What to feed LO on nights you don't cook...

ns1 · September 2012

Okay...I'm lazy!

Some nights I just don't cook. And DH and I just grab something to eat. When DD was on purees that was fine. Grab a puree and feed. Now that she's eating more finger foods I don't quite know what to do with her on those nights (on nights when I cook she'll get some of what we're eating, maybe slightly modified!). I don't want to give her our crappy chicken nuggets or whatever, so I've just been boiling steaming some frozen veggies, etc.

What other options are quick, easy, and healthy for LO when I don't want to cook?

diana.filipi · September 2012

boil up some pasta and toss with veggie baby food puree and shredded cheese, keep some fresh fruit like peaches and nectarines in house to halve, sandwich diced up, warmed leftovers

grilled ham and cheese, anti pasta plate (cold cuts and cheese squares), greek yogurt

jtissing · September 2012

Man, I am excited to hear the responses on this, I feel like this is totally my family too some nights!!

I have been keeping those gerber pasta pick-ups on hand for nights to where we are on the go or what we are eating isn't okay for her yet. She loves them and they are easy to make. I also do the pasta with veggie puree, I usually make a patch of noodles for her for the week...

Thanks for sharing!

diana.filipi · September 2012

fresh mozz or tofu are great to have on hand too. You can put sauce from what you're having on them but the kiddo still gets all the good protein with the additional flavor

mbgreenwalt · September 2012

Cheese cubes, fruits, veggies, and bread. We cooked a pot of noodles and then froze them to thaw when we wanted to feed. We also used pre-cooked diced chicken breast and would warm that up.

smilelari · September 2012

On those nights, we make sure we grab food that we feel comfortable sharing with both of our kids. I'm sure it's higher in sodium than what we would make (but not as high in sodium as some of that Gerber crap), but I feel ok with Noodles and Company or Qdoba or homemade carry out pasta. LO has even had some Thai food.

avbliss · September 2012

I'll cook a can of black beans and frozen veg and half a piece of toast.

preggersin2011 · September 2012

I keep fresh fruit in the fridge like strawberries or blueberries, oranges etc. While LO is eating that I'll steam up some veggies from the freezer & put some cheerios on her plate. For protein she'll have cheese and beans or a scrambled egg. If I boil water for pasta then I'll throw the veggies in with the pasta towards the end. LO gets a protein in her lunch box and yogurt with breakfast so dinner is focused more on veggies and fruit. I learned how to make grilled cheese in the toaster oven and it works really well.

Tink112011 · September 2012

DS gets leftovers a lot. If we make something he can eat, we'll make a little extra to have on hand.

Otherwise he gets steamed veggies (yay for frozen veggies!), cut up fruit, cheese, and he really loves pita bread.

Honestly, I keep dinner extremely simple. He gets a well balanced diet at daycare, so I'm not terribly concerned about making dinner glamorous. Also, he is usually not that hungry for dinner. And by time we all get home at 5:30, its just a matter of getting food in front of him so that we have time for a bath and he is in bed by 7:00pm.

SusieBW · September 2012

We always have frozen mixed veggies in the freezer, and I usually have either frozen meatballs, veggie burgers, or some kind of veggie nuggets in the freezer for DD, too. Oh, and frozen raviolis, which I sometimes make a bunch of and DD eats for a couple of days if I know that we are not going to be cooking, or we're having something that I don't want to give her, or just for her to take for lunch. I toss ravis with pasta sauce, italian dressing, or a baby food veggie puree and toss in a handful of frozen veggies.

We don't make our dinner until after DD goes to bed, but she usually has the leftovers for her lunch and/or dinner the next day.

And always cut up fruit for dessert with dinner. I LOVE fruit, so we always have something in the house.

EveryNameIWantIsTaken · September 2012

Veggies, fruits, dd loves the mandarin oranges in a can, strawberries and bananas so that couldn't be easier, cheese, scrambled egg, tofu cubes, toast, beans, lunchmeat.

Froggy76 · September 2012

Steamed fresh or frozen veggies, cut up fruit, yogurt, cheerios, quesadilla, spaghetti, toast fingers, eggs... anything that's super quick! On nights like that, DH and I usually just eat cereal.

ns1 · September 2012

Thanks for all the great ideas!

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