Meals help!?please

**mushpea** · 10-03-2009, 08:27 PM

how many of you cook evening meals for your mindees and what sort of food do you cook
I do things like stew, spag bol, homemade chicken nuggetts, fish pie, but am fed up with kids not eating what i put in front of them and having to throw it in the bin. I feel very limited in what i cook for the kids as they just won't eat it. tried cutting out the afterschool snack but they were all flaking long before tea time, don't want to do tea any earlier than 4.45pm as i feel that its too ealry befor that as they have to last til the next day but am also fed up with chucking away food.
want to do a healthy menu so please could you share some simple meal ideas please, this is what i have so far,
sausages, peas, potatos
fishfingers, beans , mash
roast chicken veg, potatos
toad in the hole, veg, potatos
jacket spud with cheese and beans.

have children 4 days a week and would like to have at least 12 simple meals that kids will eat so i can rotat menus , help?!

**miffy** · 10-03-2009, 08:31 PM

I cut out the after school snack and made tea earlier - it's worked a lot better for me and there's been much less waste.

Miffy xx

**SimplyLucy** · 10-03-2009, 08:32 PM

What ages are the children?

I only cook for mindees once a week they are 4 and 6 so I asked them when they started what sorts of meals they liked.

I have done,

Roast chicken

Jacket pots, beans, cheese and salad

Pizza (homemade they add the toppings), garlic bread and salad

Sausage hot pot

Pasta with a tin of condenced tomato soup, cheese and frankfurters (amazing ten minute tea that all children love!), brocolli on the side.

This week I'm going to do honey roasted chicken drumsticks, oven chips and sweetcorn.

**avril** · 10-03-2009, 08:38 PM

I don't have any stay for tea anymore but when I did favourite dishes were:
Shepherds pie with veg
Pasta with various sauces and garlic bread
Tuna pasta bake
and I cannot think what else as I have not done teas for so long for mindees that is!!!

**mushpea** · 10-03-2009, 08:41 PM

the children are age 15mnths who will eat anything, 2yrs who won't eat anything!, 3yrs who eats most things but has been ill last week and although eaten lunch has not eaten tea, 5yrs and 8yrs who are quite fussy and wont eat stuff like stews, and mince based meals and a 10yrold who will eat most things.
I sort of worry about cutting out the snack cause they all come in hungry and my two (8yrs and 10yrs) are always starving but then i guess i could put my two a 'secret' snack upstairs and tell the others no snack after school as tea will be earlier from now on. is that acceptable?

**christine e** · 10-03-2009, 08:57 PM

I use the recipe books The Dinner Lady and Second Helpings - the older children look through and suggest things they think they would like - it helps them to have a say in what I cook. One favourite is Cowboy Casserole which is sausages and bacon cut into small pieces which are cooked inthe oven for about 10 mins then I add two tins of baked beans cover with foil and cook in over for a further 35 mins.

Cx

**SimplyLucy** · 10-03-2009, 08:59 PM

Thats perfectly accpetable, just ensure you explain to your own children that they aren't eating in "secret", you don't want to encourage bad eating habits.

My own children often get something extra without the younger mindees seeing, sometimes they have to wait till gone 6 for their tea and 1 piece of fruit isn't enough to keep them going.

moogster1a · 10-03-2009, 09:06 PM

Give them whatever you're having for dinner. I hate the idea that kids should have different food for some reason. my mindees are 14 months, 3 and 6 years. Tonght we had coq au vin wth garlic mash and carrots,, last night was thai chcken noodles with lots of coriander and veg. My mindees start out fussy, but after a day or so of realising you're not gong to give in and give them fish fingers, they soon learn to appreciate good food. Saves cooking 2 meals as well, we all eat together.

**mushpea** · 11-03-2009, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by moogster1a

Give them whatever you're having for dinner. I hate the idea that kids should have different food for some reason. my mindees are 14 months, 3 and 6 years. Tonght we had coq au vin wth garlic mash and carrots,, last night was thai chcken noodles with lots of coriander and veg. My mindees start out fussy, but after a day or so of realising you're not gong to give in and give them fish fingers, they soon learn to appreciate good food. Saves cooking 2 meals as well, we all eat together.

have no problem in the kids eating what we eat and at the weekend we all eat together but unfortunatly during the week due to my partners working hours we can't all eat together, plus if we could i wouldnt have a big enough table!! i did try eating with the mindees and reheating other halfs but reaheated meals cant be nice every night and mine always went cold cause i was helping the little ones with theirs.
I also hate the idea that there are meals for kids and meals for adults but am also fedup with throwing food away cause they won't eat it and also dont like making kids eat what they don't like. having said that i have read another thread on here about not giving deserts untill they have eaten a resanobile amount so may start doing that to encourage them aswell.