Toddler Meal Ideas

Thinking up what to eat on a daily basis can be exhausting now throw in a picky toddler and the mental exhaustion intensifies. Maybe it’s just me but figuring out toddler meal ideas for my boys has been a head scratcher for sure. Sometimes I get stuck in a rut of offering the same meals over and over again especially if that is all they will eat. All of this is what pushes me to get creative and inspired with new foods for my toddlers’ to try.

I am not a fancy person when it comes to meals. I like to keep it simple, quick, and affordable. So that is what the toddler meal ideas are based around and what you can expect to find here. I hope these ideas can help for those times you get stuck in a rut. I hope these ideas can get you inspired and make those toddler meal times easier for you.

I am going to break up the toddler meal ideas into three categories. I’m sure you can guess what three categories that will be :P–Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. So keep on scrolling and don’t forget to pin to refer back to later. 🙂

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Toddler Breakfast Meal Ideas

Fruit We Most Always Use: Banana, strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, plums, peaches, grapes (cut in small pieces), blackberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, and cuties oranges

You will see a common theme. I usually almost always do eggs with the boys breakfast and of course fruit.

Toast, Scrambled Eggs (hard boiled eggs are great options as well), & Fruit

You could do cream cheese toast, banana toast with some cinnamon, peanut butter toast, nutella toast, almond butter toast, yogurt on toast, basically any spread you can think of on the toast.

I like to add spinach to the eggs so the boys can have some veggies but I don’t always do this. I also sometimes add cheese.

And you can do any fruit. We do strawberries, blueberries, peach, or banana a lot for breakfast.

Whole Wheat Pancakes with honey, Scrambled Eggs, Chicken Sausage, & Fruit

We use the brand Kodiak Cakes and have for years. We love it. They are fluffy and definitely do not taste like they have wheat in them. They also have protein powder in them as well.

Chicken Sausage is a hit or miss with the boys but it changes things up and adds some more protein to their breakfast. Plus, I eat whatever they don’t eat ;P.

Cream Cheese Bagel, Eggs, & Fruit

I usually have the boys split one bagel–so they each get one slice. It’s their favorite. I don’t like to do it all the time but maybe once a week. I typically just do the original bagel but sometimes we will do blueberry bagels.

Oatmeal & Fruit

I buy the organic oatmeal packets. Then I add unsweetened apple sauce and cinnamon to it. The boys love it. They usually split one pack together. Then I serve it with fruit on the side. You could also add fruit baby pouches to the oatmeal also to sweeten it up. You could also add yogurt to the oatmeal (we like to use vanilla yogurt).

Muffins & Fruit & Yogurt

I got an amazing muffin recipe that I found on Pinterest. It’s quick, easy, and super healthy with one batter and four mix ins. Check the recipe out here.

Cereal with Milk & Eggs & Fruit

We usually almost always do honey cheerios or regular cheerios with honey added to it. For my one year old, he isn’t quite skilled enough to eat cereal without getting milk everywhere. So I just give him cheerios without the milk. I usually do this option for if I want something quick and the boys are super hungry.

Breakfast Burritos & Fruit

Tortillas (flour or whole wheat), cheese, scrambled eggs, spinach (gotta throw some veggies in there ;P), ham or chicken sausage or ground turkey, with a side of fruit. Boys love it. Luke always requests some ranch with it.

Yogurt (Plain mixed with pureed berries or vanilla yogurt) topped with graham cracker with eggs and banana

Toddler Lunch

For their lunch…I like to make sure I always offer fruit, veggies, protein, and some kind of dairy since they aren’t huge milk drinkers.

Mac N Cheese, Frozen Mixed Veggies, Strawberries, Avocado

I like to make our own cheese sauce. It’s really easy and delicious. Recipe below.

Ingredients: Butter, flour, milk, cheddar cheese, sour cream, salt, garlic, & onion powder

I am terrible at measurements (I kind of just guess ;P) But I’ll do my best here..

2 Tablespoons Butter and 2 tablespoons of flour. Turn the oven to medium heat and mix butter and flour together. Let it cook until you smell a nutty flavor (make sure to not burn it).

Then add about a cup of milk and mix into the butter and flour. Let it reach boil then turn oven down to low. Add 1-2 cups of cheese (I keep adding cheese until it reaches the cheesy flavor I want). Then add about a tablespoon or two of sour cream (depending on how much you like sour cream). Add some garlic, onion powder, and a pinch of salt. Mix it all together until the cheese melts and it becomes a thick mixture. Then add to the noodles.

That’s it! So good!

Cheese Quesadilla (flour or whole wheat tortilla), Avocado, Black Beans, Corn & Watermelon

You could throw some ham in the quesadilla if you wanted to add some meat. You could do any veggie or fruit with it…I’m just giving examples of what I have done before.

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Sandwiches

Grilled Cheese, broccoli, pretzels, and applesauce (we use Motts unsweetened applesauce)

Peanut butter and honey, whole wheat goldfish, string cheese, peas, cantaloupe

Peanut butter with banana (mash the banana and mix with PB) then spread on bread, veggie straws, broccoli & cauliflower, and strawberries

Avocado toast with cheddar cheese, grapes, mixed veggies, and goldfish

Turkey/Ham Sandwich with cheese and mayo, veggie straws, broccoli, and blueberries

Deconstructed Burrito/Taco

I serve the ground beef, avocado, cheddar cheese, tortilla (by itself), black beans with a little sour cream and salsa.

Leftovers

Love this option as it is quick and easy! Sometimes I give the boys leftovers from what we had for dinner for lunch! Then I’ll add some fruit and veggies if there were none left.

Toddler Dinner Ideas

Typically we just give the boys what we make ourselves for dinner to keep it simple on us. But for the times we have something that is either spicy, or something that is tough for them to eat like steak, or if we are going on a date night–the options below are quick and easy options to make as a meal just for them.

Spaghetti with beef, Cottage Cheese, Corn, & Crescent rolls W/ watermelon (We do use store bought marinara sauce.)

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, cottage cheese, green beans, & Fruit

Chicken & Rice, zucchini, cottage cheese, and cantaloupe

The chicken and rice is one of our favorite go to meals because it’s quick and delicious. You just dice up the chicken, add some garlic and cook it in olive oil. We microwave brown rice while the chicken is cooking. Once the chicken is cooked, you add two cans of cream of mushroom. Then you add the cooked rice. Mix it all together and you got chicken and rice. So simple yet so good!

I like to pan fry the zucchini with olive oil, Parmesan, lemon, garlic, and onion powder.

Chicken Or Shrimp Fettuccine (we just used store bough sauce) with broccoli topped with Parmesan, garlic toast, cottage cheese & blueberries

Tuna Salad (just tuna & mayo) with crackers or bread, avocado, cheese stick, peas and carrots (we do the frozen bag of veggies) & grapes

Chicken nuggets (we make our own batter) and either pan fry or air fry it with tater tots, squash (pan fry with Parmesan, lemon, olive oil, and garlic), and apple slices or applesauce (no peel).

BBQ Chicken with mash potatoes, corn, cottage cheese, rolls, and strawberries

Deconstructed Hamburger with cheese, tater tots, broccoli and cauliflower, and peaches

I hope this gets you stuck out of the rut and gives you some ideas to change it up and hopefully get your toddler to eat ;)! Let me know your go to meal ideas for your littles below!