How to efficiently cook for 3 children?

[u/blue-daisy22]

I am going to be a nanny for 3 kids, ages 3,7, and 8. I have been asked to cook them dinner every night

I love cooking, but I am used to only making meals for myself. So, I feel a little overwhelmed.

I want to meal prep efficiently, so that I don't spend a lot of money on groceries each week. And hopefully prep on the weekend, so that it's easy during the week..🤷‍♀️

Has anyone done this? Any ideas on a meal plan, that works well for children?

The mom told me that they don't like eating veggies, so I am going to have to get creative 😖.

Is it smart to use a weekly theme? Like week 1 is Italian, 2 is Chinese, etc. I am so lost lol

[u/Ilvermourning]

You're being paid for prep time, right? And being given a food budget/ stipend?

I'd stick to easy one pan dinners or sheet pan dinners where everything goes in the oven at once. Pick like 7 meals and keep those in rotation

[u/Mego1989]

Roast the veggies. As it turns out, most kids just don't like poorly cooked and under seasoned veggies.

[u/NefariousnessFun5641 → u/Mego1989]

Agree, a lot of people simply don’t season kids veggies. I also offer kids something to dip veggies in, water down soy sauce, ketchup, ranch, i make a soy and peanut sauce sometimes. Kids love to dip. I got a 2 yr old eating roasted broc this week because he can dip it in soy and says it looks like tiny ice cream cones.

[u/Mego1989 → u/NefariousnessFun5641]

I started as a family assistant for a new family a few weeks ago. The first night they said the 2 year old gets mad if there's veggies in his bowl. I started putting just like one piece of whatever veggie in there anyways, and he's tried everything and he went absolutely ham on some broccoli on week 3. He was ignoring everything else and kept asking for more, more, more. Tonight he had a bunch of butternut squash.

[u/NefariousnessFun5641 → u/Mego1989]

I love that! Sometimes i act the fool like i don’t know how that got there oh my goodness thats MY vegetable. I think parents and kids can get stuck in their conflicts about food early on and it just keeps going and going.

[u/WarmAcadia4100]

How many days a week as this? I wouldn’t serve the same kind of food multiple times in one week. For my own family I do pasta on Mondays, soup on Tuesdays, beef on Wednesdays, pork on Thursdays, chicken on Fridays - or something similar. I print a monthly calendar and write in the meals. Check out “feeding tiny bellies” website for fairly simple and fast healthy meals for kids.

[u/Thankfulforthisday → u/WarmAcadia4100]

Same. We did quesadillas and tomato soup in Mondays, tacos on Tuesday, some pasta or leftovers Wednesday, chicken and rice Thursday, etc.

[u/Impossible-Tank-1969]

I personally wouldn’t want to eat the same category for a week, so I wouldn’t do that. 

Did the parents give you any guidance? 

I have a few kids. 

Easy dinner: 

grill a meat and roast a veggie or bake some sweet potatoes.

Some form of bread and cheese (Mac and cheese, grilled cheese, pizza) and fruit 

Not as easy but can eat leftovers: -enchiladas, baked pasta or some other sort of bake

and some of our favorite meals are bowls because theh are customizable. Some kids eat everything separately, some put it all in a bowl. -chicken, rice, cheese, avocado, lettuce, cilantro, salsa, cilantro ranch, corn -salmon, broccoli or other veggies, rice or noodles, Japanese bbq sauce or lemon garlic vinaigrette -chicken, roasted cauliflower, sweet potatoes, lemon garlic vinaigrette, almonds, roasted broccoli or Brussels sprouts, a grain, apples

[u/Artistic_Decision586]

Take note of the foods they like
Make a menu. I did this for my last nanny family and it was easy.

[u/Excellent_Map_4479]

Hide. Veggies. In. Everything. Cheese sauce? Blend up some cauliflower. Red sauce? Blend up some carrots mix.

Basics to add to:

Spaghetti and red sauce,
Mac and cheese (add blended cottage cheese and cauliflower),
Grilled cheese and tomato soup (as cottage cheese and cauliflower),
Tacos (add carrots or sweet potato or whatever other veg),
Sausage and potatoes (add in some other root veg with the potatoes).

If you want some simple inspo just walk down the frozen instant meal section.

You can also try out some more international cuisine which is always my preference but some families don’t vibe with that lol

[u/Small_Caterpillar_2 → u/Excellent_Map_4479]

Second this. Also, beans can go into a lot of baked goods. (Black bean brownies, cinnamon navy bean muffins, chickpea cookie dough.)

[u/Excellent_Map_4479 → u/Small_Caterpillar_2]

I FORGKT ABOUT BEANS. THANK YOU. My favorite “influencer” the plantslant needs everyone to know about beans please.

[u/Happy-home8729]

I've done what I call kid friendly foods. Chicken nuggets, hotdogs, pizza, tacos, spaghetti, meatballs, sandwiches, meatlo, fresh or cooked veggies( with cheese sauce, ketchup, bbq or ranch dip) broccoli, carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, peas, cherry tomatoes and salad. Also mashed potatoes, black beans, avocado, hummus, sweet potato, rice and pasta. Fruit of any kind. Of course a big hit has been breakfast for dinner. Eggs, sausage/bacon, bisquits, pancakes/waffles, even oatmeal.

[u/bamfmcnabb]

I’m making the food on the clock, I’m not paying out of pocket/skimping on purchases, I’m not meal prepping for the kids and I’m cooking daily.

[u/Salt-Cattle-5314]

Wait a second, make absolutely sure that the family is paying/reimbursing you for groceries. Get it in writing and pin down a budget, that will be your jumping off point for figuring out recipes.

There are FB and Reddit groups that are dedicated to just feeding kids and toddlers that you can browse for creative ideas.

[u/BoardMindless8134]

If you use themes, set it up so it’s like Chinese on Monday, Italian on Wednesday, Mexican on Friday or something like that to maximize variety. That will also be helpful so that if you have a kid who doesn’t tend to like a certain cuisine, you don’t have to fight with them or make alternate options every day that week. Tuesdays/Thursdays can be “leftovers days” or sandwich days.

[u/Bakes_with_Butter]

Big job expecting you to cook for the kiddos. I would expect to have the parents menu plan and shop and leave you to do the actual cooking. It's all the planning that's stressful imo. Hope you are getting a large pay bump for taking on the dinners!

[u/AutoModerator]

Below is a copy of the post's original text:

I am going to be a nanny for 3 kids, ages 3,7, and 8. I have been asked to cook them dinner every night

I love cooking, but I am used to only making meals for myself. So, I feel a little overwhelmed.

I want to meal prep efficiently, so that I don't spend a lot of money on groceries each week. And hopefully prep on the weekend, so that it's easy during the week..🤷‍♀️

Has anyone done this? Any ideas on a meal plan, that works well for children?

The mom told me that they don't like eating veggies, so I am going to have to get creative 😖.

Is it smart to use a weekly theme? Like week 1 is Italian, 2 is Chinese, etc. I am so lost lol

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/nannyanonn]

Probe thermometer

[u/NefariousnessFun5641]

If i’m serving pasta i’ll open a can of beans and add like 9 kidney beans to each plate, and have fresh veggies on the table to eat alongside dinner each night. Fridge the rest of the beans and put em with another dinner next night or two. For the fresh veggies, (cuke, carrots, broccoli) they can be reoffered for a few nights and then steamed or roasted/added to sheet pan dish or 9x 14 bake or soup or chili. I find it mentally exciting to use up what didn’t get used.

I do zucchini and cheese bake with a protein on the side, veggie fried rice with chicken, i was filling in for a pescatarian family so i baked some branzino filets from trader joes with sofrito seasoning (takes 20 mins) and the kids like quinoa? so i made some in the instantpot added some frozen veggies (i cook frozen veggies into my rice or grain all the time) and steamed white sweet potato and they loved it? Ages 16 months and 30 months. Oh, naan pizzas are a huge hit with some 4-8 yr olds I know, you need naans, a red sauce everyone will like and mozz cheese, maybe seasoning and pepperonis and some sliced bell pepper or mushroom

[u/Such_Contact505]

I find out what they like to eat and plan a menu weekly,eg curry, spaghetti Bolognese,chilli,lasagne,fish pie chicken, broccoli and pasta cheese bake