How can I gradually add (simple) meals to our dinner rotation?
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Anonymous
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2 kids - 3 and 6. 2 working parents with busy careers. Mom gets home first and has to prepare dinner. These are the things they currently will eat:
Main: cheese tortellini (plain, no sauce) meat balls fish sticks chicken nuggets "flat sandwiches" (cheese quesadilla's with bacon or chicken in them) chicken (I buy a rotisserie chicken on my way home once every week or two) Sides: whole wheat toast green beans peas corn corn muffins apple slices black olives They like all kinds of meat, but I don't have time to cook meat. They like cream cheese on crackers, but I do that as a lunch food on the weekends. So - in essence - we are talking basic, basic food. No fancy crock pot stuff in sauces. No stir-fry type things. Nothing like lasagne that can be made ahead. My 3-year-old will eat spaghetti with a little tomato sauce/6-year-old will not. 6-year-old also, for whatever insane reason, doesn't like mac & cheese, although I can get her to eat Annie's shells & white cheddar sometimes. I'm just looking for a couple of things to try to add into the mix. Needless to say, I am sick to death of this routine. Help?!? |
Anonymous
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You just have to try some things, and if the parents like it well enough, add it into the routine. Include a couple of side dishes the kids will definitely eat, and then they won't starve. But if you don't offer a variety of things, and give them many chances to try them and develop a taste for them, they're going to stick with what they like now.
I've gotten a lot of mileage from the "Six O'Clock Scramble" cookbooks. (Same dishes as the online menu service by that name.) Both adults--and one kid--have liked about 99% of the things we've tried. The other kid likes about half of the things. Best of all, we're out of our meal rut. (Who knew the whole family would like roasted brussel sprouts? Or chard on our gnocchi?) |
Anonymous
| You are not talking "basic food." you children's diet consists mostly of processed food. Buy some meat, fish, and vegetables and give them the opportunity to eat real food. It doesn't take any longer to prepare real food simply than it does to "make" this crap. Just prepare a lot at once so that you can grab and serve in emergencies. |
Anonymous
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Sure, I'd love to. Will you come over to my house and teach me how to cook?
They do eat real food - quite a bit. Just not on rushed week nights. I am a great mom and a good person in many, many respects. But I never learned how to cook and I have no idea where to start, without spending a lot of time and effort making things that my kids then will not eat. I'm looking for baby steps, here. Sorry - this is OP, obviously. Having a rough night. Should have known better than to post here. |
Anonymous
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Get a bunch of chicken breasts, season, put in pan for a few minutes, flip. Done. Make extra and serve more than one night.
Do the same with pork chops. Get ham steak. Open can of pineapples. Mix pineapples with scallions. Put ham steak in pan for a few minutes with some leftover pineapple juice. Flip. Serve with pineapples. Cut a lot of broccoli. Steam. Save leftovers. Boil green beans. Chop various squash. Toss with olive oil. Put in 350 oven for 30 minutes or so, flipping after one time. Take out when done. Make extra for later. You can do most of this in one hour on the weekend nd then serve throughout the week. Your kids deserve to eat real food more than two days a week. So do you. |
Anonymous
| My kids eat similar stuff. We make grilled chicken, baked tilapia in foil, and turkey burgers. Serve with vegetables, fruit and maybe rice. Make enough for leftovers. |
Anonymous
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Sorry OP, ignore the previous poster. Obviously she is perfect.
Here are some easy ideas that your kids nights go for-- Marinated chicken breasts cooked on a grill pan. Buy the chicken breast divide into ziploc bags and try some different marinades. My kids like honey-soy-vinegar and orange juice-cumin-brown sugar each with a little olive oil as well. You can freeze the chicken right in the marinade then defrost in frig the day of and cook on a hot grill pan about 10 minutes a side. Try serving cut into strips with cous cous and a simple steamed veg. Try butter and a little salt on veggies or serve with raw veggies and dip (ranch or greek yoghurt mixed with dry ranch seasoning) You can do the same with thin, boneless pork chops. Make "meat muffins"-- any easy meatloaf recipe baked in muffin tins. Then "frost" with mashed potatoes and shredded cheese or even ketchup or BBQ sauce. Can be made with ground beef or turkey. Leftover meat (pork, beef, chicken) can be used to make fried rice. Sauté cold rice (prepped the day before) on hot oil with leftover meat cut into cubes, peas, corn, carrots, tiny broccoli florets. When combined shift rice to one side of pan then scramble a egg or two on the other side then combine with the rice. Season with soy sauce. My kids love to eat this served in Chinese themed soup bowls with miso soup spoons. Good luck OP 
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Anonymous
NP here but I am intrigued. If you did all of this on a Sunday and stuck it in the fridge, does it actually taste good on Wednesday or Thursday? |
Anonymous
| I also love the 6 O'Clock Scramble, the original one with a yellow cover. The newer one was not as much of a hit with my super picky kids. If you like it try the service, sending you a shopping list, is awesome too. I'd say that everyone likes at least 75% of the recipes and we go sequentially. Many are good enough that I've served them to company on the weekends. My picky kids actually like more variety. The tilapia was a huge hit here too. She gives suggestions of sides in the cookbook and estimated prep and cook times, some are as quick as 10 min. I plan for 2 of those for our busiest nights. I didn't really know much about cooking but the book has a lot of tips. Good luck! |
Anonymous
Doing it early can get me to Wednesday or so, and it is still great. I often supplement with something fresh also. So, I will make a lot of chicken one night, the next night we will have leftover chicken and I will make a lot of broccoli. The next night I will make ham steaks and serve with leftover broccoli.... By Thursday, I usually have to thaw something and cook quickly. Tonight, we broiled a steak and sautéed some broccoli rabe and leftover roasted carrots - it took about 15 minutes total. Tomorrow we will have leftover steak on salad. Basically, I just need a head start each night and I prep very simply. I never have more than about 15 minutes. If I don't have time to cook on the weekends, I spend about ten minutes sticking stuff in a crockpot before work on Monday - last week I put pork chops, apples, sweet potatoes and sauerkraut with cinnamon, next week I will just stick a pork butt with BBQ sauce. Better if I brown first, but I often skip due to lack of time. |
Anonymous
| Eggs are easy. We make a frittata with vegetables. |
Anonymous
| What is ham steak?!? |
Anonymous
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I was the posted that asked about whether or not food was any good days later... but we eat pretty decent around here and I don't spend much time cooking.
This week we are having - almond crusted chicken with sautéed spinach chicken tacos (crock pot) pork chops, steamed red potatoes, mixed veggies (steamable frozen) white chicken chili and cornbread (chili in crockpot) turkey sausage with egg noodles and roasted veggies (carrots, squash, etc) None of them are that difficult and take me no more than 15 minutes to throw together (cooking time may be longer). |
Anonymous
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We do sausages pretty often. You can get healthy chicken sausage in a variety of flavors at WF or even Giant. Slice it up into rounds and saute for a bit to brown and heat up.
Add some couscous (5 minutes) and frozen peas (a couple of minutes in the microwave) and you have a complete meal with protein in 15 minutes tops. |
Anonymous
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These are our Go To items for nights we're in a hurry:
Frittatas. Make them once or twice with a recipe and you'll see how easy they are. Veggie burgers or tuna melts & sweet potato fries. Huevos rancheros - throw a tortilla on a plate, dump some warm black beans on it, top with a fried egg, shredded cheese, and some cut up avocado. We usually warm the beans on the stove and add some garlic, onions, and extra cut veggies to them, but it's not necessary. Salsa & yogurt on top are good too. It's my 3yo's favorite dinner. Ramen bowl. Simple version: Bring broth + cut veggies + a splash of soy sauce to a boil (you could use whatever frozen veggies your kids will eat). Add ramen or other noodles (just the noodles, not the spice pack) & whatever leftover meat you have, or cubed tofu. Done. If you're feeling ambitious: flavor the broth with ginger and/or garlic and add a tiny bit of brown sugar or mirin. Top with sprouts, scallions, and cilantro. Chilis are great to make ahead. Cheat and use the leftovers from you rotisserie chicken. Add beans, broth, canned tomatoes, spices, and some veggies. |