Baby "charcuterie" all the way. We just do mostly ingredients or simple meals for dinner. She eats a lot of fruit (strawberries, bananas, blueberries) and cheese (cheddar or string cheese), along with some organic deli turkey or chicken (look for lower in sodium) and some crackers/snacks most days. I try to throw in cucumbers, steamed broccoli with butter or carrots too but that's hit or miss. We have to pack her a lunch so it's a lot of the same. We also do quesadillas and various waffles (both sweet and savory) and muffins. You can make ahead and add chia seeds for extra iron and fiber. Also trader joes has frozen mini pizzas that she loves that only take 30 second in the microwave lol. Not the healthiest but convenient for sure.
My daughter is almost five, and we still do this most weekday dinners. My life became so much easier when I realized we didn't have to make a cohesive "meal" every night. She commonly eats leftovers +/- other items as above. Trying to think of things we do that might work for you... like berries, a banana, half an avocado, bell pepper strips, cheese, cooked or thinly sliced carrots, cucumbers, yogurt, tofu cubes, turkey 'pepperoni,' beans & chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, sliced apples & pears, hard-boiled eggs, cubed & roasted veggies (like beets, turnips, butternut squash), etc. I guess I'm saying just think about individual foods you want them to eat more so that trying to make a "meal."
During the week we switch between two leftovers we made over the weekend, then Friday night we do takeout or something super simple like pasta or cheese quesadillas.
For the weekend, we divide and conquer. One person has toddler for two hours and the other does chores. Then we switch, family time is grocery shopping together (our guy loves shopping carts). We do a lot of slow cooker and sheet pan recipes. And yes, sometimes my husband cooks food at 8:30 pm just so there's leftovers later!
Check if your grocery store sells grilled chicken or shredded rotisserie chicken. These are staples in my house. With that, I make things like burrito bowls (microwave rice, whatever relevant veggies/toppings), various pastas (chicken, pasta, whatever veggies/sauce), wraps, salads, etc. It makes my life much, much easier and the meals translate well to a toddler.
We pick up a rotisserie chicken at Costco every week. Even if I don’t feel like making a meal for me, I can heat up some chicken and some frozen peas and he’s happy.
It sounds like slow cooker recipes might help. Lets you cook in batches, having leftovers, and keeping a few economical staples with long shelf-life on regular to avoid having to constantly find new recipes or creating lots of waste.
1. Rice and pumpkin or sweet potato porridge
2. Chickpea stew
3. Taco soup.
Add veggies and proteins as you like which tenderize after slow cooking all day.
How old are they?
I meal plan once a week, my husband goes shopping with our daughter Saturday morning and then I just cook every night. Usually, it takes about 30 - 45min.
I just make what we eat, separate bits, and add some familiar foods.
We had veggie chili on Monday. I gave my daughter some chili with some plain beans, corn, cheese, sour cream, a tortilla, and some apple slices. She mostly picked at the chili, but she ate the rest.
Tuesday, we had Japanese Curry. I gave her some curry, potatoes, chicken, and carrots I pulled out before adding the mix, some rice, and a kiwi. She ate the rice and kiwi and picked at the rest.
Yesterday, we had salmon and a salad. My daughter got salmon, lettuce, tomatos, and cucumbers. She ate everything but the lettuce.
Tonight, I am making pizza, and tomorrow I am making soba noodles.
Grocery delivery! It is $4-$7 through my local grocery store (a Kroger brand) and it’s easy to shop on the app. I plan for ~3 meals a week and the other nights we do leftovers, takeout or fend for yourself. Our daughter is 2 and when she was about 1 we started following that routine. Usually two easier meals and one that’s a little more complicated because I like to cook. I try to prep at night or during lunch (I wfh). On nights that are takeout or fend for yourself, our daughter will get either a snack plate, something easy like airfryer nuggets or leftovers. They waste so much “real food” and half the time she’s happier with a plate of snacks than something I took forever to do.
I’ll have to revisit delivery! Last time I looked (years ago) our area didn’t have anything. I do think that has changed, though.
The main issue is that we can’t seem to reliably fit in time to get food from a store to our house, so when it is 6pm, we have no real options and it would take just as long to decide on a recipe, go buy the food, and then make it, as to just order takeout.
So delivery at a reasonable price on a schedule could work! Thanks for the ideas!
Yea I didn’t love trying to squeeze it in on a weeknight after bedtime or on the weekends. Last night I ordered groceries at 8pm and they were delivered before 7am this morning. It’s absolutely worth the few dollars for me!
We did the meal kits for a while, which were helpful. I gave them up eventually and we do a lot of grocery pickup to save time.
I tend to just rotate the same 6 or 7 meals unless I’m feeling fancy. It keeps our groceries consistent and cuts back on trying to decide wtf to make every night.
We consistently have tacos/burrito bowls/similar at least one night a week. We always have the ingredients and the basics make great BLW foods (cheese, beans, tomatoes)
I second delivery or even pick up. I plan 5 meals a week. Thursday is usually leftovers. Friday is usually pizza or takeout. I cook Saturday and Sunday and then we at least have some leftovers going into the week; plus I also cook Monday to Weds. then over the weekends I shop and make sure we have our meal staples on hand.
If you have amazon prime I believe they are offering a new subscription service through Whole Foods where you pay 9.99 a month but get unlimited grocery delivery from Whole Foods and Amazon fresh.
I do the same thing. Every Thursday, I pick 3 dinner recipes and order on the Giant app. I try to stick to recipes that are 30 minutes or less - lots of air fryer recipes! (Also, always keep the fridge/freezer full of pre-cooked chicken sausages, ravioli, and pesto, seriously.) The rest of my grocery list is pretty standard each week: bread, milk, fruits, deli meat, eggs, chicken salad, etc. And I always make the recipes big enough to have leftovers for my lunch.
I set delivery for Friday while I WFH, and we head into the weekend with the house stocked. Although, let's be honest, I can't remember the last time we felt like cooking dinner on a Friday or Saturday. But at least we don't need to do breakfast and lunch out, too!
If my 1 year old is cranky while I cook dinner, I'll heat up leftovers or whatever I find in the freezer and let him eat that while I cook. He takes forever to eat anyway, so he's usually still going when we are ready to join him. And like everyone else said, it's fine to serve them random items that they love and call it a meal. Sometimes my son lives off edamame and cottage cheese.
We do baby led weaning so I just give my 9 month old a bit of whatever we are eating. For example, if it's pizza he gets a sliver, and also some slivers of banana. I tried doing kid specific food prep for my first and he either didn't like it or threw most of it on the ground so I keep things easy. You might want to think a little more specifically about how to eat better as a family instead of just the toddler - Costco has lots of take and heat stuff that is relatively healthy and cost effective.
Yeah, that’s the crux of the issue haha
We have been eating terribly since parental leave ended in order to make it work, and now that’s an issue because the pediatrician is adamant that we cannot be feeding our kid what we eat 😭
We haven’t braved Costco in a while on a weekend - that’s a good idea.
>the pediatrician is adamant that we cannot be feeding our kid what we eat 😭
Is this because you're eating fast food or unhealthy foods, or something else? Our pediatrician told us at 6 months to start giving our baby a bit of what we're eating...
Unless the stuff you're eating is that unhealthy there's absolutely no reason he can't be eating what you're eating, sounds like really outdated feeding advice.
Can you make it easier on yourself? You guys are getting fast food, but kiddo can have maybe a few chicken nuggets but you also chop up some cucumber, tomatoes and fruits to serve alongside it. Pizza? Baby can have a small amount alongside fruit & veg. Think about easy meals such as pesto pasta and just make sure babe is getting fruit and veg alongside it!
Costco is on Instacart too. A bit of a markup but that can be worth it to not have to go yourself! Trader Joe’s also has lots of premade meals and we are a big TJ house. Some different companies like Little Spoon and Once Upon A Farm also have toddler meals you can order/subscribe to. If you bc want to have food available for toddler specifically, that can be useful. Since about 18 months my toddler doesn’t throw everything around and in the last month we transitioned to plates that don’t suction to the table bc he’s ready for that. So this phase will end!
I’m not sure what you are eating, but unless it’s really terrible, what your paediatrician is saying feels a bit extreme to me. I mean, I fed my son super well with baby led weaning (he ate all, the, veg) and now he would be happy to subsist on burgers and pasta and sweets as a six year old. Of course the best thing for all of you would be healthy family meals - Lots of great tips here (and I’ve added a few of my own below as well!). But if changing your overall eating doesn’t work, what about just serving baby (or ideally everyone) some vegetables and fruit along with the takeout?
What do you mean by “cannot be feeding our kid what we eat?” Because once my son was on full solids and could chew, he ate our regular dinner like always such as salmon or cod, rice, and a veggie. I can’t imagine my pediatrician telling me I could (edit: could not) feed my son this.
It's definitely tricky, for me the key is to consider that meals don't have to be elaborate. We do a lot of simple things like eggs (scrambled or omelette), pasta and rice, pan fried chicken or fish fillets, with raw vegetables like cucumber or tomato, or quickly microwaved peas, corn or frozen veg. My kid loved white fish at that age and it takes minutes to make, can be bought frozen. Keeping things on hand that can be quickly microwaved/air fried/thrown together helps, and meals that you can modify for yourself by adding extra veg, hot sauce, whatever, like quesadillas or sandwiches (can be deconstructed for toddler). Or a big salad for you and the ingredients for toddler (chicken, cherry tomatoes, etc.). Mine has always enjoyed beans too, even just seasoned as a side.
I get a large grocery shop online order once a month including frozen and canned food and other non perishables, plus fresh stuff for a week or two, then just do quick top up shops as necessary, much easier to run in to a smaller place for some bread and fruit than a whole shop.
I make a little extra of things at the weekend but proper meal prep doesn't work for me, we sometimes change plans and I enjoy some meals that don't keep well.
When we are struggling with dinner, I always whip my son up some eggs for dinner. It’s very quick and I’ll give him some steam in bag microwave veggies and some fruit with it. If we are out of eggs he will get nut butter spread on crackers or oatmeal.
It's a little pricey, but I've found that making one big order a month (>25 plates), I get the best price per plate. It's a 2 week plan (order every 2 weeks), but I just have to remember to log in and skip the weeks in between when I don't need more yet. I set a reminder on my calendar and if I forget, they send a text telling you your order is set and you still have a few days to modify (or skip).
So far it's been great.
With my 1yo and 2yo they have pretty much always been offered what the rest of the family is having for dinner, but I do make sure there is always something on their plate that I know they will eat (the 2yo is in a picky phase right now), so sometimes they have an additional side that wasn't really an actual part of the meal. A lot of times this is fruit or a nutrigrain bar.
It is important to remember that at this age, she is going to be doing a lot of throwing, spitting, mashing, playing with and otherwise wasting food as she develops her eating skills. This is pretty normal and there are some things you can try if you'd like to redirect (SolidStarts on IG is a good resource for this) but it's also fine if you decide to let it run it's course. I did the latter and now my 2yo just puts the food he doesn't want to eat on the table beside his plate.
As far as family meals go, you have some good suggestions already but I always recommend YummyToddlerFood for good and quick family meal ideas (have her Dinnertime SOS cookbook and love it). She also has tons of good homemade snack recipes that are almost always prep-ahead/freezer friendly. There are some nights where the workday got too crazy and I just want to get the kids fed and put to bed before even thinking about feeding myself. It doesn't happen regularly, but when it does it's totally ok and on those nights it's great to have something in the freezer (meatballs, chicken nuggets; a BLW-style food basically) - whether I made and prepped it myself or bought a convenience item - or a good old PB&J to fall back on. We still sit with them while they eat and talk about whatever before we gear down for bath and bedtime.
Things that we keep around when toddler can’t have what we’re having: Banza chickpea pasta and egg noodles both take 7 mins can add some marinara or butter, frozen veggies to microwave- (green beans, peas and carrots), avocado, any kind of fruit, cheese, rotisserie chicken, tofu straight out of the package haha.
My LO (1.5 year old) loves ravioli (easy to find in the fridge/ freezer section). Tacos ( give them some of the ground beef and cheese). You could make French bread pizza and given a little. Fruit cups will have soft pre cut fruit and last a couple servings.
Gerber makes some great first foods you can just pick up at Walmart/ piggly wiggly
We do a LOT of frozen veggie bites - we like the broccoli bites from Aldi the best (the first ingredient is actually broccoli instead of potatoes). High protein Greek yogurt cups are also a staple. Lots of mac n cheese, frozen veggies and fruit (we just pull out what we need instead of steaming the whole bag), cut up string cheese, and frozen bags of grilled chicken cubes.
I’d try to develop a “short list” of relatively healthy and easy meals to keep on hand. I’ve tried to meal prep, but find it hard to stick with - for me, it’s easier to have meals I can get on the table in 30mins or less. We do a lot of pasta, Mexican (fajitas, tacos, burritos, even just nachos), stir fries, etc. my son loves “smoothie bowls” lately (so fast and good for you).
I like the IDEA of meal kits - but they still take me 30min plus to prepare, so I’ve always find they don’t address the crux of my issue (though they’d be great if your struggle is deciding what to make and having ingredients on hand). A better option might be meal delivery - I’ve used some ready made (just heat up) meals before. I’ve also seen some “family style options” like casseroles etc. these can usually be delivered.
Grocery delivery might work well for you. Particularly if you do go to the store, grab some ready made (or close to options). At Costco we had their ready made tacos, for example, and I always grab frozen pasta (ravioli) and frozen meats (like a premade chicken cordon bleu to pop in the oven, or chicken strips)
Finally, try and find some healthier takeout options. You’re not likely to change 100% overnight, and meals are likely to continue to be hard. Find some options you can feel good about serving your baby (and will also be better for you). I am terrible at packing lunches, for example, and have accepted that I’m going to buy it - I try REALLY hard to get a salad packed full of veggies everyday, so at least I’m getting something nutritious for the cost (and likely higher calories).
Good luck!
Aside from our Costco haul every 3 weeks, I do Walmart pick up for most of our groceries. I prep meals the night before sometimes. Casseroles are easy to throw in the oven after work. We do breakfast for dinner a lot because it’s quick and easy. Lot of crockpot meals. My almost 4 year old is a picky eater but my 17 month old will eat anything. My kids eat what we eat.
My kid has food allergies so we don't have many options for take out. We make a lot of his meals and freeze it into individual portions, so that I don't have to constantly cook for him. I do a lot of easy meals too.
Frozen falafel, french fries, waffles, toast with peanut butter or avocado, scrambled eggs, beans, yogurts, chicken nuggets, crackers, hummus, low sodium, ground meat and rinsed canned potatoes, frozen veggies, sausages, etc. Doesn't need to be complicated!
He eats some of our food when it's safe for him. I usually make enough for several rounds of leftovers for everybody. But be kind to yourself...a sandwich has never killed anybody! ❤️
We make a grocery list Saturday and then one of us (usually husband) shops on Sunday. We’re thrifty people so we like planning meals in advance and getting most groceries from Aldi. We’re vegetarian so might require more meal prep than normal. We have standard meals that were quick to make (vegan meatballs, vegan sloppy joe, veggie paninis, fajitas, mushroom or spinach ravioli etc). We try to get multiple meals each time we cook. For example, night 1 with the vegan meatballs we make spaghetti with broccoli. Night 2 we make meatball subs.
It’s actually super easy to plan and cook meals. I feel like it’s easier than figuring out takeout each night would be. It just requires 20 min to discuss meals and list out ingredients on Saturday and then shopping Sunday. You can’t get out of shopping even if you go the takeout route though… the kid will still need oatmeal, fruit, eggs etc for breakfast
I cook pretty much every night, but quick and easy meals. Part of it is just schedule, I’m done at 5 and make a point of leaving right at 5 every day. My husband goes to pick up our twins from daycare while I make dinner, and we usually eat at about 6. I love doing family dinners, so it’s something we’ve really prioritized.
Pasta, curry and rice, sheet pan fish and veg, stir fries with noodles. Usually 30 minute dinners.
When our twins were little we really did just feed them whatever we ate, just cut up in ways that were good for self-feeding. I also did a lot of microwave steamed veggies - big pieces of carrot, bell peppers, broccoli florettes that they could gnaw on.
For food waste, we’d just offer little bits at a time. I was also a big no on letting them self-feed really messy stuff like oatmeal.
Also, nothing wrong with dinner from the freezer. Some nights you just gotta throw some chicken nuggets in the oven.
Once in a while we hire a babysitter for a weekend day so we can do chores and batch cook. It doesn’t feel great to lose a day of quality time with our child, but it makes weeknights/lunchtime prep much easier and less stressful. It helps to find some time to prep a shopping list and recipes ahead of time so we can really spend the day cooking.
We do a lot of canned veggies like corn and beets, and frozen chicken nuggets. It takes a few minutes to steam broccoli and carrots. My kid isn’t so into chicken but I echo others that rotisserie chicken makes mealtime easy.
You could do the toddler specific meals delivered to your home if you want the least work possible. There are multiple brands but Little Spoon is one of them :)
I used to grab a rotisserie chicken at the store after work and then would pull it apart for my little one. Then made a veggie as a side (love canned peas and green beans) with some rice or crackers. Usually my husband and I would eat it too and then there would be enough to stretch one more serving for the kiddo a second night.
Do you guys ever split duties?
One of you does one chore and other one does a grocery run.
I don't cook too much. But we do simple meals. Particularly for the kids.
Frozen veggies. Always have tons on hand.
Fish sticks
Chicken nuggets
Bag of rice or cups.
Salami
Mac and cheese
Soups
Pizza
Typically the kids rotate through that.
It is so hard. I remember around when my son turned one and we needed to eat actual meals and I wanted to do it as a family- I literally was saying I thought it was impossible.
Flash forward- we make it happen! Baby stays up a little later now so that helps. But the biggest thing for me was finding 30 min meals that we enjoy. Got a lot of recipes from Americas test kitchen. I also got baby a learning tower and I involve him in cooking which is fun and makes it bonding time.
I stay really organized in the fridge with leftovers and hearty snacks on hand too. I do planning a week at a time and grocery shop together with my son one day a week and then do a quick leftovers dinner when we get home on that day.
You can do it !
Little Spoon is our lifesaver. We've been using it since she was eating purees and now at 18 months we're still loving it. The meals are the perfect size for her, they're healthy, they're easy, she loves them. Wins all around. I know they're pre-made meals but they're whole food ingredients and seem like "real food" to me.
Besides the Little Spoon meals, an easy one I like to do is use chopped frozen spinach, shredded cheese, and tortillas to make a cheese & spinach quesadilla, which I usually serve with a side of cut up fruit of some sort.
Right now, I usually make my toddler a big snack plate with like 6 different things. For example a SBJ (sun butter) sandwich, cheese, fruit, pretzels, broccoli, yogurt. Then I also serve him some of whatever we are eating. He is not a big eater so I just give him a lot of options lol
My baby is now 13 months old and this is the biggest stressor for me now. My husband and I work full time as well and we’re basically focusing on feeding just her right now and scrambling to find food around the house for ourselves. On weekends we can focus on cooking things we all eat but for the week, the most I’ve been able to manage is making sure she has what to eat. That includes cooking big batches of egg muffins (with hidden veggies) and pancakes so I can freeze them and send them to daycare during the week. I also have come to rely on, and thankfully she loves to eat, rotisserie chickens from Costco/sams club, so we have at least one protein option for the week. We also do big batches of pasta and rice and mix up what proteins we add to it - the chicken, frozen meatballs (some homemade, others store bought), steak, ground beef/turkey. Basically the lesson is cook as much as you can over the weekend, freeze as much as you can, and make sure you’ve got versatile options. She doesn’t seem to complain too much!
Hello, frozen food. Also hello divide and conquer. My husband and I both work in tech and have two toddlers (18 months and 3.5), and we often divide and conquer on the weekend to accomplish chores on fire and making some forward progress.
We are both hybrid so we also use the time we have daycare to our advantage- if I don’t have a meeting on a WFH day, I will go to Costco at lunch. If both of us are in the office (close to daycare), the other person will hit TJ’s on the way home.
We definitely do some takeout/delivery as well. One kiddo is allergic to dairy, eggs, and tree nuts, so we are limited. Chipotle is a go to. That allergy kid can crush an adult sized burrito bowl with carnitas, beans, rice and guac, and the other one lives for quesadillas.
We always have frozen chicken nuggets and fries in the freezer, as well as pasta and (vegan, in our case), pesto in the fridge. Both kids love fruit and cucumbers, which are easy, healthy sides. We also often get rotisserie chicken for an easy protein. Canned beans in the pantry and microwaveable rice pouches is an easy meal both kids will eat.
I am also always struggling with this.
We order a couple nights worth of CookUnity (it’s already cooked, you just heat it up). It’s not cheap but it’s cheaper than takeout, and I feel healthier than it too. We choose dishes that our kids would like at least part of. Ideally I’d love to be cooking all our meals but it’s not realistic right now and this is.
If we are in a bind we get some prepared food from the grocery store too.
Once a week we order pizza
Charcuterie is a great quick and easy dinner - crackers, cheeses, meats, fruit.
And then usually we try and think of something that would be easy to make that week and hopefully can give us either dinner and kid lunches or another dinner. It depends if/when I’m working from home (like can I throw something in the oven while I’m still working but before we pick up the kids), etc. In the winter maybe it’s meatloaf and some roasted potatoes and broccoli. In the summer if I can prep and marinate ahead of time I can get my husband to grill some chicken and I’ll try and make a big batch of cucumber salad that will last for multiple meals (plus a random starch)
I use nurture life for my son who is about the same age. It can be a little pricey but it has been a godsend ever since we started using it. The meals are great and always include a starch, veggie, and protein.
At this stage, when I had 2 toddlers (1 and 2.5) I waved the white flag and did a meal service bi think it was Home Chef. Could pick out 5 meals for the week to cover weekdays. Pretty much all of them could be cooked in 30 minutes or less and it made exposure to new foods easier.
After a year I was able to get back into a rhythm of making a dinner plan for the week Saturday, build grocery list off that, and consult meal list daily to see options for dinner. Always take out the meat for next night into fridge so it can defrost! Or you are sunk
Frozen foods have been a real life line. Frozen chicken strips/cubes/nuggs you can heat up real quick. Frozen veggies. I have box in my freezer that's just easy stuff for my kid. I actually serve him peas still frozen - kids like that! (Note: he's older - you may have to wait on the frozen peas.)
Also fresh foods that don't take much prep time. Avocado slices, fruits, cucumbers, tomatoes. Deli ham. Cheese.
And lately: microwaveable lasagnas from the deli section at the grocery store.
I'd love to be able to do more "real cooking" for him, but it's tough out here. I see all these great recipes for kid-friendly cooking, and it's like *yeah, but when? and what if he doesn't eat it? then i'll have wasted time and resources.*
At this age, they don't really need full meals. I did a lot of shredded cheese or cut up string cheese, berries, bananas, cut up lunch meat (usually turkey), peas, elbow pasta with a little marinara was usually a hit at this age too. My kids really liked yogurt at this age too, just expect it to get very messy! Toast with peanut butter was a common meal too, I used to cut them in long strips.
As for groceries, I only order from Walmart so that I can do the grocery pickup. I find it a lot easier to plan meals that way and it's nice to be able to pick up the order on the way home from work/daycare.
Curbside pickup (or even delivery) for groceries. You can stock up on frozen and microwaveable stuff that's kid-friendly--mac & cheese, nuggets, tater tots, veggies, even rice. And then supplement with fresh and/or shelf stable foods--fruit, crackers, cereal, yogurt, raw veggies. Love the suggestion I saw below about hot foods like rotisserie chicken! We try our best to alternate fresh and frozen options throughout the week just to be mindful of sodium, since prepared frozen foods do tend to have a lot in them.
For many months now my husband and I make a meal plan/grocery list on Thursday nights (literally just a 5-10min conversation), I order them on Friday night (another 10min), then Saturday morning he goes to the store to pick up curbside while I stay home with toddler. I love love love one-pot recipes, sheet pan meals, and crock pot stuff to minimize clean up time. I've even had ChatGPT plan a week's worth of meals from those categories. It can give you actual recipes and a grocery list too
I currently cook 4 nights a week (Sun-Wed, leftovers/easy cabinet meals like sandwiches Th & Fri, out to eat Sat) but sounds like you want something less time-intensive/less frequent. Check if your grocery store offers ready-made meals--usually a dish with protein and a veggie that you just need to bake or even microwave. Or buy pre-cut veggies, those big jars of minced garlic, etc to help the actual cooking move faster. I know people always suggest meal service kits like HelloFresh but for me personally those didn't save all that much time because I still had to pick the meals (I never liked receiving a totally random box), wash and chop the produce, etc but YMMV
We do meal delivery kits during the week and it’s a huge help. I don’t have to think about anything or go grocery shopping or anything like that. We do one grocery run a week to supplement the veggies and usually do a frozen protein for the toddler— meatballs, fish, chicken nuggets, sausage, stuff like that— and do veggies from our meal kit with it for him. He gets a lot of variety in the breakfasts and lunches at daycare so I’m less stressed about having a ton of variety at home.
That said, I broke my ankle two weeks ago so we are down to one functioning parent basically and we’ve been doing a LOT of takeout.
We make time for it, we just… do.
I’m lucky that my husband is a strong meal planner. It’s a joint effort, but he does the bulk of it. If I made the meal plans it would be spaghetti and tacos every week, but he actually enjoys scouring Pinterest for fun but easy recipes. Like… it’s basically a hobby for him. So we have the meal plan set ideally by Friday night. Then Saturday morning we add everything to a shopping list and hit the stores. It’s a non-negotiable saturday family activity. The baby comes with us, it’s never occurred to us to do it differently except if he’s sick or something. When he was on two naps that was trickiest because we would either need to get out early - by 9 - to be home for his first nap, or we wouldn’t get out until like 12:30. Now that he’s on one nap it’s SO much easier.
Weeknights I get home around 5:30, get my son a snack, then start dinner. The goal is dinner on the table by 6:30. Most things I make take 30-35 minutes including prep. Lots of instant pot things or one pot dishes. Pasta at least once a week. It’s getting warmer so we will grill. I steam veggies in the microwave - so easy.
Some recent recipes:
- Greek turkey bowls (make rice. brown turkey meat and season however you want, we do Mediterranean. Chop cucumber and tomatoes, serve with tzatziki)
- Costco pre-cooked pulled pork with veg (cook pork in microwave, then optional step to throw it on a tray under the broiler to crisp it. While it’s in the broiler, steam broccoli in the microwave for 4 mins) the pork is delicious and has no additives, we do this biweekly
- Creamy rigatoni (cook pasta, brown ground meat of choice, add jar of tomato sauce, mix in a block of Boursin cheese, mix in pasta)
Yes. I was like you. I ate out every night of the week, but fed my kid what I should have been eating.
I lived by sheet-pan and one pot recipes that I could put in little jars (weck makes awesome ones, but you can find plenty borosilicate glass jars on Amazon).
We’d shop on Sunday as a family (stopped at the playground before so my toddler was properly worn out for the grocery store). Then I’d buy four roasting veggies/root veggies (brocc, cauliflower, carrots, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, asparagus, zucchini) and two proteins (usually salmon and then some meat).
I’d get home, kid and dad would nap and I’d prep everything by chopping it all up, tossing it in olive oil and seasoning (salt plus a flavor like cumin or garlic or sumac) and roasting it off at 400°. The only rule of thumb was that root veggies went on one tray and regular veggies on another (because cook times). Even the meat got roasted off. And then I’d jar it all up. At a minimum, I knew he’d be eating well for lunch, even if he only ate salami for dinner (mine eats better at daycare than at home for reasons unknown).
And, as others have said, baby charcuterie is great. Cold cuts, grocery store rotisserie chicken, fruit. We also did olives (which ended up becoming olives only dinner), nuts, and drinkable yogurt (we like Monsieur Singh, because it is just yogurt and mango). But, most kids go through a picky phase right around 2, so don’t stress too much about quantity or…olive dinners for a week. They usually push through the picky, just lean into the most nutritious of your safe foods.
You can also do big batch things like a lentil soup that you cook down to stew consistency (because babies can’t hamfist soup), overnight oats with frozen fruit and coconut using coconut milk as the liquid, rice and beans (which should get a topper of cheese and avocado when you heat it up), and chili (I love Goya’s small red bean chili because of all the fiber in it). Then just freeze it in little jars.
Sunday is meal prep day after bedtime or during naps. We make a bunch of pasta with hidden veggie sauce, cook up a a couple different veggies, cut up a bunch of fruit to use for dinners throughout the week. My daycare does breakfast and lunch so we don’t have to worry about that. My kid still hates meat so we just give him a little meat of wherever we’re eating or heat up a frozen kids meatball for show .
Baby "charcuterie" all the way. We just do mostly ingredients or simple meals for dinner. She eats a lot of fruit (strawberries, bananas, blueberries) and cheese (cheddar or string cheese), along with some organic deli turkey or chicken (look for lower in sodium) and some crackers/snacks most days. I try to throw in cucumbers, steamed broccoli with butter or carrots too but that's hit or miss. We have to pack her a lunch so it's a lot of the same. We also do quesadillas and various waffles (both sweet and savory) and muffins. You can make ahead and add chia seeds for extra iron and fiber. Also trader joes has frozen mini pizzas that she loves that only take 30 second in the microwave lol. Not the healthiest but convenient for sure.
My daughter is almost five, and we still do this most weekday dinners. My life became so much easier when I realized we didn't have to make a cohesive "meal" every night. She commonly eats leftovers +/- other items as above. Trying to think of things we do that might work for you... like berries, a banana, half an avocado, bell pepper strips, cheese, cooked or thinly sliced carrots, cucumbers, yogurt, tofu cubes, turkey 'pepperoni,' beans & chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, sliced apples & pears, hard-boiled eggs, cubed & roasted veggies (like beets, turnips, butternut squash), etc. I guess I'm saying just think about individual foods you want them to eat more so that trying to make a "meal."
Lol I'm 34 and this is still one of my favorite ways to eat! Def enjoy meals sometimes but some crackers/cheese/fruit and wine? Ideal dinner.
Charcuterie = the TikTok “girl dinner” trend
100 percent. Though I’d like to claim I enjoyed girl dinner before it was a trend
We do Naan pizzas often. My kids are older toddlers/preschool age now and love making their own and they take like ten mins in the oven!
Good idea!!
This is the way!!
During the week we switch between two leftovers we made over the weekend, then Friday night we do takeout or something super simple like pasta or cheese quesadillas. For the weekend, we divide and conquer. One person has toddler for two hours and the other does chores. Then we switch, family time is grocery shopping together (our guy loves shopping carts). We do a lot of slow cooker and sheet pan recipes. And yes, sometimes my husband cooks food at 8:30 pm just so there's leftovers later!
Check if your grocery store sells grilled chicken or shredded rotisserie chicken. These are staples in my house. With that, I make things like burrito bowls (microwave rice, whatever relevant veggies/toppings), various pastas (chicken, pasta, whatever veggies/sauce), wraps, salads, etc. It makes my life much, much easier and the meals translate well to a toddler.
We pick up a rotisserie chicken at Costco every week. Even if I don’t feel like making a meal for me, I can heat up some chicken and some frozen peas and he’s happy.
If they don’t you can roast or air fry a whole chicken a few times a week and store in the fridge!
Yep we do a lot of these + buttered noodles or microwave rice
We started doing Hello Fresh meal kits and 30 min recipes around this point with my first. Worked well for us.
It sounds like slow cooker recipes might help. Lets you cook in batches, having leftovers, and keeping a few economical staples with long shelf-life on regular to avoid having to constantly find new recipes or creating lots of waste. 1. Rice and pumpkin or sweet potato porridge 2. Chickpea stew 3. Taco soup. Add veggies and proteins as you like which tenderize after slow cooking all day.
How old are they? I meal plan once a week, my husband goes shopping with our daughter Saturday morning and then I just cook every night. Usually, it takes about 30 - 45min. I just make what we eat, separate bits, and add some familiar foods. We had veggie chili on Monday. I gave my daughter some chili with some plain beans, corn, cheese, sour cream, a tortilla, and some apple slices. She mostly picked at the chili, but she ate the rest. Tuesday, we had Japanese Curry. I gave her some curry, potatoes, chicken, and carrots I pulled out before adding the mix, some rice, and a kiwi. She ate the rice and kiwi and picked at the rest. Yesterday, we had salmon and a salad. My daughter got salmon, lettuce, tomatos, and cucumbers. She ate everything but the lettuce. Tonight, I am making pizza, and tomorrow I am making soba noodles.
Grocery delivery! It is $4-$7 through my local grocery store (a Kroger brand) and it’s easy to shop on the app. I plan for ~3 meals a week and the other nights we do leftovers, takeout or fend for yourself. Our daughter is 2 and when she was about 1 we started following that routine. Usually two easier meals and one that’s a little more complicated because I like to cook. I try to prep at night or during lunch (I wfh). On nights that are takeout or fend for yourself, our daughter will get either a snack plate, something easy like airfryer nuggets or leftovers. They waste so much “real food” and half the time she’s happier with a plate of snacks than something I took forever to do.
I’ll have to revisit delivery! Last time I looked (years ago) our area didn’t have anything. I do think that has changed, though. The main issue is that we can’t seem to reliably fit in time to get food from a store to our house, so when it is 6pm, we have no real options and it would take just as long to decide on a recipe, go buy the food, and then make it, as to just order takeout. So delivery at a reasonable price on a schedule could work! Thanks for the ideas!
Yea I didn’t love trying to squeeze it in on a weeknight after bedtime or on the weekends. Last night I ordered groceries at 8pm and they were delivered before 7am this morning. It’s absolutely worth the few dollars for me!
We did the meal kits for a while, which were helpful. I gave them up eventually and we do a lot of grocery pickup to save time. I tend to just rotate the same 6 or 7 meals unless I’m feeling fancy. It keeps our groceries consistent and cuts back on trying to decide wtf to make every night.
We consistently have tacos/burrito bowls/similar at least one night a week. We always have the ingredients and the basics make great BLW foods (cheese, beans, tomatoes)
I second delivery or even pick up. I plan 5 meals a week. Thursday is usually leftovers. Friday is usually pizza or takeout. I cook Saturday and Sunday and then we at least have some leftovers going into the week; plus I also cook Monday to Weds. then over the weekends I shop and make sure we have our meal staples on hand.
If you have amazon prime I believe they are offering a new subscription service through Whole Foods where you pay 9.99 a month but get unlimited grocery delivery from Whole Foods and Amazon fresh.
I do the same thing. Every Thursday, I pick 3 dinner recipes and order on the Giant app. I try to stick to recipes that are 30 minutes or less - lots of air fryer recipes! (Also, always keep the fridge/freezer full of pre-cooked chicken sausages, ravioli, and pesto, seriously.) The rest of my grocery list is pretty standard each week: bread, milk, fruits, deli meat, eggs, chicken salad, etc. And I always make the recipes big enough to have leftovers for my lunch. I set delivery for Friday while I WFH, and we head into the weekend with the house stocked. Although, let's be honest, I can't remember the last time we felt like cooking dinner on a Friday or Saturday. But at least we don't need to do breakfast and lunch out, too! If my 1 year old is cranky while I cook dinner, I'll heat up leftovers or whatever I find in the freezer and let him eat that while I cook. He takes forever to eat anyway, so he's usually still going when we are ready to join him. And like everyone else said, it's fine to serve them random items that they love and call it a meal. Sometimes my son lives off edamame and cottage cheese.
We do baby led weaning so I just give my 9 month old a bit of whatever we are eating. For example, if it's pizza he gets a sliver, and also some slivers of banana. I tried doing kid specific food prep for my first and he either didn't like it or threw most of it on the ground so I keep things easy. You might want to think a little more specifically about how to eat better as a family instead of just the toddler - Costco has lots of take and heat stuff that is relatively healthy and cost effective.
Yeah, that’s the crux of the issue haha We have been eating terribly since parental leave ended in order to make it work, and now that’s an issue because the pediatrician is adamant that we cannot be feeding our kid what we eat 😭 We haven’t braved Costco in a while on a weekend - that’s a good idea.
>the pediatrician is adamant that we cannot be feeding our kid what we eat 😭 Is this because you're eating fast food or unhealthy foods, or something else? Our pediatrician told us at 6 months to start giving our baby a bit of what we're eating... Unless the stuff you're eating is that unhealthy there's absolutely no reason he can't be eating what you're eating, sounds like really outdated feeding advice.
Can you make it easier on yourself? You guys are getting fast food, but kiddo can have maybe a few chicken nuggets but you also chop up some cucumber, tomatoes and fruits to serve alongside it. Pizza? Baby can have a small amount alongside fruit & veg. Think about easy meals such as pesto pasta and just make sure babe is getting fruit and veg alongside it!
Costco is on Instacart too. A bit of a markup but that can be worth it to not have to go yourself! Trader Joe’s also has lots of premade meals and we are a big TJ house. Some different companies like Little Spoon and Once Upon A Farm also have toddler meals you can order/subscribe to. If you bc want to have food available for toddler specifically, that can be useful. Since about 18 months my toddler doesn’t throw everything around and in the last month we transitioned to plates that don’t suction to the table bc he’s ready for that. So this phase will end!
I’m not sure what you are eating, but unless it’s really terrible, what your paediatrician is saying feels a bit extreme to me. I mean, I fed my son super well with baby led weaning (he ate all, the, veg) and now he would be happy to subsist on burgers and pasta and sweets as a six year old. Of course the best thing for all of you would be healthy family meals - Lots of great tips here (and I’ve added a few of my own below as well!). But if changing your overall eating doesn’t work, what about just serving baby (or ideally everyone) some vegetables and fruit along with the takeout?
What do you mean by “cannot be feeding our kid what we eat?” Because once my son was on full solids and could chew, he ate our regular dinner like always such as salmon or cod, rice, and a veggie. I can’t imagine my pediatrician telling me I could (edit: could not) feed my son this.
Yeah, I have to admit we eat poorly. Lots of fast food and taco truck. I know the doctor is right, so I am trying to do better! :)
It's definitely tricky, for me the key is to consider that meals don't have to be elaborate. We do a lot of simple things like eggs (scrambled or omelette), pasta and rice, pan fried chicken or fish fillets, with raw vegetables like cucumber or tomato, or quickly microwaved peas, corn or frozen veg. My kid loved white fish at that age and it takes minutes to make, can be bought frozen. Keeping things on hand that can be quickly microwaved/air fried/thrown together helps, and meals that you can modify for yourself by adding extra veg, hot sauce, whatever, like quesadillas or sandwiches (can be deconstructed for toddler). Or a big salad for you and the ingredients for toddler (chicken, cherry tomatoes, etc.). Mine has always enjoyed beans too, even just seasoned as a side. I get a large grocery shop online order once a month including frozen and canned food and other non perishables, plus fresh stuff for a week or two, then just do quick top up shops as necessary, much easier to run in to a smaller place for some bread and fruit than a whole shop. I make a little extra of things at the weekend but proper meal prep doesn't work for me, we sometimes change plans and I enjoy some meals that don't keep well.
When we are struggling with dinner, I always whip my son up some eggs for dinner. It’s very quick and I’ll give him some steam in bag microwave veggies and some fruit with it. If we are out of eggs he will get nut butter spread on crackers or oatmeal.
We do breakfast for dinner once a week just for the day when I can't bear cooking, so I can just make eggs.
Love breakfast for dinner!
Little Spoon. I get about 1-1.5 hours with my kid after work. No time to cook. He gets a Little Spoon meal and once he goes to bed I fend for myself.
I’ve seen tons of recommendations for Little Spoon - I’ll definitely check it out!
It's a little pricey, but I've found that making one big order a month (>25 plates), I get the best price per plate. It's a 2 week plan (order every 2 weeks), but I just have to remember to log in and skip the weeks in between when I don't need more yet. I set a reminder on my calendar and if I forget, they send a text telling you your order is set and you still have a few days to modify (or skip). So far it's been great.
With my 1yo and 2yo they have pretty much always been offered what the rest of the family is having for dinner, but I do make sure there is always something on their plate that I know they will eat (the 2yo is in a picky phase right now), so sometimes they have an additional side that wasn't really an actual part of the meal. A lot of times this is fruit or a nutrigrain bar. It is important to remember that at this age, she is going to be doing a lot of throwing, spitting, mashing, playing with and otherwise wasting food as she develops her eating skills. This is pretty normal and there are some things you can try if you'd like to redirect (SolidStarts on IG is a good resource for this) but it's also fine if you decide to let it run it's course. I did the latter and now my 2yo just puts the food he doesn't want to eat on the table beside his plate. As far as family meals go, you have some good suggestions already but I always recommend YummyToddlerFood for good and quick family meal ideas (have her Dinnertime SOS cookbook and love it). She also has tons of good homemade snack recipes that are almost always prep-ahead/freezer friendly. There are some nights where the workday got too crazy and I just want to get the kids fed and put to bed before even thinking about feeding myself. It doesn't happen regularly, but when it does it's totally ok and on those nights it's great to have something in the freezer (meatballs, chicken nuggets; a BLW-style food basically) - whether I made and prepped it myself or bought a convenience item - or a good old PB&J to fall back on. We still sit with them while they eat and talk about whatever before we gear down for bath and bedtime.
Things that we keep around when toddler can’t have what we’re having: Banza chickpea pasta and egg noodles both take 7 mins can add some marinara or butter, frozen veggies to microwave- (green beans, peas and carrots), avocado, any kind of fruit, cheese, rotisserie chicken, tofu straight out of the package haha.
My LO (1.5 year old) loves ravioli (easy to find in the fridge/ freezer section). Tacos ( give them some of the ground beef and cheese). You could make French bread pizza and given a little. Fruit cups will have soft pre cut fruit and last a couple servings. Gerber makes some great first foods you can just pick up at Walmart/ piggly wiggly
Also meal kits- I love dinnerly and every plate. They are simpler and more affordable than others
We do a LOT of frozen veggie bites - we like the broccoli bites from Aldi the best (the first ingredient is actually broccoli instead of potatoes). High protein Greek yogurt cups are also a staple. Lots of mac n cheese, frozen veggies and fruit (we just pull out what we need instead of steaming the whole bag), cut up string cheese, and frozen bags of grilled chicken cubes.
We do a lot of this same stuff! The frozen veggie bites are a godsend for us.
I’d try to develop a “short list” of relatively healthy and easy meals to keep on hand. I’ve tried to meal prep, but find it hard to stick with - for me, it’s easier to have meals I can get on the table in 30mins or less. We do a lot of pasta, Mexican (fajitas, tacos, burritos, even just nachos), stir fries, etc. my son loves “smoothie bowls” lately (so fast and good for you). I like the IDEA of meal kits - but they still take me 30min plus to prepare, so I’ve always find they don’t address the crux of my issue (though they’d be great if your struggle is deciding what to make and having ingredients on hand). A better option might be meal delivery - I’ve used some ready made (just heat up) meals before. I’ve also seen some “family style options” like casseroles etc. these can usually be delivered. Grocery delivery might work well for you. Particularly if you do go to the store, grab some ready made (or close to options). At Costco we had their ready made tacos, for example, and I always grab frozen pasta (ravioli) and frozen meats (like a premade chicken cordon bleu to pop in the oven, or chicken strips) Finally, try and find some healthier takeout options. You’re not likely to change 100% overnight, and meals are likely to continue to be hard. Find some options you can feel good about serving your baby (and will also be better for you). I am terrible at packing lunches, for example, and have accepted that I’m going to buy it - I try REALLY hard to get a salad packed full of veggies everyday, so at least I’m getting something nutritious for the cost (and likely higher calories). Good luck!
I used to do HelloFresh but I could never, ever get it done in the time recommended. I think I'm just a slow cook!
Aside from our Costco haul every 3 weeks, I do Walmart pick up for most of our groceries. I prep meals the night before sometimes. Casseroles are easy to throw in the oven after work. We do breakfast for dinner a lot because it’s quick and easy. Lot of crockpot meals. My almost 4 year old is a picky eater but my 17 month old will eat anything. My kids eat what we eat.
I'm an instacart person. Maybe not the best advice but it could save some time.
My kid has food allergies so we don't have many options for take out. We make a lot of his meals and freeze it into individual portions, so that I don't have to constantly cook for him. I do a lot of easy meals too. Frozen falafel, french fries, waffles, toast with peanut butter or avocado, scrambled eggs, beans, yogurts, chicken nuggets, crackers, hummus, low sodium, ground meat and rinsed canned potatoes, frozen veggies, sausages, etc. Doesn't need to be complicated! He eats some of our food when it's safe for him. I usually make enough for several rounds of leftovers for everybody. But be kind to yourself...a sandwich has never killed anybody! ❤️
If you can afford it, little spoon “biteables” might work well for you.
We make a grocery list Saturday and then one of us (usually husband) shops on Sunday. We’re thrifty people so we like planning meals in advance and getting most groceries from Aldi. We’re vegetarian so might require more meal prep than normal. We have standard meals that were quick to make (vegan meatballs, vegan sloppy joe, veggie paninis, fajitas, mushroom or spinach ravioli etc). We try to get multiple meals each time we cook. For example, night 1 with the vegan meatballs we make spaghetti with broccoli. Night 2 we make meatball subs. It’s actually super easy to plan and cook meals. I feel like it’s easier than figuring out takeout each night would be. It just requires 20 min to discuss meals and list out ingredients on Saturday and then shopping Sunday. You can’t get out of shopping even if you go the takeout route though… the kid will still need oatmeal, fruit, eggs etc for breakfast
I cook pretty much every night, but quick and easy meals. Part of it is just schedule, I’m done at 5 and make a point of leaving right at 5 every day. My husband goes to pick up our twins from daycare while I make dinner, and we usually eat at about 6. I love doing family dinners, so it’s something we’ve really prioritized. Pasta, curry and rice, sheet pan fish and veg, stir fries with noodles. Usually 30 minute dinners. When our twins were little we really did just feed them whatever we ate, just cut up in ways that were good for self-feeding. I also did a lot of microwave steamed veggies - big pieces of carrot, bell peppers, broccoli florettes that they could gnaw on. For food waste, we’d just offer little bits at a time. I was also a big no on letting them self-feed really messy stuff like oatmeal. Also, nothing wrong with dinner from the freezer. Some nights you just gotta throw some chicken nuggets in the oven.
Once in a while we hire a babysitter for a weekend day so we can do chores and batch cook. It doesn’t feel great to lose a day of quality time with our child, but it makes weeknights/lunchtime prep much easier and less stressful. It helps to find some time to prep a shopping list and recipes ahead of time so we can really spend the day cooking. We do a lot of canned veggies like corn and beets, and frozen chicken nuggets. It takes a few minutes to steam broccoli and carrots. My kid isn’t so into chicken but I echo others that rotisserie chicken makes mealtime easy.
You could do the toddler specific meals delivered to your home if you want the least work possible. There are multiple brands but Little Spoon is one of them :)
I used to grab a rotisserie chicken at the store after work and then would pull it apart for my little one. Then made a veggie as a side (love canned peas and green beans) with some rice or crackers. Usually my husband and I would eat it too and then there would be enough to stretch one more serving for the kiddo a second night.
Do you guys ever split duties? One of you does one chore and other one does a grocery run. I don't cook too much. But we do simple meals. Particularly for the kids. Frozen veggies. Always have tons on hand. Fish sticks Chicken nuggets Bag of rice or cups. Salami Mac and cheese Soups Pizza Typically the kids rotate through that.
It is so hard. I remember around when my son turned one and we needed to eat actual meals and I wanted to do it as a family- I literally was saying I thought it was impossible. Flash forward- we make it happen! Baby stays up a little later now so that helps. But the biggest thing for me was finding 30 min meals that we enjoy. Got a lot of recipes from Americas test kitchen. I also got baby a learning tower and I involve him in cooking which is fun and makes it bonding time. I stay really organized in the fridge with leftovers and hearty snacks on hand too. I do planning a week at a time and grocery shop together with my son one day a week and then do a quick leftovers dinner when we get home on that day. You can do it !
Little Spoon is our lifesaver. We've been using it since she was eating purees and now at 18 months we're still loving it. The meals are the perfect size for her, they're healthy, they're easy, she loves them. Wins all around. I know they're pre-made meals but they're whole food ingredients and seem like "real food" to me. Besides the Little Spoon meals, an easy one I like to do is use chopped frozen spinach, shredded cheese, and tortillas to make a cheese & spinach quesadilla, which I usually serve with a side of cut up fruit of some sort.
Following, because I’m in the same damn boat, plus an eight year old who’s the pickiest eater you’ll ever meet.
Right now, I usually make my toddler a big snack plate with like 6 different things. For example a SBJ (sun butter) sandwich, cheese, fruit, pretzels, broccoli, yogurt. Then I also serve him some of whatever we are eating. He is not a big eater so I just give him a lot of options lol
My baby is now 13 months old and this is the biggest stressor for me now. My husband and I work full time as well and we’re basically focusing on feeding just her right now and scrambling to find food around the house for ourselves. On weekends we can focus on cooking things we all eat but for the week, the most I’ve been able to manage is making sure she has what to eat. That includes cooking big batches of egg muffins (with hidden veggies) and pancakes so I can freeze them and send them to daycare during the week. I also have come to rely on, and thankfully she loves to eat, rotisserie chickens from Costco/sams club, so we have at least one protein option for the week. We also do big batches of pasta and rice and mix up what proteins we add to it - the chicken, frozen meatballs (some homemade, others store bought), steak, ground beef/turkey. Basically the lesson is cook as much as you can over the weekend, freeze as much as you can, and make sure you’ve got versatile options. She doesn’t seem to complain too much!
Hello, frozen food. Also hello divide and conquer. My husband and I both work in tech and have two toddlers (18 months and 3.5), and we often divide and conquer on the weekend to accomplish chores on fire and making some forward progress. We are both hybrid so we also use the time we have daycare to our advantage- if I don’t have a meeting on a WFH day, I will go to Costco at lunch. If both of us are in the office (close to daycare), the other person will hit TJ’s on the way home. We definitely do some takeout/delivery as well. One kiddo is allergic to dairy, eggs, and tree nuts, so we are limited. Chipotle is a go to. That allergy kid can crush an adult sized burrito bowl with carnitas, beans, rice and guac, and the other one lives for quesadillas. We always have frozen chicken nuggets and fries in the freezer, as well as pasta and (vegan, in our case), pesto in the fridge. Both kids love fruit and cucumbers, which are easy, healthy sides. We also often get rotisserie chicken for an easy protein. Canned beans in the pantry and microwaveable rice pouches is an easy meal both kids will eat.
I am also always struggling with this. We order a couple nights worth of CookUnity (it’s already cooked, you just heat it up). It’s not cheap but it’s cheaper than takeout, and I feel healthier than it too. We choose dishes that our kids would like at least part of. Ideally I’d love to be cooking all our meals but it’s not realistic right now and this is. If we are in a bind we get some prepared food from the grocery store too. Once a week we order pizza Charcuterie is a great quick and easy dinner - crackers, cheeses, meats, fruit. And then usually we try and think of something that would be easy to make that week and hopefully can give us either dinner and kid lunches or another dinner. It depends if/when I’m working from home (like can I throw something in the oven while I’m still working but before we pick up the kids), etc. In the winter maybe it’s meatloaf and some roasted potatoes and broccoli. In the summer if I can prep and marinate ahead of time I can get my husband to grill some chicken and I’ll try and make a big batch of cucumber salad that will last for multiple meals (plus a random starch)
I use nurture life for my son who is about the same age. It can be a little pricey but it has been a godsend ever since we started using it. The meals are great and always include a starch, veggie, and protein.
At this stage, when I had 2 toddlers (1 and 2.5) I waved the white flag and did a meal service bi think it was Home Chef. Could pick out 5 meals for the week to cover weekdays. Pretty much all of them could be cooked in 30 minutes or less and it made exposure to new foods easier. After a year I was able to get back into a rhythm of making a dinner plan for the week Saturday, build grocery list off that, and consult meal list daily to see options for dinner. Always take out the meat for next night into fridge so it can defrost! Or you are sunk
Frozen foods have been a real life line. Frozen chicken strips/cubes/nuggs you can heat up real quick. Frozen veggies. I have box in my freezer that's just easy stuff for my kid. I actually serve him peas still frozen - kids like that! (Note: he's older - you may have to wait on the frozen peas.) Also fresh foods that don't take much prep time. Avocado slices, fruits, cucumbers, tomatoes. Deli ham. Cheese. And lately: microwaveable lasagnas from the deli section at the grocery store. I'd love to be able to do more "real cooking" for him, but it's tough out here. I see all these great recipes for kid-friendly cooking, and it's like *yeah, but when? and what if he doesn't eat it? then i'll have wasted time and resources.*
At this age, they don't really need full meals. I did a lot of shredded cheese or cut up string cheese, berries, bananas, cut up lunch meat (usually turkey), peas, elbow pasta with a little marinara was usually a hit at this age too. My kids really liked yogurt at this age too, just expect it to get very messy! Toast with peanut butter was a common meal too, I used to cut them in long strips. As for groceries, I only order from Walmart so that I can do the grocery pickup. I find it a lot easier to plan meals that way and it's nice to be able to pick up the order on the way home from work/daycare.
Curbside pickup (or even delivery) for groceries. You can stock up on frozen and microwaveable stuff that's kid-friendly--mac & cheese, nuggets, tater tots, veggies, even rice. And then supplement with fresh and/or shelf stable foods--fruit, crackers, cereal, yogurt, raw veggies. Love the suggestion I saw below about hot foods like rotisserie chicken! We try our best to alternate fresh and frozen options throughout the week just to be mindful of sodium, since prepared frozen foods do tend to have a lot in them. For many months now my husband and I make a meal plan/grocery list on Thursday nights (literally just a 5-10min conversation), I order them on Friday night (another 10min), then Saturday morning he goes to the store to pick up curbside while I stay home with toddler. I love love love one-pot recipes, sheet pan meals, and crock pot stuff to minimize clean up time. I've even had ChatGPT plan a week's worth of meals from those categories. It can give you actual recipes and a grocery list too I currently cook 4 nights a week (Sun-Wed, leftovers/easy cabinet meals like sandwiches Th & Fri, out to eat Sat) but sounds like you want something less time-intensive/less frequent. Check if your grocery store offers ready-made meals--usually a dish with protein and a veggie that you just need to bake or even microwave. Or buy pre-cut veggies, those big jars of minced garlic, etc to help the actual cooking move faster. I know people always suggest meal service kits like HelloFresh but for me personally those didn't save all that much time because I still had to pick the meals (I never liked receiving a totally random box), wash and chop the produce, etc but YMMV
I love the idea of planning on Thursday nights - I think I’m going to try that this week!
We do meal delivery kits during the week and it’s a huge help. I don’t have to think about anything or go grocery shopping or anything like that. We do one grocery run a week to supplement the veggies and usually do a frozen protein for the toddler— meatballs, fish, chicken nuggets, sausage, stuff like that— and do veggies from our meal kit with it for him. He gets a lot of variety in the breakfasts and lunches at daycare so I’m less stressed about having a ton of variety at home. That said, I broke my ankle two weeks ago so we are down to one functioning parent basically and we’ve been doing a LOT of takeout.
We make time for it, we just… do. I’m lucky that my husband is a strong meal planner. It’s a joint effort, but he does the bulk of it. If I made the meal plans it would be spaghetti and tacos every week, but he actually enjoys scouring Pinterest for fun but easy recipes. Like… it’s basically a hobby for him. So we have the meal plan set ideally by Friday night. Then Saturday morning we add everything to a shopping list and hit the stores. It’s a non-negotiable saturday family activity. The baby comes with us, it’s never occurred to us to do it differently except if he’s sick or something. When he was on two naps that was trickiest because we would either need to get out early - by 9 - to be home for his first nap, or we wouldn’t get out until like 12:30. Now that he’s on one nap it’s SO much easier. Weeknights I get home around 5:30, get my son a snack, then start dinner. The goal is dinner on the table by 6:30. Most things I make take 30-35 minutes including prep. Lots of instant pot things or one pot dishes. Pasta at least once a week. It’s getting warmer so we will grill. I steam veggies in the microwave - so easy. Some recent recipes: - Greek turkey bowls (make rice. brown turkey meat and season however you want, we do Mediterranean. Chop cucumber and tomatoes, serve with tzatziki) - Costco pre-cooked pulled pork with veg (cook pork in microwave, then optional step to throw it on a tray under the broiler to crisp it. While it’s in the broiler, steam broccoli in the microwave for 4 mins) the pork is delicious and has no additives, we do this biweekly - Creamy rigatoni (cook pasta, brown ground meat of choice, add jar of tomato sauce, mix in a block of Boursin cheese, mix in pasta)
Yes. I was like you. I ate out every night of the week, but fed my kid what I should have been eating. I lived by sheet-pan and one pot recipes that I could put in little jars (weck makes awesome ones, but you can find plenty borosilicate glass jars on Amazon). We’d shop on Sunday as a family (stopped at the playground before so my toddler was properly worn out for the grocery store). Then I’d buy four roasting veggies/root veggies (brocc, cauliflower, carrots, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, asparagus, zucchini) and two proteins (usually salmon and then some meat). I’d get home, kid and dad would nap and I’d prep everything by chopping it all up, tossing it in olive oil and seasoning (salt plus a flavor like cumin or garlic or sumac) and roasting it off at 400°. The only rule of thumb was that root veggies went on one tray and regular veggies on another (because cook times). Even the meat got roasted off. And then I’d jar it all up. At a minimum, I knew he’d be eating well for lunch, even if he only ate salami for dinner (mine eats better at daycare than at home for reasons unknown). And, as others have said, baby charcuterie is great. Cold cuts, grocery store rotisserie chicken, fruit. We also did olives (which ended up becoming olives only dinner), nuts, and drinkable yogurt (we like Monsieur Singh, because it is just yogurt and mango). But, most kids go through a picky phase right around 2, so don’t stress too much about quantity or…olive dinners for a week. They usually push through the picky, just lean into the most nutritious of your safe foods. You can also do big batch things like a lentil soup that you cook down to stew consistency (because babies can’t hamfist soup), overnight oats with frozen fruit and coconut using coconut milk as the liquid, rice and beans (which should get a topper of cheese and avocado when you heat it up), and chili (I love Goya’s small red bean chili because of all the fiber in it). Then just freeze it in little jars.
Sunday is meal prep day after bedtime or during naps. We make a bunch of pasta with hidden veggie sauce, cook up a a couple different veggies, cut up a bunch of fruit to use for dinners throughout the week. My daycare does breakfast and lunch so we don’t have to worry about that. My kid still hates meat so we just give him a little meat of wherever we’re eating or heat up a frozen kids meatball for show .