Healthy Toddler Meal Ideas: A Week Of Toddler Eats

healthy toddler meal ideas-what my toddler eats in a week.

I promised you all more healthy toddler meal ideas and here is a peak at what my toddler eats in a week. Hope this inspires you to make some creative and healthy meals for your littles. The last post got an overwhelming response from so many mothers. I was pinged on Instagram and Facebook asking me to do more of these. I am sincerely touched by the response to my toddler meal ideas. And I hope that these types of blog posts help you plan your family meals better.

If you have followed me for a while now, you know I love simple cooking and one pot type of recipes. I don’t have time in the day to cook elaborate meals for my family as I also work from home on my blog.

There are three areas I focus on when cooking; incorporating more greens, healthy fats and proteins. All of these are important for growing children. This also ensures that every meal my son eats is satiating and nourishing.

Toddlers are constantly moving and eat tiny meals at a time. That is why I focus on adding healthy fats like nut powders, nut butter, seeds, avocados, and coconuts wherever I can. I have already written an in-depth blog post on how I add healthy fats to my child’s diet. You can read that blog post to know more.

Disclaimer: Once again I would like to remind you I am not a nutritionist and neither am I promoting any specific diet plan for kids. This post is all about a mother sharing healthy toddler meal ideas with another.

Besides meals our toddler is also breastfeeding at the moment.

Okay now that all the disclaimers are out of the way, let’s look at the yummy meals.

Healthy toddler meal ideas-what my toddler eats in a week What my toddler eats in a week – Healthy toddler meal ideas

Healthy Toddler Meal Ideas

Monday

Breakfast – Oats porridge (made in soymilk, added flax powder, hemp seeds, chia seeds and almond butter) with strawberries

Snack 1 – Muskmelon and papaya

Lunch – Rice, mixed veggie (Cauliflower, peas, and potatoes) and coconut curry

Snack 2 – Strawberries, banana and besan Chilla (Gramflour pancake)

Dinner – Mixed veggie pasta (Homemade tomato base with broccoli, mushroom and peas.)

Tuesday

Breakfast – Masala dosa with chutney

Snack 1 – Sweet potato

Lunch – Rice, chana dal curry, and potato sabzi

Snack 2 – Strawberry, blueberries, coconut water, and coconut meat.

Dinner – Rice, chana dal curry, spinach sabzi and potato sabzi

Wednesday

Breakfast – Upma

Snack 1 – Muskmelon and walnuts powder (powder of 2-3 walnuts)

Lunch – Rice, dal and methi sabzi (Fenugreek leaves)

Snack 2 – 2 Quail eggs and muskmelon

Dinner – Rice, dal and peas sabzi

Thursday

Breakfast – Chappati and almond butter roll

Snack 1 – Strawberry and walnuts powder

Lunch – Broccoli and potato soup, mushroom and carrots quinoa

Snack 2 – Strawberries and blueberries

Snack 3 – Chappati and almond butter roll with half cup soy milk

Dinner – Same as lunch with homemade potato fries

Friday

Breakfast – Chappati and almond butter roll

Snack 1 – Sprouts bowl with a date and tamarind sauce

Lunch – Rice, dal, mushroom sabzi and capsicum sabzi

Snack 2 – 2 Quail eggs

Snack 3 – Smoothie bowl contains banana, strawberries, topped with chia seeds, desiccated coconut, hemp seeds and blueberries.

Dinner – Rice, dal and capsicum sabzi

Saturday

Breakfast – Upma

Snack 1 – Upma and walnuts powder

Lunch – Quinoa, matki (Moth beans) sabzi and bindi (Okra) sabzi. Little one requested for quinoa instead of rice.

Snack 2 – Sprouts with date and tamarind sauce

Dinner – Rice, dal, matki, bhindi sabzi and dosa

Sunday

Breakfast – Dosa and coconut chutney

Snack 1 – Malida topped with raisins and pomegranate.

Lunch – Rice, dal, methi sabzi and besan chilla

Snack 2 – Banana and oats pancake with honey and almond butter.

Dinner – Rice, dal and methi sabzi

Featured Pantry products

Almond butter

Chia seeds

Sesame oil

Coconut oil

Quinoa

That was all the toddler meals for a week. If you have a toddler who is picky about foods you can read about my strategies to get children excited about healthy eating. These are the same steps I used to get my son interested in eating green leafy vegetables, vegetables like broccoli and a whole other rainbow colors of foods. Patience and consistency work well during the toddler years to set healthy eating habits for life. Happy eating to you all!

5 Easy One Pot Meal Recipes For Busy Moms

easy one pot meal recipes

Our lives are getting busier with fast-paced jobs and travel to and from the workplace. As mothers, we want to be able to add healthy meals to our families diet. This can be done with the help of one pot meals. Home cooked food does not have to be a time-consuming activity.

I struggled a long-time finding the perfect one pot meal recipes that can rescue me on busy days. Recipes that didn’t involve a lot of cooking skills, were quick, filling and tasty too.


easy one pot meal recipes for busy moms


Once my son joined in on our family meals at 6 months, I became even more aware of the ingredients I was using. Trying my best to keep meals as natural as possible with fewer processed ingredients like processed meats, certain sauces, ketchup etc. In a bid to include more vegetables for his sake, I got innovative with how I added vegetables to every dish. That’s where these family staple one pot vegetarian meals came to use.

These one pot meal recipes are:

  • Toddler- approved!! So yummy my toddler licks his bowl clean when I make them.
  • Loaded with healthy vegetables that taste divine.
  • Use ingredients that are available all year around.
  • Are packed with super-food nutrition.
  • Don’t require you to be Master Chef.

If I can cook them with a thumbs up from my hubby and child you can do it too!

It is challenging with our busy lives to maintain a balanced diet at home, but hopefully, my easy one pot meal recipes will help you out.

Baby led Weaning On Vacation (Part 2)

Babyled weaning vacation

In Part 1 of this series I spoke about how you can prepare and plan for a vacation with your baby. In this post I will give you meal ideas for baby led weaning vacation.

I have also listed everything my son ate on our recent weekend getaway. This can serve as an idea as to how a baby led weaning vacation looks like.

Always keep an eye on your baby when eating. Do not leave your baby alone while eating.

Depending upon your travel plans, you can either stay at an accommodation with an attached kitchen or stay in a hotel. Each has its own benefits. Sometimes it’s difficult or economically unviable to find a decent hotel and you would rather prefer to cook your own meals. Other times you’d prefer cooked meals. So, what food can be offered on a baby led weaning vacation?

Babyled weaning on vacation- whole food

Accommodation with Kitchen

This is the better option as you have complete control over your baby’s meals. You can pack a few essentials and buy fresh produce from a local market.

Essentials you can pack are:

  • Dal (Lentils)
  • Rice
  • Quinoa
  • Whole wheat pasta
  • Oats
  • Dalia (Spouted Wheat)
  • Onions
  • Potatoes
  • Tomatoes
  • Cheese

It’s easy to cook a variety of dishes with these ingredients even if you have limited kitchenware.

Staying at a Hotel

Hotels usually carry a kid friendly menu and are happy to make adjustments to the dishes with regards to salt and spice.

Examples of foods you can offer at each meal are:

Breakfast

  • Steamed Idli
  • Paratha
  • Scrambled egg (made from whole egg for babies over 1 year or egg yolk for younger ones)
  • Fruits
  • Cheese
  • Plain Yogurt
  • Plain Oats

Tip: Add fruits like berries, mango, chikoo, soft plums to plain oats and it becomes a complete meal of its own.
Lunch/Dinner

  • Pasta
    Tip: Ask the chef to prepare with no salt and spices
  • Steamed veggies
    Tip: Ask for a tablespoon of olive oil on the side, to add over the veggies.
  • Potato Wedges
  • Grilled Chicken
  • Steamed Fish Fillet
  • Fish Fingers
  • Potato Patty

Snacks

Carry reusable pouches and fill them with oats and locally available fruits. Little ones are adept at eating from a pouch by the time they are 9 months old. Other snacking options are;

  • Fruits
  • Apricots
  • Raisins
  • Baked Sweet Potato
  • Boiled egg
  • Hard cheese
  • Plain yogurt pots

What my toddler ate on our recent trip

Recently we planned a short weekend trip to Pune. We stayed in a room that came with an attached kitchen. We requested the hotel for kitchenware like a saucepan and some spoons.

Day 1: We had a 4 hour car ride to the hotel. Breakfast and a snack were packed for the journey.

Breakfast

  • Methi Theplas
  • Oats Pouch – To the oats I added almond butter, cinnamon and flaxseed powder. This porridge is thick in texture and easy for my little one to suck out of the packet.

Snack 1

  • Boiled sweet potatoes.

Lunch

Even though our room came with an attached kitchen we went for room service for lunch as we were tired from the journey.

  • We ordered Pasta with cottage cheese and spinach from the Kids Menu (without salt and spices on request).

Snack 2

  • Left over Sweet potatoes and an Avocado that I carried.

Dinner

  • Leftover pasta from lunch and chapatti.

Day 2:

Breakfast

  • The buffet had a lot of options; Little A had scrambled egg, papaya and watermelon.

Snack 1

  • The hotel room provided with complimentary fruits, Little A had Banana and Apple.

Lunch

  • We cooked dal khichdi and served along with few slices of avocado. He also ate a chapati from my husband’s plate.

Snack 2

  • We were out during the evening so I packed the same dal khichdi in the reusable pouch and a few medjool dates.

Dinner

  • I cooked quinoa in the room and ordered steamed veggies from the menu. I also asked for a tablespoon of olive oil on the side which I drizzled on the quinoa and veggies along with some pepper.

Day 3:

It was time for us to leave and again a 4 hour journey back. This meant preparing another oats pouch for the road.

Breakfast

  • Steamed idli and egg omelet from the buffet.

Snack 1

  • Banana

Snack 2

  • Oats Pouch [Oats, cinnamon and flaxseed]

We were back home by lunch.

Other foods you can carry for long journeys are:

  • Potato and Peas Patty / Chicken patty
  • Paratha
  • Theplas
  • Chapati [use nut butter as a spread, roll it, and offer baby]
  • Cheese sticks
  • Boiled root veggies like taro root.

I know baby led weaning purists are against the use of pouches. But I find reusable pouches to be great option for travel. You can make your own homemade food and your baby can eat on their own with minimal mess. I don’t think it’s bad if it’s used occasionally especially for travelling. It’s better than providing packaged food outside.

As you can see with proper planning you can have a stress free vacation with your baby led weaned baby. This way you wont compromise on their nutrition during travel.

Hope this post helps you with ideas. How did you plan your vacation with baby? Drop in a comment below.