Pre-packaged/prepared food for toddlers

[Anonymous]

I am having a hard time finding foods my DD will eat for lunch and dinner. For whatever reason, she absolutely LOVES Gerber Organics Pasta Pick-Ups (little cheese raviolis). I keep them on hand for nights when I need to give her a super-quick dinner (they take 30 seconds to heat in the microwave) but I've been finding myself giving them to her more and more because I can guarantee she'll eat them. I don't know what I feel bad about this (I always give them to her with a fruit and/or veggie side), but just wanted to weigh in on how often others give their toddlers packaged, prepared meals such as this.

[Anonymous]

I don't do the Gerber food, but pick something out of the organic frozen food isle, such as a small pizza or rice dish.

I probably do this once a week. Often if my toddler does not eat what I give him, he can leave the table. He will eat it eventually when he's starving. I just reheat a represent the meal when he asks for a snack. This works, you just have to actually do it and follow up.

[Anonymous]

It depends on what we're having really. This last week, DH was sick and I wasn't great, so we were eating sandwiches & soup. In that case, I gave DD the prepackaged meals several times. If we're eating normally, then I try to get her to eat what we are. If we happen to have something spicy, then I'll make her a separate meal.

I was using them a lot more a few months ago, but we've been better about getting DD to eat our food more. As an alternative, I will get her fruit, or I'll heat up some frozen veggies if DD just isn't in to what I'm serving.

[Anonymous]

One caution - those Gerber raviolis do not have very many calories. I believe there are only 70 in the entire tub. I found that they were extremely filling to my kid so he wouldn't eat that much more with them. At his 15 month appointment, he recorded a LOSS in weight. My doctor told me to stop giving him baby-directed food and focus on "regular" foods. Until I started paying attention, I didn't realize there was such a dramatic difference in calories. (For instance, regular oatmeal has about 2x the calories as the baby cereal.)

[Anonymous]

Why pay the price premium for those foods too? Why not just cook up some plain old pasta -- so many fun shapes for early feeders. Sprinkle with some parm cheese. My toodlers love it and it tastes much better. Bertolli now has a line called "Piccolini," which are smaller versions of their regular shapes.

[Anonymous]

I do a lot of frozen ravioli and tortelini and then toss with sauce or cheese. They only take a few minutes to boil, less than regular pasta. I also do the organic cheese quesadillas and enchilldas from Safeway. Our DD loves them.

[Anonymous]

I feed my toddler whatever the rest of us are eating, chopped up. Also keep handy for quick meals all kinds of cheese - sliced, shredded, that I chop up, pineapple chunks in juice (not syryp) that I chop up more, quartered grapes, spaghetti and meat sauce, fish sticks are all big hits.

[Anonymous]

I could have written your exact post about 2-3 weeks ago, substituting Annie's Organic Cheese Raviolis. I probably fed them to her 2, sometimes 3 times per week. She was going through a picky phase, which has abated somewhat (knock on wood). I stock my freezer with Dr. Praeger's Spinach Pancakes and Little Fishies, which are a big hit. When I'm really pressed, I give her Cheerios or toast with hummus. But, what I'm trying to do now is cook ahead of time. Last weekend I made some pasta sauce with pureed veggies and some other toddler "casseroles" to keep in individual portions in the freezer. My husband gets home just in time to kiss her goodnight, so feeding her off our plates during the week just isn't possible.

[Anonymous]

We did the Gerber (when in a time crunch) and "regular" frozen ravioli. She would eat them both. I found that with the Gerber, you could get a few extra calories by sprinkling the cheese on them. Also, just give a few at a time with some other filling food. Not all the ravioli at once.

[Anonymous]

Same boat as you OP, but our "guaranteed" food is ziti, penne, or pizza (DD is a carb lover ).

DD didn't really like any of the Gerber Lil Entrees or such. So we skipped over them after wasting $$ on a few.

I've had success with deli meat, homemade mac n' cheese, tortilla, cheese, cantolope, and peas as other "guaranteed" foods too.

[Anonymous]

I don't feed my toddler any prepackaged/prepared food, but in all fairness I am also a SAHM. I would try to avoid anything like that to the extent you can, but if you are working I know it is hard.

[Anonymous]

My DC gets those Gerber Toddler meals about twice a week. Both of us work full time and it's hard for me to plan out each meal during the week. With it, DC gets two veggies, like steamed broccoli and sweet potato fries, both of which are super quick to make.

Here are some other fast foods I use on hectic nights:

1) roast chicken from Giant
2) deli meat
3) organic mac and cheese (faster than homemade)
4) bags of frozen organic veggies -- peas, broccoli florets, corn, mixed veggies, green beans.
5) sweet potato fries (frozen organic)
6) yogurt
7) canned or fresh fruit
8) hard boiled eggs
9) guac and toasted pita chips

[Anonymous]

frozen turkey meatballs from trader joes
frozen ravioli/tortellini
whole wheat pasta with sauce and grated cheese
frozen vegetables
sweet potatoes (and frozen sweet potatoe fries)
avocados
fish sticks
chicken nuggets
mac and cheese
turkey hotdogs
couscous with chopped up vegetables
stir fried fish

[Anonymous]

OP my suggestion about prepackaged foods is just to try to vary them as a matter of routine.

Kids tend to get fixated at a very early age on eating just what they know. If you always buy the same kind of bunny mac and cheese, at some point, many kids will really think that that's the only kind of mac and cheese they will eat.

So if you are going to do mac and cheese from the box (or precooked) in the first few years, just try as much as possible to make each one a tiny bit different. Use different brands. Use a little more milk, or less milk. Sprinkle a tiny bit of dried herbs on top and vary the herbs. Top one with a half teaspoon of breadcrumbs. Add a little Parmesan.

The same thing with any other kind of food. If you find yourself buying these raviolis for convenience, I agree with a PP, try some other types of raviolis too. And when you serve the kind you've been serving, try to change them a little bit from time to time. Otherwise you can get stuck with a 2 year old in a serious rut.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for the tips. I didn't mean for it to sound like that's all I give my DD or that's all she eats. I have found that those raviolis are the only "guaranteed" food, but she will eat many other things, just not consistently. For instance, she may eat all her chicken tonight and tomorrow she may not want to even touch it. We learned the other night that she likes salmon, so that's something I will try to incorporate more into the "rotation." I do rely heavily on the Dr. Praeger's spinach potato pancakes for a veggie, as one PP mentioned. She loves them and they seem super healthy according the ingredients list. She likes a lot of different types of fruit, most deli meats (I buy Applegate Farms turkey salami or turkey bologna from Whole Foods), most types of cheese, peas, edamame, avacado, eggs, chicken sometimes (but not nuggets -- she hates the breading) and some fish. She'll eat french fries, but not sweet potato fries, which is a bummer since they are so much healthier. I guess I need to just start getting more creative and continue offering her things she may not eat the first, second, or even third time it's offered, but eventually she might try it. I also just got the "Sneaky Chef" cookbook for kids, so I need to see try some ideas from that. Good to know I"m not the only mom relying on mac and cheese from a box or ravioli from a can a few times a week.