What do you do your toddler for tea??

[Tinylo]

Help.....I'm due back to work in 2 months after LO No2 and I won't be able to get home til 5.30 after picking up the kids.

I really need some good ideas (and lots of them) of what I can either make very quickly or defrost very quickly for a fussy toddler (he won't eat any type of pasta or stew)and a very very hungry baby (8 months old by then).

Thanks. x

 

[QTPie]

Where will they be during the day? Can they have their main meal at lunch time and you do a lighter supper in the evening? Sandwiches, cheese on toast, scrambled egg and toast, jacket potato with various fillings, beans on toast, soup and then fresh fruit and/or yoghurt for dessert?

QT

 

[JLB]

I do what QTpie said for my 1 year old, I work two days and don't get home from picking her up till after 6 so she has her main meal with her child minder at lunch time then she feeds herself her tea (usually sandwiches/toast, omelette or jacket potato) while I cook mine.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Yeah I agree, main meal at lunchtime would be ideal.
Other light meals I do apart from the above are cheesy wholemeal scones (big batch then freeze) houmous with toast / crackers / breadsticks, and pitta bread 'pizza' - toast a wholemeal pitta, spread with tomato puree, top with grated cheese and whatever else you have lying about!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

But if you can't do main meal at lunchtime, things that can be made in a batch and frozen are going to be your best bet. E.g make your own burgers / fish fingers / chicken nuggets, sausage and mash if your LOs are not stew or pasta fans!

 

[MrsT&Ben]

What about curries or cottage pies??

 

[xprincessx]

This is what Callum normally has for tea:

- Fish (I just use the frozen ones in parsley/butter sauce), mashed potatoes & veg
- Cauliflower cheese
- Jacket potato with beans/cheese/tuna/coleslaw/chilli (not all at once lol)
- Chicken, potato and veg
- Cottage pie
- Lasagne
- Spag bol
- Macaroni cheese
- Vegetables in cheese sauce

 

[Broodypants]

Omelettes are great, very quick to make and can be quite versatile with all the different things you can put in them. Tonight Erin had a cheese and ham omelette with broccoli and mushrooms on the side.

 

[ash086]

I don't want to be rude, just curious. What is "tea", I am from Canada and the only tea I know is what you drink

 

[brunette&bubs]

I think that means dinner?
correct me if i am wrong...because I am from the US lol

 

[QTPie]

Yes, the OP means dinner.... Different people say it differently here. I say lunch and dinner, but a lot of people say dinner (for lunch) and tea...

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I've spent my whole life saying lunch and dinner (as generally people from the south of england do) but for some reason, to me a child's dinner is tea. No idea why!

 

[Tinylo]

Thanks for all the ideas, he's at a childminders in the day and she doesn't do a cooked lunch so that wouldn't work, which is a shame as that would be ideal. (When he's at school that may work better). I'll have to try omelettes as he loves eggs and more jacket potatos.

As for dinner and tea being the same thing......I call it both, it confuses LO all the time!!!

 

[bambino156]

Yeah I agree, main meal at lunchtime would be ideal.
Other light meals I do apart from the above are cheesy wholemeal scones (big batch then freeze) houmous with toast / crackers / breadsticks, and pitta bread 'pizza' - toast a wholemeal pitta, spread with tomato puree, top with grated cheese and whatever else you have lying about!

Claire, what recipe do you use for your cheese scones? I've tried several times to make them from Delia's book and I can never get them to rise, they're just so flat and heavy
One more thing, in your next post you mention making fish fingers/chicken nuggets, i've tried this and lo won't touch them, yet she loves shop bought fish fingers and i'm sure she'd like shop bought nuggets (although she's never had them). How do you do yours and do they resemble the shop ones?
Thanks x

 

[starangel27]

hi

we have the same issue, i usually give him toast with peanut butter while i make him scrambled egg in the microwave i usually add cheese & sausage to this or ham. that pretty quick or he will have turkey fingers . fish fingers & frozen veg. another fast one is beans with any of the above,

 

[Hellodoris]

I'm terrible about thinking up new ideas for teatime, but luckily she eats pretty much anything so I'm quite lucky.

Mushroom Risotto (made with whole milk instead of stock) served with green veg
Spag Bol sauce served with Jacket pot/ pot wedges/rice/pasta
Mild chilli (as above)
Waffles, fishfingers and beans (if I'm having a bad day oops)
mild Fish curry
stir fry Veg/meat with noodles or rice (I use a little olive oil and some low salt soy)
Ratatouille served with Potatoe, rice or pasta
Omelettes
Scrambled Eggs, sausage and Veg
Cheesey Veg and potato bake (layered slices of potatoe/veg/ bacon etc smothered in a cheese sauce)
Cauliflower/Brocolli cheese
Soups and bread
Oxtail stew
Roast dinners

I generally freeze at least one portion of dinner if not two so I always have a "ready meal" available for her to eat incase we get stuck out, or more recently if I am feeling queasy and can't face cooking!

 

[NuKe]

poppy gets whatever we are having!

 

[lepaskilf]

Does your childminder not do a snack at around 3ish?

In nursery my LO has breakfast at 9, cooked lunch at 12 and then tea at 3:30I then give him a snack when we get home at 6, like some toast or a banana, or rice pudding. x

 

[DebzD]

I will be watching this thread with interest, I don't get home after picking LO up until 6.30pm most days and am always trying to come up with things to do her for tea. OH is only around in the evening every other week - so as long as I leave instructions he'll make tea but then the opposite weeks I have to make something quick when we get home or it has a knock on effect for when she goes to bed which is normally between 8-8.30pm. I'd love to get her in bed earlier since I have to get her up by 7am each day but by the time she's had tea and let it go down, it's just not possible.