TF Toddler Meal Plans

[Aletheia]

Hi all-
We are tentatively trying to be more of a TF household (tentatively because no one knows that but me as of yet ). Our eldest is 27 months old, and while I have my own challenges with eating a more TF like diet, I have a lot of difficulty adjusting my mentality to think of TF foods as "kid" foods (note: I was raised on prepared foods like spaghettio's and mac and cheese from the box.) When he doesn't eat his quinoa with cabbage and dried apricots and chicken, I think, "no wonder! He's a toddler; this is not toddler food." When he doesn't eat his fishsticks or prepared soy hotdogs out of the microwave, I think, "hmm, he must not be hungry."

So I am here to get an idea what you feed your TF toddlers-- both to get my idea of "normal toddler food" shifted a bit and to diversify the options at mealtime. I think too I need some support in being more of an "eat it or be hungry" kind of mom, maybe.

FWIW, he seems to have a texture and mixed food issue. He doesn't like slimy/pureed type foods (like blended soups) and he may have objected to tonight's quinoa dish because there were too many things "hiding" in it. Also, he is strictly dairy, egg white (although can you really separate just the yolk out?), nut, and shellfish free due to allergies.

So what does your toddler tend to eat at each meal? What are your stand bys? Or is this a stupid thread because everybody has toddlers that just eat what everyone in the family is eating or they go hungry?

[quietserena]

My DD gets offered whatever it is we're eating, usually with an extra pat of butter and she's about your LOs age. Lately she's been horrible about eating, and I think it's because she's got her molars coming in (crabby, on and off fever, etc.) so she's been eating quite a bit of fruit and cheese and not much more. She still nurses so that helps out some too but I'm too pregnant to really be a good source of nutrition for her.

I've been working pretty hard on the whole "she'll eat when she's hungry" deal. I have too fallen into feeding her mainstream 'toddler' food when she refuses everything but really, I notice she's more crabby when we do that. So I stick to our regular food. She'll always eat bite size chicken pieces and rice or corn so that's my standby, as well as bean stew. She loves beans in any shape or form! In desperate moments, I've been known to open a can of beans and just rinse them for her. Makes a decent, not too messy of a snack.

My DD doesn't drink milk regularly. She went through a period of a few months when she wanted a small bottle of milk every morning but hasn't wanted one in some time. She also seems to be opposed to drinking broth so I just cook things in it. She will eat cheese so I get the good organic raw colby and keep in the fridge for her though I've been known to offer string cheese sticks. It's hard to find raw cheese with a mild taste because here by law they have to be aged for.. oh i forget how long.

Things I try to keep her away from are processed foods like commercial cereal. I used to be a lot more adamant about it, but have relented to a few handfuls of cereal at friends houses. I've been considering that if *most* of her diet is quality, she can have the bad stuff once in a while.

We're a rather low grain household becuase I'm gluten free so our meals tend to be based on meat and veggies. She refuses a lot of cooked veggies but I'm ok with it as long as she has protein and fat. She does love mashed and baked potatoes too.

Ok, this turned out to be an essay but I wanted to let you know that it's possible to feed a toddler like this even though sometime it can be a struggle.

[velcromom]

My fifteen month old eats some of what we are having at most dinners, except for foods she's not ready to chew yet or doesn't like the texture of. Coincidentally, quinoa is one of the textures she doesn't like. She gets only a very small amount of dairy and it is either cultured or cooked into a dish.

I started trying to find an acceptable "cheerios" type cereal at one point but when I realized that she wanted only that and would refuse other foods to ask for the cereal, I stopped buying it. I just dice up toast bits for her instead.

Breakfast, she will eat toast with coconut oil and molasses, bits of diced fruit or raisins... I like to take a slice off of a banana or cooked sweet potato, spread it with coconut oil and dice it for her. She'll also eat oatmeal if I cook it thick enough that she can pick up blobs of it herself (hates to be spoonfed). I like to make TF pancakes in batches for the freezer so my five year old can make himself breakfast or a snack. Dd eats some of those now and then. He'll also eat sweet potato warmed up, with a pat of butter and a little rapadura & cinnamon sprinkled over it, yogurt with a spoonful of jam, or something like a soup or stew, for his breakfast before school.

I also use meat leftover from the night before, and dice it up to serve dd at lunch time. Often she gets some of the leftover dish I am eating. One of her favorite things is lactofermented pickles, I dice them up for her and she'll eat that anytime.

Ds2 takes lunch to school and likes pretty much the same thing every day... a sandwich or leftovers, a serving of homemade raw milk yogurt if we have some, a serving of fruit slices and some lf pickles & ginger carrots.

[blueridgewoman]

I'm glad to see this thread- I was just feeling bummed this morning that DD isn't eating more cooked veggies, but I'm glad to see that's a trend. We have to give them to her first before she eats anything else or she won't touch them.

I really focus on high quality proteins mostly and DD doesn't eat any grain, save a few bits of gluten free french toast on very special occasions.... Most of her diet consists of whatever we eat, and a few examples I can think of that have been huge winners are

Poached salmon with garlic and dill, covered in coconut oil while still raw-- this is a great "just chewing" food because it sort of flakes
Mashed potatoes
Bits of grain free meatloaf
Scrambled eggs (I used to boil eggs for her when I didn't want her to have the whites and then peel and remove the whites obsessively. ) scrambled in LOTS of coconut oil
Mini hamburgers topped with raw cheese
Greek yogurt with some sort of fruit- this week, it was cranberry sauce made with agave instead of sugar
Spaghetti squash with lots of butter, herbs, garlic, and feta cheese
Sweet potatoes mashed with cream, butter, and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc)
Chunks of chicken left over from making stock- dark meat
Homemade applesauce with lots of spices
Collards cooked southern style in chicken broth with lots of ham and garlic
Split pea soup with, again, tons of ham, broth, and garlic
Mashed turnips
Sauerkraut (HUGE hit)

I'm sure there's more, but that's what she's eaten in the past week or so.

[Jimibell]

wow, love those ideas! this one should be a sticky....I think this is a big issue for people with kids...and it could be extended on to include all children.....

my 6 yr old dd is so picky lately and she complains that she wants to eat the way we used to...lucky for me she and my 3 yr old love meat!
some favorites that haven't already been listed:

fajitas with store-bought sprouted grain tortillas
lots of guacamole and avocado in general
homemade biscuits and banana bread from NT
turkey and black bean caribbean chili
french toast with sourdough bread
filet mignon
not sure if it's NT but dried beef salami is always a hit
soups and more soups (always creamed, it seems to appeal to the kids)
yogurt with mashed banana and vanilla (for dairy free, water kefir?)
warmed milk with cinnamon (again, not for you but maybe for others? it's so soothing just before bed)
carob chews from NT (these are dangerously good!)
lots of crunchy nuts from NT
pizza using dough from NT (you could conceivably do this cheese-free because the dough is so tasty)
I like the homemade peanut butter but my kids don't
oh, we eat salad every night.....my kids love it, I use olive oil, raw vinegar, wheat free tamari, and beet kvass......I have them start their meal with this always......
high quality olives (not sure if their TF, but my kids love them with cheese)
steamed clams with butter and garlic (great finger food)
raw bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, or celery dipped in homemade hummus
potato skins from NT (which we dip in yogurt but guacamole might be good)
for raw meat, we eat sushi once a week (maybe not great because of the rice but my kids love it)
kombucha

If I make quinoa or millet (always with garlic, onions, coconut milk and chicken stock) I usually make it with a tasty meat like steak or turkey sausage (also from NT and VERY tasty, kids love this one!) and I say, "one bite of quinoa and one bite of steak", and try to get them to eat some that way (doesn't always work)

For greens, I always cook them with lots of butter, garlic and salt and my kids will eat them for the most part: (favorites are collard greens, dino kale, mustard greens and bok choy)

The good thing is that you're starting relatively young with your dc so by the time they're able to really complain about food they won't remember eating all the nasty stuff.....

If you ever decide to go with dairy, cheese is such a fabulous snack for kids....it's amazing how some raw milk cold cheese can satisfy their hunger and also it feels kind of "fun" for them.

I'm amazed at how my 3 yr old NEVER asks for sweets anymore. She used to cry for crackers, ice cream and juice a lot. Now she never mentions them. I think she was craving more fat and had a lot more ups and downs with her hunger and therefore craved sugar.

My 6 yr old, on the other hand is like, " how come we can't eat crackers anymore", etc....so I have to bend the rules a little with her and also get very creative with treats. So far, popcorn, yogurt with bananas and carob chews are sufficing pretty well.

I have yet to make the homemade crackers from NT, I want to try....so much to try...

But I do send her to school with commercial organic peanut butter on commercial sourdough bread (she won't eat the homemade stuff on a sandwich). I figure, as pp said, I have to be flexible about it. My mother was pretty strict with us about health food but allowed us to indulge occasionally....but my uncle was very, very strict with my cousin (to the point where even if all the children were eating ice cream in front of him he was not allowed to have any, I felt so bad for him). And he used to cry and cry. I just am not prepared to go that route with my LOs.

I also make sure that my children are involved in cooking and baking as much as possible. They love kneading the dough, cutting veggies, peeling the shrimp, stirring, etc....it is so fascinating for them to be part of the creation process and probably makes them more interested in eating the food.

The one thing I love so much about TF is that it feels so wholesome and satisfying, something I think all kids ultimately crave (and adults too).

And preparing the food with love and joy will make it all the more healthy.

[Ruthla]

IMO, there's no such thing as 'toddler food." Toddlers get offered regular people food plus breastmilk (or formula or the milk of another mammal.) They eat when hungry and don't eat when full, and often make very big messes at the table. Typically they'll eat only one or two food items from the meal, but what those items are will vary from day to day.

[lindsayjean]

My 21 month old is a VERY picky eater. But she LOVES her dairy- raw milk (even though she is still breastfeeding- she calls it "water" just like she calls water "water" haha and breastmilk is "milky"), raw cheese, yogurt, kefir smoothies.

Some big hits at my house (most of the time)
~Meatloaf (I load it full of veggies and she doesn't even know it mwahahaha)
~Hamburger chunks with cheese and ketchup (she loves ketchup)
~Soup! Most of the time.... except she won't eat the veggies in it... but the broth at least and maybe accidentally some veggies haha!
~Just starting being into eating fish after seeing the girl I babysit eat some
~obsessed with all fresh fruit
~Simple snacks... cheese and yogurt are staples here
~MEAT. My daughter loves chicken, turkey, and ground beef
~Scrambled eggs with shredded cheese
~Coconut Flour Pancakes
~Smoothies!! Kefir, frozen fruit, raw egg yolks, etc BIG HIT


*My husband often resorts to feeding her crap (or at least what I consider crap... just because it is organic doesn't make it healthy dear!!) if she won't eat anything. We're working on that. It helps if it's not in the house, so I've stopped buying his snacky foods unless he's with me (haha!). I think kids honestly get used to junk and it messes with their system and then they don't like the good stuff as much as they should. But it's hard to say because my DD has ALWAYS been a picky eater.

[spughy]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

IMO, there's no such thing as 'toddler food." Toddlers get offered regular people food plus breastmilk (or formula or the milk of another mammal.) They eat when hungry and don't eat when full, and often make very big messes at the table.

:

My DD has never been what one would call "picky" - but she certainly has her preferences. Her true love, never-fail foods are fish and fatty meat. Put a chunk of halibut or salmon or good stewing meat or oxtail or something in front of her and she's a happy kid. She also loves chicken, but mostly the skin, to the point of stealing it off DH's and my plates. She is not a fan of grains, really - she will want pasta on the menu if we're out, but she rarely eats much of it, and she doesn't eat it at home so I never cook it (plus I think it's nutrionally empty) which explains why "mac & cheese) sounds good to her on a menu. She doesn't like rice unless it's inseparable from the seaweed on sushi. She loves seaweed, fish eggs, raw fish of any variety, fried baby octopus... she's expensive at sushi restaurants. Vegetable-wise, she loves carrots, cabbage, will eat kale, ADORES swiss chard with vinegar & butter, likes brussel sprouts, sometimes likes broccoli, loves cauliflower... she also really likes potatoes, particularly mashed with lots of butter and cream or roasted in duck fat. She's also a huge cheese fan. Oh, and fruit, she'll eat just about anything.

I guess I have some kind of ideal TF kid... I just hope it lasts. Tonight we had halibut cheeks with a honey-mustard sauce, cauliflower roasted with romano cheese, lightly boiled carrots with butter and some brown rice. DD ignored the rice completely, but complemented me effusively throughout dinner. "You cook wonderful dinners, mama." Oh and this afternoon we were at a local river watching the salmon run and she pointed out a fly on a dead salmon's eyeball, asking what it was doing... I said that flies like to eat fish eyes and she proudly said "I like to eat fish eyes too!"

So, there you go: toddler foods include meat, fruit, veg, cheese, and fish eyeballs.

ETA: We don't have cereal in the house.. her breakfasts are oatmeal, mashed up hard-boiled egg with bacon, omelettes sometimes, and if I feel like she needs junk I make crepes.

[snowbunny]

We don't really do "toddler" food either. And we never really did baby food; rather, he ate whatever we ate from the moment he started trying out solid food. I don't think babies in traditional societies ever subsisted on rice cereal, strained peas, mini corndogs and mac & cheese, KWIM?

So, all we offer him is the same food we eat so that's what he eats. Occasionally, I'll make some chicken fingers or fishsticks just for fun (think chicken or fish breaded with a mixture of crushed dehydrated nuts, sourdough bread crumbs and herbs sauteed in butter or ghee). But he'll eat anything and I think it's because we consistently offer a variety of foods and never prepare a separate meal just for him or for his friends. He's got his favorites--salmon roe, LF turnips, pumpkin muffins, seaweed, kefir smoothies--which I try to have some of on hand for snacks.

The other thing to remember is that kids can go through funks where they just don't eat. DS does it periodically, where he'll pick at his meals and I just have to trust that if he's hungry he'll eat. Then he goes through phases where he eats so much it puts DH's plate to shame. He's been in one of those phases lately.

Like most things, ride it out. Your children are responsible for how much they eat; but you're responsible for what they eat.

[Jimibell]

we never did the "kids food" either.....they have to eat what we eat but I do make some things specifically for my older one (6) just because I know she'll eat it and not complain.....I try to make her happy but within my boundaries of what I think is healthy.....like the pizza with the yogurt dough.....
I'm trying the pelmeni recipe from the WAPF website.....I think I'm going to shape it into the tortellini shapes and put in a cheese filling.....hmmmm.

I also think breastfed babies will have a diverse appetite because they're used to tasting all kinds of stuff in the milk....

[papayapetunia]

My toddler is the easy one! It's my 9yo who thinks everything is gross.

My toddler loves soup, and she loves, loves, loves the egg-drop soup that I make. Basically bone broth seasoned with tamari, sea salt and pepper, then I put in some sliced garlic and spinach or chard, then boil. Then I turn off the heat and drop in 3 beaten eggs and stir in a circle for a minute or two. Then we share it. She asks for it every day. She also loves meat. And millet with butter, salt and pepper. All kinds of vegetables that I can cook to make soft. She doesn't like crunchy cold vegetables yet. I just found out that she likes my fermented beets.

[applecider]

Great ideas in this thread!

[leila1213]

Subbing. Sarah, no wonder your DD's face is so square! Can I have her over for a day to show my DD how to eat yummy TF food?