As a mom of two toddlers, I’ve had my fair share of mealtime tears. I like cooking meals from my cheap meals for large families post, but sometimes kids won’t touch things like “Moroccan sweet potato and lentil soup.” Heck, sometimes they seem to survive on goldfish and strawberries.
Trying to cook multiple meals for different family members would get expensive, however. And since this site is all about how to save more money on your groceries (which means we hardly ever eat out and use a price book to cut costs on food) I had to create a newer, kid-friendlier list of options.
So here it is! My curated list of cheap meals for picky eaters to turn to when you (or I) need a quick dish that everyone will eat.
Kid-Friendly Charcuterie
What’s easier for picky eaters than a smorgasbord of bite-sized snacks? This “recipe” has a few dozen ideas for what to put on a platter, but you can obviously add others. I like serving mine in little cupcake trays, for the kids who “don’t like foods touching.”
When I offered my 3-year-old one of these yesterday, she actually shoved aside her bowl of ice cream in favor of investigating!
Baked Potato Bar
Following with the ‘plate it yourself’ dinner theme, baked potato bars also offer lots of customization. When everyone can make dinner exactly the way they want it, no one has anything to complain about! (Except toddlers. Somehow, they’ll still find something.)
Smoothies
Smoothies are yet another way of letting kids make choices about their food. You might try one of the “hidden veggie” recipes like the Pink Smoothie (which has beets in addition to strawberries & bananas). Or, you might stick to something more familiar, like Apple Pie smoothies or Chocolate Peanut Butter from the link above.
DIY Pasta with Mix–Ins
You can change the type of pasta (elbow? bowtie? shells?), the sauce (alfredo? pesto? marinara?), and definitely the mixed-in ingredients. You can add nearly any kind of meat or veggie leftovers from the fridge, or you can plan ahead to include something.
This also works well as yet another buffet-style meal, where you make the pasta and everyone adds their own sauces and toppings themselves.
Homemade Hamburger Helper
Any kid who’s become accustomed to the boxed version is still sure to like this homemade alternative. It’s got veggies, real ingredients, and it’s done in about 30 minutes! Pro tip: you can make a double batch of this and freeze half for dinner on next week’s busiest night.
Rice & Bean Nachos
Just whip up a batch of your favorite rice & bean recipe (or use the Spanish Rice recipe linked above), then serve a bowl to your kid with a plate full of tortilla chips. They can either use the rice & beans as a dip and scoop up their dinner, or layer it over the chips with some cheddar cheese and make microwave nachos!
Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese
What kid doesn’t like a meal with nearly required playtime? Grilled cheese sandwiches are just MEANT to be dunked and swirled around this creamy tomato soup, which you can make with a bucket of garden-fresh tomatoes or a can of diced. 20 minutes later, and dinner is ready!
Pretzel Dogs
If your kids want to try an at-home science experiment they can eat, this is a winner. Not only do they get to see yeast in action, but then you add some baking soda to boiling water to quick cook the pretzels! And of course, there aren’t many cheap meals for picky eaters that cost less than this.
Cowboy Casserole
This dish is sometimes called “Hungry Jack casserole” or simply a beef and biscuit casserole, but it all means the same thing: an easy, one pot dish that kids will love. Some kids might even enjoy helping you layer the biscuits dough over the beef mix, or make a pattern with the topping.
Ham & Cheese Quiche
Or as we call it in our house, “eggie pie.” Quiche is a very forgiving meal that is great for using up bits of leftover meats and veggies, which also brings the cost down even more. Feel free to add bacon if it might tempt your picky eater even more!
Chili
If your child primarily is picky about foods that touch, this one will strike out. But if your kid mostly just wants to eat familiar foods, you probably can’t go wrong with pasta sauce, ground beef, and beans! Plus, I’ve found my kids seem to PREFER spicy foods, which blows my plain-jane mind.
Lunch on a Stick
Sometimes, all kids need is a bit of novelty to get them out of a food funk. This lunchbox favorite can also become dinner, of course, but shines as a kid’s cold lunch. Simply skewer their favorite breads, cheeses, meats, fruits, or vegetables, and voila!
Taco Supper Skillet
Does your kid only eat tacos or pasta? Guess what? You can get them to eat a third meal by combining the two into this one-pot meal!
Shredded Beef Hoagies
This is a super simple slow cooker meal perfect for busy weeknights. Just cook down a chuck roast low and slow for 9-10 hours, then shred and add to sandwiches with cheese. If you’d rather, you can use the shredded meat to top a plate of rice, mashed potatoes, or noodles.
Veggie Fritters
I make these when I have too much zucchini from my garden, but you can whip up a batch whenever! Kids love these because they’re perfectly dip-able into ranch, sour cream, or their favorite condiment.
Pro-tip: If you freeze the shredded zucchini and then thaw to use, it gets out much more moisture, leading to much crisper fritters.
Chicken Stir Fry
Here’s another very forgiving meal, where you can add or subtract different kinds of vegetables as your child desires. You also can hold off on the final step (adding the sauce) and simply drizzle some on the portions of non-picky eaters at the table.
Oatmeal with Toppings
Here are four different recipes for overnight steel-cut oats, one of the kings of frugal breakfasts. You can have your child help you add the fruits, sweeteners, and nut butters the night before, and have them wake up to a delicious, creamy treat in the morning. This might be a way to get kids who don’t like hot, mushy oatmeal to still enjoy oats.
Ham & Cheese Rolls
For kids who like sandwiches, this adds another layer (literally). All you need is refrigerated pizza dough, ham, cheese, and the ingredients for the honey mustard glaze. Dinner’s on the table in about an hour!
Chicken & Noodles Skillet
Some kids love chicken pot pie, except for the crusts. Here’s the solution! This one-pot (err, one-skillet) meal has all the ingredients of chicken pot pie, but with no-yolk noodles instead. It’s delicious, creamy, and packed with veggies.
Pork Chops & Apples
It’s amazing how a little cinnamon and brown sugar can transform any meal into one most picky eaters will devour. This recipe calls for layering sliced apples and pork chops in a casserole dish, and baking til perfection. (Let me know when you’re making this one – my kids and I will be over in an hour.)
Homemade Pizza
You can, of course, buy store-bought dough (and God knows I end up doing that most of the time). But if you’ve got an extra hour to let some dough rise, you KNOW it’s going to taste way better. What’s more, lots of kids love helping with “projects” in the kitchen, and making pizza dough is a really simple and low-stakes way to let them help. Once it’s done, they can help with cheese and toppings, too. Who knows? Maybe you could start a family tradition to make homemade pizza after a hard day and use the toppings to make a smiley face out of pizza.
Shepherd’s Pie
This homestyle favorite is perfect for the picky eater who only sticks to potato-based foods. (Aka the forgotten food group: fries, tater tots, mashed potatoes, etc.) Plus, it keeps things really basic with a bag of frozen veggies to save you from another hour of veg prep.
Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
My sister, mother of three under three, is the one who taught me about this cheap meal for her picky eaters. Who knew you could hide so much vegetable in a dish like mac & cheese? But you can! This recipe contains a whole pound of purred butternut squash that’s hardly detectable under all the gooey cheese.
Pro-tip: if your kid likes things slightly sweeter, try roasting the squash instead of sautéing it before blending.
Veggie Quesadillas
Plenty of kids will eat plain cheese quesadillas, but you can still keep things cheap and add some fresh veg. This recipe calls for chopped broccoli to make a broccoli and cheddar quesadilla, but you could substitute for diced peppers, onion, cauliflower, corn, black beans, or whatever you think they’d eat. Plus, there’s a bonus recipe for a spicy pico de Gallo for the grown ups who don’t want to keep things as plain.
Make Your Own Tacos
If you’re trying to feed a crowd which includes some picky eaters, something like a taco bar is perfect. You can even customize this to be a simple weeknight dinner too, by just not offering as many options.
The recipe above offers a few dozen ideas for meat and proteins, toppings, shells, side dishes, and more. Time to get creative in the kitchen!
Final Tips for Getting Picky Eaters to Eat
At the end of the day, food is a very personal thing, and many of us have complicated relationships with food ourselves. Here are a few tips for helping make mealtime an enjoyable, stress-free time:
- Have them cook with you.
- Let them make some choices. (Bowties or elbows? Alfredo sauce or marinara?)
- Grow fruits and veggies and let them help plant, care for, and harvest them.
- Change the name. (Dino trees instead of broccoli, fancy eggs instead of poached, etc.)
- Play games! (Who can find the crunchiest food, who can describe the taste in the funniest way, etc.)
- Try something new yourself, and model the process while talking out loud.
I hope one of these cheap meals for your picky eater will spark an idea for dinner this week! If you’d like to see more posts about affordable food or parenting on a budget, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter below!
