Healthy Tasty Meals for family with a 2 year old?

lagirlatheart

Hi! I'm LaGirlatheart, my husband and I are trying so hard to get in better health and shape. We have a very active two year old son who wants mommy and daddy to play more. We started trying to incorporate veggies and fruits at every meal. But my son has started rejecting some of the food unless it is covered in cheese or hot dogs. I know children go through spells where they have special food taste but I want to offer the healthy meals. The only thing that sucks is I have a slight gluten intolerance, and allergic to berries of all kinds.

If anyone has ideas for healthy meals that would satisfy even a picky two year old I would appreciate it.

Though it is only dinner and the weekend meals that I am having trouble with. My son is in a preschool from 630 in the morning until 6pm. I know he eats well and anything they put infront of him. I don't eat many meals there myself (as I work there but with a different age group than my son's) but they have helped me learn portion control and to eat healthier options. Anything anyone has would be a great help to me and mine!

jemhh

My rule when making a meal is that I include at least two things that each person at the meal likes. My family consists of my husband, our daughter, and me. Generally we make some sort of meat, a "starchy" side (mashed potatoes, rice, or couscous), raw veggies (salad or just cut up) or fruit, and then sometimes a cooked veggie. If I'm making something like brussels sprouts, which I know my daughter doesn't like, I'll make her something like peas, which she does like. It's still a veggie, just a different veggie. It's always worked for us. On the very rare (extremely rare, I can only remember it happening twice) occasion she insists she doesn't want anything in the meal, I tell her "then I guess you'll be extra hungry for breakfast in the morning" and that's it.

suzan06

We struggle with this a little- despite always serving consistently healthy meals- as most kids do just prefer junk (as do most adults- lets be honest!).

Mine are 6 and 8, now. Here is how we handle it at our house.

1. We talk a lot (even starting when they were much younger) about how they get to choose what to put in their mouth, but one of mommy and daddy's jobs is to make healthy choices for them- so we will serve a healthy meal, and they get to choose to eat or not. Of course at 2 this does not fully sink in- but you start laying that groundwork.

2. We always offer a veggie, and usually a fruit, with every meal. They can choose not to eat it, but they aren't getting more helpings of anything else unless they try a bite of what is being offered (we are big on not knowing if you like it until you try it) and eat a serving of veggie, either the one served with dinner, or plain carrots/cucumbers/etc.

3. We limit cheese to 2 times a day because our kids are cheese addicts and would prefer to eat everything covered in cheese. This may or may not apply to your kid. We give them some control over it though- if DD says she wants cream cheese toast, I say that is fine, but then you are having peanut butter for lunch because dinner has cheese. And SHE gets to make that choice.

4. We let them have some ownership of meals, they each pick a dinner meal each week. We talk about how sometimes the meal is their favorite, sometimes it is not their preference, and everyone has to take turns. I got them a color picture cookbook so they could look through it and pick recipes before they could read. I have found adult cookbooks with lots of pictures are a better bet as many childrens ones have virtually zero vegetables.

5. My kids are picky about protein so we have a rule that each meal must have protein. If they hate the main dish I will cook them an egg.

6. If they throw a fit and refuse to eat, that is fine, that is their choice. We don't make food a battle, we don't fight with them about it, if they prefer to wait to eat until the next meal that is totally up to them. But I also will not listen to it- they are welcome to go have that fit in their room. Simply refusing to engage about food is very freeing and the fits stop if you are consistent.

7. As I've said above, if they do give the food an honest try, they are welcome to another healthy alternative, but that doesn't mean I am cooking a whole separate meal. They can have an egg or peanut butter sandwich or cut up raw veggies, I am not a short order cook.

8. If snacks are a battle (all mine want is crackers) I find that setting out a snack dish for the whole day (or keeping it on the low fridge shelf) works well. I put a few crackers, some fruit, veggies, slices of cheese, nuts, etc in small portions in a dish, that is the snacks for the whole day. One for each kid. They can have more- but not unless the whole dish is eaten. Of course at first they eat all the crackers at 9 am and beg for more- but over time they figure out how to regulate themselves.

There will be a transition period where he may battle you for things. Once you break the habits and establish new expectations, it gets much easier. Obviously there are kids where medically you can't be that firm, but for the average kid, they'll be fine if they miss a few meals while testing boundaries. We find that if food causes battles, it is better not to have it in the house for awhile.

suzan06

Also- there is a Daniel Tiger episode about trying new foods. Stupid catchy song is stuck in my head just thinking about it! Argh! Anyway, mine loved it as toddlers/preschoolers.

Lizzy622

It takes about 3 or 4 sometimes more times of introducing a new food. Starting him off young is the best way to go. My husband's siblings were amazed when we went out to restaurants together and my children were ordering "grow up food" and not chicken nuggets and fries. Just keep serving the veggies he will catch on.

DawnieB1977

My youngest is 22 months and luckily she eats pretty much anything. I think it's a girl thing. My son is 6 and he was a poor eater until he was at least 3. Not so much that he ate junk, he just hardly ate at all. My 4 year old daughter used to be great but she's going through a fussy stage at the moment, so we resort to a bit of bribery at times lol.

You could do things like spaghetti bolognaise and put veggies in it, or stir fry with noodles, or chicken with veggies. My kids love chicken with broccoli and carrots, or fish fingers (we get good quality ones) with veggies. The big two are also obsessed with tuna. If they could have jacket potato with tuna at every meal they probably would.

Just keep trying. He'll eventually get used to it. He won't want to starve!

cross2bear

You have a wonderful opportunity to educate your little one about healthy eating and about how cool it is to try different things. It does take several times for a food to become familiar so even if they dont try it the first time, keep at it and one day it will not be so strange to them and they will eat it - start with small portions. I dont know how this suggestion will be received, but with mine, I really restricted my kids access to thing like hot dogs and other typical childhood go to's as it was too easy to make and be assured that they would eat it, but when they werent around, I could honestly look my son in the face and say "sorry honey - we do not have any hotdogs in the freezer right now, thats why mom is feeding you spinach and rat poop casserole (because I am sure thats what he thought I was doing). Also, your attitude toward food and trying new things is important too, as your little one will pick up any hesitation you may have about certain foods and be the same.

LKArgh

All kids will go through picky phases. Cook whatever you consider healthy, ask your pediatrician if you are not sure what a balanced diet for a child this age is, and let your child eat when hungry. Do not keep around foods you do not want him to have, and do not give in to tantrums, as for all things. Try to make his meals exciting, add some variety, make meal time interesting (talk abotu your day, tell him a story etc), involve him into grocery shopping, and make sure to eat the same things at mealtimes, or at least mostly the same things.

lexabeep

Family meals I make low calorie and gluten free with veggies: tacos, shepherds pie, soups, chili,fish sticks( yes gluten free), chicken thighs(kids tend to like dark meat). Some times we buy gluten free pasta and do that with tons of veggies. I do frozen fruit smoothies for the kids and my husband with almond milk( can't do lactose). Turkey burgers w/ g free buns( not sure how bad it is for you I know some people can't even touch anything with gluten otherwise you can do regular ones for the kids). I do a lot of stir fry and rice noddles for Thai dishes. Spaghetti squash. I also meal plan for a week before shopping and have it listed on the fridge so everyone knows what mom is cooking. It helps them to know what is for dinner. They also get to pick a meal. I will star the meal that was big hit with everyone and rotate it in and out often. My kids can read now and know not to ask me what is for dinner because my answer is always ' food'. You have to keep at it when it comes to healthy options. Your taste buds change, literally and something they don't like one day they might love the next. My kids are on a banana triple berry smoothie kick right now, one of them for three years has been telling me bananas are ' disgusting' and he would rather starve to death then eat one. He is seven now and apparently matured!!haha.

rbfdac

I also have a two year old who is super active. Ive been offering him fruit and veggies since he was born, but of course he still goes through phases. He used to LOVE carrots and now he wont touch them, for example. The thing is, you just gotta keep offering him the foods, that's what is important for their future. Since my son was born, he gets a protein, a starch, and a veggie or fruit at every lunch and dinner meal. Although he still has his picky days, he's one of the least picky toddlers I've seen. His favorite food in the entire world is TOFU!

You said he won't eat it unless it's smothered in cheese? Well, my opinion is that even if he's getting a few more calories because of the cheese, he's still eating the vegetables and still getting the nutrition and as long as he isn't obese, the cheese is not going to hurt him and will offer some more protein.

Cook what you feel is healthy for your family-- you and your husband-- and then have your son eat the same thing.

I'll tell you a secret- on those days that my son won't eat his veggies, I sometimes will add a little bit of syrup on top and he will gobble them up! Whatever you do, just keep putting those veggies on his plate.

lagirlatheart

Thank you all for the wonderful advise. I shall start to do that. And perhaps I am worried about the cheese when I shouldn't be. My son doesn't like much meat except for pork, chicken, and fish. Which isn't usually a problem but the husband is a huge fan of his red meat. I have cut it back to only twice a week, which for him is difficult. I am hoping this week's meal plan goes over well. I am trying to preset up the meals so even the hubby can make them when I am working late at the school.

Owlfan88

My kids always preferred their vegetables raw when they were little, so even if we (DH and I) were having cooked vegetables, I would let the kids have them raw if they wanted. My 19 yo still doesn't eat cooked vegetables for the most part. I figure it's his problem now, not mine. But the other thing I did for vegetables was cut them up early as I was fixing dinner. My kids were always wandering around "starving" just before dinner was ready - I would point out the vegetables and often they would eat all the vegetables before they even sat down as it was available.

ashleyjongepier

Meatballs! I shred a bunch of veggies into them and hardly anyone notices. My DD (2) loves veggies and dip like hummus, like above poster, she tends to like her veggies better raw. She would never eat carrots cooked but loves them raw. She basically eats anything we do. It helped a lot to get her involved, at the store or at home I ask for her "help" even if all she did was put pepper into the soup she seems to feel proud and is more likely to eat the soup.

Toddlers tend to be pretty good at knowing what they need. Some days dd wont eat veg and loads up on chicken the next day all she eats is veg. We try to limit foods we don't want her to eat often such as cookies, because she will want those over anything else if we have them in the house.

Totes wouldn't worry about the cheese, if its shredded it likely isn't a whole lot.