Feeding Toddlers

I meant to post this yesterday, but life has a way of changing my plans!  I drove the twins halfway to NW Indiana so they could spend a week with my mom (please send her energy bars and coffee in the mail), and on the way back home, my van started shaking like crazy on the highway.  I had to get off the highway, my husband had to come, it was a mess.

I'll share more of my "adventure" later this week.

Feeding Toddlers...

I was in a discussion with a friend the other day about feeding toddlers....both of us came to the conclusion that toddlers are a pain in the rear to feed.  They tend to be picky, opinionated, and irrational when it comes to food. 

Now that I have three toddlers, sometimes I feel like I'm going to battle during mealtime.  It's me against them.  Three against one.  The odds are not in my favor.   After living through multiple battles, I thought I would share with you what I feed my girls.  Sometimes it's helpful to just see ideas of what other moms are feeding their toddlers. 

Before I share my typical menu, I want you to know that I try to feed my girls healthy food, but I'm not perfect.  So this list of toddler food is the truth.  This is what I really feed my girls.  Hopefully, it's helpful to someone!


 

Main Dishes (lunch and dinner)

Macaroni and Cheese
Diced grilled chicken breast
Lunch meat, cheese slices, crackers
Ravioli with marinara sauce to dip (I buy the frozen ravioli and boil them)
Homemade spaghettios (I buy teeny tiny pasta, cook them, add spaghetti sauce)
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Leftover chicken or beef taco meat quesadillas
Mushroom and spinach quesadillas
Spaghetti (my husband makes my girls goulash, which they LOVE...I guess it's similar to spaghetti)
Salads
Pizza-dillas
Chicken Nuggets (yes, the gross frozen kind...it's a quick meal that my girls love)
Hot Dogs (we usually buy Hebrew National hot dogs)

Main Dish Notes...

• I try not to do chicken nuggets and hot dogs very often here at home.  If we go out to a restaurant or to someone's house for dinner, these are typical "kid foods" that are usually served. 
• My girls love the canned spaghettios.  I like to save these for babysitters to give them because the girls devour them and they're easy to prepare.  
• Yes, we love quesadillas here!  You can stuff them with almost anything!  Black beans, spinach, tomatoes, etc. My girls love 'em. 
• Grilled chicken is an easy alternative to chicken nuggets.  You can freeze the cooked chicken breasts and they last for a long time. 
• This list is what my girls will eat.  We've tried a lot of different foods, and sometimes they'll eat it and sometimes they won't.  If your kid doesn't like something, just keep trying it.  My girls like foods now that they used to hate.
• We used whole wheat pasta and whole wheat bread.  The girls don't know any differently. 

Breakfast

Scrambled Eggs (with or without cheese)

Toast (with butter or peanut butter)

Bacon

Sausage links (we buy the low fat ones..I think they have turkey in them)

Biscuits and sausage gravy

Cereal

Smoothies

Fresh fruit and yogurt

Whole wheat pancakes

Breakfast Notes...

• I try not to give the girls much cereal.  It's expensive and I hate it because they are hungry about an hour and a half after eating it.  So they get cereal maybe once a week.  They love Kix and Cheerios. 
• My kids hate oatmeal.  I wish they liked it, but they absolutely hate it.  I'm going to keep trying. 
• Strangely, they love biscuits and gravy.  I usually make a big batch of sausage gravy and freeze it in small containers.  Then I serve it with whole wheat toast for dipping, or I'll make some drop biscuits.
• I make a lot of breakfast items in big batches and freeze them.  I'm not a morning person, so anything that makes the morning go more smoothly is awesome in my book. 

Veggies
Raw--broccoli, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, pea pods
Canned beans
Canned corn
Corn on the cob
Salad (usually spinach and romaine)
Baked potato wedges
Mashed potatoes (they are just starting to like mashed potatoes)
Frozen peas (they like them frozen)
Kale and spinach in smoothies

Veggie Notes...

• My girls tend to like raw vegetables better than cooked, so they get raw veggies frequently
• I'm lucky because my kids really like veggies.  Sometimes we have a meal of nothing but vegetables.
• Gianna (#2) ate three whole pieces of corn on the cob a few nights ago.
• Olivia loves frozen peas...and I mean LOVES them.  Sometimes she has frozen peas for breakfast.
• I try to sneak more vegetables into main dishes whenever possible. 
• I'm trying to convince them to like zucchini right now...it's coming in like crazy in our garden!

Fruits:
Apples and peanut butter
Bananas
Blueberries
Kiwi
Strawberries
Peaches
Cherries
Smoothies
Mandarin oranges

Fruit Notes..

• I've found that fruits are easy.  My girls love them and will eat almost any kind of fruit, especially in a smoothie.
• I feed them fruit with the skin still on (peaches, apples, etc). 
• Olivia hates bananas.  She's weird.  She'll only eat them if they are mixed in a smoothie. 
• I use fruits as a bargaining tool frequently.  "If you eat all your cucumbers, you can have apple slices!" 

Snacks/Random Other Foods: 
Nuts (cashews, almonds, peanuts)
Cheese (sticks, shreds, and slices all go over well)
Crackers
Pretzels
Yogurt
Guacamole/Salsa

Snacks/Random Other Food Notes...

• I think nuts are a great snack.  My girls tend to not eat a lot of meat, but they love nuts...good source of protein 
• Be careful with yogurt.  Some of it has a TON of sugar.  

Tips for making them eat:

• Bargain with them.  "You can have a banana if you eat two more pieces of grilled chicken."
• Tell them someone they love enjoys that food. "This is Poppa's FAVORITE food!"
• Reverse psychology. "No way...you're just a little girl!  You can't eat ALL that chicken, can you?"
• Consequences.  "If you don't eat two bites of your broccoli, you can't play outside with your sisters after dinner."
• Shark bites (AKA, huge bites).  "Whoa...can you take a shark bite of quesadilla?"  Try to act amazed at the hugeness of their shark bite.
• If your toddlers refuse to eat much at a certain meal, it's okay.  They will probably chow down at the next meal.  I've found that my girls tend to eat one big meal a day, and the other two meals they don't eat quite as much. 
• Remember how old they are.  Don't give them huge portions and then expect them to finish all their food.  It's not realistic.

There's a quick list for you of what my girls eat.  What do you feed your toddlers?  I'm always on the lookout for great ideas to make the battlefront meals easier.  Do you have any great tips that work for your toddlers?