Acceptable edibles

Every time Riley eats a hearty meal, I do a little happy jig right there in the kitchen because while it's not always a struggle, it is often enough that I've learned to appreciate the days when he just shuts up and eats, instead of whining his way through four different wasted food options and eventually throwing half his meal on the dog's head.

Note: I highly recommend the Labrador Retriever Method of cleaning up after mealtime. Food on the floor? Not a problem. Food on the front of the boy's shirt? Gone. Detachable highchair tray covered in smashed pears? Licked spotlessly clean in mere seconds!

Er . . . wait. Did I just say I allow our dog to lick the highchair tray clean? Ha ha ha, obviously I was just kidding.

I'm always looking for meal ideas, though, to hopefully expand our repertoire of acceptable foods. Currently, the list of Things Riley Will Probably Eat (Although He Reserves the Right To Change His Mind) includes:

• Frozen "Budget Gourmet" meal: macaroni and cheese
• Frozen "Budget Gourmet" meal: rigatoni and broccoli
• Cooked egg noodles, wide variety (I cook them in chicken broth)
• "Pasta Pickups", Gerber brand
• String cheese, by the kegload (He just started saying "chee! chee!" in the last couple days)
• Eggo waffles (for breakfast, every damn day)
• Curly fries (uh, we only fed them to him ONCE but holy crap, he was a fan)
• Peanut butter and bread
• Saltines
• Diced fruit from those fruit cup things
• Bananas
• Yogurt
• Milk, gallons and gallons of it

(If you're thinking that list looks a little heavy on the carbs/dairy, I'm right there with you.)

Riley recently learned "no", and now when he doesn't like something he shakes his head tragically, buries his face in his arm, and sobs, "No, no, no." Either that or he sends it flying off the (spotless!) tray with a mighty sweep of his arm.

What's on your Food They Will Probably Eat list?

Comments

[omu]

Ours will eat:

Almost anything with noodles and red sauce (ie, spaghettios, pasta pick ups, etc.), potatoes with ham, Graduates chicken or turkey stew, banana (rarely), graham crackers, appleasuce (it goes with every meal!), soy milk, sweet potato, cheerios, fruit puffs, tortilla chips, chocolate chip cookies, chicken nuggets, turkey dogs, mini muffins, Eggo homestyle waffles with butter and syrup, and bites of whatever we are having but don't (necessarily) want him to eat. He's got a milk allergy, so though he likes pudding and will gladly eat ice cream, they make him sick and must be avoided at all costs!

[Shann]

I am crying reading these comments. My 21-month old eats:

crackers
Cherrios
Alphagetti
Kraft Dinner
Soup (if blended)
Yogurt
Applesauce

Um, yeah. That's about it. Kripes. Did I mention he's allergic to peanuts AND eggs! I'm about to go insane. The kid is living on air and love, I swear!

[Dawn]

Molly is 19 months and sometimes a good eater other times not so much.
Her favorites are-
Avacado
Tomato
Green beans (canned or fresh only)
cheerios
wheat thins
pasta of any kind
fried rice
eggs with the yolk runny mixed with little bits of toast
yogurt with gerbers toddler flakes cereal mixed in
apple sauce
pretty much any fruit (except watermelon)
zuchini
fish (it's the only "meat" she is sure to eat)
Pizza (veggie of course)
At grandmas house we use the black lab cleaning method but at home all we have is a picky cat who won't eat anything but kitty food (useless!)

[Jaime]

The Pea eats:
Green beans
peas
Corn(only) on the cob
String cheese
Ham
chicken nuggets
fries
bananas
apples
pretzels
Mixed fruit cups
popcorn
That's about it.

[Joanne]

Man, my kid won't eat much.

Green beans
Cheese sticks
bread
bagels
crackers
graham crackers
french fries
hot dogs
bologna sandwich
milk, milk, milk
yogurt (we love La Creme yogurt - it's super thick and he can feed himself better with it)
pasta (only sometimes)
pizza (sometimes)
apples
bananas
plums
grapes
raisins, yogurt covered raisins

All these are only sometimes. He'll love green beans at one meal and throw them at you the next.

[Mandy]

I don't have kids yet, but my nephew (who just turned 4) has always been a big fan of just about anything dipped in ketchup. Chicken nuggets, carrots, string cheese, cheerios (yes, I know), his own fingers. Mostly I think each food is just a vehicle for the ketchup, but it seems to work. =)

[jessica]

creamed spinach is a hit with my toddler. Especially when mixed with rice or potatoes.

[ShannonJ]

Molly (3) is pretty picky except when it comes to sweets, so I'll just leave those out. Here's the healthy and not-so-healthy rest:

Corn dogs
Chef Boyardee ABCs/123s
Cheese toast
PBJ
Chicken nuggets
French fries
Eggo waffles
Fruity Cheerios (I love these too and eat them by the handful)
Raisins (plain and yogurt-covered)
Fruits (blueberries, strawberries, grapes, mandarin oranges, peaches, sliced apples)
Yogurt
Nutrigrain bars
Smart Puffs
Potato chips
Carrots (only cooked)

That's about it. I never thought I'd be a parent that fed my kid chicken nuggets and french fries as often as I have ended up doing. I'm hoping she'll grow out of liking them. Doubtful, though, knowing her mom's taste for carbs and fried foods.

[Charlene]

My almost 3yr old loves the following;

sushi california rolls
green beans
carrots
bologna
hot dogs
vienna sausage
pears
mandrin oranges
white cheddar cheese crackers
aspargus (canned)
fries
white castles (treat)
chicken nuggets
pizza
pop tart go tarts for breakfast everyday
milk
apple juice

Also, we use a border colli/corgi vacuum clean to up the mess

[Amy]

Well, last night my 2 1/2 year old ate his steamed carrots, threw the bread on the floor and proceeded to stuff bits of chicken into his mouth and spit it across the floor (I, too, am a big fan of the labrador clean up method) He finally wound up eating three spoon fulls of peanut butter right from the spoon.....oh hell, it's protein isn't it???

Good luck...his other favorite is the dino shaped chicken nuggets that I get in mass quanity at Costco. If it's not an eggo for breakfast it's chicken nuggets.

[Joanne]

I'm posting again to say I forgot about soup! It's really been working well lately - Beef Vegetable, Vegetable, etc. We get the Healthy Choice or Low Sodium and sometimes (3x a week, maybe), my boy really likes it.

[Mrs. Breedorf]

I'd just like to request that you try out liverwurst on Riley. Because I'm curious to know how he reacts to it. And hey, who knows? Maybe he'll just love it! And it has meat in it, I think! Apparently, Matt loved it as a toddler, and my sister did, too.

[Sara]

This is a great (and friggin' hysterical) post on the trials & tribulations of dealing with unhealthy food products for kids: www.marksdailyapple.com/fume/

[Amy]

I could have written several of the lists above for my 18 month old daughter, the only things that I'd add for her are veggie burgers (have to be MorningStar garden veggie though) and this mixture my nephew and niece used to love of Progresso Lentil soup w/brown rice. You basically just mix in enough Lentil soup to make the cooked rice moist and then heat it up. She LOVES it.

[Ali]

My 13 month old grandson usually will eat anything that we are eating. If we are eating spagetti and salad, we always cut some up and give it to him. We found that if we gave him something other than what we were eating, he didn't want it and would reach for ours. So basically see if he wants what you have first, then if he doesn't fix something different. :o)

[laughing mommy]

Today I made my 15 month old daughter a grilled cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread. She has had one before and loved it. Today, after I cooked it, cooled it off, cut it up, and put it in a bowl on her high chair tray she took one bite, handed the bowl back to me and did the sign language for "all done". The food thing is making me crazy! Why do kids change their mind about what they will eat every single day?

[Lisa]

We went through a difficult period when he has trouble with his teething, but normally I don't have much of a problem feeding my 18 month old.

He eats:

Potatoes
Peas
Carrots
Green Beans
Red Lentilles
Tomatoes
Beef
Salmon
Cod
cheese
Bread
Fromage Frais
Banana
Apple
Pear

There is a tip for cooking the peas and carrots: If you cook them for a long time, they become really sugary (unless you use the canned ones, I buy fresh carrots and frozen peas)... and to avoid having too many husks when you mix the peas, put a couple of potatoes in the mixer.

Banana mashed up with a fromage frais is always a hit, and he loves to munch on a slice of white bread.

Sometimes we melt a cheesy triangle into his meals, he loves that.

I have to say, I've never been "homemaker of the month", and I'd be the first to admit that being a good mother is hard work, but really, some of the comments that I have read in this post freak me right out! I think if I listed all the foods that are mentioned here, I would come up with 70% junk! I'm the first to fill my face with as much high-fat, sugary c*%p that I can, but I give my child a healthy diet, to try and give him good habits for later life. Cheeseburgers, hotdogs, chips, crackers, nuggets, french fries... no wonder your kids are sceptical about eating what you are putting on their plates! Grow up a bit yourselves and take a bit more responsibility for your little ones, make an effort, inform yourselves. Like... OMG!

[Brittany]

First, I just like to say that after stumbling across your blog for the first time today I am still in a fit of side-splitting laughter! I enjoy your tone very much. From one toddler-rearing mommy to the next, thank you. Somehow the situations become humorous when you know they happen to everyone else.

That being said, I never knew my son had such amazing food-flinging capabilities until the solid-food era began. His list of "acceptible edibles" is ever-changing and I think my head would spin clear off my neck if I tried to think of what he allowed me to feed him today.

[Louise]

Thing is Lisa, re: giving your child good habits through a healthy diet; whatever high fat, sugary examples you set in eating will have a far greater effect on later life habits than what you feed him. As far as I'm concerned you can eat whatever you like, and feed your child whatever you like, but it seems a bit harsh to throw stones about responsibility and being informed if you think he's not going to notice (and imitate) what Mum's doing.

[Kelly]

Wow, Lisa.

So you've never been "homemaker of the month," huh?

I'm willing to bet you've never won any personality contests, either.

[Amber]

pphhhtt at least you guys know this is a phase and it will pass.

My HUSBAND is 27. Here's his list of foods HE'll tolorate:

spagetti (once a week only, and with a specific sort of a specific brand of sauce)
a specific brand of mac and cheese
turkey loaf and mashed potatoes (seriously- a specific kind of potato!)
gala apples
bananas
cookies, any kind
jiffy pb and toast. DON'T MAKE IT ON BREAD
tacos. only the way he makes them.
cheesecake, mom's reciepe (that doesn't happen)
milk- lots and lots of milk

and no pills- no vitamines, medicine, or anything swallowable.

yeah. It took me about a week to tell him HE's doing all the cooking around here!
And this style, by the way, was born because his grandmother fed each of her 4 kids a different meal for every meal, whatever they wanted that night. DH's mom became a very picky eater, and grandma obliged it. SO DH became a picky eater because he was never exposed to anything else.
I? will eat anything with salt on it. hehe. That's not any better.

Brittany (It's not THE Brittany is it?) I don't eat rubbish in front of my child, we eat stuff like that in front of a film or TV after he has gone to bed, and for me, your splitting hairs. My comments were correct, those children are not eating right, and that is wrong... it doesn't matter if what I do in my own life is correct or not... Feeding children rubbish like that, fleeing the responsibility be saying "but he wont eat anything else" (I'm sure that children didn't starve before pretzels and hotdogs were invented), then making stupid jokes about it, is wrong. I hope at least one of you decides to WAKE UP!

Louise - they have "personality contests" over there too? People get a mark out of ten by a line of judges and receive a medal for having the best personality? That's right up there with beauty pageants and hot dog eating contests. As they say "God help America" (and all her burger eating children).

[Not on Fire]

This is such a hard thing. Everyone knows how important it is, after all early nutrition is one of the best predictors of intelligence. I know with my first I made all of the mistakes. I let him dictate what he was going to eat and that was chicken and fries. It has been a long haul to turn it around. I had to tell him "Eat it or go hungry" in a nice tone of voice and then act like I didn't care. I would not listen to crying and I did not bargain. I still give him some choices before I start to cook and he eats a lot better. He is 5 now. He does not get treats unless he has eaten well that day.

If you can manage it, never give in to the treats before eating right. It is sooo hard to come back from.

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