Let’s just make a list of the average toddler lunch menu:
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
- Grilled cheese
- Hot dogs
- Lunch meat
- ______________ (fill in the blank)
I started to really look into these foods to see what my girl was eating on a daily basis and found:
- [Cheap] Jelly has high fructose corn syrup
- Velveeta is “pasteurized cheese product,” meaning it is less than 51% cheese.
(What is the other 49(or more)%?) - Hot dogs AND lunch meat both contain sodium nitrite, which is linked to several health issues, ranging from migraines to cancer.
So what do I feed a toddler for lunch?!
We did grilled cheese with cheddar cheese for awhile, but as the days passed, less and less of that sandwich was getting eaten. She was getting bored. And I couldn’t blame her.
So, besides grilled cheese, we really only have four rotating meals.
- Half-whole wheat pancakes
- Scrambled eggs
- Omelettes
- Quesadillas
The pancakes were by far the easiest, as I would make a batch at the beginning of the week, freeze the leftovers (cool them on a rack first to prevent sticking!), and nuke them for 30 seconds to make Instant Lunch.
However, we cannot afford real maple syrup. And I was becoming concerned about the high quantities of high fructose corn syrup she was consuming. So I brainstormed for alternative, healthier ways to use pancakes as lunch food.
And would you look at that? I found one.
Introducing: Apple Peanut Butter Pancakes. Heat a frozen pancake for 30 seconds, spread with peanut butter, top with thinly sliced apples. The peanut butter melts to a wonderful, creamy, gooey, yummy consistency. Olivia ate one; I ate two.
The next day, I decided to reward my little girl for her willingness to experiment with me. And I created this:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pancakes. Heat a frozen pancake 30 seconds, spread with peanut butter, top with 4 chocolate chips. Heat 5-10 seconds more, spread chocolate chips so they blend with peanut butter. Optional: top with a dab of peanut butter and an additional chocolate chip.
I know, I went the other way on the “healthy” spectrum with this one. But she LOVED it. And five chocolate chips? Semi-sweet? All-natural? I think we’ll be okay.
As for dinners – Our rules on feeding dinner to toddlers are simple:
- We only eat at the table.
- We only eat what Mommy has fixed us.
- The amount of dessert we eat is directly proportionate to the amount of dinner/meat we eat. (Until a certain point, of course.)
- We can get down at any time, but once the table is cleared, dinner is over. (And see rule #1.)
So our toddler is introduced to and expected to try all the food we regularly eat. Sometimes it takes 10 plate-viewings of a new food for Olivia to be accustomed to it enough to try it.
Of course, I know the foods of which she is not very fond, and I try to have side dishes that I know she likes: corn bread, peas, biscuits, corn, bread and butter, etc. This way I can feel comfortable that she is not going to bed hungry.
And, by the way? A toddler will not starve herself. She will not cause her untimely death by refusing an “icky” dinner. She may eat a bigger-than-average breakfast the next morning, though.
And that’s how we feed our toddler. Fun, exciting lunches, and adult dinners.
What do you feed your toddler? Fill out Mr. Linky below with the link to your recipe swap post (NOT your homepage) and a brief description of your recipe. Thanks for playing and, of course, keeping it family friendly!
Next week on Recipe Swap: Using Leftovers – Roast Chicken. What do you do with your leftover chicken? For the complete Recipe Swap schedule, click here.
I love to put applesauce on my pancakes. You can get natural applesauce pretty easily.
I don’t have children so I have no idea what’s recommended for them to eat, but I would think oatmeal would be another good option. My perpetual student and I like to use our rice cooker to make oatmeal. You can buy the natural stuff in bulk at a pretty good price and cooking it in the rice cooker means you can add the oats and water and wait for it to let you know when it’s ready. There are all sorts of healthy items you can add to make it more interesting.
Here’s a few cheap ideas we do:
Mini-pizzas. I found a 3pk of 3″ tart pans from Target for making homemade mini pizzas. The kids love their own little pizzas – and they can even help make them too!
Piggies-in-a-blanket. I buy breakfast sausages and wrap them in a crescent roll, then slice into 1″ thick sections. Bake until golden. Kids love these little finger foods. Drawback: nitrites in the sausage. This was one of our favorites until we had to put Nick on a gluten free diet. 🙁
Totinos Pizza Rolls. Probably not the healthiest – but a winner. I stock up on these when Meijer has then on their 10/$10 sale and I have .40 coupons that get doubled to .80 = .20 a box! (Again, pre-glutenfree diet days. Now these are Mommy’s lunches)
Here is one of my favorites. (The Yogurt Sundae) My son has Autism and some food aversions. Ok, he’s really really picky and it goes beyond refusing to just try what I make. It’s a constant challenge to get healthy stuff into him. A couple extra ideas for those super-picky eaters:
-Find grind cooked meat and add it to your pizza sauce. Hidden under the cheese, they won’t know it’s there.
-Smoothies may allow you to get some extra fruit into them that they wouldn’t normally eat. Bananas, peaches, raspberries, blueberries…whatever you like.
-Use whole wheat or white whole wheat flour when baking.
-Hide veggies in muffins. Carrot-spice muffins, chocolate zucchini muffins…I’m still exploring this area!
SOMETIMES if my son is REALLY hungry, I’ll bring him a small bowl of fruit or something that normally he’d turn down, but I know he’d like if he tried it. I’ll walk away and more often recently, he’ll try it and sometimes finds that he likes it.
For a good syrup alternative try making apple cider syrup. Reduce cider in a small sauce pan and use a small amount of bisquick or jiffy mix to thicken. Keeps well in the fridge and can be frozen. Spice it up with cinnamon and apple pie spice and use brown sugar to sweeten it if not sweet enough. I work at a B-and-B and serve this to guests with all different kinds of pancakes and french toast. Always a big hit.
To get more veggies into her try making pumpkin or squash pancakes. Just buy solid pack pumpkin or squash, not the pie mix kind. These are very good with the apple cider syrup. Be creative and make jack-o-lantern pumpkin pancakes using chocolate chips for eyes and apple slices for the mouth.
Apple peanut butter pancakes sound like good bachelor food too…may try that sometime.
I love the recommendations! Thanks for bringing up the high fructose corn syrup thing- I had no idea how many different food items it was in until I started reading labels. I have a teenage vegan daughter and an 18 month old and a newborn and a husband who eats a lot of “junk” food. So it is definitely a challenge – here is what I have done with my 18 month old (which is why I am reading these postings!!) – I do make up large batches of pancakes for easy during the week breakfasts – I add wheat germ to everything I can. I will reconsider the artificial syrup after reading this. He USUALLY likes the pancakes very well. He is a starch and fruit eater – meat and cheese are difficult – he loves hot dogs, although I didn’t know about the nitrate thing. I guess I’ll reconsider those. I LIKE the idea of pumpkin or sweet potato pancakes thank you! He will feed himself oatmeal pretty consistently – I do add brown sugar (probably too much) to it to make it more appealing. Cream of wheat is a hit and pretty nutritious (but very messy). MOST fruit, both fresh and dried are well received by him. We also have whole wheat pasta with spaghetti sauce and a bit of cheese pretty frequently – I choose bowties and rigatoni and shapes that he can try to use his little silverware on, or use his fingers to pick up if he gets frustrated. Other winners have been: mashed potatoes, most days he’ll eat beans of any type (thank goodness!), and he loves yogurt smoothies which I make with vanilla yogurt, fresh or frozen fruit, a little orange juice and wheat germ (pops up everywhere). With prices being what they are and the limited menu my vegan will eat, we are also exploring the world of TVP – texturized vegetable protein as a meat substitute which is very healthy and actually not too bad! One other thing: my 18 month old will eat pureed baby vegetables from a jar (most days) but will almost never eat cooked vegetables like carrots or ANYTHING green. So, I don’t fight it I continue to buy jars of baby vegetables and try to find ways to sneak them into other foods.
THANKS for all the great ideas.
Props to the natural mom – : )
I have an 18 month old little boy who will only eat baby food. Do you know of any food specialists in the Houston area that could help me out? I really appreciate your help!
That?s Too nice, when it comes in india hope it can make a Rocking place for youngster.. hope that come true.
Although i’m not afflicted with any allergies or dietary restrictions, I sometimes wonder how you enjoy eating (or those hardcore strict diets). It seems like all of the fun would be taken out when you go shopping!
Maybe you should change the webpage name The Natural Mommy » Recipe Swap: Toddlers – What Do They Eat?! to more generic for your content you make. I enjoyed the blog post however.
I know what you mean about HFCS !!! Real maple syrup is expensive but a little goes a long way !! You can stretch it by putting some jam on a pancake then a light drizzle of maple syrup. My husband doesn’t use real maple syrup … So we’ve compromised.. I found him a syup that doesn’t have HFCS ! Log Cabin syrup states on the bottle that it doesn’t have HFCS ! It’s a popular syrup that has been around for years and is available in reg. Supermarkets :). Btw thanks for your article !! I have a breastfed 18 month old an am clueless about what to feed her at time
s… She’s pretty picky and doesn’t like babyfood except my homemade applesauce and my carrot purée … I thought it gets easier as they grow but no.. Opinionated and quick to show displeasure lol
For toddlers who will only eat baby food (it seems that is the only form of vegetable I can get into my 20-month-old these days), try boiling up some whole wheat pasta (we like fusilli/corkscrews) and use the baby food/veggie puree as a sauce. He devours it! I’ve also found more variety among the selection of organic baby foods at my local natural foods store, and Target sells some too. They come in foil/plastic packages instead of jars, but I’ve seen things like ratatouille with amaranth and banana-beet-berry, if you/they get bored of plain old peas and squash.
I actually came here looking for lunch meat alternatives for toddlers. I think he would like it, but I’m hesitant to introduce the bad stuff that it can contain just to get some meat into him. Any ideas?