Food Shopping For 22 month old

NinjaB

Mine is 21 months old. She has porridge for breakfast with dried fruits like cranberries, blueberries, apricots, apple cut up in it. So far she wont bite pieces off she tries to push all of whatever it is in so I am having to cut things up but try to encourage her to watch what I do and try it with her afterwards but she isn't having any of it just yet lol. Her favourite things are savoury ... Spag bol is great as carrots, peppers etc in it too. I make loads of this and what I do is I put portions into a muffin tray, freeze them then tap them out and store them in a bag so I can have it when I need. Rice, veg, mashed potatoe, sweet potatoe, fish pie, she adores meat but struggles soft ones like chicken, mince. Veg steamed keeps more flavour I think. She wont touch salad just yet, fruits for afternoon lunch, plain yoghurt which I flavour with stewed apple and the like for a change. Basically yes, she eats as I do though if it is something I know I will be adding salt to in any quantity i seperate hers out before I add it. I havent done egg yet ... I live in France and I think some things differ in recommendations ... the doctor said not before 2 years. The only thing is with meat I bring it out after the veg ... she loves meat so much she will eat that first then sit and refuse anything else. She is still breastfed though I use formula for her porridge as it didnt work well with breastmilk unless I heated it loads with the cooking process which sort of defeated the point for me so I use formula for that. She generally has a drink first thing, after each meal, and in the evening and twice during the night.

msb5262

Jacket potatoes are always good for little kids - you can add grated cheese or cream cheese or cottage cheese, chopped ham, peas, a spoonful of chilli or bolognese if it's around, baked beans...the variations are endless. You can also save on fuel costs by cooking a couple of extra potatoes when the oven's on, then reheating for lunch or whenever.

bertiebots

Hi pwinky I can highly recommend having a look over on the old style board. There are loads of recipes for family meals and tips on what you can and cant freeze.
I usually have left overs when making stews ,soups etc and always freeze a portion which my dh takes to work for his lunch..(and this could apply to your little one) There isnt any need to go spending a fortune on fancy containers either as you can simply save your margarine tubs ,they freeze fine!.
Doing things this way will mean your little one can have healthy meals ,with all the conveniance of expensive ready meals . No extra effort required as time is always a problem isnt it!:)
Please be careful with the salt content of shop baught ready meals etc as they are very bad for children ,often containing more than the daily recommended allowance for an adult:eek:.
As for fish fingers I dont see anything wrong with those ,every now and then as part of a balanced diet. And things like beans or cheese on toast or scrambles eggs are great for kids -as well as quick. Mine all loved it at that age.

74jax

freyasmum wrote: »

She'll eat anything from curry to omelettes to steak and she adores lamb chops - she eats the little cutlets like lollipops :rotfl:

You might have read my post, mine is exactly the same! I do believe you should start as you mean to go on. I don't think I'd be very patient with a child who was fussy.

We eat at the same time too, at the table, to the same meal. Probably the only thing I feel I do right .

xmaslolly76

Its lovely reading all this and knowing i am doing the right thing for my bubs he is almost 7 months now and he has what we have for breakfast, i still give him a jar for his dinner as there is only me here and i dont have dinner (naughty i know) and for dinner he has what we have either mashed or if suitable as finger foods. He had his first home made scotchegg today and wolfed it down :-)

iamana1ias

neneromanova wrote: »

My DD will only eat Fish fingers, cocktail sausage, waffles, smilie faces, spaghetti bolognese, spaghetti strands and hash browns. She's a very fussy little so and so so we just make sure she eats for the time being. We're trying to branch out with things but she's VERY stubborn and I hate her going hungry as she's thin. She loves banana, and apparently eats crackers and jam at nursery. I'm planning on letting her have lunch at nursery soon so she see's the other children eating so she knows she must too.

neneromanova wrote: »

Christ, I wish my daughter was like yours for her eating habits!

They're not born with bad habits

pigpen

Mine had exactly what we had from weaning!

Stop buying the jars they do not have enough nutrition in them for a 2 year old and start giving him vegetables.. even if they are cooked from frozen they are better than jars of junk.

The more people you cook for the easier it is to do proper meals!

If he eats at differnet times to you keep him some dinner from the day before inthe fridge and warm it up for him at his meal times.. and have a store of frozen stuff like cottage pie, fish pie, bolognaise (just cook pasta for him fresh).

It is so much simpler to give them what you have from the start.

Give him fruit and veg just chop it up a bit if he struggles to bite chunks off. apple wedges, sliced banana, grapes and cherries cut in half and stone/pips removed if necessary.

He isn't a baby now he is a big boy and needs big boy food!

osian

I've got a toddler. I tend to cook a bigger meal for my husband/myself ocasionally and freeze some portions in little pots. Examples include; bolognaise, chickpea curry, lentil dahl, tomato and vegetable sauce etc. I then add pasta, rice couscous, potato etc freshly cooked at the time.

Items I tend to have on standby are frozen salmon fillets (cooks in 5 mins in microwave), couscous (just add boiling water and stand for 5 - 10mins), sweet potato (choppped finely - will cook very quickly) and frozen veg (again cooks quickly).

If going out for the day, will pack some sandwiches usually. Little bags of dried fruit are great to just keep in her bag.

For breakfast, I'll often give her weetabix or toddler museli mixed with some chopped/ mashed fruit. Bananas, strawberries, grapes, blueberries I find great for this.

Aldi often have fresh fruit and veg on offer.

Katgoddess

My 22 month old eats what I eat. We did baby led weaning, so at 6 months was eating big chunks of what ever veg we were eating, then moved on to our food at 7 months.

This is him at 7 months eating some broccoli.



This is him now eating minestrone soup



Now he eats

Breakfast
Toast or own brand weetabix/ready brek
Banana
Some dried apricots or some other fresh fruit.
Diluted orange juice
Weetabix cake (as a snack before nursery normally)

Lunch
Pasta and pesto (with added frozen veg)
Left over dinner
Orange Toast (finely grated carrot and cheese mixed with a spoonful of cumin)
Tuna Melt (Cheese and Tuna mixed up and toasted on toast)
Jacket potato with baked beans/cheese and ham/left over bol etc
Eggy bread dipped in ketchup
Beans on toast
Minestrone Soup (With extra pasta) He helps me cut the bread up into stars with a cookie cutter.

Dinner
Shepherds pie (normally served with just baked beans on the side, but I use the Gill Holcome recipe which has carrot and mushroom hidden inside)
Mousaka served with bread and salad (I cheat and use a packet to make the white sauce)
Lasagne (I break it up so it's not so solid, for him)
Bolognaise (I now break up the spag for him, but at first I used twirls which were easier for him to pick up with his hands.)
Beef Stew (He loves this esp the potatoes - I just chop the big things up for him)

Rosemary Chicken with Tomato Sauce (Served with mash)
Chicken Risotto (He LOVES risotto - so easy for toddlers to eat with spoons)
Chicken Curry (Add yoghurt to make it less spicy)
Spanish Chicken (Originally from a Knorr jar, but now I just make it myself. Basically it's spag bol sauce with extra peppers but with chicken instead of mince, and oven baked for an hour - served with rice, let me know if you want more details)

Most of my recipes are from:

Netmums
BBC Good Food (You can do an advanced search for easy and quick meals)
Here :beer:
The "How to Feed your family a healthy balance diet....etc" book - Link to e book here

Also take a look at http://www.mydaddycooks.com/ for inspiration on letter your toddler loose in the kitchen with you.... :eek:

I also have fish fingers and chips in the freezer for emergencies. :o

Good luck and let us know how you get on xxx

hj2

Hi.
I also did baby led weaning. My little one had steak at 6 months old and eats more variety than I do (I'm the fussy one)!! He's now 18 months old and eats whatever we do. If we go to a restaurant I just ask for an extra plate and he eats with a knife and fork and has some of what everyone else is eating.
I've found the key is to be patient and not worrry if he eats or not because some days he eats hardly anything and other days he won't stop eating!!

For example today he had 2 bowls of cornflakes (his choice), baked potato and tuna mayo and steak, homemade chips and mushy peas followed by banana and custard.