What do you feed your kids?

Courtscan2

I'm just curious what other families have on the menu. My kids are horribly picky when it comes to healthy food, and while I force them to eat healthy (homemade veggie chili, stir fry, lentil and barley soups etc) a few times a week, I also cave and cook sausage and mash or pizza a few times a week as well, as I can't take the battle every single night. Healthy alternatives of their favourites are not accepted either (by their dad as well, for the record!!) but I dream of one day cooking meals every night that I genuinely feel are healthy and nourishing - and eaten.

Davidsdottir

My kid eats what I eats. If he doesn't, then he doesn't eat. Some days I sit there for over an hour while he finishes, but I don't care. He gets meat, vegetables, a starchy carb, and fats at each meal.

Unknown

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sardelsa

My kids typically eat what we eat or a variation of what we have. Unless it is spicy, I always have what we are having available, introduce it, i have them try it but I don't force it. My son is 2 and is super picky so he gets something separate sometimes. But if we are having chicken/pork/fish, veggies, rice/pasta, my 4 year old daughter will have it to. If we are having chili or stew, sometimes I will make her a variation so tacos or soup with veggies or veggie sticks on the side. If i want them to try a new dish, I will also give them what we are having with something they like on the side so they try it but they still have at least one thing they will eat just in case.

Also to add.. get them involved with the cooking and even shopping. I let my daughter pick out some of the vegetables for the week when grocery shopping, them she watches and helps prepare them. I find she gets more excited to eat when she is involved with the whole process.

Sp1tfire

nothing.



I don't have kids.

Lounmoun

I don't feel pizza or anything is unhealthy. It just needs to add up with everything to meet their nutritional needs.

My dd likes lots of foods. Some she won't eat. It doesn't keep me from eating what I want.
Breakfast could be fruit, cereal, smoothie, milk, granola bar, cheese, oatmeal, or eggs.
Lunch might be macaroni and cheese, chicken, pizza, burrito, soup, sandwich, fruit.
Dinner varies accordimg to what we all want. She like pasta, tacos, fried rice, egg drop soup, potatoes, burgers, pizza, some casseroles, some soups, turkey, ham. She often has fruit with dinner. She doesn't love vegetables but will eat them cooked mixed in soups and stuff.
Snacks might be stuff like cottage cheese, fruit, chips and salsa, crackers, cheese, banana milk

Today my dd had popcorn chicken and baked french fries for lunch with an orange and a cheesey pasta dish with ground turkey and milk for dinner. She'll probably eat more later.

Idontcareyoupick

My son usually eats what we eat unless spicy. If I know he doesn't like something I may make something special but for the most part we all eat the same and he tries some of everything at least

Frankie_Fan

My kids are kinda picky. They'll eat what I make 4 times out of the week. I make sure to make meals I know they'll like, like chicken and rice, and night when we so have something they don't want I'll make them a cheese quesadilla and oranges or chicken and veggies.

dewd2

We always worked to insure the food we fed our son was something he enjoyed (and we enjoyed as well - this didn't mean we always ate same thing). I remember being forced to eat stuff I didn't like as a child and the only thing it taught me was resentment. I had no desire to do that to my son. As a result he is a well adapted 22 year old that still loves to cook meals with me - we enjoy experimenting with all sorts of things. If I had it to do over I would do it exactly the same.

faithrainbow1

I always intended to make my kid(s) eat what we eat, but then I had a kid, lol. My daughter is four and I always give her some of what we eat, but if she doesn't choose to eat it, she can have veggies and hummus, string cheese, a piece of fruit, some nuts, plain yogurt, or pretty much anything that she can reach herself. Most of the foods she can reach are pretty healthy choices, so I don't stress about it.

I was also affected by reading a study that was done with toddlers where they had constant access to a large buffet of foods. They found that children would seem to "binge" on one or two items at a time, but over the course of a week they chose a balanced diet. So that helped me loosen up about my child and food choices. As long as the options are healthy, she doesn't have to eat the thing I tell her, when I tell her to do it. I do encourage her to try things, and she loves to help me cook, which helps.

I also want my child to be conscious of only eating to satiety, so I don't push food for that reason, as well. Sometimes she eats so little that I wonder how she stays alive, but a few days later she'll be ravenous and will often try lots of new foods during this time.

Anyhow, that's why I got off the "eat your dinner or eat nothing" bandwagon.

fitoverfortymom

My kids have always eaten what the whole family eats. I didn't really give them room to be picky. It's always been a variety of things and here and there a few things they didn't like have popped up. My daughter hates mushrooms. My son doesn't like squash. So, I don't put mushrooms in my daughter's food and I prepare an alternative for my son when I want squash. It's not a bother since they are both pretty willing to eat just about anything. I guess I got lucky.

h1udd

My kid is horribly picky about food in general ... fortunately the few things she will eat are all considered healthy ... plain chicken, brocolli, cauliflower, carrot, cheese (orange ones??), cucumber, and any fruit.

Sounds good, but sometimes it would be nice to drop in to a restaurant or McDonald’s, eat out in holidays, get some chips, eat st a kids party

The amusement for me though is from other kids parents when I can get a box of biscuits or sweets out, put them out in front of her and say, “snack time,help yourself” .... and they watch in amazement as she self regulates and takes a single biscuit or just 2 sweets .. and that’s it ... 6 years old and has more restraint than me !!! Dang her

Cbean08

Find out exactly what they don't like - taste, texture, how it looks, how it smells etc. It could be that you just need to re-introduce a food in a different way. Also, kids are allowed to have likes and dislikes. There are things that I didn't like as a kid that I still don't like. My parents offered them over and over until they realized that I actually did not like that food and I was not going to eat it. If it's a real dislike, your kids will probably have a legit reason.

jmauerhan

I have a ton of combos that are fast and easy to make on a weeknight, and super easy on the budget, and my kids will eat and get plenty of veggies. We don't make a separate meal for the kids, all three, including the 13 month old, eat what we eat. FYI: I'm vegan, and only cook/prepare vegan meals for my family, but you could make any of these meals omnivore style if you want. They're slightly healthier when plant-based because you introduce extra vegetables and still the right amount of protein. Also keeping in mind kids need fat, I will top their meals with extra stuff sometimes like vegan cheese, when I don't put it on mine to keep the fat down. (I do HCLF on doctor's orders, plus fasting for extra help with weight loss)

We have a few rules for meals in our house:

1. They get one tablespoon of food per year of age. So the 3 year old isn't expected to eat as much as the 6 year old. If they want more, they can always have more.
2. If they eat what they're served, and they want something *different*, they can pick from healthy snacks like banana, granola, etc. They don't get dessert every night, but if we have a dessert planned, they have to eat everything they were served. This is why small portions are important - I want them to eat the vegetables, not *over* eat. If, after a snack, they are *still* hungry, they can have more of the original dinner only.
3. They have to try a new food 3 times (it helps if cooked in a different way) before they can say they absolutely don't like it. We'll also probably try it again after a few months to check.

Biggest tip I can give you is learn how to properly cook vegetables. The biggest problem I had with them, and I hear this from so many other adults, is their parents did not cook vegetables in an appealing way. Soggy limp bland broccoli is not what *anyone* wants, let alone a kid. Use herbs and spices and lightly steam or roast veggies, or saute with veggie broth.

I blog/instagram a ton of our meals, so I'm gonna share a bunch here for inspiration Hope that's ok!

A favorite in our house is veggie pasta (the pasta made with flour and pureed vegetables), an equal amount of sauteed veg (onion, bell pepper, zucchini and summer squash is one of my most used combos, but another good combo is carrots, peas and corn), topped with a red sauce. Sometimes if they're on sale, Gardein meatless balls, and follow your heart vegan Parmesan. Here's a good example: [edited by staff]

Or same thing but with corn, beans, tomatoes: [edited by staff]


Another huge hit is chili, especially chili mac. I run a half a zucchini through the ninja chopper and cook it in the cornbread.

[edited by staff]

Last night I made mashed potatoes, green beans and corn, and then I usually top it with chickenless nuggets or a black bean patty. Serve in a bowl, it's like that thing KFC did a while back, only with half the sodium lol.

I make this mexican rice a lot: [edited by staff]
filled with tons of veg. One trick here is you can chop the veggies super small, so they can't pick them out.

Also make white rice with a bit of butter and seasoning, then top with lots of steamed broccoli. Black beans for protein, or chickenless nuggets.

Bean and rice burritos are super easy. refried or black beans, some seasoned rice, a little sauteed peppers and onions, salsa, and then wrap it up and put the burrito on the griddle to seal it well.

Finally, my kids favorite dinner's are easily healthied up. My daughter loves mac and cheese - so we add peas or broccoli/carrots/cauliflower. They both love pizza, so I blend up a squash into the pizza sauce. We all love breakfast for dinner, so that one, we just enjoy

JennJ323

My daughter is 2.5 and is in that picky stage.. some days she'll eat what we're eating, some days she refuses. Always keeping me on my toes! I always offer her to try what we're having, but also have something on hand I know she'll eat. She is petite for her age, so I mostly just care about her eating SOMETHING, regardless of what it is or if we're eating it or not.

DomesticKat

My kids eat healthier than I did at their age to be honest. I don't think I did anything differently than most parents. I just have vegetables and fruits available all the time and they eat it. I eat the stuff I like to eat and that models healthy eating, too. I give them a lot of responsibility when it comes to making their own meals and being adventurous with food and they mostly choose healthy options. We talk a lot about keeping our bodies and teeth healthy and how good food promotes that so I think that helps. Especially the teeth part, as they don't want cavities and they like their dentist and listen to what she says. I make one dinner and everybody eats at least some of it. If they don't like something in it I figure the other good stuff they like to eat cancels it out and eventually they grow out of it anyway. I just don't make a big deal about food and it seems to be working. I have five kids.

DomesticKat

I will say that from the start the responsibility to introduce healthy stuff came down to what I bought and brought into the house. When I was a kid, I ate poorly because my mom didn't cook and didn't know or promote anything about healthy eating. If it's not there for them or me to cook they can't eat it (and neither can I so that is helpful), so there weren't any habits to be unlearned in that regard. My husband is on the same page.

Azercord

My wife stated that she is not a short order cook, I eat what she cooks and the kids eat what she cooks. If we don't like it then we can cook.

That being said we do have input on meal planning and we have a voice on what is being cooked. We eat a well balanced diet (no keto or vegan or anything weird) so as long as we participate in the process we are all generally pretty happy.

The kids have a certain amout of time to eat. We aren't going to sit there all night. If they choose not to eat their dinner it will be there for breakfast, if they don't want to eat it then....surprise it is for lunch. We have only had to be hard on this stance a couple times and the kids figure out food tastes better the first time and then they eat their dinner.

The only times the rules change is if it is something we as parents won't eat. We won't force our kids to do something we won't do. This has happened on a couple of new recipes that turned out bad/funky and applies to a few veggies (I won't eat celery, one kids likes it the other doesn't but I won't force consumption).

avskk

My son eats breakfast and lunch at school on weekdays, but at dinner and on weekends/holidays/etc. he eats what I eat, more or less. He gets to choose his own snacks (within reason) and if he doesn't like something about a meal he can have less of that thing and more of another component, but he doesn't get special meals and I don't kiddify what I cook. If he just doesn't want to eat a particular meal he doesn't have to, but he's not getting something else to replace it. (I follow Satter's division of food responsibility: I provide what we're eating, he decides whether to eat and how much to eat.) If he doesn't eat a meal but is hungry later he can have a snack.

I do take his preferences into account, of course -- everyone deserves food they enjoy. We have pizza nights or corn dogs or quesadillas pretty regularly, as well as a variety of his other favorites. The important part is we eat together and we eat the same meals, so he's learning about variety and trying new things and building a healthful diet. I'm not super into controlling his every bite or denying snacks just to be petty about a missed meal. I focus on offering lots of healthy foods in a variety of ways and let him decide how he's actually going to eat them. He's 12, healthy and active and growing like a week, so I feel like it's working out great.

quiksylver296

Very blessed with a not-picky eater. He eats what we eat. Dinner is usually a protein, starch and a veg.

Crafty_camper123

Mine get to lick the plates and bowls from dinner. Sometimes if they're really good and not begging too hard, they get tidbits of what I'm cooking. Sometimes they lay on the cuteness really thick and get table scraps anyways though. They both love veggie scraps like tomatoes and bell peppers. Neither are too keen on greens though. The youngest just eats them to be polite I think.





If I end up having kids though, It'll probably be like how I was brought up. They will be required to try everything at least once everytime I cook it. Even the stuff they dont like. For stuff they prove time and time again they hate, I'll make an alternative. It worked for me and my brothers, I dont think any of us are picky eaters.

MamaMc3

At our house, we have the kids try everything we serve. If they don't like it, they can choose not to eat. They don't get to pick something different to eat, and they don't get a snack later in the evening unless they ate dinner. If I let my children choose an alternative, I have one kid that would literally eat string cheese every night! We go by this rule - the adults get to pick meal times and what is served, and the kids get to decide how much they eat.

I don't think you're ever going to get your kids to eat all the healthy food you would like, but as long as you keep trying, they will eat some of it! My kids will like something one time, and refuse to eat it the next time. I can't keep up, so I just do the best I can!

Also, I think it's totally ok to serve family favorites a few times a week. Just throw a fruit or veggie on the side, and you're golden!

Need2Exerc1se

When my kids were toddlers they ate what they liked, what they would eat at that stage. Always healthy foods but not necessarily the foods the rest of the family ate. As they got older they didn't want the "baby food" and were happy to be included in the family meals. I never fixed separate meals for anyone in the family, though I did always take everyone's requests and preferences into consideration.

I think it probably helped that I've never been a big salad eater or fan of boiled or steamed vegetables. And I'm sure it helped that we did this from birth so there was no big change in diet because mom has put on a few lbs.

Davidsdottir

Thanks for the "woos," guys!

busyPK

I'm a single mom to 3 young kids - 8, 6 and 5. It isn't easy to find meals that we all like every aspect of. For example, if I do baked chicken I may have 2 veggie sides as it's usually my luck that only 2/3 kids will like it. If my kids won't eat what I'm making then they have options to assist in making a simple sandwich. I am not one to force my kids to eat everything on their plate nor do I have the time to sit there and wait, but I will encourage them to try something and if they don't like it then that is fine. My kids snack on fresh fruit and veggies most of the time and are all a healthy weight so I'm not too concerned with continuing what what is working in my house. Things that my kids all will eat in one way or another - spaghetti, tacos (1 leaves the meat out and uses beans), pizza (fun to make together), breakfast for dinner, grilled hotdogs/hamburgers, baked chicken + veggie(s) and garlic bread.

AndOne8675

h1udd wrote: »

My kid is horribly picky about food in general ... fortunately the few things she will eat are all considered healthy ... plain chicken, brocolli, cauliflower, carrot, cheese (orange ones??), cucumber, and any fruit.

Sounds good, but sometimes it would be nice to drop in to a restaurant or McDonald’s, eat out in holidays, get some chips, eat st a kids party

The amusement for me though is from other kids parents when I can get a box of biscuits or sweets out, put them out in front of her and say, “snack time,help yourself” .... and they watch in amazement as she self regulates and takes a single biscuit or just 2 sweets .. and that’s it ... 6 years old and has more restraint than me !!! Dang her

I have a 3 yo that only likes the orange cheese and a five yo who self regulates, saves treats and spreads them out out over days and even refuses sweets choosing fruit (totally serious) instead. Me and 3 gobble it A.L.L. immediately.

100_PROOF_

Once upon a time there was a Mom at my childs school. This mom was very concerned that her children ate healthy at all times. She liked to talk to the other moms about her vegan diet and how much better it was for her kids and how much they liked it and so on.

She would come to classroom parties and not allow her kids to have a cupcake or cookie. Instead she brought them plant based alternative foods for classroom celebrations.

She said her kids preferred eating this way and thought animal products where no good.
Well then it became known that her kids where begging for snacks in the lunch room. They where asking the other children for cookies and snack cakes. They said they rarely got tasty treats at home and the other kids felt bad so would sneak these kids treats. The other kids started packing extra in their own lunch pales to bring in for the children who didn't get to eat that stuff at home.

Her kids would come to birthday parties and eat and eat and eat and not want to play with the kids because they where so busy trying to shovel in as much cake and candy as possible. As soon as their mom would show up to pick them up, they would pretend like they had just eaten an apple.

None of the mothers told this woman about what her kids where doing because they didn't want the kids to get in trouble. She would brag about how healthy she was and how her kids loved the vegan alternative foods so much and how all our kids where basically eating poison because of the animal products and added sugars and chemicals. Everyone would just stand there and not say a word while she said these things because they knew what was really going on in the lunch room and while she wasn't around. People just didn't want to see the kids punished for having a treat.

Finally the school had to bring her in and tell her what was going on because it started to become such an ordeal.

She ended up pulling her kids out the the school but nobody was really sure as to why or if the food thing was the reason. Who knows?

But it taught us all an important lesson about feeding our kids and why it's not always a great idea to be ultra strict with food for the kids. We all want our kids to grow up and be healthy and happy, we don't want kids that are confused and rebelling. We don't want them to be begging for a snack cake in the lunch room but then going home and pretending they agree with the strict diet of the parents.

From that point on, I decided not to make food a big deal. We eat a healthy well balanced diet that includes treats too. We talked about portion control and moderation and how deprivation is not a good thing. We talked about why we can't eat cookies at every meal but can have them in moderation. I decided that I didn't want to put so much emphasis on foods.

Balance is a good thing and teaching realistic healthy habits is a great idea. There's no need for extremes ( unless there's a medical condition obviously)
OP - do your best to provide your kids with a well balanced diet, teach them the importance of portion control and see how it goes

dewd2

While we are talking about feeding kids can I just say for the record that I absolutely HATE the "kids" menus. I have never found one that had anything on it that would be the least bit appetizing for me. If it looks and tastes like crap why should I make me kid eat it? Instead of mac and cheese or chicken fingers (what the hell is a 'chicken finger' anyway), we would include him in our meal. If we had good food so did he. OK - Off my soapbox (for now ).

Cbean08

dewd2 wrote: »

While we are talking about feeding kids can I just say for the record that I absolutely HATE the "kids" menus. I have never found one that had anything on it that would be the least bit appetizing for me. If it looks and tastes like crap why should I make me kid eat it? Instead of mac and cheese or chicken fingers (what the hell is a 'chicken finger' anyway), we would include him in our meal. If we had good food so did he. OK - Off my soapbox (for now ).

Totally agree! We ate out almost every night and my parents never made me nor my brother order from the kids menu. We always had the option to, but both of us would just order an appetizer or share off our parent's plates until we were old enough for our own. My parents would find something on the menu that we'd like and order it a la carte. We both liked meats a lot but wouldn't always like the entire plate that it was served with. So we'd get things like a couple meatballs or a piece of steak or a piece of chicken and then have bread and salad.

MiaisMIAinMiami

Friskies and Fancy Feast. Sometimes they get some of what we're having, but the little one isn't a fan of people food.

Francl27

OP it seems like the right balance to me.

My kids have to eat what we serve too, or they don't eat (and don't have dessert). We've been pretty lax lately though and haven't been cooking as much as we should (my bad. Been feeling too down to cook most of the time), so those days they get sausage and veggies, pasta, tortellini, leftovers, whatever really. Sometimes they don't eat the meat and/or veggie, then they don't get dessert.

They're both on the low weight side though so we try to make sure that they'll like what we serve though. My daughter pretty much never eats more than 1/3 of her packed lunch either (she's very picky about that and even if she likes it, she only has a few bites).