Toddler meal ideas to make them go mmm!

The toddler menu

Thinking up toddler meal ideas alongside family ones can test even the most creative cook. You know you need to get all the food groups into them, and particularly fruit and veg, but making it tempting for a toddler (especially one who’s mastered the word ‘no’) isn’t so straightforward.

To help you out we’ve got some tasty recipes and food hacks that have been tried and tested on toddlers.

Monday

• Breakfast

  Porridge with milk and raisins. Adding raisins to cereal is better for little teeth – as sugary snacks can stick to teeth and encourage decay

• Snack 1

  1/4 to 1 fruit scone with butter and a beaker of milk

• Lunch

  1/4 to 1/2 of a medium sized jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn

• Snack 2

  Soft or cooked vegetable sticks with bread fingers and a plain yoghurt dip. Once your toddler is older and can chew better, introduce raw vegetables such as cucumber, carrot, celery and peppers

• Dinner

  Lasagne with sauce made from tomatoes, courgette, mushrooms and beef or lentils. For a nice twist, try strips of courgette or aubergine instead of pasta

Tuesday

• Breakfast

  1/4 to 1 English muffin with sardines and a beaker of milk. Instead of sardines you could try beans or scrambled eggs

• Snack 1

  1 to 3 crackers and with mini cheese triangles

• Lunch

  Beef or lentil chilli with rice. Turn leftover Bolognese sauce into a chilli by adding beans and a bit of paprika and cumin

• Snack 2

  1/2 to 1 hot cross bun with butter and chopped grapes (lengthwise)

• Dinner

  Couscous with mixed vegetables cooked in a knob of butter, and a beaker of milk to drink

Wednesday

• Breakfast

  1/2 to 1+1/2 wheat biscuits with milk and frozen forest fruits

• Snack 1

  Fruit kebab: banana chunks and chopped grapes (lengthwise)

• Lunch

  Minestrone soup with pasta shapes and veg e.g. carrots, tomatoes, spinach, with a ½ to ¾ wholemeal roll

• Snack 2

  Homemade apricot flapjacks with a beaker of milk. Chopped apricots, overnight oats and a small pot of plain yoghurt/coconut yoghurt

• Dinner

  Spanish omelette with eggs, potato, cheese, ham and side salad

Thursday

• Breakfast

  Pre-made pots of plain, unsweetened yoghurt with fruit compote. Make the compote by simmering down apples and pears

• Snack 1

  1/2 to 1 rice cake with mashed banana and a beaker of milk

• Lunch

  Hummus on white toast (1/2 to 1) with broccoli. Hummus is a great non-meat and non-dairy protein – no cooking required

• Snack 2

  Handful of corn puffs and a beaker of milk

• Dinner

  Shepherd’s pie (made with carrot, mushroom and minced meat or lentils) with green beans. Use ramekins to make mini portions that can be individually stored and heated up

Friday

• Breakfast

  Wholemeal toast fingers (1/2 to 1 slice) and 1 or 2 soft boiled eggs

• Snack 1

  Handful of frozen yoghurt coated blueberries. Dip blueberries in yoghurt and freeze for a healthy treat. You may want to let the blueberries defrost a little first

• Lunch

  Pitta pizzas. Use a flat, unopened pitta, add veg (like peppers, spinach or mushrooms) and a small handful of cheese. Get your toddler to prep their own for added fun, then grill for a few minutes to melt the cheese

• Snack 2

  1/4 to 1/2 mashed avocado with a rice/oat cake or two and a beaker of milk

• Dinner

  A mild korma curry made with chicken or chickpeas with cauliflower, potatoes, red peppers, yoghurt and naan bread. Use mini pitta pockets to make little naan style breads

Saturday

• Breakfast

  Homemade pancakes with strawberries, raspberries or blueberries. For flour-free pancakes, mix egg with mashed banana and fry

• Snack 1

  Slices of apple or pear with a beaker of milk

• Lunch

  Picnic style lunch with cheese and ham sandwiches and little pieces of veg to pick at such as peeled cucumber sticks

• Snack 2

  1/4 to 1 crumpet with butter and a beaker of milk

• Dinner

  Homemade beef and potato casserole with root vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips and turnip. In the morning, stick everything in the slow cooker and it’ll be ready to serve by dinner

Sunday

• Breakfast

  Eggy bread and cooked tomatoes with a beaker of milk. For a sweet breakfast, swap the tomatoes with blueberries

• Snack 1

  Make a fruit face with chopped strawberries and banana. Serve with a beaker of milk, and 1/2 to 1 rice cake

• Lunch

  1-3 small thin slices of roast chicken or nut roast with potatoes, mixed green veg, carrot and low salt gravy

• Snack 2

  Homemade frozen fruit 'sorbet'. Freeze chopped bananas or tinned fruit and whizz them up for DIY sorbet

• Dinner

  Crudité platter of sticks of carrot, celery, cucumber and pepper strips with hummus or homemade white bean dip. For teeny toddlers, steam the vegetables until suitably soft

The fruit and veg rainbow

Some toddlers take to most fruit and veg straight away, while others are more tentative. Don’t despair if your toddler is strictly a ‘carrots and peas only’ kind of kid. It can take up to eight attempts for a toddler to get used to new flavours and textures, so be patient in the face of flying florets.

Keep the fruit and vegetables for your toddler coming with each meal, you never know when they might dig in. You could even sneak some into pies, sauces and casseroles where they’re none the wiser, so at least you know your mini-me is getting their five a day somehow.

Some simple tactics to get more fruit and vegetables into your toddler:

• offer carrot sticks, cucumber stick or slices of pepper with hummus as a snack
• give apple slices with smooth peanut butter as a snack
• mix chopped or mashed vegetables with rice, mashed potatoes, meat sauces or dhal
• chop prunes or dried apricots into cereal or plain, unsweetened yoghurt. Or sneak them into a stew
• for a tasty dessert, try mixing fruit (fresh, canned or stewed) with plain, unsweetened yoghurt
• making fruit and veg ‘faces’ together can be a fun way to discover new flavours and textures