SAHM here, one kid with food allergies. One hot meal (dinner) and breakfast/lunch/snacks are cold/room temp My kids are ES aged, though (so lunch is a bagged lunch at school, and breakfasts are fast to catch the bus).

Hot breakfast and nice dinner like u, but lunch totally varies

Does coffee reheated in the microwave count as one? What about that yummy Lean Cuisine meal I had for lunch?

One hot meal... dinner.

Breakfast is cold cereal, or maybe a toasted bagel with cream cheese.

Lunch is sandwiches. Maybe heat up a can of soup.

Dinner is usually cooked. One meat, one or two vegetables, and a starch.

Well I do 10!

I do 2 or 3 depending on the day.

I work, but I do 2 hot meals/day. Only the kids eat more than that, and they usually get leftovers for the third meal. Plus they get some easy snacks (cheese, fruit, etc).

I did with a newborn and infant. I did cloth diapering and home made baby food. Now with a toddler, forget it. Love going out to eat or something very simple. Mac and cheese becomes your friend with a picky toddler. I do make just add water pancakes for breakfast every day. Does that count?

^gauge....sorry.

Not trying to be competitive. Just wondering what the norm is. Also wanted to hear from people who were dealing with severe allergy issues to gage whether its common to have to cook so much.

Thanks though.

I make lunch and dinner, which in the cold months are cooked meals. Even in the summer, DH tries to insist on hot meals instead of a "salade complete" or cold cuts - possibly a remnant of a poor but traditional upbringing

DH does the breakfast, for which I am no end thankful for. He makes soft-boiled eggs with buttered cut toasts on weekdays, and crepes with melted chocolate on weekends.

A lot of this probably has to do with your families preferences, but three hot meals seems high to me. We tend to eat cold breakfasts (cereal, yogurt, fruit, cheese and crackers, etc.) and lunch is about 50/fifity between sandwiches, soups, pasta. My toddler likes a plate of samplings for lunch (fruit, veggies, cheese, grilled chicken, yogurt, there things to nibble on) instead of just one prepared thing. Dinner is usually cooked.

I think your situation is complicated by the allergies/food restrictions. Since you can't rely on the kind of grazing that most toddlers do when they choose between various finger foods, you are going to have to do more planning ahead and preparing something special from within the more limited options available to your family. However, if your cooking schedule is feeling overwhelming, I would pick one meal and see if you can make non-cooked options work for you.

Anonymous wrote:No. You win.

+1

Definitely not 3 hot meals here. Unless the microwave counts?

No. You win.

I SAH with my 2 year old DD. I make 3 hot meals a day and the evening one is always complex (a bread, 2 vegetable dishes, a lentil dish and rice). I'm wondering if this is the norm. It doesn't help that DD had allergies to milk and meat. I do make all meals vegetarian and add dairy to DH's meals as necessary. I am dairy free as I'm still nursing (hoping to wean soon!). How about you all?