The viral TikTok trend “what my kid eats in a day” has captured the attention of many parents who are deep in the grind of feeding their children. However, pediatricians often suggest looking at what your toddler eats in a week instead of just what they eat in one day. This inspired me to take a stab at recording unflinchingly what my toddler actually eats in a week.
Yes, some processed foods are served, and there is even fast food. We are a busy family walking the tightrope between what our child will realistically eat and what we have time to prepare. We rely on repetition, a lot of fruit, and a little bit of luck. Some days go better than others.
So, here is what I feed my toddler as a parent who cares (but not obsessively) about what my child eats in a typical week.
Day 1 – Breakfast
Cheesy eggs with spinach and jam toast are probably my son’s most frequent meal. As you can guess from the (almost) cleaned plate, it’s a favorite. He doesn’t seem to mind the repetition, and I feel good knowing he ate something green.
I am not a morning person, so I try to keep it simple. I just dump frozen spinach, shredded cheese, and eggs in the pan while I blearily wait for my coffee to kick in. Sometimes, if I’m feeling ambitious, I have homemade jam ready to go. Today was not one of those days, so he got a smear from a giant Costco jam jar.
Day 1 – Lunch
Today was a preschool morning. This means no morning snack made by Mom, and he comes home hungry. I quickly boiled some frozen spinach raviolis. I don’t know why, but he is obsessed with these things, and they’re pretty easy.
Pictured is his paint-smeared hand reaching for the plate while he loudly says, “I CARRY IT!” Not pictured are the three slices of watermelon he ate while I cooked.
Day 1 Dinner
For dinner, we had baked salmon with sweet potatoes and broccoli. This dish is easy because I cook it all on a sheet pan on high for 25 minutes. The grownups had theirs blackened, but we used milder seasoning (garlic salt, lemon pepper, onion powder, and cumin) for the kiddos.
After his nap, he snacked generously on more watermelon, peanut butter crackers, and a banana (most of which he had eaten on our walk to the park). So I was pleasantly surprised to see him eat a bunch of fish (including seconds) and broccoli. I was not surprised to see the sweet potatoes basically untouched. Not even BBQ sauce made them palatable, apparently.
Day 2 Breakfast
On Day 2, breakfast was a waffle with peanut butter and (yet more) watermelon. We bulk make waffles and freeze them. Our go-to waffle topping is peanut butter. It’s super high in protein, which helps our toddler stay full longer.
My husband made breakfast today. Unfortunately, that means all I got is a shadowy before picture and a confused “Oh, you wanted a picture of his empty plate?”. So… take that for what it’s worth.
Day 2 Lunch
Leftover pasta was lunch today. Honestly, it was mediocre pasta; it was basically just noodles, jarred sauce, and meatballs.
However, it’s a very quick dinner, and my son really enjoys pasta leftovers. So we keep making basic pasta and probably will until he can boil his own water.
Day 2 Dinner
Tonight, we had garlic parm chicken legs, rice and tomatoes, and Brussels sprouts. I shredded his chicken; lately, he hasn’t been eating chicken legs. I also added pineapple because traditionally, my toddler is meh on Brussels sprouts and tomatoes.
Of course, he attempted the vegetables (although he declared, “I still don’t like this!”) and didn’t touch the pineapple. So what do I know anyway?
Day 3 Breakfast
Did I mention we prepare a lot of repeats? We do. It’s hard to stop when it works, and your toddler will eat the meal every time.
For day 3, the good old standby of cheesy eggs with spinach and jam toast reappeared. The eggs were demolished, but some of the toast remained.
Day 3 Lunch
If you ask my toddler where he wants to eat, the odds are high he’ll say Chick-fil-A. Today, I asked him just that, and we ended up in his happy place.
I ordered the chicken nugget kids’ meal with fruit and shared my fries with him. In between running in and out of the playground, he ate all his nuggets, the fries pictured (and a good bit more), and most of his fruit cup.
Day 3 Dinner
This dinner was a bit of a gamble. I cooked a hibachi-inspired chicken (tossed in soy sauce, honey, mayo, garlic, and a bit of siracha) with green beans and a skillet. Then, I served it bowl-style with rice.
My son ate some rice and chicken and touched the green beans. I’m not sure I believe he actually consumed any, but hey, he engaged with them—that counts for something, right?
Day 4 Breakfast
I woke up and discovered we were out of eggs. Oops. So instead of his usual breakfast, he had blueberry banana pancakes with a generous dollop of peanut butter.
I used applesauce instead of eggs. It threw the timing off a bit, and they didn’t stick together well. He overlooked it enough to ask for a (not pictured) second one. He did not overlook the fact that the berries were out of season and managed not to eat a single one.
Day 4 Lunch
We had a long playdate at our house this morning, and both boys were hungry. Cue the breakout of the beloved spinach ravioli and some of the watermelon they had already been snacking on.
The results? Once again, the raviolis were devoured. I guess my son had finally eaten his full of watermelon because he took the world’s smallest bite. The other kid had applesauce, so that was a last-minute add-on that also got fully eaten.
Day 4 Dinner
Homemade pizza night is always a big hit in our house. Tonight, my husband mixed it up and tried a Detroit style with pepperoni and mushrooms. He is pretty into it and makes his own sauce and dough.
My toddler ate one slice and was stuffed. Mysteriously, the grapes were untouched.
Day 5 Breakfast
Costco was out of eggs, thwarting our usual breakfast. I decided to go for some mushroom and pepper quesadillas.
I opted for the rice on the side instead of the inside at the last minute. Quesadillas are a great way for my son to get vegetables. For whatever reason, if you put vegetables with cheese between tortillas, he just eats them.
Day 5 Lunch
The grownups in the house ate leftovers from the mushroom pepper quesadilla. However, we came home really close to nap time, and after swimming, my son was tired. So I tried to get some food in him as quickly as possible.
I decided to go with good old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly. My son saw these smoothie bowls I got from the grocery store the other day, so I added it at the last minute. He ate most of the smoothie bowl and a few bites of PB&J.
Day 5 Dinner
Tonight’s dinner was low effort. I served him some teriyaki pineapple meatballs (yummy but not homemade) and broccoli.
He ate most of the meatballs and some broccoli. These meatballs are from Costco and are one of my freezer go-to tos.
Day 6 Breakfast
It’s a miracle. We have eggs, so I can once again make breakfast without thinking.
My son gleefully rejoiced to see “dragon eggs” (AKA cheesy eggs with spinach) were back on the menu. He didn’t eat most of his jam toast but the eggs were their usual success.
Day 6 Lunch
Today’s lunch was my take on a homemade lunchable—or toddler charcuterie. I served strawberries, apples with peanut butter, and little cracker sandwiches.
What did he eat? Not a single cracker, even though he made a decent dent in the fruit and cracker contents. He requested “more pepperoni” and probably ate a mommy-sized handful.
Day 6 Dinner
The plan for dinner was butter chicken meatballs. We actually had butter chicken with ground chicken. By the end of the day, the extra 10 minutes to make meatballs was no where to be had.
It doesn’t photograph well. However, it was a huge hit with my toddler, and he ate a generous portion.
Day 7 Breakfast
My husband made breakfast for himself and the toddler this morning. He likes eggs, too, but not spinach, so the eggs this morning only had cheese.
At some point between the “before” and “after” photos, Jam entered the picture. It was probably when my toddler announced, “I WANT Jam.”
Day 7 Lunch
Leftovers make the world go round in our house. Today’s lunch was leftover butter chicken.
I usually plan for and expect to have leftovers a couple of times a week. It makes meal time so much easier and helps us eat at home. Once again, we had a hit with a good amount of the leftovers being eaten by my toddler.
Day 7 Dinner
Ahh yes, finally a meal where my son basically ate air. What a fitting end. While not eating can be concerning, when you look at the bigger picture (a week where he ate pretty well) it becomes less worrying.
Dinner was pork chops with broccoli, rice, tomatoes, and BBQ sauce to dip. He likes most of these foods fine but didn’t seem especially hungry.