I'm making meals for a friend's 1.5 year old, and am needing meal suggestions for toddler friendly meals that can be portioned, frozen, and reheated easily. I've put together small tester batches of small pasta shapes with cheese and finely diced broccoli florets, pasta with tomato sauce and mini meatballs, shepherd's pie (with cauliflower blended into the potatoes and finely grated zucchini and carrot in the ground beef mix), and cheesy frittata with grated zucchini, cut into wedges. I've further divided these into muffin cups, and frozen them so they're easy to have on hand. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated :)

PreludeInZ
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4 Comments

jenmmcd
jenmmcd September 13, 2010
I second the veggie chili, though you wouldn't think it. It's one of my kids favorites (1.5 and 3). They love veggie chili with tons of carrots, chick peas, black and pinto beans, sweet potatoes, corn, and you can add mini sheels or wagon wheels. I used diced tomatoes too. They also love to eat them in big chunks. That's probably too young to use a spoon well, so everything will be eaten by hand. Add plenty of carrots. They always ask for more of them and I never put in enough.
 
AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames September 11, 2010
Big favorites with my boys when they were that age: (i) chili, usually vegetarian, but if using ground beef, break it up well; serve with a bit of grated cheddar and best of all, let the child eat it with baked/low salt tortilla chips (i.e., scoop the chili up like dip); (ii) quesadillas made with black beans that had been cooked with a bay leaf, which were mashed with the back of a fork so they were still just a bit lumpy, and cheddar or jack, on small corn tortillas; and (iii) meat loaf, which would be so easy to cook and serve when made in a muffin tin. The boys are both in college, and still like all three of those things, by the way . . . .plus many others, of course.
 
gingerroot
gingerroot September 10, 2010
Savory pancakes! When my son was a year old I would make buckwheat/broccoli/cheddar pancakes for him. The buckwheat gave them a crispy texture. In fact, he is three now and I still make them. They freeze beautifully,and you can add any veg/ cheese combo you like. I also often use whole wheat pastry flour.
 
Amanda H.
Amanda H. September 10, 2010
Risotto with bacon and peas (I found that risotto is good for toddlers because it's easier to scoop up than regular rice).
 
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