Last updated on March 7th, 2024
Inside: Toddler meal ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. I’ve got some healthy, yet realistic and tasty options for your toddler’s meals!
Toddler Meal Ideas
Every Wednesday, I like to share a roundup of a day’s worth of toddler meals. You can use these ideas when planning out your weekly menu!
I like to feature meals that are simple to put together and meals that can be made ahead of time, because I’m all about meal prepping.
Around here, we keep it real and offer realistic meal options that toddlers will enjoy that actually taste good enough for mom to eat too, without sacrificing nutritional quality.
Breakfast
For breakfast, I made Spinach Egg Muffins and Chocolate Chip Greek Yogurt Pancakes from my favorite food blog eatingbirdfood.com the day before during my weekly meal prep. Both recipes don’t lose anything in regards to flavor and consistency by being made in advance and eating reheated throughout the week.
Preparing breakfast ahead of time is my number one morning game changer. It absolutely makes mornings a breeze.
It’s so nice to be able to still serve a homemade, yummy, nutritious breakfast each day with just 5-10 minutes of kitchen time. It literally takes the same amount of time that pouring a bowl of cereal or toasting an Eggo takes, yet is so much more satisfying and filling.
Don’t get me wrong – we have our cereal and Eggo mornings too! But truly, meal prep has saved my sanity in the mornings.
I typically will meal prep our breakfasts twice a week and my toddler helps me. What we prep usually lasts about 3 (sometimes 4) days. I have added in meal prepping as part of my weekly ‘chores’ when I built my SAHM routine.
If you want to see an example of my daily/weekly routine – click here to view the full post. I explain how to build your own routine within this post too!
Anyways, these are my go to favorite ever pancakes! They are healthy and naturally sweet enough from the chocolate chips and moist enough from the yogurt, that I promise you don’t even need syrup!
The egg muffins are great because you can completely switch up the mix-ins to make them catered to your taste. I like using bell peppers and spinach – or sometimes I even make them with crumbled bacon or sausage. Totally versatile.
Lunch
For lunch, I made Mini Zucchini Muffins (during meal prep the day before) and hard boiled eggs (again – during meal prep). Lunch really doesn’t get any easier than this! I paired it with some freshly sliced cantaloupe and it made a perfectly balanced lunch out of it. This is a good one to eat packed as a picnic (or in a school lunchbox!) because it isn’t super messy and doesn’t need heated up at all.
The Mini Zucchini Muffins are one of my favorite summertime recipes. They are more savory than sweet (great plain or with a teeny bit of melted butter) and can be served at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They’ve got just a bit of a cinnamon flavor to them that works well.
I make a big batch of hard boiled eggs every couple weeks to be used as an easy protein option during meals and snacks. I love that you can do a lot with a hard boiled egg – whether that be in how you cut it, what you serve it with / serve it on, or what seasonings you sprinkle on top.
Dinner
For Dinner, I made a classic comfort food meal – Baked Chicken, stuffing, and broccoli. Had to add in some shredded cheese for my cheese obsessed toddler too. 🙂
I added in an applesauce cup too – and this is exactly how to make dinners healthy but still easy. Pair ready-made foods with homemade foods. Using a balance of both will take some of the pressure off of you.
My toddler eats what we eat for almost every meal throughout the day – there are sometimes exceptions – but serving the same foods we are eating saves time, money, and energy. Because does anyone really enjoy cooking two separate plates at each meal? I sure don’t!
I actually used this Broccoli Cheddar Stuffed Chicken recipe – and just offered my toddler what we ate, just deconstructed.
If your kid is picky (like mine!), try to make sure there is at least 1 thing on the plate that they will eat. If they are anti-veggies or anti-meat – just serve one tiny piece of that food and don’t pressure them to try it.
With repeated exposure and low-pressure at meal times, eventually, they will try it!
Snack
For snack, I served some deli meat and cheese with strawberries and crackers. Super simple.
I often serve snacks in this sort of combination – some meat or cheese, fruit or veggie, and some type of crackers. Very easy to throw together, but still healthy and filling.
Wrap It Up
Well that’s all I’ve got for this week, stay tuned for next Wednesday’s Toddler Meal Ideas!
In the meantime, check out these other meal ideas or fun treats you can make with your toddlers.
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