Cheap kids dinners for this weather????

kit

Hiya

My DD is 16 months and I'm stuggling to know what to feed her in this weather.

Lunch is ok, sandwiches as normal. But what about tea (or dinner, or whatever you call it!!)? I dont really want to cook too much as its SOOO hot in the kitchen. She doesnt like salad so cant give her that. So whats left?

Help??!

sophiesmum_2

how about cold cooked sausages sliced longways, potato cake,cold quiche made with hidden veggies, slices of chilled fruits,yoghurts, cold rice pudding.
My youngest is 15 now but she used to enjoy this type of food when it was hot.
sophiesmum

Trow

Cous cous is quick and easy - just put one measure of boiling water over one measure of cous cous, cover and wait for a couple of minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve with whatever - my kids loved it as toddlers.

Basics like beans on toast, microwaved baked potatos with cheese or tuna, pasta in sauce is easy and quick to make. Even boiled eggs with soldiers or a bowl of cereal with chopped fruit - it's not such a big deal to have a cooked meal every night, really.

kit

Hi

She had cous cous tonight - was not that keen on it but she ate it!

She loves most veg and fruit, just not lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes.

I'm not experienced in cooking stuff like potatoes cakes and quiche (homemade)?? Can you point me in the directions of receipes for these?

I am really paranoid about giving her a 'proper' dinner. Do you think it matters if she doesnt have cooked dinners? I am also paranoid about making sure she has meat (sorry, I'm a meat eater), its really easy just to give her fruit and veg all the time but find it hard to give her meat.... she cant chew steaks, chops etc yet!

Maybe I worry too much?!?!

Rachie_B

dont worry about giving her a "hot cooked dinner" every day

something like pasta shapes that she can eat with her fingers,chopped up sausages / HM meatballs or HM mini "nuggets" etc

filled pitta pockets ,cream cheese and ham etc

what about tuna ? mixed in with mashed potato ( cook and freeze in portions then stick in the microwave for a few mins to reheat ) and a little cheese is nice so my 4 yr old says lol

a picnic meal of breadsticks,egg,sliced meats,cheese cubes,dried fruit etc is filling and easy in this weather

Rachie_B

what about HM mini pizzas?

make a pizza on a crumpet or muffin or pitta etc a bit of tom sauce or puree ,some chopped up ham and whatever else she will eat ,then a little cheese and grilled

serve with some HM wedges

Trow

Don't worry about her not chewing meat well - it's not all that important - remember how she thrived on just milk, and how much she grew on that alone!

iwanttosave_2

My 14 month old has been living of pasta shepards pie and corned beef ash recently, mainly because its too hot to cook and these are all throw in a pan and forget about them till cooked (plus skint at the mo so I can feed the whole family for 3 days on about £2 at most

Shepards pie: half frozen bag of mince, tin of baked beans (I used 2 to thicken it out more) carrots, peas and a stock cube. Fry off the mince and throw the rest in, then make sue mash, coat the top and throw in the oven with cheese on top for 15 mins.

Corned beef ash: beans, corned beef, diced potatoes, carrots and peas, boil pots drain, throw in the rest and leave for 20 mins to simmer.

Pasta: make pasta then add pretty much anything, yesterday I made cheesy hotdog pasta, tin of hotdogs cut up then a cheese sauce. On wednesday I will be making chicken pasta using a tin of chicken soup as the sauce.

kolakube_

Those are all really good ideas. Even quicker than quiche (but similar nutritionally) is cold omelette/tortilla - just plain, or with whatever she likes. Frozen peas can be eaten whilst still frozen (might be a bit awkward for very little children though..). Bananas are fantastic peeled and then frozen, my kids like them whole but a smaller child might like frozen chunks of banana. If you want a bit more protein or whatever you can spread peanut butter on apple slices and freeze those - just try with a few slices at first so not much waste if she doesn't like it. If she likes milkshakes you can pack a lot of nutrition into a chilled milk smoothie type of thing.

annie-c

Hi Kit.

Recipes can be found in the indexed collection here : http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=458838#post458838

If you want to do 'proper' meals without all the heat & fuss, what about cooking a batch of meals once a week and keeping little portions in the fridge/freezer to use up on days that are too hot to cook. I usually cook a couple of dishes each Saturday and freeze a few portions of each. Over a month I build up a nice varied stock of ready meals so I don't have to cook every night after work.

Pasta/ bolognese sauce is really easy to make and if you have a food processor (or a sharp knife and a lot of patience) then you can whizz up lots of veggies really finely and use it half and half with the meat to make sure she eats them. I use courgette, onions, mushrooms, carrot and peppers along with the usual meat and tomatoes in my 'bolognese' sauce.

Quiche can be cut into 6-8 portions and frozen. Grilled fish freezes well in foil packets. You can also make and freeze your own healthy fish fingers by cutting fish into small bite size pieces and rolling first in beaten egg and then in home-made bread crumbs - Asda/Tesco often have fish reduced near closing time and you can make enough in one go to freeze and keep for a couple of months.

I wouldn't worry about dishing up the odd quick or cold tea - just remember that there is no such thing as bad food, only a bad diet - it is the balance of nutrients spread over the day and week that counts! Cereal, yoghurt/milk and fruit will give a nicely balanced quick cold meal at any time any way!

Good luck!

Annie

PS Just remember when reheating meat to do it really thoroughly to kill bacteria (then of course let it cool sufficiently so as not to burn!)

Trow

iwanttosave wrote:

My 14 month old has been living of pasta shepards pie and corned beef ash recently

Mummy has burned the dinner again :rotfl: