What Do You Feed Your 2 Year Old For Dinner??

[karina5]

Bonus if we can sneak him some veggies. The kid is PICKY. Thanks!

[Mere]

I give him whatever the rest of us are having for dinner. I'm okay if he doesn't eat any of it, and often he doesn't (but sometimes he does - you never know!). At this point, he snacks a lot, so I just have to make sure what he snacks on is healthy; we don't keep sugary foods around at all. There are a few things he will reliably eat, and that I try to get into him on a daily basis - fruit, nori, yogurt, whole wheat bagels with cream cheese. He also loves smoothies, and usually has one every night before bed. That's my big chance to sneak in extra food that he wouldn't normally eat - avocados, spinach, grated zucchini...smoothies are the best !

[woobysma]

Yep, DS2 just has whatever we're having. He's becoming more picky, lately, though. I think he picked it up from his cousin

He actually likes veggies, so that's not a big problem for us. It does make a difference to him how they are prepared, though. He'll only eat carrots raw, but will only eat brocolli cooked, etc. It took us a while to get to know his preferences, but we're on a pretty good roll now.

Oh, and we don't keep junk food in our house, so I'm fine if he snacks and doesn't join in at dinner as much. If he wants yogurt and carrot sticks an hour before dinner, I'm cool with that.

[lilyka]

whatever we are having. we don't even do a lot of snacks and stuff at that age. I think this is the reason my kids aren't really picky eaters.

[lilgsmommy]

Usually whatever we are having....my kids are 16 months and 5 yrs though.

They twins eat veggies so its no big deal to feed the veggies, but my 5yr old hates them!

With my oldest we use the food proccesor alot, to sneak in veggies. My son nevers notices *insert evil laugh here*

Once chopped fine I add them to ground sausage for breakfast patties, ground beef and turkey for hamburgers and meatloafs, spaghetti sauces, stuffing mixes ect etc. Ive found so many ways to sneak it in.

[elmh23]

Whatever we're eating. If she chooses not to eat it that's fine. Usually if she doesn't eat it she'll ask for a sunflower butter and jelly sandwich before bed (she's allergic to peanuts.) I've been blessed with a kid who eats veggies so I'm not much help there. Good luck.

[limabean]

Usually whatever we're having, but he may have a couple of extra side dishes of things like applesauce, yogurt, or sliced fruit/cheese if I know he's unlikely to eat much of the main dish.

Ways I sneak veggies into him are:

--Muffins (grated carrot or zucchini)
--PBJ sandwiches (mix PB with equal amounts finely grated carrot)
--Pasta with marinara sauce (puree extra veggies in sauce -- also works for pizza sauce))
--Smoothies (add some pureed veggies to the fruit/yogurt)

I don't know if you deal with this, but we also have a no-saying-"yuck"-at-the-table rule. He can say "no thanks," but mama worked hard to make dinner, and it's not okay to say that it's yucky.

[maya44]

Always whatever we were having. We always had lots of side dishes that could be their meal in a pinch, and always at least one thing everyone at the table liked, but we NEVER got up and made them something else.

Feeling that dinner was on the table made them look to the table for dinner. They are now the least picky eaters I know.

Here was a typical dinner back then:

Salmon

Mashed potatoes

Creamed Spinach

Salad with Cucumbers and Tomatos

Fruit Salad

[McMandy]

The kids pretty much eat whatever we're eating, unless what we are eating is extremely messy.

I've found that my children are more likely to eat veggies if they are "dip-able". They've come to love "little broccoli trees" because they get to dip them in ranch or cheese.

They also LOOOOOVE fruit, so I dont really worry about the veggies as much right now, since they do eat A LOT of fruit.

Sometimes I grate veggies, or cut them up extremely small and throw them into things they wouldn't really notice. Also, you can blend them and put them in dips.. and they're pretty clueless.

[madskye]

My DD is two, and sometimes she eats with us, sometimes she easts earlier. I always have string cheese and apple sauce for her to fall back on if she's not into what we have. She really likes rice, hamburgers chopped up, chicken, and veggies. She loves asparagus and broccoli and the frozen diced mixed vegetables with corn, carrots, and peas. I microwave it with a little butter and she eats it by the handful. She also really likes cereal and fruit. She's a good eater as far as variety, but she's mostly a grazer. A few bites of this or that and then it's out of the seat and runaround like a nut.

[trmpetplaya]

My dd is only 18 months, but she just gets whatever we're having. I make nuts, raisins, cheese, etc available throughout the day as well. Most of the time she insists on tasting food from dh's and my plates before eating her food to make sure we're all getting the same thing

ETA - if your ds likes mashed potatoes I would try mashing other things in there as well, like broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc.

love and peace.

[boysmom2]

My 2yo eats what we eat - mostly. I also finely dice veggies and add them to sauces, etc. Or, he'll eat them dipped in hummus. He eats plain yogurt everyday and we add frozen blueberries, bananas, wheat germ and ground flax seeds. He gets to sprinkle in the wheat and flax and stir it all up. It's pretty thick when we're done, but he loves it!

[jimblejamble]

Grilled cheese with broccoli sandwiches and tomato soup?

[JustJamie]

DD gets whatever we have. She's fairly good about eating it, but we don't fight her if she doesn't. I figure, she's still nursing, so that'll make up for any missed nutrition.

My mom became an expert at hiding foods, because she didn't respect it when people said "I don't like X"...mushrooms, for example...she'd blend mushrooms in the food processor, then use it as a rub on a roast, and laugh at whichever guest who had complained about not liking mushrooms. :

Raviolis are another way she did it...whatever veggie she wanted, food processed to mush, and stuffed and boiled in raviolis, topped with a veggie sauce that usually had the same veggies as the stuffing.

My favorite thing she did was an eggplant lasagna. She only made it once, and didn't keep the recipe, though. :

I have recently begun giving DD fruit/veggie/yogurt smoothies as snacks once or twice a day. She loves them, they're healthy, and cool enough to help with summer heat. I just use whatever fruit or veggie floats my boat, with either plain or vanilla yogurt, or just ice, and sweeten it with a little apple juice.

[jillmamma]

My DD loves rice and beans or rice with chicken. She won't eat plain veggies by themselves, but if I use frozen mixed veggies or cut up some really small and mix it in with her rice (helps to add some shredded cheese on top too), then she at least eats some. I don't get really freaked out because she is still nursing several times a day too. With my older one, it is getting easier to reason with him into at least TRYING whatever it is, so it does get better!

[minkajane]

One thing I do that always gets some veggies into DS is to mix in a handful with whatever food he loves. Like with mac n cheese, I'll toss in some mixed veggies. Another thing that helps is to just leave a bowl of mixed veggies on his table during the day. He'll get hungry and grab a handful every once in a while because it's the only food he sees.

Pasta is another good way to sneak in veggies. Toss a handful of shredded or chopped veggies into the sauce. Most of the time, they won't notice!

[bandgeek]

I try to get DS involved with meal planning and he's much quicker to accept what's put in front of him now (this kid wouldn't eat solids until he was 17 months!). At the produce section, I let him pick out some fruits and veggies. I'll ask if he'd rather have beans or rice. I give him little jobs to do (away from the stove! ). And I stock up on foods I know he'll eat, like carrots. The kid would only eat carrots if I let him, so we probably have them every third night or so.

His top favorite dinner foods:
chicken
beans
rice
carrots
noodles of any kind
peas

And casseroles go over very well.

[mamameg]

Soup! You can puree some of the more objectionable veggies and add to the stock.

Surprisingly, fish is a favorite.

Chicken, cut up and mixed with cut up veggies and rice, all mixed together

Beans & Rice

Mac & Cheese w/peas or mixed veggies added. I used to also add some cooked ground beef, but she's not so into that anymore.

Zucchini Parmesan - slice zucchini and onion (could be made with any variety of veggies), saute in olive oil & butter (a little of each), season with pepper and a tiny bit of salt (not too much - the cheese adds salt). Add a dash of cream/milk/soymilk/whatever and cook until veggies are tender. Sprinkle the top with grated parm and put pan under the broiler for a couple of minutes, until the cheese gets crusty, but not too brown. YUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! All the kids LOVE it.

[TheTruth]

You see what your kid needs to learn is that YOU decide whats for dinner, not him.