Dinner ideas for 18 month old

whitelightrider

Hi folks,

Our little lady is almost 18 months and we're looking at ideas for dinners!
Can anyone recommend stuff for us?
Also for the like of Spag Bol do people make the sauces themselves or use jars?

DM addict

At 18 months she can basically be eating the same dinner as you are, albeit slightly modified. You can prepare dinner - say spag bol - for yourself and just portion out hers before adding salt and seasoning. I wouldn't recommend using adult readymade sauces as they tend to be much higher in salt than would be good for her at this age; there are readymade baby/toddler foods that would be suitable.

Kids I work with are eating spag bol, lasagne, fish pie, mild beef curry - pretty much anything really. Just go easy on the seasoning as flavours that might seem pretty bland to us tend to be just right for kids.

wmpdd3

He eats what we eat. i just make it a bit smaller. I hate salt so thats fine, but I love spicy food and so does he as long as I give him plenty of water!!

I have this:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1/20082-first-meals-recipe-book-by-annabel-karmel.html

(99c on ebay)

It has been a godsend I have a few 10 min meals out of it that can be life savers. I would have been a jar/ready meal type person before I got this book, but now I have more options.

Ms2011

I make up my own Spat Bol sauce using 2 cartons of passata & a can of chopped tomatoes then just flavour to taste with herbs & spices.

pwurple

Same as what you eat! Fish, meat, curry, beans, lentils, veg, pasta, rice, potatoes, homemade pizza, etc.

Only things mine struggled with at that age was salad leaves. Couldn't seem to chew them for some reason. But she would eat the rest of it... Sliced Cucumber, tomatoes, olives, cheese, etc.

Do you normally not cook?

Grab All Association

You should cook the extruded pastas like Penne, Fusilli and Farfalle not only does it taste much nicer than spaghetti you can also store the leftovers in the fridge for later and cold pasta is delicious.

How Strange

We also eat the same food here for all meals. I try to get him to try all foods rather than getting used to certain things. I'd rarely use a sauce from a jar as I want him to have a palate for home cooked food. Home made sauces taste very different to pre made ones.

ceadaoin.

My daughter is also 18 months and we all eat the same meals too. I make sauce using passata and tinned chopped tomatoes. You can add garlic, herbs and seasoning to taste or some mascarpone or Philadelphia. If you learn how to make a basic white sauce with butter, flour and milk you can add cheese for a cheesy pasta sauce which my daughter loves or make lots of other sauces.

Some other favourites of hers are home made fried rice, omelette (really handy for a night when the grown ups are having takeaway), chilli con carne,stir fry, fish, thai curry-anything that we eat really and they are all surprisingly easy to make from scratch.

doubletrouble?

our two are eating what we cook as well. we've also done up a weekly menu for the au pair. some is the pre made food 1-3 years while the other stuff is what we cook.
todays menu is fish fingers, spuds and carrots.
the other day they had some stew.
another day will be chicken nuggets and spuds and some veg.
they also love sausages with the skin taken off and dry noodles from the chinese.
just on pwurples comment about cheese. our two are addicted to cheese. it's probably their favourite food aside from the sweet things

Xdancer

My 18 month old pretty much eats what we eat. Roast dinners, spag bol, lasagna, meatballs in a tomato sauce with rice, mild curries, fish (salmon and tuna are her favourites).
She refuses to eat vegetables though, so I have to hide them in the sauces or mash them into the potato. I've no idea why she all of a sudden stopped eating them. I put them on her plate anyway, but also 'hide' them too.

Oral Slang

My 20 month old gets what we get. She used to eat veg, but now refuses all of them. That said I still always put them on her plate.

I make my own bolognaise sauce using passata, a t-spoon of red pesto, mushrooms, onions, garlic, courgette, finely chopped carrot (or grated) and sometimes some corn & peppers. Yum - much nicer than shop bought jars.

She's addicted to macaroni cheese & it's so easy to make if you can make white sauce. She's not a great eater, so I make a big batch on Sunday evening & she eats it with the childminder Monday to Thursday. I wish she'd eat more things, but hey at least it's homemade & reasonably healthy.

Pasta, philadelphia & tuna is a very quick dish & handy if you're having something not suitable like a chinese. Also pasta, tomato puree, some grated cheese, a dash of pesto & tuna & or prawns.

whitelightrider

Sorry folks, meant to get back to this post.
Thanks so much for all your replies. Definitely given us more ideas to try and cook for our little one. She loves spag bol with pasta shells. Must try to make the sauce anymore.
Ill look into making a curry for her and see how she likes that.

staticdoor71

simple curry which is as spicy or as cool as you like
fry chicken off.. onions, peppers, sweet potato, butternut squash, and what ever else you have.. I make my curry sauce using part passata to part coconut milk, then add as much or as little curry powder as you want and some curry paste.. If its too hot, add more coconut milk, too mild, more curry... Its yummy... Prob not a conventional curry but daughter loves it.. Guess its more a stew type thingy haha

Xidu

Beef, green vege, mushroom, carrots, all chopped to small pieces n fry till the beef is cooked, add a little bit salt or soy sauce. boil noodles w chicken stock, then blend them all together to make it small enough, add a little bit noodle soup so it won't be too dry. My 19m old son n my 3 years daughter both love it.

Steam seabass, his favourite

Leek,carrots,potato soup, some chicken

30minus after dinner, feed some fruits.

It's a lot work to cook for him.