Kids and food is a topic at the heart of the daily parenting struggle for so many. I mean, we can’t feed them PB&J every single day at lunch and mac-n-cheese every night, right? So we recently asked our community, what’s a meal you make that your kid loves. Hopefully, these 10 ideas will inspire you in the kitchen…and your kids at the kitchen table. Good luck!

Matt Ferguson: My oldest one (3) loves quinoa, spinach and orange peppers. I mean, they’re good and everything but she’ll eat that over delicious things like hot dogs and steak and soup and wings. Young kids and their hipster diets. My one year old is all about hot dogs and cucumber.

John McCormick: I mix beans spaghetti cheese and tomato Sause on a big pot. My kids call it Johnny special. And it makes me feel like I can cook

Cliff Watt: The meal I make that my kids want is – whatever is on MY plate, even if it’s the same as what’s on theirs!

Penny Firestien: BBQ beef or pork sandwiches, crockpot cooking at it’s finest! The oldest who is just 10, piles it high, covers it with onions and eat 3 of them at a setting! 9yr old eats 2 and the 5yr old eats one.
Gads can’t wait until they’re teenagers!!!!!

Jill Morton-Freeman: Brinner – breakfast for dinner. Which is either biscuits and gravy or pancakes, bacon and eggs.

Will Underwood: Tuna casserole, is usually a hit. I have an 11 year old, an 8 year old, and a set of 2.5 year old twins. Most of the time they all want something different but as long as the casserole is cheesy enough they are all happy.

Scott Bath: I’ve yet to meet a kid that won’t have a slice of baked bean pizza, or deadbeat dad pizza as we like to call it. That’s flat bread/pita bread, 1/2 -2/3 can of baked beans, grated tasty cheese, sprinkle of parmesan cheese if you have it. In the oven and done.

Jessie-Kate Murdoch: Kebabs! Or anything that you put on a stick! He’ll eat anything except cauliflower, broccoli and pumpkin (but he loves my pumpkin soup?!?)

Alan Liesse: Anything with bacon. Top three things are pancakes and bacon, spaghetti carbonara (spaghetti with bacon), and bacon itself.

Finally, if you’re going to make a PB&J, make it amazing like PS Shaw: I cut a piece of bread in half and make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich out of each side. I shape the jelly into a heart. He always say that makes it taste perfect.

What’s your go to meal that even your pickiest eater loves to eat? Share it (and a recipe if you can!) with the Life of Dad Facebook community.

*Flickr photo by the USDA, used under Creative Commons license.