Planning Meals for Toddlers

Introducing the Toddler Menu Planner

Use our Toddler Meal planning tool to ensure your 1-4 years old receives a balanced diet every day. The e-book includes all the guidance and tips featured on this page and more:

• 67 healthy recipes
• visual guidance on portion sizes for each meal idea
• a 14-day planner that shows how to mix meals to achieve a balance diet every day
• a customisable planner to make it easy to plan your favourite meals

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Planning ahead

• Make a list of meals and snacks and/or stock up on nutritious foods so that you can put together a meal in minutes
• Save money by just buying the foods for nutritious meals and snacks in your menu plan
• Involve your toddler in planning, shopping and preparing food
• Include foods from each of the five food groups each day:
  – starchy foods at each meal and in some snacks
  – fruit and vegetables at all meals and in some snacks
  – milk, cheese and yogurt three times over the day
  – meat, fish, eggs, nuts or pulses two or three times each day (serve fish twice per week – one of which is oily fish)
  – only very small amounts of food high in fat and sugar.

Reducing food preparation time

• Cook a double or triple quantity of food and freeze the extra so that it can later be thawed in the fridge and then heated for a second or third meal
• Add leftover meat, fish or a tin of cooked lentils or beans to stir fried vegetables. They can be served with pasta, rice or noodles
• Add some extra raw or lightly cooked vegetables to a convenience meal
• Serve some fruit with yogurt, fromage frais, ice cream, a small cake or a biscuit to make a nutritious pudding.

Cold meals can be just as nutritious as hot cooked meals and can be prepared quickly and easily using simple ingredients from the five food groups.

Budgeting

• Fresh seasonal fruit, vegetables,meat and fish are usually cheaper than those out of season
• Frozen vegetables, fruit, meat and fish are often cheaper than fresh, especially when they are out of season
• Buy small amounts of foods high in fat and sugar, not multipacks
• Join the Healthy Start scheme if you are on a low income, and you will receive vouchers for fruit, vegetables and milk and coupons for free vitamin supplements: www.healthystart.nhs.uk.