Author Topic: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?  (Read 5608 times)

KBecks

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2350
I need to work on improving our eating.  Any suggestions for kids' meals?

MayDay

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4953
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2014, 07:09:46 PM »
First off, I try to feed them what we are eating.  At the very least, they have to try a bite of the main food before they get anything else.  There are a few things I know they truly don't like (they have tried them multiple times) and on those days I make them an alternative.

Common breakfasts:  oatmeal (make overnight in the crockpot), scrambled eggs, toast with peanut butter, muffins made with something I froze from the garden (zucchini this week). 

Lunches are leftovers if we have them.  If not, our regular rotation is:
Nachos with beans, salsa, and cheese
Peanut butter sandwich
Vegetable soup
Rice and beans with salsa

Then I always serve a veggie and fruit with it.  Fruit is whatever was cheap that week, veggie in the winter is often a frozen steamed veggie, or carrot sticks or cucumber sliced up.  Summer it is whatever is ripe in the garden. 

Snacks are apple, crackers and cheese, applesauce, popcorn, peanuts, etc.  or if I made muffins or granola bars, we use those for snacks, too.

Common dinners that they especially love:

Mac and cheese.  Really any pasta and sauce.  I made a bunch of pesto when my basil went crazy last summer, and froze it. 
Tacos (we just do beans as we are vegetarian).
Homemade pizza. 
Brown rice with some steamed veggies and peanut sauce (Google for a recipe, mine is some water, peanut butter, and maple syrup basically). 
Rice and beans as long as they can sprinkle cheese on top, lol. 
In the summer they love anything on the grill.  Something magical about cooking outside I guess?

I don't know if that helps at all.  Is there any more specific info about what kind of food they won't eat?  What are their favorites?

bogart

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1094
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2014, 08:04:26 PM »
My son eats lots of what we eat, though he's recently (age 6) decided he doesn't like several foods he's enjoyed literally for years -- apricots and ravioli (usually some version on Trader Joe's, either spinach or cheese) spring to mind.  Oh well. 

Beans. He'll eat pretty much any kind of beans or peas -- black beans, black-eyed peas done in the crockpot are common parts of our meals.  Sweet potatoes (he's not so much a fan of real potatoes, though if I roast up a pan of beets/carrots/potatoes I can give him mostly the carrots and sneak in a bit of the others around the edges).  Green beans, broccoli, green peas, corn, brussel sprouts -- he will eat all these, I usually just buy frozen and cook in the microwave with a bit of butter.  Raw carrots.  Raw cherry tomatoes.  Cheese quesadillas (I use whole wheat quesadillas).  Eggs.  Pretty much any meat we eat, and we do -- chicken, sausage (not spicy), pork, beef stew or steak, various fish, shrimp (obviously these may not be fast, depending how you cook them, but if you're making some anyway...) .  Toast.  Grapes, apples, berries, pears, bananas.  Peanut butter sandwiches.  Popcorn (I like to stove pop but will also use the not-too-doctored microwave stuff, he reports liking that better, though I'm doubtful he can really tell the difference if he doesn't see it cooked...).  Spaghetti.

Gosh, reading that I see that my kid eats pretty much everything (except ravioli and apricots), so my experience may not be too relevant to you.  Generally if he won't eat what I serve I offer him one other "easy" alternative, i.e. "you can have a sandwich instead" or "you can have a cheese quesadilla instead," but not a range of choices. 

tooqk4u22

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2832
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2014, 08:53:03 PM »
Not the whole menu but a couple of things that fit the fun, fast and healthy.

sliced apples sprinkled with cinnamon.
celery with peanut butter
popcorn (not that microwave crap)

mrsggrowsveg

  • Guest
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2014, 07:37:12 AM »
My son eats pretty much what we eat, unless it is spicy or has dairy (allergy).  His favorite thing is banana blueberry pancakes.  I just mix 1 egg with 1 banana and add some blueberries and coconut and fry them like a pancake.  Some other favorite meals/lunches for his are:

Turkey and peas cooked in homemade broth
Veggie fried rice
Raw juice pulp crackers
Salmon cakes
Homemade pate and bread
Tacos with homemade corn tortillas, meat and veggies

AllChoptUp

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 180
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2014, 12:27:37 PM »
I have a 3 year old.  He used to eat just about everything that we did, then he became fussy about food when he turned 2 or so. 

Apples  (whole - shares with Dad)
Bananas  (a breakfast staple, actually)
Ham sandwiches
Cheddar cheese  (yellow, not white for the love of god)
Mashed potatoes  (make a ton, heat up for days)
Steak  (fresh & leftovers are scarfed with abandon)

This is just about all he'll eat lately.  No veggies, very little variety, I know.  We're working on it.

gooki

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2917
  • Location: NZ
    • My FIRE journal
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2014, 12:30:28 AM »
Fruit is about as fast and health as you can get. And feel free to try less common fruits.
Popcorn

My best advice is to simply not have unhealthy crap in your house. If it's not available they can't eat it. Oh and just because they don't want it today, doesn't mean they won't like it tomorrow.

Indio

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 471
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2014, 07:05:54 PM »
I make mac and cheese but I always add a veggie to it, such as peas or broccoli. I also make breads with veggies in it and add zucchini, carrot or pumpkin. when I make pancakes or muffins I always put a fruit, ie smashed banana in it too. there's a cookbook called Deceptively Delicious that has some good suggestions for sneaking healthy stuff into kid food.

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7124
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2014, 08:12:25 PM »
My three-year-old loves anything that he can dip--especially raw broccoli dipped in our homemade hummus! He also finds it a novelty to eat "cold peas"--that is, frozen peas straight from the freezer!

We also have a twenty-month-old. I think the favorite real dinner for both of them is black bean quesadillas; they just scarf them down. (Black beans, lightly mashed, with mashed avocado, sharp cheese, and salsa, in a whole wheat tortilla, fried in coconut oil and served with sour cream.) Easy to make. I use kitchen shears to cut them up in pieces for the kids.

abhe8

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 491
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2014, 10:19:14 PM »
well, i have no desire or plan to make food fun. we eat for fuel and while we do enjoy our food (its yummy!) I don't want them to learn to eat for entertainment. a fast, healthy food mine love is beans out of a can. rinse, add a sprinkle of salt and they kill them. mix 2-3 cans beans with a can of olives if i'm feeling fancy. (mine are ages 7, 5, 3 and 8 months)

wordygirl

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 44
  • Location: British Columbia, Canada
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2014, 08:30:41 PM »
My kids have sensory issues related to their autism and are very picky eaters.

Probably the healthiest "easy" thing I make them is pizza.

I sometimes make the crust by hand, but if not I pick up a whole wheat pizza shell from our local big box store (about $2, less if on sale).

The sauce is equal parts tomato sauce and pureed carrots (organic baby food at 60 cents per jar). A can of one ($1.50) and a jar of the other (60 cents) makes enough sauce for about 6 pizzas.

I top with shredded low fat cheese. Now cheese is pretty expensive here in Canada but I buy on sale and that helps a lot. And because we count calories, we use reasonable portions that make it go a long way.


Roses

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 188
  • Location: Seattle
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2014, 01:08:43 AM »
-Quesadillas loaded with veggies and/or beans.  I pre-sautee a bunch of veggies for the week for various things and that makes it easier for the kid to eat in a quesadilla - he doesn't like it when they're too hard.  I use Ezekiel sprouted grain tortillas which are good when they get a bit crispy (otherwise too tough), or sometimes whole wheat. 

-Scrambled eggs with veggies.

-Fruit smoothies with a handful of greens mixed in and no sugar.

-Also, anything that I make into a 'face' or flower or some other design on the plate.  I include cut up fruit, veggies, nuts, beans, olives, ham/cheese, whatever.  He has fun eating first the ears, then the nose, etc.  It's not a lot of food so I only do this for snacks.  I know, it's a bit high maintenance.  The other day I was too lazy to do this and just threw some stuff on a plate.  He said, 'mama what's this supposed to be'?  I said, 'modern art'!

Roses

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 188
  • Location: Seattle
Re: What do you feed your kids that's fun, fast and healthy? That they eat?
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2014, 01:15:05 AM »
Oh and for breakfast it's the same thing almost every day.  I make a big batch of baked oatmeal in a lasagna pan that we all eat throughout the week.  No sugar but some maple syrup.  Husband and son both love it.  In summer we usually just do plain yogurt with fruit.

I should clarify that for meals we eat together (all dinners, some lunches & breakfasts) I make a point of not making anything special for him because I don't want to be a short-order cook and I think kids should learn to eat what the grownups are eating.  Mine is 4 and does a great job cutting his own meat with a steak knife and will even eat a little salad.  But during the week when I'm just making him a quick lunch I do the quesadilla thing a lot, or eggs.  And the other items for snacks.