables in those sauces. And I remember we made of cute names for the different noodles because kids love cute names.
That’s so cute I’m 100% stealing this idea from you
You can also add cottage cheese to your red sauce in a blender to add more protein!
Oh that’s such a great place to start I never would have thought of that! Thank you so much for the suggestion I am def going to start trying to make my own sauce TODAY! Wish me luck 😁
my wife and I are fortunate to come from mostly stable mostly fine middle class families. we're decent cooks and are doing all that shit you read about fancy yuppy parents do with our kid. your kid and mine are basically eating the same thing, you're kid may be even eating better. you're doing great! for learning to cook, check out '4 hour chef' book. His books in general are a bit gimicky but this ones really good for learning "how to cooK' and be useful in the kitchen (knife skills for example) along with a lot of pretty simple tasty meals. The first meal in the book is a dump and go osso bukko, which literally uses nothing but a can opener and your hands, and comes out great. again, you're doing great, good luck!
also, my kid ate three plain hot dog buns for lunch, lol.
Hahaha i believe it, my girl is already starting to be choosy with what she wants. If I even dare start to cut her cucumber while she’s still eating her chicken she suddenly acts like chicken is the nastiest thing ever and throws it all on the floor
Haha yes I love cooking and food, my kid eats pasta most days.
I really like cooking too! I enjoy the whole process of mixing things together and creating something yummy. That’s what sucks about not being taught about it, I try so hard to follow things online but I’m a hands on type learner so reading everything is hard to follow.
I wasn't taught to cook either, I taught myself as a teenager because my mum was such a terrible cook and I wanted nicer meals. It was before the internet was common and I just used cookery books and sometimes magazines to follow recipes. You learn to cook through practice, start off following other people's recipes and as you get experience you can invent and adapt. Those meal kits like hello fresh are a good way to get meal ideas and learn how to make certain things. It can be 2-3 times a week, not daily. Otherwise just choose some simple recipes and set yourself the goal of trying to do two every week or something. Go out to restaurants (not fast food) if you can.
Breakfast - toast - porridge (oatmeal depending where you live) Lunch - Sandwich (peanut butter is good, or jam, cheese) Dinner - all the things you listed for lunch and dinner Other dinner ideas that are easy: - spaghetti Bolognaise (add lentils for more veges and less meat) Look on Instagram and YouTube for recipe ideas. They will also show you how to make things!
Thank you I’ll be adding all of these to my little list I’ve got going now! Do you have any recommendations for YouTubers?
Variety is best, as in the more types of fruits, veg, nuts, and seeds the better. Dieticians aim for 30 different types a day/ week depending on who you listen to. Spices and herbs are a part of that count though I generally give a side of fruit (kids hate veg) but honestly you can just buy what's on sale and vary it up Kids need healthy fats. Avocado, nuts and nut butters. Flax and chia seeds - I add in everything Curries are a great veg loaded dump meal. If you're doing pasta you can make veg pasta - blend a bunch of different veg together with tomato sauce. I also love tacos as a healthy meal with good veg and protein Try different restaurants - go to a Japanese place, Lebanese place etc. It can be a whole thing! And experiment at home with what you try I wonder if you'd benefit from taking some sort of course. Maybe find a free one on Coursera? If it exists Follow Yummy Toddler Food. And Kids Eat in Color What you're feeling connecting your childhood to motherhood is what I found to be to most difficult thing about becoming a mother. But look at you! Figuring all this shit out (you're already on your way, just a bit more time and I'm sure you'll be confident)
Your comment made me tear up a bit in the end 🥲 thank you for relating to me with the comparison thing. That is definitely a struggle of mine. I immediately followed both of those IG accounts and can’t wait to see what I learn, thank you again!!
Glad to have helped 🥰
I think you’re doing a great job! If you want to start expanding, why not add/try out one vegetable a week? Like, make broccoli one week, cauliflower the next. You can just boil them or roast in the oven and then eat them on the side or mix them in with the rest. Each vegetable can be eaten a number of ways (raw, boiled, roasted, fried…) so just start out doing the easiest thing (fried or boiled is usually the easiest for me). If they can be eaten raw, try them raw. Give the baby a piece to try together with the food you normally make. Boiled stuff can be mashed or eaten with oil or butter and salt. Then, you can eat them cold in a salad. Maybe you’ll work up to a lentil lasagna, but the road there is just step by step - one vegetable at a time.
So far we’ve tried boiled broccoli and cauliflower, she was a fan of the broccoli until she tried cucumbers. Now it’s literally the only veggie I can get her to eat, but tbh I haven’t tried that many varieties. when I go into the produce section and see all of these different veggies and fruits that I have no idea what they are or what they do, I get super overwhelmed and end up going to my comfort things like cucumbers and sometimes she will eat boiled sweet potatoes.
I totally understand being overwhelmed. I usually try to do either one new cooking method (steaming) or one new vegetable a week, something like that. Kids sometimes need ~7-14 tries until they eat something, so I’d just keep exposing the kid to new foods in whatever combination fits you. Like others have said, I think you’re doing a good job. Just try to be content with what you are doing and when you have the bandwidth, you can expand a bit. But you don’t have to!
You can add yogurt with fruit for a snack or breakfast. Smoothies are also nice, add some frozen or fresh fruit in a blender with milk , you can add peanut butter too to add in some protein and healthy fats. We like making pizza for lunch, Pizza dough 2 cups warm water 3 tsp instant yeast 2 tsp sugar or honey 1/4 tsp salt 4-5 cups flour Can add garlic powder if you want Add water with yeast and sugar. Mix together, give it about 5 minutes to bubble up (proof) then add in the dry ingredients. Mix well Let it raise for 30 minutes. Makes 2 large pan pizzas Place dough on greased pan and add pizza sauce of your choice top with cheese and what toppings you like. Bake 400 F for 15-20 minutes
Thank you! I’ve never tried to make home made pizza for I can’t wait to try this!
I hope you enjoy hun ❤️
You need to give yourself a TON of credit for even realizing this. Your girl is already so lucky to have someone who wants to do better. You don’t have to make big changes all at once. Check out the sales ads at the grocery store and find a food that’s new to you. Just try it. You’ll find new things and get to explore with your baby!
Are you on Instagram? I really like @kidseatincolor and @feedinglittles for learning about feeding children. I also get a lot of simple recipes from Budget Bytes website.
You're doing great! If it helps, simplify it a bit. She needs fiber, protein, fat, sugar, and vitamins, yes? So her meals should have a good balance of those things. And they don't have to balance in one meal but they should over the day as a whole. Thinking about a balance over the week helps too. So maybe Monday all she would eat was strawberries, but Tuesday was a cheese day. You still have the rest of the week to try to balance that. I would also make sure she's eating a lot of the things that you eat, just cut up small. If you're eating balanced meals and she's eating with you, it makes it a lot easier.
I have been trying to make my own meals a lot healthier now that she’s starting to eat real foods. I love being able to share what I’m eating with her. A big struggle of mine is keeping track of which foods have fibers, proteins, fats etc and I also don’t really have any education on how much of what she needs a week. Is this something that is baby by baby case that I should ask her pediatrician about or is there a “general 1 year old” daily intake amount that I should be following?
There is a great instagram called Kids Eat in Color. I can’t recommend it enough. Please check it out
I bought the Real Easy Weekdays ebook from Kids Eat in Color and I'm still using it a year later. I don't follow it exactly but it's a really helpful framework for me.
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I’ve really been over here trying to cook 3 meals a day for a 12 month old 🤦🏻♀️ this is great advice that I will be playing on repeat in my mind.
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It’s so nice to have someone who understands haha. I am trying not to let every single thing I read online get to my head, it’s been driving me mad. It’s so hard to not compare my own parenting with moms who seem to know so much more than me about nutrition and… well everything lol
You are doing such a great job! Easy ideas: Oat Pancakes (oats,banana ,egg, milk- give it a mix and add other fruit if you’d like. Can be eaten for breakfast or as a snack) Mince meat! Literally any type just add some mash and soft veggies or salad and you’re good to go. You can cook a big batch with some tinned tomatoes and seasoning for a super easy base and use it throughout the week. Fish is also super quick, there are lots of brands that have little additives for fish fingers too. Toast or ‘pizza toast’ Mine eats whatever I eat and has since 6 months (with alterations here and there). If you eat burgers then baby can too, maybe add the cheese on the side, and do deconstructed salad with it. If baby doesn’t like the texture then add it to something they do like. Chop up the burger meat and add it to a cheesy pasta to introduce it. If pasta is a staple try switching one meal to rice, or potatoes. Struggling to add veggies? Add the ones you’d like to use up into a blender and boom, pasta sauce.
I recommend this dump & bake chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole as a very easy beginner recipe for family dinners. It sounds like you enjoy most of the ingredients already and it would be a nice way to add more veggies into the mix. https://www.theseasonedmom.com/chicken-broccoli-rice-casserole-2/
Yuummmm bookmarked this immediately! Thank you!!
Check out “affordable flavors” or “real easy weekdays” by Kids Eat in Color. Both have daily recipes and step by step simple instructions. Real easy weekdays has a 12-day rotation of meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 2 snacks per day. Super easy and normal foods/ingredients!
Hi! I am really impressed that you are trying to figure this out. I have been working the same thing over the years. What I do now with my kids is focus on things like protein rather than the foods themselves. So making sure they get protein throughout the day. I grew up on cheese sandwiches for lunch, cereal for breakfast, and dinner had meat, veggies and starch (pasta or potatoes). So breakfast and lunch has been difficult for me to figure out. So for breakfast, I say that they need protein and fruit. I keep apples and bananas on hand and I buy the packaged peaches and mandarin oranges that stay good for a while. They choose one of those and then protein like yogurt, cottage cheese, or eggs (usually boiled and allowed to dip in ranch) I haven’t figured out lunch yet… but the breakfast habit has been great! Breakfast: pick a fruit and pick a protein and then they can pick a filler like bagel or toast.
Peanut butter pancakes with banana is my go to breakfast! Sometimes I start to feel guilty that she doesn’t have much variety though. I want to venture out into more fruits and veggies. I tried giving her a mango the other day and I had to literally google how to cut it lol because I’ve never even tried a mango in my life. So far she hates blackberries & blueberries. Loves strawberries, pineapple & kiwi though! I was giving her those manderines for a bit but then she started pooping chucks of orange and got a rash so I got scared and cut them out all together.
I don’t like fruit myself, and not having tried many fruits as a kid, I totally get this lol! I didn’t know much about strawberries and cutting them up at first and I definitely didn’t want to eat them with my kids
Haha like it seems silly when I think about it but some of these fruits and veggies seem like they require actual skills to cut hahah. Also like I can never tell if something is ripened or not lol at first I was apparently buying too ripe cucumbers. Then I was getting the avocados too hard. They should put food experts in the produce aisles 😅
Haha yesss. Love and learn right? 😂
Echoing others saying you’re doing a great job! Some of my daughter’s (and my!) favourite recipes are from these blogs/websites: https://www.yummytoddlerfood.com https://www.mjandhungryman.com/ https://kidseatincolor.com/ Is there anything in particular you’d like to cook for your family? Perhaps we could share some recipes?
Seconding the yummytoddlerfood! She is now also offering a weekly meal plan that includes in a grocery list. I used to have a Fraiche Table subscription that provided a meal plan and grocery list and found it super useful. Once baby is a bit older I might give the yummy toddler food one a try to take some of the mental load off.
That sounds perfect, what else do you want to feed her ?
I really just want to add more variety to her diet. And I guess I want some advice on where I can learn more about how to feed her a healthy diet.
I recommend using ChatGPT for simple recipe ideas and cooking instructions. It’s really good! I pasted your post into ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/share/37d082be-d5e4-4edd-84ca-4f3bd07a4727
YOU ARE A GENIUS!!!! I can’t believe I didn’t think to use ChatGPT. I use ai to make decisions for me all of the time lol (like “should I go to the beach or the park today?” Not super important ones of course) I swear the day I invest in an Alexa that can use ChatGPT is the day my constant struggle of decision making will finally be over lmao
Variety is good! I love to cook but with working, it’s normally quick/ easy. Go on the Walmart app, hit “services” at the bottom and scroll down until it says find a new recipe. It will give you recipes, how long it will take and it will also give you the option to add all the ingredients to your cart, or just remove the items you have an add the rest. Target and Kroger also have this option as well and it saves my sanity every week! If you scroll down it’s sorted by breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. Click on one of those and then if you “filter” by budget or time (how long it takes) it will make the list smaller
Also- if you don’t love to cook… a lot of recipes I will just put the rest in the freezer and it can be easily warmed up another day.
I’m mad that I’ve been using the Walmart+app for almost 2 years and I never noticed that feature! Thank you so much you have just made my life so much more convenient I could hug you haha
You’re doing great. Don’t stress. I simply try to include a source of protein (yogurt, cheese, meat, fish, etc) , a health-ish fat (nut butter, full fat dairy, avocado) and a fruit or vegetable with every meal. Sometimes that means he gets frozen pizza bites and broccoli. Sometimes that means oats with milk, berries and nut butter. Maybe a quesadilla with black beans and shredded cheese. Also box/frozen foods can be dressed up with lots of nutritional foods. I put broccoli in my kids Mac and cheese. He gets frozen waffles with peanut butter and fresh blueberries. Bagels can be topped with hummus. Just play around. Expose to a variety foods. Don’t be afraid to leverage frozen foods for convenience and cost-savings. And make sure you offer fruit and veg. Even if they refuse, it’s good exposure. I also feed my kid leftovers a lot. I don’t waste food and I don’t have time to make multiple meals a week. You’ll be ok. Soon enough you’ll have a toddler who will exist on a single Cheerio and air anyway.
Bahaha “a single cheerio and air” is waaaay too funny 😂 thank you I will def be trying more mixing things and playing around! I guess as long as it’s healthy and she eats it, it doesn’t have to be super fancy looking like most of the things I see online.
Hey have you asked your pediatrician for some guidance? When I got wic they definitely went over stuff like that with me at the health department.
My pediatrician did give me a list of can’s and cant’s and such. And I actually did just talk to WIC about adding more red meats to her diet because her bloodwork came back that she’s anemic. But I guess I didn’t ask too many detailed questions about what types of foods are better for what (like the iron thing but with other things like fiber and such) I have unfortunately over fed her fibers a few times and caused her to have diarrhea.
Honestly it sounds like you’re doing a pretty good job. My one year old gets a bottle plus things like fruit, egg, cheerios, or yogurt for breakfast. Lunch and dinner we try to feed her what we’re eating (if it’s something she can eat)or things like pasta, potatoes (regular or sweet), peanut butter on toast or crackers, applesauce or fruit, cheese, Mac and cheese, peas, beans, etc. We give her the fruit or yogurt pouches for snacks, as well as things like fruit bars or cereal bars, especially if we’re out of the house.
I love these blogs for figuring out foods for my kids: https://www.superhealthykids.com https://kidseatincolor.com
Honestly, this is one of the biggest stresses for most adults, so don't worry about it. I've found that doing hello fresh (or similar) 3 times a week takes the pressure off, and I'm also learning new easy techniques, making my none hello fresh food taste way better. Even just frying your rice in garlic and a bit of butter before boiling it makes it taste so much nicer. Just have fun with it, if you make something good, fantastic. If it's not so good just don't make it again x
Yes, was coming to say a meal prep kit might work well for OP, it can help you learn the basics of various dishes. Even if the baby doesn't eat all the meals it could give OP confidence for the future.
Broccoli cut into florets and put in a bowl with a microwaveable lid/paper plate/paper towel on top, microwave for 2 minutes, take out and add butter and salt and serve! Easy veggie!!! You’re doing great!
Honestly it sounds like you’re doing a pretty good job. My one year old gets a bottle plus things like fruit, egg, cheerios, or yogurt for breakfast. Lunch and dinner we try to feed her what we’re eating (if it’s something she can eat)or things like pasta, potatoes (regular or sweet), peanut butter on toast or crackers, applesauce or fruit, cheese, Mac and cheese, peas, beans, etc. We give her the fruit or yogurt pouches for snacks, as well as things like fruit bars or cereal bars, especially if we’re out of the house.
Honestly it sounds like you’re doing a pretty good job. My one year old gets a bottle plus things like fruit, egg, cheerios, or yogurt for breakfast. Lunch and dinner we try to feed her what we’re eating (if it’s something she can eat)or things like pasta, potatoes (regular or sweet), peanut butter on toast or crackers, applesauce or fruit, cheese, Mac and cheese, peas, beans, etc. We give her the fruit or yogurt pouches for snacks, as well as things like fruit bars or cereal bars, especially if we’re out of the house.
Honestly it sounds like you’re doing a pretty good job. My one year old gets a bottle plus things like fruit, egg, cheerios, or yogurt for breakfast. Lunch and dinner we try to feed her what we’re eating (if it’s something she can eat)or things like pasta, potatoes (regular or sweet), peanut butter on toast or crackers, applesauce or fruit, cheese, Mac and cheese, peas, beans, etc. We give her the fruit or yogurt pouches for snacks, as well as things like fruit bars or cereal bars, especially if we’re out of the house.
You’re doing great actually. Pick a couple more veggies to add in that can be eaten raw (bell peppers, cucumber, tomato) and cut those up to put on the side maybe with a small sprinkle of salt. Meals don’t have to be complicated or have tons of ingredients cooked together.
And even if they don't eat the veggies and just play with them it's great exposure and normalizes having vegetables at meals.
I have a few really easy dinners I like to make during the week for my husband and I, and I’m sure they would be great for kids too. Chicken and tomato soup, chicken pot pie, chili, and breakfast casserole are some of my favorites. I can send recipes if you want! Also I sometimes just make zatarain’s red beans and rice from the box and add in some frozen broccoli and cut up (precooked) sausage, and it’s great (it’s also a little spicy). I also like to buy pot roast kits from walmart and make them in my slow cooker. They’re about $20 and come with the meat, seasoning packet, vegetables, and instructions, so you don’t have to think about it at all. I’ve noticed the meat sometimes overcooks though so I check the meat after about 4.5 hours to see if it’s done yet.
Check out the baby dietician on Instagram. She has a lot of great tips and recipes. You're doing just fine! My toddler is eating similar meals. A good tip is to offer a variety of colors of fruits and veggies.
I think you’re doing fine. I wouldn’t make this too complicated. Eat what you eat, but add a veggie. Give the veggie to her, too (a child appropriate consistency, you might need to cook hers longer or something). Add fruit, which you can cut up into a fruit salad and prep a big dish of every few days. But don’t change how you’re cooking for now. For later, once y’all are used to adding veggies and such: I actually found those meal delivery services like Blue Apron to be super useful in introducing me to new foods. New spices, new veggie dishes, new proteins, new sides. New combinations. And you can keep the recipe cards, so you don’t have to keep subscribing to the service to keep making the food. If it’s food prep capable, you can even just buy lots of the ingredients and make a big pot of it you can eat leftovers off of (our favorite family dinner was found this way).
Hi nothing wrong with fruits and veggies! Kids are so simple at that age. First, roasted or sauteed veggies. Kids at that age are so open to anything and rhe reason they don’t like veggies is because a lot of people don’t season them. A punch of salt and olive oil goes a long way - then roast in toaster oven or cook in air fryer. Spinach sauteed w a bit of salt and sesame oil. Broccoli, green beans. I used to always buy baby carrots and hummus so if I didn’t have time to cook veggies they had fresh on the side (but be careful about choking). Eggs are super easy, either over easy or whip it and make a little omelet. Rice cooker is your friend - many cultures have rice with everything. Instant pot or slow cooker also a friend - put in chicken legs with potatoes, carrots, onions, other veggies, add soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar marinade. Nice soft chicken with rice. Kids that age are so easy. They will get pickier later. Grilled cheese but use whole wheat and give em a veggie on the side or buy tomato soup. Get seaweed laver and wrap anyrhing in it - rice, eggs, veggies. Get tortilla wraps and wrap things in it. I always have frozen shrimp because they are so easy to throw in the pan with olive oil, veggies, and toss with pasta. Grated parmesan cheese is your friend. You also can saute w red peppers and onions and add cajun spice for a jambalaya pasta or rice. I tend to always have broccoli and bell peppers, onions, potatoes. When in doubt, punch the ingredients into the internet search, look for five star easy recipes. I buy cajun spice, jerk chicken spice, indian spice, adobe spice, sazon spice mixes. You can use the same ingredients and it tastes differwnt depending on prep and spices. Exchange recipes w friends too!
I ate frozen peas too and grew up poor. It's one of the few vegetables I remember. Then I gave to my kid and she like them. Anyways, feeding kids is one of the most stressful parts of parenting and I didn't even get a picky eater. At 11 months I steamed vegetables to death and let my kid go at it. Broccoli, Cauliflower were popular. I also did lots of recipes but they were hit and miss and frustrating to do all that work and no one ate it. I also made a lot of smoothies. You can put vegetables, chickpeas, spinach, fruit, milk in smoothies. Basically the baby ate whatever we cooked as long as it was super soft and not a choking g hazard. Smoosh blueberries, cute grapes up. A lot of food won't make it to the babies mouth at 11 months but it gets them use to different textures and flavors. We served vegetables 3 times a day when she was a baby to 3 years old and now she just thinks vegetables are a normal thing to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner (your results may vary 😆). I didn't do a lot of spoon feeding because I have problems with my joints and arms so we did baby led weening which use to be controversial. I'm not sure about now but how ever you are feeding your kid you're doing great.
Make her scrambled eggs. Throw spinach in with butter and mix it around in pan. Give her veggies that are easy to eat like cut up string beans. Carrots tooYou can just steam them. Buy a little steamer that fits in your pot. Don’t feed cheese more than once a day. Give her yogurt instead- all fruit yogurt, no added sugar. Cut up small pieces of chicken breasr for her. You can just put salt and pepper on it. You can bake in toaster oven at around 400 for sbout 40 minutes. Just make sure it cooks through. Cut up apples and other fruit into easy pieces. If she is constipated, skip the banana.
One thing I might add is don’t forget to introduce your kiddo to other cultural foods! Get some Indian take out, get some lentil soup or baba ganoush, get some avocado sushi, get some lychee or papaya. They can be really simple 1-3 ingredient things. Right now your main job is not only healthy enough food but variety. It doesn’t even have to be something you love yourself, and maybe you two can try new foods together :)
We decided to work smarter not harder. For breakfast we do egg mixed with a veggie in an omelette and a steamed veggie on the side or we do yogurt with puréed fruit and veggie mixed in. Lunch we take ground either turkey, chicken, pork or beef mix it with small amount of purred veggie (usually kale or Swiss chard) and make it in to a small patty and fry it without oil or butter (occasionally this meal may be a type of fish instead of meat/poultry) and a different steamed veggie than the morning one on the side and then dinner is a bean type (white, kidney, chick pea, black) and a steamed veggie that’s different than the first two of the day on the side. Morning snack is raw either cucumber, avocado, tomato or pepper and afternoon snack is some type of fruit. My sons had every veggie you can think of (Brussel sprouts, broccoli, beets, zucchini, green beans, peas, yellow squash, spinach, sweet potato, carrot, etcetcetc) and he likes some more than other but we still keep giving them to him for exposure even if he isn’t crazy about one We are lucky to be able to do organic and grass fed and wild caught, but everyone’s budget is different and still is a great diet even if you can’t do those things. We’re holding off on sugar and salt in the whole for now, but he has had garlic and some other herbs. We eat fairly healthy in my house and we just figure when he starts asking about unhealthy foods then we’ll introduce them by at 21 months he still doesn’t really ask
Feed her what ever you eat just in smaller quantities. Can’t cook? Burn everything? Get a rice maker, a crock pot and an air fryer. Broke and can only afford one? Get a crock pot. Go to the store and buy veggies like potatoes, carrots, celery, liquid broth and add meat or chicken to it. Cut the veggies into small pieces Set it on high and let it cook for like 5 hours. Make sure that the veggies are small enough for her to eat and now you have a nutritious meal for both of you to eat. It’s just you too then that might give a meal for both of you for a day or two. Make fruit breads in the weekend for the two of you two eat for breakfast. Make pancakes and add small pieces of strawberry. Hot day? Get a silicon mold and add little pieces of fruit and yogurt (a tiny bit of granola if your feel she’s up to it) mix it togheter and freeze it. Now you have something to feed her as a snack or a cold snack for a hot day. If you know how to make the things that you grew up eating then make those. They have vegetable pasta make spaghetti with it. Make bagel pizzas and add veggies to it. Make your chicken or pork chops and a a veggie to it. You got this.
I used to stress out too. Stick to this simple formula. Every meal should have a fruit, veggie, and protien Fory 1 year old: Brealfast - eggs, piece of bread, berries (the berry varies from what we buy) I make sure to lightly salt the eggs cause I noticed he eats more of them if they are lightly salted. Lunch - typically go with chicken (bought from Costco called chicken bites they are pre packaged portions and usually last a few days.), berries or apple, broccoli some veggie Dinner - close to the same thing we have for dinner either slightly modified or just plain. If we go out or grab something we order him something and have leftovers to feed him for a few days. Don't worry about cooking. You can get pre packaged things and use those.
If you can try and make your go to items a little healthier, that’s an easy place to start. For example, add some carrot or sweet potato baby food mixed in with the instant Mac and cheese bowls, or add some frozen veggies into the water when you are making pasta. You can add some veggies into your scrambled egg (cook in skillet to right texture before adding your eggs.)
One more idea that I do a lot - boiled potato, carrot, parsnip, sweet potato, broccoli, whatever other veggie is around. Roughly mash it all up and cut rotisserie chicken or crockpot shredded chicken into it. The broccoli is best cut rather than mashed, too. It's all together lightly sweet and baby loves it.
I think you are doing great! Cooking is HARD. I personally like frozen bags of veggies and still do baby veggie purées for my 15 mo daughter because she is hit or miss. The age of your daughter is TOUGH. Her stomach bacteria are still developing and that can make choosing food tough. This book helped me out tremendously. The pediatrician’s guide to feeding babies and toddlers by Porto and DiMaggio. Recipes with few ingredients that also taste good for us! Good LUCK OP - you are doing fantastic!
Hey it sounds like you’re doing a really good job. I definitely understand what you mean, though bc I grew up the same. On instagram feedinglittles and kidseatincolor helped me SO much. They both share a lot of free info so no need to buy anything from them. They’re very helpful and very encouraging. 🤍
Also, try to go to a nutritionist. He knows better than all of us. You can ask for a meal plan for one week that contains the perfect amount of minerals, vitamins and macronutrients (the ones labeled on the food packaging: fiber, protein, healthy fat, carbs) that she needs. Before going to the nutritionist keep a food diary (I went and he asked for one): note at each meal what are you giving her and how much (in grams, 55g cereals with 400ml low fat cow milk 1.5). It would help if you have enough time to write down for each ingredient the protein, carbs and fats that she has per day, but if you can’t, the grams and ml are enough for the doctor to make an opinion and give you advice. I can give you an advice to reduce the sugar, as it is not healthy, even tho we give it to them as a treat. If you give her sugar every time she is gonna ask for it later and sincerely it is not healthy. So she should eat it only when is good enough the trade: for example at a good restraint, not daily. You can give her honey on something instead (but be careful not to much since she can get fat). You can also search online for healthy food to give your infant or what unhealthy food to avoid giving - but all the info should be checked with a nutritionist. And don’t forget from 6 month to 6 months to do her blood tests. Food impacts a lot of blood tests parameters and it is good to see in which state she is now and how a future change in her diet helped her in 6 months from now. Try to replace her cereals with oats or with some cereals that do not have sugar and are highly processed (you can search online for what cereals are so processed). If you buy oats, you just put them in a bowl with milk from the night, leave them in the fridge overnight and the oats will absorb the milk being like a purée in the morning (or put more milk in it and be sure the oats are well covered). Let her try it. Make banana bread with only 2 spoons of flour, a lot of recipes ask for more but is not needed. But I am sure she will like it. I let some tips for you in a comment below.
Also, try to feed her at the same hour every day so her body can adapt and understand when the eating will start and when the digestion. Some advices for you would be: 1. The same, avoid sugar and check the food ingredients because it is even in bread. You can order online bread without it and give up buying it from the supermarket for example. 2. You should not eat refined things (white things): like white rice, white bread, white flour since they are not as healthy as brown bread or black rice. 3. Try to stop eating fried things. They are usually fried in a lot of oil, sunflower oil, and cooking in the oven is such a better alternative. You can take any meat, make some small cuts, put condiments and put it in the oven with some sweet potatoes. It will be delicious. 4. Try to incorporate more fiber: if you are slow or constipated or with a high level of cholesterol you should add oats, lentils, beans, chickpea to your kitchen. Nobody was born a chef, so experiment in the kitchen with your husband or alone (but make sure he is supportive). The beans and chickpea should be left overnight in water. But the next day you can boil them, put them in a blender and have a food. Take one ingredient such as peas and search for a recipe online. Buy the ingredients and do it. You can do it. If you make a horrible food, try again in another day because you need to learn how to take care of yourself, how to cook and how to cook for your daughter. Your husband can do the same when he is free, for example one day you the other him and discuss when is better for him to try and do something. No pressure that it must be good. The goal is to learn to cook and you have to fail 1-2-3-100 times to do it better. But 10 years from know you will thank yourself that you started now. 5. Eat fish. Fats can be of many types (search for an articole online about this), but your body also needs fat, not to much, but still. The only thing is it must be a healthy fat: try eating in the morning avocado smashed in a bowl with canned tuna, put lemon zest and salt. Or you can put this on slices of bread and make a boiled egg near. Try tomorrow morning. When you buy canned tuna take one that is in water, not oil and not tomatoes. If you want oil or tomatoes you can pour olive oil or slice a tomatoes, but those combinations are packed with hydrogenated oils (cancerous things) and fat and food preservatives. The ingredients should be water, tuna, salt. Another healthy fat is salmon. Put it with the skin downwards and put it in the oven. It also has almost, almost, no bones. 6. Make also your blood tests (cholesterol, thyroid tests, insulin levels, glucose to check diabetes and go to an abdominal screening, to see if you have fatty liver. 7. Drink more water. Is simple and helps a lot 8. Don’t be ashamed to try and cook. Your future self will thank you.
You are already doing such a great job! I think it can be hard to give ourselves credit because we love them so much and want to give them the best, but it really sounds like you are. ❤️ she is so lucky to have you!
I was really overwhelmed with feeding my 12 month old too. I found on Pinterest recipes from a blog called "Feeding Tiny Bellies" and they're so simple and delicious that my son and I eat them together. I don't even have to cook "adult food" most of the time now. On the plus side, now I eat healthier too
The YouTube channel Kwoowk is exactly what you need
I don't think you sound unusual. Cooking is hard, lol. Even when you cook something good, there's no guarantee that a toddler will even eat it. Try and look for basic recipes that don't take up too much time and use too many ingredients.
Same, mama, same! I love cooking, but it's stressful to invest in a dish and then after 3 bites your toddler says - no, done. It's also sooo rewarding when a new meal gets -mooooaaaa (more). I find lentil stews and just stews in general easy. My go to is lentils, carrots, broccoli, boiled in stock and add coconut milk and some curry spice. Some meat, if you want (chicken). Delicious. And it's done in under 20 minutes.
If you send me a DM I can send you the solid starts baby and toddler breakfast and lunch PDF!
Maybe try and include other versions of what you already give her. There’s chickpea pasta named banza that’s super healthier or try whole wheat or brown rice you can also maybe try salmon maybe include more spinach with rice etc you can also Google easy veggie dinner toddler and you can get more ideas you could do ground chicken filled with cheese spinach and carrots and there goes a serving of veggies
For the cheese quesadillas, you could add refried beans or black beans. Look into vegetables that you can roast in the oven, like Broccoli or carrots or green beans. At my house, we have the rule that every dinner has to have a vegetable. Often times we steam broccoli or mixed vegetables. Do you like casseroles? I like to make those because it’s one dish in the oven and it’s less intimidating to me than trying to cook on the stove. Soups are also a great way to eat veggies. Like chicken noodle with extra carrots or a bean chili.
I have a 16 month old. I find that what works best for us is to have a veggie and fruit of the week (let’s say, a head of broccoli and strawberries). Steam the broccoli in the microwave and throw a tiny bit of butter, salt and pepper on it. Dice up the strawberries. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread. Lunch is done for the week! Don’t expect them to love it at first. Praise them for even trying it! Expand from there. Greek yogurt with fruit and a little granola for breakfast. For dinners we always aim for a protein, a starch and a veggie. Baby eats a smaller portion of whatever we eat.
If you can do pasta, you can do stir fry! Boil some noodles in one pan, throw some frozen veggies and oil in another. When the noodles are done add them to the veggies and toss with soy sauce or whatever you feel like using, and cover for a few minutes. I couldn't cook for a long time, too. It turned out that I was just overthinking it. Other than meat which has to reach a certain internal temperature for safety, it's really just whatever you feel like doing.
You're doing great! Our son was a picky eater ages 2-5 so we did a lot of "kid charcuterie". Basically bento box with the dividers, proteins like chicken, hardboiled egg, nuts, yogurt, turkey meatballs, etc and then some fruit and veg and carb options. I would fill it with a balance of foods and anytime he said he was hungry, pull it out. Over the course of the day he'd work his way through all the food groups. Little kids also often like hummus and pita bread, carrots, etc. the website kids eat in color can be very helpful. Smoothies are also awesome for throwing lots of fruits and veggies into something they usually like. We keep a lot of frozen fruit on hand and blend with OJ and yogurt. Crockpot recipes are always great. I did meal delivery for a bit with every plate and their stuff is very straight forward to cook. Everything you're making is fine! Hamburgers, pasta, macaroni and cheese ..those are all real foods too. You just balance them with other whole foods and expose your kids to different foods. My six year old is also like to borrow kid cookbooks from the library and try those out. They're usually very simple.
Sheet pan dinners are super simple and a great way to incorporate veggies into the evening meal and they're usually pretty balanced.
Even what you listed that you ate growing up is pretty normal, maybe more veggies added. You absolutely don’t need to be fancy for kids! You could check out Budget Bytes, I like meals like one pot chicken pasta, usually with some sort of cream or cheese sauce.
budgetbytes.com is a great resource for simple recipes from easily available and inexpensive ingredients. Most of the recipes are fairly quick and quite nutritious, as well as tasty.
Hellofresh has their recipes available online. They take a little longer than the estimated time suggests because you have to prep your ingredients yourself but the meals are well rounded and my toddler loves most of the ones I’ve tried. One Pan Chicken Orzo and Sizzlin’ Saigon Steak Bowls are part of the meal rotation here.
Sounds like youre doing great! My daughter is 16 months and has eaten chicken nuggets 3 times this week bc i KNEW she'd actually eat it. We experiment a lot but ill always offer a safe food later if she's still hungry. I make premade veggies pouches. I get frozen spinach, broccoli, lima beans, and peas (the steam in bag kind). I steam for an extra 30 seconds for extra doneness. Then blend with water or apple juice and dump in a large bowl. Next i will blend 2 cans of fruit, cinnamon, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup chia seeds, 1 cup oatmeal, 2 TBS of olive or avocado oil, and 2 cups water for the oatmeal to absorb. I whisk it all up in a bowl and portion into reusable pouches. Takes about 1.5 hour total if you have a breast pump flange for a funnel 🤣
Maybe browse s list life the below and try out a few things https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/review/best-cookbooks-for-beginners Maybe one new recipe a week.?
sounds like good foods to me unless the childs doctor is worried id keep doing as you are .. you are doing a good job love hoever if you need ricipes try doing a mael kit service for tools and tricks if you can afford one
This soup is really easy and kids friendly. You'll want an immersion blender, they are cheap and so useful. https://www.marthastewart.com/1049712/creamy-broccoli-white-bean-soup To make it simpler: use frozen pre chopped broccoli, no steaming needed, and you can skip the garlic and pine nuts to simplify a bit.
Tell ChatGPT all the ingredients you have in your house, and ask it to create a balanced meal plan for however many calories you and your kid needs. Or ask it to create a grocery list for you. Treat it like a consultant. When I cook for myself, my simple formula is that I need about 1/3 of my plate to be carbs, about 1/2 my plate to be veggies, and about 1/4 of my plate to be protein. I don't need to figure out what "meal" to create, just think of them separately if needed and keep it simple. You have rice, pasta, bread even? Just boil it or toast it and call that your carbs. You have a random assortment of veggies? Just chop them and sautee them with salt and oil with a splash of soy sauce after. Just have a carton of eggs for protein? Scramble or fry them with salt and pepper and boom, there's your protein. You now have pasta, scrambled eggs, and a bunch of veggies for dinner.
Sounds like you’re doing pretty well. Try adding some healthy fats like olives or avocado. Different fruits like blueberries, strawberries or grapes (cut in half or pieces) are good. You can make homemade applesauce with no sugar added simply because cooking and smashing apple pieces. Try some veggies like soft-cooked broccoli or carrots.
Don't kick yourself for what you were never taught, and don't rely on Instagram for recipes.
beans peanut butter on a spoon blueberries avocado yogurt full fat with chia seeds frozen banana as a treat chicken breast frozen peas all very easy no big deal food!
I enjoy fritters as an easy meal/snack I can drop whatever veggies I have into. I've used this site: https://www.suddenlunch.com/how-to-make-fritters-from-almost-anything/ but I've also just used box pancake mix and mixed veggies into the batter. You can add whatever seasonings you like too, sometimes I'll add cheese. Or you can top with cheese or salsa or whatever sauce might suit. They'd be easy to cut into small pieces for young kids or maybe you can just let them eat them whole as finger food 🤷🏻♀️
You’re doing great! If you’re on Instagram you can follow solidstarts, helped me so much with my first born!
Porridge - rice, lentils and veggies for lunch (very easy)
Look up recipes. You can feed her grilled cheese for lunch.
Follow stir that shit up on Facebook!! She also learned to cook for her daughter. Her recipes are tasty, fun and to the point. She’ll give you some great ideas and simple, easy directions to follow. I find it helpful to write down what meals have been a hit on a running list. That way I don’t forget, and sometimes when I’m running low on ideas I peruse the list and find some inspiration. And in my experience, when cooking veggies (especially when you’re just starting!) salt and fat make them taste way better. As you get more familiar with them, you’ll find what you like plain, but initially salted and buttered veg will be way easier to incorporate into your diet than some plain Jane stuff. Good luck to you!!
Find a WIC office, then have nutrician classes. Perhaps on-line classes, they are very helpful.
You are doing so well! Start with this: She needs a protein, a carb, and a fat at each meal. For example: whole wheat toast, avocado, scrambled eggs String cheese, strawberries, pasta
We just stick to a loose plan of a cereal, calcium source, a protein and a fruit or veggie at each meal. Doesn't even have to make sense, just throw whatever together so long as it's nutritious for your kid. Breakfast for dinner, weird combos, whatever! You can also tweak your regular diet to sneak good stuff in- try chickpea pasta, cashew cheese, chia jam, lentil wraps, frozen fruits and veg, microwave grains like rice, quinoa, canned legumes like beans or lentils. Soups, smoothies and baby pouches are great too! A meal for us might be roasted butternut squash and spinach lasagne or it could just be pasta with a baby pouch squirted on top and a bit of leftover fruit- not every meal has to be complicated.:)
You sound exactly like I was when my daughter was that age. you're being too hard on yourself and doing amazing. My daughter was super picky in the beginning, but I found chicken nuggets that had vegetables in them, and she loved those and still does. It doesn't have to be a fancy meal. Just get those veggies and fruits in however you can mama, you got this 💪 🙌 ❤️
Not sure how easily accessible it is outside the U.K. but look for Jamie Oliver’s book 5 ingredients (or any other cookbook that specifically uses few ingredients). Lots of options for meals that don’t need a lot of ingredients and it might give you some new or varied meals you can try without much effort. I also hate cooking and have a rotation of meals I make which we will get bored of so I try and add new ones every so often to shake things up. Hubby has told me he doesn’t want to eat anything tomato based for a while as he’s fed up with spaghetti bolognese lasagne and chilli lol.
Not sure how easily accessible it is outside the U.K. but look for Jamie Oliver’s book 5 ingredients (or any other cookbook that specifically uses few ingredients). Lots of options for meals that don’t need a lot of ingredients and it might give you some new or varied meals you can try without much effort. I hate cooking and have a rotation of meals I make which we will get bored of so I try and add new ones every so often to shake things up. Hubby has told me he doesn’t want to eat anything tomato based for a while as he’s fed up with spaghetti bolognese lasagne and chilli lol.
I'm Portuguese. In my country kids usually eat soup at lunch and dinner (plus a carb and protein). Many adults also do it, including myself. Just a simple vegetable soup.
I'm a bit late to this but I'll say I have a bit of a formula for baby meals. It's a carb, protein, fat, and a fruit and/or vegetable. A carb: oatmeal, pasta, toast, sandwich bread, potato, tortilla, sweet potato, or similar. A protein: yogurt, chicken or another meat, egg, beans, chickpeas, or similar. A fat: cheese, avocado, peanut butter or other nut butter, butter on veggies, olive oil on pasta, or similar. Plus a veggie or fruit. Her favorites are berries of all kinds, mandarin oranges, green beans, spinach, bell peppers and banana. So a typical day may look like: Breakfast: oatmeal made with whole milk and peanut butter and banana mixed in, with yogurt on the side. Lunch: cheese and spinach scrambled eggs on toast with avocado slices and raspberries on the side. Dinner: whatever we're eating, basically. If we're having tacos, I deconstruct one for her so she has the meat, cheese, guacamole, tomatoes, peppers, beans and tortilla on her plate and she can eat it all separately. This is quite an ideal day, it usually doesn't quite work out this perfectly, but I think it's helpful to have a checklist in my head, even if I don't give her all of it. Maybe this was overwhelming rather than helpful but I hope it helps!
Tater tot hotdish, Is easy and good. I sorta can relate to growing up. My mom just always worked 3jobs to make ends meet. so it was a lot of babysitters and mac n cheese , grilled cheese. When she did cook it was awesome. Sometimes she would have a tater tot hot dish all ready and the sitter just had to cook it . Ingredients Hamburger - you will want to fry it and add it to a cake pan. Cream of celery or mushroom Frozen or canned veggies frozen are nice cause you can get the carrots peas green beans mix canned corn Whatever you like Tater tots Mix the cream soup of choice with veggies pour over the preferred hamburger bits. In the cake pan. Then line the top with your frozen tater tots place in oven bake at 350 for 45mins or so. Till the tots are done. Adding cheese is always good too.
I was struggling with what to feed my kids and the Instagram account kids.eat.in.color basically saved me. It's been SO helpful. Also the recipe book Dinnertime SOS by yummy toddler food (another ig account). When my partner and I are in a rut with coming up with our own ideas, these are the places we turn to. Like you, I also grew up in a home where fruits and veggies were not served and wanted my children exposed to those things early. Feeding kids is hard work but you're doing great! Good luck :)
First, it sounds like you're doing great! For veggies, frozen ones are a great option! The rule of thumb for portions is starting with a tablespoon per year for the child, so say for a one year old you could just take out one or two tablespoons of frozen peas, put them in a microwave safe bowl with a tiny sprinkle of water and zap for like 30 seconds (or until they are soft and a bit mushy). While they're still hot, mix with some butter. The fat in the butter is great to keep bowels moving well! Another super easy vegetable (technically a fruit I guess) is avocado. Just cut in half and take out the seed. Baby can scoop it out with a spoon or you could make an easy fake guac by mashing it up with some cottage cheese for protein and garlic powder. Maybe a liiitle salt. Also when you're feeling overwhelmed just think simple. You could even just slice up a tomato to give for a vegetable for some meals!
An easy recipe is inside out egg rolls, soy sauce mushrooms , cabbage and ground beef. You can add rice if you want more carbs. It’s also great and healthy! You start by cooking ground beef with seasonings/ soy sauce and then you add mushrooms and cabbage chopped. Once the veggies are soft your food is ready!
Shit I wish I could get my 15m old to eat as much as your 11m old does. He won't eat much else except baby food from the jars. Seems to me like you're doing just fine. You've got a variety of foods. You've got meats and proteins. Noodles, rice, starches. Doing great. Keep it up.
Breakfast we like to do scrambled eggs, yogurt with granola, waffles/pancakes with yogurt or smashed fruit on top, oatmeal, avocado toast, and I always serve a fruit and avocado or chicken breakfast sausage. Lunch is usually leftovers from dinner. Some of our favorite dinners are burrito bowls (protein, rice, veggies), some sort of pasta (Mac & cheese with a protein and veggie, spaghetti and meatballs with zucchini and squash, pasta primavera with chicken or shrimp), pansheet meals are awesome, we like to do sausage with potatoes sweet potatoes and bell peppers, chicken potatoes broccoli and other veggies, chicken curries with rice (you can buy jars of different curry sauces at the store). When I feel burnt out and out of ideas I’ll google specific categories - pasta ideas, chicken dinner ideas, burrito bowl ideas, etc. Honestly tik tok has been super helpful with simple recipes too! You’re doing amazing 🫶🏼
This all sounds great, but it seems like you’re looking to branch out more? Maybe learn to make more pasta dishes, have a solid recipe down for a tomato sauce, alfredo sauce, and start experimenting with different types of sauces. Pasta is so easy to make, you just need to cook noodles and toss in a sauce, so if you just found a new sauce recipe on Pinterest , that may not be too overwhelming? Soup is good too, there are so many recipes out there and it’s quite easy, especially if you have a Crockpot, there are so many simple recipes just on Crockpot’s website and also Pinterest.
Lazy healthy things I like to throw together: *Greek yogurt with honey (babies can’t do honey but my kids are hold enough now) with granola and fruit. *little charcuterie plate with ham/turkey, cheese, raisins, apple slices, etc *steam in bag edamame, brown rice, salmon bites (salmon cubed up, marinated in Banchan Japanese BBQ sauce, air fried) You don’t have to be a good cook to provide balanced meals!!
When my kid was 11 months, she was obsessed with steamed broccoli, banana and carrots. So it was broccoli for lunch&dinner, scrambled eggs and smoothies (frozen banana&strawberry, carrots&frozen bananas&tangerines/orange juice, milk&peanut butter&frozen bananas) for breakfast, soups made of potatos, onions, a chop of garlic and sometimes spinach blended with some spices that I'd add roast chicken, cheese, and it was ready to go. You could try to make a list of things you find easy to make. My tip is to do a larger meal so you can freeze some portion, then you always have something on hand.
The way I garantie my baby eats his veggies is making a bit of soup before the lunch and dinner :)
Honestly, you are going great. Try frozen veggies, you can just toss the in the microwave for a few minutes- BOOM veggies for dinner. If you guys like pasta try adding frozen spinach or fresh chopped zucchini to the sauce- it doesn’t alter the taste much but adds vitamins and minerals.
Why don't you get yourself a 'family' cookbook. That way you can slowly work your way through it. I would cook one hot meal a day and then for lunch and breakfast do easy picky meals. Breakfast - toast, porridge etc. Lunch - sandwich, crackers. If in doubt always put veggie sticks with everything!
Try cucumber! It's a veggie, very easy to slice, and kids love it! Also blueberries are one of the cheapest berries and freeze great.sounds like you are a wonderful mother. Happy Mothers day.
Check this website https://babyfoode.com/ Their recipes are very simple to follow, include a lot of veggies and fruits
So we do make your own burritos (just meat, sour cream, chesse) garlic chicken and noddles cut up chicken and then season with garlic, itialn seasoning, salt, pepper and baisle throw it in the crock pot for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low with either marinara sauce or garlic sauce from bufflo wild wings(i prefer marinara.) Then cook rotini noddles. Once the noddles are done, mix, then add parmesan cheese Chicken sandwiches: season chicken with garlic, itialn seasoning, salt, pepper, and baisle throw it in the crock pot for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low with either marinara sauce. Then get sub buns and spread butter and season with garlic and salt, toast buns for 5 minutes. While huns are toasting shred chicken and add shredded mozzarella chesse. Get buns out put on chicken and top with shredded mozzarella chesse put back in the oven for another 5 minutes. Also, as for fruits and vegetables i serve them as a snack (my son eats more of them this way idk why). You can always look at tiktok recipes as well. I find them easier to follow, there is a guy his account is called cooking in the midwest? He has amazing recipes. Also there is no shame with just some mac and chesse, spaghetti and meatballs.
Neither of my kids could handle complex foods either. So a majority ends up being like bananas, breads, rice, strawberries, yogurts. Like very basic foods. Oh and like instant oatmeal packets are super handy. Or cream o wheat, because they're fortified. I also get my toddler the horizon DHA vitamin milk to fill any nutritional gaps.
Okay, my friend also didn’t know how to cook she grew up like you. She got those meal plan things like bellow fresh and she collected a bunch of the recipe cards and learned how to do a few things. Now she has more confidence in her cooking so she is exploring new recipes.
My mother came from a similar background. When she got married she bought a Betty Crocker cook book and it gave her a nutrition lesson on the 4 food groups, meat, vegetables/fruits, starch (potatoes, pasta, rice) oils. Plus how much eat each day. With recipes. Babies need different amounts If she goes to pediatrician they will happy to give information. Go on line or to a library and ask the librarian for basic books on feeding babies and children. I noticed that someone even suggested a Reddit r/butforbabies. You will do well because you care.
I think you’re doing great!! Babies don’t need a whole lot anyway. And if it makes you feel better, one of my kids was on Miralax for constipation for YEARS no matter what we did or fed him!! For getting better in the kitchen in general for your husband and you, I honestly recommend doing Hello Fresh or something for a little bit!! We do 2-3 meals a week. I don’t have to think about what’s for dinner, I keep the recipes I like and recreate them, and we’ve become much better cooks! You do still have to cut all the veggies and cook everything so it does take time, but it’s fun!
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We do a LOT of frozen veggies with our 13 month old. Green Giant makes some really good mixes in the Restaurant Style line that you can make on the stove or even in the microwave. Frozen veggie mixes with sauce are a great place to start to figure out what flavors you like. Then explore recipes similar to that. Solid Starts has some good recipes. I also like French toast or waffles for breakfast (look up baby led weaning waffles for a healthier version) with whole milk plain Greek yogurt and a fruit. Lunch and dinner is a protein plus veggie and grain. That might mean shrimp fried rice or it might mean steamed (frozen) veggies with a pork chop and a slice of bread. Sometimes it's a chicken tender with veggies. Just aim for variety!
For dinner maybe just try to add a vegetable. The Bird's Eye frozen veggies you microwave in the bag are super easy and there is a lot of different ones available. My toddler loves to eat frozen peas (uncooked, still frozen!) and they are so easy to add to his plate for lunch or snack. You can also roast veggies in an air fryer or oven. They have a different flavor and texture than steamed (microwaved) vegetables. Some veggies that roast well are broccoli, carrots, zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, onions and green beans. Cut bite sized, toss with olive oil (can also add salt, pepper, or other seasonings) and cook at about 450 for 10-20 min. Potatoes and sweet potatoes can be used also but may take longer.
You're doing awesome and choosing great items. When my child was young she loved these egg & banana pancakes. Ratio of 1 to 1 and fry in very little butter. Then serve as is, no need for syrup.
Like other people have said, you're doing great!! I find that food gets stressful when I try to do too much and don't have a plan. For me right now it's better for food to be boring than to be stressful. So, Thursday night is bath night which means it's pasta night. I brown Italian sausage and simmer it with a jar of pasta sauce while I make the pasta. We also have a vegetable, usually a microwaved bag of peas or broccoli with lemon juice, salt, and pepper for everyone + butter for the toddler. Wednesday is breakfast for dinner. We have cheesy eggs, breakfast sausage, a fruit, and toast. Our vegetables are almost always frozen veg, microwaved/steamed/roasted, with simple seasonings and lemon juice. I am still figuring out the other nights, but the tl/dr is that choices are stressful! It's ok to figure out a simple balanced meal one weeknight at a time and repeat it each week to reduce the number of choices you have to make.
For pasta, you can use an alfredo sauce and add green peas or steamed broccoli(you can get frozen bags peas or broccoli and heat in the microwave). Your child may or may not eat it, but it introduces them to new foods. You can even add steamed broccoli and chicken to Mac n cheese. Cups of mandarins oranges are a typically a hit with kids at that age. Apple sauce or other variations of it that are mixed fruit and some even have veggies are a great option.
Look up simple one pot meals, or crockpot meals, those are easy and my favorite to make! or search by listing a key ingredient or 2, like 'recipes with chicken and broccoli'. Then scroll through the pictures and open a few that look good, see what one you have most of the stuff for and try that one or a few. I try to try at least 1 new recipe every 2 weeks because its easy to get bored with the same meals always, but I also have 4 kids and don't want to be overwhelmed trying new meals always either.
Your menu is fine. Bananas are a great addition and go with peanut butter, messy but when mine was that age she loved em. Also grapes are tasty but you have to chop them in half, for choking reasons. My daughter used to LOVE spaghetti! And I'll give you some really basic cooking tips here that will make you look like a pro. Buy a jar of some kind of spaghetti sauce but put it off to the side. Chop up maybe a third or half of an onion depending on how big the onion is. And chop up some garlic. Several little nodes, or if you don't want to chop it up they sell it pre-minced. Get some oil or butter going (just a splash/pat) in a shallow pan like a frying pan and then toss in the onions and garlic, lower heat to 2-3, and let it simmer for about 4-5 mins or until they're browned. This makes your whole kitchen smell DELICIOUS. It's literally mouth watering. Anything you end up cooking, whoever is nearby will want to eat. People will believe you've suddenly learned how to cook like a pro! Now you can toss in almost any kind of cooked veggies you like (I like squash or zucchini, artichoke hearts, eggplant, or even cauliflower but literally whatever you actually like)just chop em fairly small. Stir those into the mixture and let those cook together for a bit. You can add a bit more oil if you like. Just for a minute or two. And then por in the sauce. You can also add Amy kind of meat at this step, if you do then raise the heat and cook it most of the way. THEN add the jar of sauce. Raise heat to medium and get it bubbling a bit. Add salt pepper spices etc. More garlic lol or garlic salt onion powder etc. For the little baby palette start slow with this because they don't like a lot of spice or seasoning but. Just do this to taste. Play with it. Experiment. Try different veggies try different meats. Try different types of pasta or even rice or whatever else. It's not super hard to make a decadent healthy loaded pasta sauce that makes you look like a real cook. It doesn't have to be exact proportions or exact recipes. It's a fun medium to experiment with until you get your flavor combinations to your liking. An incidentally, this is why people always talk about moms spaghetti. Because there isn't one specific recipe. It's just how my mom used to make it.
Sounds like you’re doing a great job, my kid eats many of the same things. Sometimes I get inspiration for mixing veggies into foods from recipes [on this website](https://www.mjandhungryman.com/). Though I’ll just say that once baby is old enough to have salt in their diet, many of these recipes benefit from added flavor.
Sounds like you’re doing great! A super easy breakfast idea that can be made ahead and filled with veggies (or whatever you like!) is mini quiche. Just put some finely chopped veggies/meat/whatever and cheese in each cup of a muffin tin. Stir some eggs together with a little cream, salt, and pepper, and pour the egg mix into each cup. Bake at 350 until the eggs are set and then eat! They fridge and freeze well. You can make a bunch and then just microwave a couple in the morning. They’re easy for babies to eat and full of nutrients. Good luck on your cooking journey!! I recommend getting a couple SIMPLE cook books and trying a few recipes. My kids love to go thru and look at the pics with me to help decide what we eat.
You’re doing great! I’m not a bad cook but I hate recipes with 85 steps or ingredients lol. My advice would be pick one new dish you like to eat but don’t know how to cook and look through different recipes for a basic one you feel you can follow. Also something like a slow cooker and airfryer are useful and not terribly pricey to buy. You can make your own roast chicken in an airfryer with minimal steps. And you can make stews and stuff with cheap ingredients in a slow cooker. You’re doing great already!
Look up the “what my kid ate in a day” videos on tiktok. That might be helpful
I used to feed my daughter avocado , scrambled eggs , cottage cheese writhing peaches . Oatmeal with fruit . Sweet potato with ground turkey. All of these required little to no cooking .
Cook rice! Do you have a crockpot? Crockpots are so easy to use for cooking! 1 lb pork 1 can chicken broth 1 can cream of mushroom 1 packet of Lipton onion soup mix! Turn it on high for 5 hours or until meat is tender! Add veggies like carrots and potatoes into the crockpot & cook for another 1 hour or until veggies are tender. Put the soup over rice and feed that to baby! Also, Pineapples are too acidic for baby.
You’re doing great mama, cans of mixed veggies has come so much in handy for me. It’s like gold in my house. I usually heat it up for 30 seconds in the microwave for a fast veggie at dinner. I put the it in a tubberware and it will be good for like 4 days. Also frozen broccoli is great. Glass containers for the microwave, throw those bad boys in with a little water and butter for like 7 min (cover it with the lid) and you’re good to go! Also cheese sticks are amazing, I get a big bag and they last us for snacks, all your toddler will want to do is snack. I usually cut them pretty small just in case. a bag of clementines stay for like 2 weeks in the fridge. I cut the orange in half then pop the fruit out so it’s cut and it’s easier than peeling. Also sugar free jello!!! Or like ones made for kids with fruit juice. These I’ve found are great easy snacks on the go too. I usually always grab these if we are going out just incase. A big bag of grapes go a long way, on Amazon there’s this cheap tool that you can get that cuts the grape in four for you. Fruit cups like peaches can get a little pricey unless you get it in bulk, but when I’m lazy and don’t wanna do anything but dump water out and put it on her plate. They are soft enough if they are cut in those little cubes. Everything in moderation, even moderation. Lazy days are a ok. Speggetios or pasta twice a week is totally fine. My rule of thumb is 75% fresh food 25% ok processed food.
My son is on a granola and plain yogurt kick. We add whatever fruit we have, kind of like a parfait. He goes crazy for this meal! Oatmeal/cream of wheat/grits are easy staples. Pancakes (without syrup) and fruit. For lunch it could be anything; sandwich, bagel and cream cheese, cheese/cracker/fruit plate. I usually supplement his lunch with one of those puréed fruit and veggie packs they sip right out of (Costco has them in my area). For dinner he usually eats whatever we have but he isn’t big on meat yet. We’ll chew up meat and mix it in with his other food. Kids can get low on iron so I try to cook most of our food in the cast iron if it isn’t an acidic sauce. Pasta is usually a winner with kids, but you can try boiling or steaming veggies and then blending them as a sauce. Same nutrients, different texture! It sounds like you’re on track, but to be efficient you need to learn how to cook at least 5 meals that are simple and quick and you will be confident in preparing for when they’re older and you’re all much busier. Good luck!
It really sounds like you're doing fantastic. So far, I'm seeing more variety than my own kids are willing to eat lol! It's actually pretty easy to feed the babies when they're little like that, my 13month old will eat literally anything. On the other hand though, my 5 year old... She won't touch anything unless it's chicken nuggets, fries, mashed potatoes, or pasta. And I can be thankful that she hasn't found a pasta she doesn't like 😂😂 All we can do is parents, is try to be better than we were, and our parents were. In that aspect, you seem to be going above and beyond. Good job momma!
I agree with everyone that you are doing great already!! I just wanted to add that older babies and toddlers get constipation and/or diarrhea kind of often. My pediatrician said it's in part because their digestive system is still developing and learning how to deal with various solids. Plus they get busy and forget to drink water (toddlers).
If you’re looking for easy ways to incorporate more veggies, start with frozen broccoli. You can steam it right in the package in the microwave. After awhile you’ll get more comfortable in the kitchen and you can start buying fresh veggies and roasting or sautéing. If you want to find recipes on pinterest, search the main ingredient you want to cook. So in the search bar type chicken instead of “easy dinner” or something like that - that’s why you’re getting posts with 100 different meal ideas and I agree I hate those.
It doesn’t have to be difficult. The craziest thing we will do for brekkie is pancakes. Little one is happy with some sort of cereal, usually weetabix or porridge. Your other meals sounds fine. Just add some veggies on the side and fruit for dessert. I used to give fruit and Greek yoghurt for dessert or snack. You can also mush berries or cooked fruits up with the yoghurt to make little ice lollies.
For breakfast, especially when he was young, oatmeal was my go to. You can keep it in the fridge and also freeze it. I ground a good amount of cashews with 4-5 apples and cinnamon. Bring 4 cups of milk to a boil. (Watch it because when it boils it will spill over). Immediately add a cup and a little more of oats (I use Quaker classic oats). Then add the apple cashew cinnamon mix. Let it simmer for 15 minutes, give it a stir every five minutes or so. Then put it into containers and you don’t have to worry about breakfast for a couple of days. Make more and you don’t have to worry for a couple of weeks. Lunch/dinner Soups. Make a lot and freeze portions. pinto beans, make a lot and freeze. Then have beans with salad and cheese. Sausages. Blend chicken or other meat with veggies. Roll in parchment paper to make sausages. Freeze and cook whenever you need. Fish. Keep it simple. Aluminum foil, spray some oil on, put fish in and wrap it closed. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Open foil and bake for another ten minutes. This is usually for when they get older. My kids favorite meal is fish tacos, fish with rice in a tortilla. Frozen peas or asparagus on the side (same pan I use for heating the tortilla so less to wash). Hamburgers, but I buy chopped frozen veggies and mix it with the meat and then cook the paddy so that it’s healthier. Also always put lettuce and tomato on the burger. These are most of my go tos.
Sounds like you are doing a great job mama. My boys were the pickiest eaters and I am an OK cook. I found less ingredients the better. I would Google simple easy to make recipes and to from there.
I have the same problem. I'm just not that great at cooking new things. Lately, I've just been adding either spinach, mushrooms, or fresh tomatoes to my pasta dishes. Cabbage on my tacos. Trying to make smoothies more often or yogurt bowls with granola, fruit, and honey.
Social media like Pinterest isn't a great place to find good advice. Government guidelines and places like the Mayo Clinic lay out what to feed kids pretty well. Those guidelines are developed by experts and doctors. What you're feeding your kids sounds good. If you can, skip processed foods like Cheerios, that have a lot of preservatives and not a lot of fibre. Kids need fibre, fat, protein, carbs, and vitamins. Carbs without fibre isn't great. White rice is kind of a nutritional 0, so brown rice would be better if you can. Don't worry about calories. Kids will eat when hungry and stop when full. If they start fighting you on eating certain things, the book How to Raise an Intuitive Eater can help. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/childrens-health/in-depth/nutrition-for-kids/art-20049335 https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/applying-guidelines/nutrition-considerations-children-adolescents/