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question about dinner routine with small children
so, i am just getting back into this work thing and i'm trying to establish a routine.
my issue is that my babe only has one nap at daycare (to my knowledge). he is probably tired enough for another nap (he naps three times on days that he is home with us), but he won't settle down to take more than one b/c he wants to play. i'm fine with it.
but when he comes home, he is tired and wants to go to bed. if i pick him up at 6, he is in bed by 7. i have enough time to feed him a quick dinner and bathe him and get him to bed.
so, for dinner, b/c i don't have time to cook [H and i eat later, around 8-9pm], i have been giving him a lot of pasta. lol. i sometimes have leftovers from the night before (like last night, we had leftover chicken pot pie, so i gave him some of that and the other night, i gave him some BBQ chicken and rice pilaf and carrots). but more often than not, i don't have leftovers, so my go tos are easy mac (lol, i am embarrased to even admit this), tortellini with parmesan cheese (i will make this in big batches) and a picnic dinner (which is cheese, ygurt, fruit, veg, whatever i have on hand).
what say you? if it makes a diff, he generally has a fake-peanut-butter and jelly sandwich for lunch with some fruit, veg, yogurt, cheese, etc.
i do worry that i am not developing exceptional eating habits. part of that is time, part of it is that he has no teeth and part of that is he won't eat mushy, pureed food.
ok, this post is all oer the place. does anyone have any tips or criticisms? or do you think this is fine.
Re: question about dinner routine with small children
thanks, these are good tips. keep them coming. i do aim to cook extra to always have leftovers, but there seems to be a few meals here and there that just won't work (ie: spicy food, and we eat a lot of salads).
we eat early on sundays so that he can eat with us, but other than that, eating at 5:30-6pm isn't usually possible for us (ie: i'm often not even home yet).
I keep a stock of food in the freezer. I make veggie and fruit bites, meat patties, veggie and cheese fritters, etc. And I just pull them out, defrost, and give them to my D for dinner or lunch at daycare.
I keep an eye on the stock in the freezer and make more on weekends as needed.
If you want more info on what I make/how I make it, let me know.
Sounds fine. I like the extra dinner for leftovers the next night idea. I don't see a problem with picnic dinners, though. At this age they're picky and it's hard to know what he will want to eat. as long as you are offering balanced meals, it's fine.
Something that you could do to make sure you have lean protein on hand to offer (because I sometimes struggle with this) is cook a few chicken breasts to keep in the fridge for him.
I think it sounds fine, I agree with trying to make more of whatever you two have at night so you will always have leftovers. I also have been relying heavily on crockpot lately so everything is ready when I get home.
Jackson used to be like your little guy, he would eat anything. This week I realized he will at least eat cereal for dinner so that is what he is eating, clearly I have no room at all to judge mac and cheese for dinner.
I would also clean/cook fruits and veggies on the weekends so you can pull those out and throw them in addition to the pasta so it is a bit more nutritious. Also, what about grilling/baking chicken on Sundays or even using those perdue ready made chicken to add to the pasta or mac and cheese.
You do what you can, my kid is in bed by 6:45 so I totally get the time crunch when you get home.
Daycare is SO exhausting!
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This is all fine. As long as he's fed and happy, you're good.
Last night M had yogurt, cereal bar, a fruit/veggie pouch, a crapton of grapes, yogurt raisins and animal crackers (yes, he ate all that). DD and I were out running errands, so H gave him what was on hand.
Some nights I get it together to make a decent dinner in time, sometimes I don't.
One recommendation I have - which both my kids like - are the broccoli/cheese nuggets on the wholesome baby food site. They freeze well and heat up quickly.
Also, every couple of weeks I cut a sweet potato into fries, steam it in the microwave, then bake to make SP fries. They also freeze well and heat up super fast - my kids gobble them up.
1 16-oz Package frozen broccoli, cooked, drained, and chopped
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (you could try using baby cereal if you want, we know it works well with "baby meatballs")
1 ? cups shredded cheddar cheese (please use real cheese and not a "processed cheese food" product. Try tomato & basil cheddar.)
3 Large eggs or 5 egg yolks - Most pediatricians say it's ok to use whole egg in a baked good when baby is over 8-9 months old without allergies. I would recommend that you substitute 5 egg yolks for the whole eggs if serving this to those under 1 yr. Ask YOUR pediatrician.
Pre-Heat oven to 375
Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.
Combine all remaining ingredients and mix well. *Add seasonings if you like - garlic powder, pepper, extra basil & oregano for example. Add a fruit or veggie puree to substitute for the eggs if desired.
Shape mixture into nuggets or fun shapes such as squares or squigglies etc..and place on baking tray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turn nuggets over after 15 minutes.
Serve warm - Chop or mash these broccoli nuggets if your baby isn't able to handle bigger finger foods.
And also:
http://www.nurturebaby.com/index.php?mact=Products,cntnt01,details,0&cntnt01category=Finger Foods&cntnt01productid=34&cntnt01returnid=68
Like others have said, I keep things in the freezer especially for him. I'll freeze batches of red beans and rice,homemade nuggets, baked sweet potato fries, thick soups, etc.
That way, if I don't have time to cook or H and I are going to be lazy and order pizza, I still have something nutritious for him to eat.
Yep, freezer stuff. She loves waffles with peanut butter (and I'd add bananas but she squishes them between her fingers and gives me a look like 'what is this f*ckery?' and refuses to eat anything). I also try to break down veg and stuff for the next day's dinner after she goes to bed, so all I have to do is saute or roast or whatever.
quesadillas are usually our go-to quick meal. Put a tortilla in a skillet, throw some cheese on there, fold it over & wait til it's melted, walla. If you have some leftover veg you can put it in there too.
Once a week I make "baby mix" at night then pop it into tupperware for the next two or three days. I take a pot, add cut and small veggies, sprouted lentils and beans, herbs, maybe quinoa, water, bring to a boil then simmer for 20ish minutes. The veggies are some combo of celery, carrots, broccoli, edamame, green garbanzos, peas, etc. Often they are right out of the frozen bag. The beans are from a "trio of organic sprouted beans" I got at costco. Herbs are some combo of oregano, basil, cumin, ginger, cinamon (depends on the veggie mix).
It is fast, easy and a great way to get a variety of vitamins in her. I often feed it to her for breakfast since I'm not a morning person.
I'm legitmately jealous that your kids eat everything you list.
On a good day, we can get Will to eat chicken nuggets and maybe some corn and an apple.
My kid's a freak. I don't for one second think it's anything we did parenting wise, but he loves vegetables and is meh on pasta. He didn't touch his tortellini the other day but threw an epic meltdown because we were out of green beans.
I'm stealing myself for the day he decides he hates fruits and veggies. I know it's coming. It seems to happen to all of them.
Looks fine to me.
I focus on getting a balance of protein, veg, starch and fruit at lunch/dinner and do my best to limit the amount of processed foods in each of those catagories.
But hell, my kid still eats hot dogs and chicken nuggets for the majority of the week. I just make myself feel better by buying the organic versions
Truly, it looks fine to me.
i'll have a salad or small snack with L so that we're sitting together, but during the week she eats whatever and we have dinner after she goes to bed. she needs to eat too soon after we get home for anything really involved to be an option, so it's a lot of leftovers, "french dinner", pasta, scrambled eggs and veggies, etc.
generally we try to make sure it's decent protein, a fruit or veg, and maybe a starch. if that's cubes of cheese, diced carrots, and a piece of toast, so be it.