What's for dinner? Toddler style

I have struggled with meals like all mothers struggle with meals. I have read just about everything there is to read both on how to encourage toddlers to eat and how to budget and plan meals. But there is very little in the way of meal planning and budgeting with toddlers.

No matter how much planning I seem to do, there never seems to be enough of something in the house. This leaves me feeling off. And, it never fails that the mealtime struggles begin.

In the past, I rushed off to the store to buy more "for them."

Over the last year I've tried everything from participating in Menu Planning Monday, to shopping by sales only to skimping on the necessities so there was enough for food.

When I became serious about cutting grocery expenses down by 50 percent, I realized quickly I wasn't making the right choices. The worst choice of all was trying to create meal plans on Sundays by looking at the Sunday sales circulars. This became extremely time consuming and overwhelming. Between that and cutting coupons, there was no Sunday left.

I've since come to terms with a few things and all have helped cut the food budget and my time in the planning process:

1. Buy what's on sale, but shop at home first: This means you're planning menus for what's in the freezer, not what's on the front page of the ads. This means you can still buy what's on sale, but also have your meal plan ready and waiting. If this isn't your thing, you can find the Sunday ads at least a few days ahead of time in some online forums.

2. Plan out breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for every day of the week and write it down. This trick in particular has helped me avoid buying prepackaged foods unless they are practically free, of course.

3. Shop at Aldi for the basics. I have become reliant upon Aldi's .99 wheat bread, yogurt tubes that the girls love, honey very cheap to use in recipes, and all other baking needs as well as canned fruit. And do not get me started on the chocolate yogurt covered raisins that the girls request after every. single. nap. If you didn't know this already, Aldi is actually owned by the same company that owns Trader Joes.

4. Feed the kids when they are very hungry. I fail at this at least twice a week, but I have come to realize that when Liana is starving she will eat things she won't even look at on other days (ie: pasta). Jadyn, the better eater, is more likely to eat meat when she is hungry, too.

5. Avoid making meals just for them. Breakfast is easy (most of the time), lunch is still hard for us so I just eat what I serve them. But, dinner is becoming more and more tolerable. They are close to eating what we give them so long as it's not a casserole of any sort. They might have a bite or two, but they aren't interested in those mixed-up foods. They like a meat, a veggie, a grain/starch and a fruit all separate.

6. Cut out meat. We are not vegetarians, but I want to be. I am just not a diverse veggie eater, though, so I struggle with meat-free recipes. Still, we eat meatless at least three times a week right now. Sometimes more. When only buy meat on sale. At my stores, the same meats go on sale in rotation. I know to have recipes for the following: ground turkey, chicken breasts or drumsticks, and ground beef.

Here are two toddler-friendly recipes that have yet to be pushed away from the table, at our house. They happen to be fairly low-budget as well.

Dump Chicken: I cut these up, but they have enjoyed eating them off the bone. I worry too much, though.

Italian Meatloaf: This is from Deceptively Delicious, which I borrowed from a fellow mom. I have never seen Jadyn eat this well before or since. This was a big hit with us adults, too. This gave us at least another day or two of leftovers. Oh, and I didn't puree anything for this. I just grate the vegetables into it.

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