meal planning for 3 young kids

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to make meal planning easier and diversify my kids exposure by having theme nights with a few different meal options to work through over the month. I'd love additional ideas for these:

Make your own monday - choose toppings for your own pasta / orzo / rice bowl
Tex mex tuesday - burrito bowls, nachos, tacos, burritos, quesadillas
Wild weds - breakfast for dinner, clean out the fridge night, meals of little things (basically bites of whatever is in fridge to clean it out)
Far away thursday (foods from far away countries) - orange chicken, peanut chicken, teriyaki chicken (2 of my kids are flavor resistant at first so easing them into new flavors)
Little Italy friday - pizza or pasta
Savory sat - steak, hamburgers
Simple sunday - fish sticks, chicken tenders, mac and cheese, or other easy meal

I think they'll get on board with the theme idea and I'd like to have more variety to work into each theme. They're all overall good eaters but between the 3 of them, there's little overlap in preferences (one doesn't like sauces or dips, one doesn't like fish or chicken much etc) so we get into ruts of basically pasta or rice and protein every day

[Anonymous]

You need a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need a job.

I have one which is why I need meal planning.

Also interesting you have plenty of time to troll.....

[Anonymous]

I told my then-tweens that I wanted to have meatball Monday. Lots of different cuisines and preps (Italian, asian, greek, swedish in soup, pasta, rice, sandwiches).

They rejected it.

We did taco Tuesday for years and just took a very liberal view of tacos. (ie, anything on your list counted and was easier to say).

Another classic theme is meatless monday.

Also don't discount Sundays for making nice larger family meals - maybe old fashioned but in cooler weather we usually do more complicated stews (take longer to cook, but relatively easy) or dishes that cook longer and have more steps/complicated.

And for meal prep purposes, figuring out some standard slow cooker recipes could be helpful.

[Anonymous]

How old are your kids? You could do sandwiches as an additional option for Make your own Mondays. My 2 kids (both under 5 years old) will eat a turkey or ham sandwich or a grilled cheese or hummus inside a whole wheat pita. You can do nut butters if your kids will eat that. Add some cut fruit and veggies and milk and you're done.

[Anonymous]

When my three were young, I found it key to not give any snacks between meals and to give each a chore in making the meal. No matter what I made, they ate it….because they were hungry and they felt part of making it.
I love your themes but it sounds like more work for you and may not offer flexibility.

[Anonymous]

I periodically have each of my three kids write down their ten favorite meals that I make. Then I meal plan from there. They eat the meals they don’t necessarily prefer because they know one of their choices is coming up in the next couple of days.

[Anonymous]

They respond better to “taco Tuesday.” Starts with tacos, then when that gets stale you branch out. In our house, as long as it’s taco meat it counts.

“Tex mex Tuesday” sounds ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

And I’d go with “fuguddaboutit Friday”. Much cooler than “little Italy Friday.” You an use it to introduce them to mobster movies while you eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They respond better to “taco Tuesday.” Starts with tacos, then when that gets stale you branch out. In our house, as long as it’s taco meat it counts.

“Tex mex Tuesday” sounds ridiculous.

100% agree generally but strangely only one of them likes tacos and he only kind of likes it. they all love rice, bean and cheese bowls and then other things vary by kid

[Anonymous]

Wild Wed clean out the fridge little bites sounds nasty. What do you expect to have leftovers of?

[Anonymous]

I cannot believe people are being unkind to OP over trying to meal plan for her kids while working out of the home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe people are being unkind to OP over trying to meal plan for her kids while working out of the home.

Not being mean. We do this in our house and it works. For the kids to buy in and actually look forward to it, it has to be fun and catchy. I just don’t see “Tex mex Tuesday” doing that. You a still do nachos, burritos, enchiladas, chipotle style, rice bowls, etc and still call it taco Tuesday.

And imagine a bunch of little kids walking around the saying “fuggadaboutit” because it’s Italian food night? They’d have fun.

[Anonymous]

Love your theme ideas, OP! Just go on Pinterest, there are bound to be lots of people with similar ideas...

[Anonymous]

Make your own Monday:
stuffed baked potatoes

Tex-Mex Tuesday:
enchiladas
fajitas (maybe go easy on fajita spice)
frito pie
taquitos with mild guacamole
Not specifically Tex-Mex, but I often like to serve fresh fruit on those nights, usually either watermelon or a “salad” of sliced strawberries and bananas mixed together.

Far away Thursday:
fried rice
dumplings
roast pork buns
egg rolls
California roll
egg drop soup
pocky for dessert
mango lassi
crepes
Swedish meatballs

Little Italy Friday
Zoodles - (zucchini noodles - I sautee mine in olive oil and garlic and then top with alfredo or vodka/creamy tomato pasta sauce. Cook more than you think you could possibly eat, because they cook down a lot. You can buy them frozen, but they’re expensive. I use a veggetti spiralizer to make mine. Afterwards, I use a dedicated toothbrush to clean the zucchini out of the corners and stick it in the dishwasher. )

Savory Saturday
Rotisserie Chicken

Simple Sunday
Scrambled eggs/omelettes (I’m not good at omelettes, but I’d mix omelette fillings into scrambled eggs)
Sloppy Joe meat over rice/toast with grated cheese on top
Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato slices/canned diced unsalted tomatoes/tomato sauce on top (you might even get away with putting a little spinach inside)