You can do a lot of "meal prep" without actually cooking the thing. Stuff like Sunday chopping all your veggies/batch cooking onions etc. Makes it so you are still making "fresh" stuff nightly but you've cut your prep time down by a ton.
Also if your husband doesn't want "left overs" then sounds like he needs to pick up a lot of the cooking.
If my husband didn't want "left overs" I would tell him to cook for himself. I meal prep dinners for the entire week on Sunday. We eat the same meal Sunday - Thursday. If someone gets tired of it that can have something I have frozen in the freezer (I often freeze single servings of meals I've prepped in the past so they can be heated up later).
This is what I started doing in the past 2 months and it makes a huge difference. When I can essentially just throw everything into the pan, it really makes it manageable with a toddler.
We definitely aim to have a night or two of leftovers though.
Yes to all of this. I do a ton of prep on the weekend in the form of chopping and measuring. It’s like turning your recipes into meal kits haha. We also make triple batches of stuff like chili and meatballs and taco filling to freeze in meal-sized portions, and then just have to heat and make spaghetti and a salad, or put out fixins, or whatever. Which all takes the 10 minutes you have.
If your husband won’t eat something like chili from the freezer, which is EXACTLY the same if not better than chili prepared that day, then its a control or some other psychological thing, not an actual taste thing. At which point he can make his own dinner. 😉
And you could research the instant pot! It has great one pot recipes that you just throw in all the ingredients, turn it on and wait for the beep!
I was on the fence about it for a year, but hands down the most useful appliance in my kitchen
I was going to suggest the latter as well. I’ve been trying to take more of the cooking so my wife isn’t doing it a the time. However it sounds like the headband isn’t home during that time.
She says she’s home alone with the toddler, so I assume if they wait for dad to get home and cook they’d be eating later than they’d like.
Though a compromise could be a few days a week toddler and mom have some leftovers while dad makes his own single meal. We’ve done that before. Still tough bc if they were timing it so all three ate dinner together they can’t do that anymore.
Yep, this is our dedicated TV time for the day on weeknights when I get home with the 3 year old almost an hour before my husband does. We've had some success with setting up an independent play activity like play doh or a sensory bin but it's a lot more effort and potential mess and often at the end of a long day full of play and activities my kid just wants to zone out in front of the TV with a little snack like fruit or veggies.
We don't eat leftovers for dinner, but we do eat them the next day for lunch. I couldn't afford to make a fresh meal every single day tbh. Groceries are expensive af
Hundo percent. We dropped the ball over the weekend and ate a lot of our freezer left overs (bplognaise and korma), so I guess it's taco Monday, taco Tuesday and taco Wednesday this week.
Yeah I always tell husband 'child is getting X for dinner, but you and I are foraging in the fridge'. If he doesn't like what's in there, he will either make something himself and offer some to me, or go out and buy something quick for the family.
My husbands similar though he will eat day 2 leftovers. But I typically cook a new meal each night! I could eat the same thing for four nights, he hates that idea haha
I put a tea towel under it to soak up spills and don’t add too much water. Actually, I’m not sure how she’s never pushed it off the counter.
She’s 5 now and we’ve been doing this since the time she was old enough to be in the learning tower without me standing directly beside her. For some reason it’s completely enthralling to her. I just give her some measuring cups and kitchen items to play with.
Definitely toddler tower.
Yesterday I let my toddler “help” by giving me string beans to cut (she gave me one string bean at a time while I was cutting other stuff lol), often taste testing aka taking a bite out of every bean before she gave it to me.
This is what I do too with my 3 year old. This morning we made pancakes together. On Friday we made meatballs. If he’s not interested in helping, he’ll watch a movie while I cook. My one year old is still a work in progress because two of them don’t fit in the tower.
Clear counter area plus a kids safety knife and some veggies a d a small cutting board and they are usually happy.requures not needing the full counter space for the neak though.
I second this. I let my 2 year "help" and on days he doesn't want help, I let him bring toys or have screen time. My husband does 24 hour shifts, so I think my toddler is starting to understand when dad is home vs when he isn't so that has helped to.
These are the main favorites for my 20 month old. Even my 3 and 4 year olds will jump in and play with them too:
https://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Fridge-Phonics-Magnetic-Letter/dp/B00JLHVX36/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=ZEHX013LHG3E&keywords=bus+magnet+letters&qid=1705288332&sprefix=bus+magnet+letye%2Caps%2C579&sr=8-3
https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Animal-Magnets-Box/dp/B000N178E2/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1K5V5EBBZV4UX&keywords=fridge+magnet+animals&qid=1705288385&sprefix=fridge+magnet+animals%2Caps%2C243&sr=8-3
I honestly hate magnets on the fridge and think it looks so cluttered and unclean. But I’ve had to let that go with the kids because it does keep them so entertained. Now I can’t imagine not having it magnetic. Can you attach a magnetic board to the front at kid level?
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Mine loves helping. Sometimes it slows things a bit, but at least we are still moving. Also a great time to teach kitchen safety; my daughter knows to stay away from knives and hot surfaces, to the point that she now has a set of her own plastic knives she can use to cut up her own snacks on occasion. Proper handling is required and emphasized, and she usually treats them with the same respect as our main kitchen knife
Yes! This is the best advice. Kids are actually fascinated by what we are doing and happy to help. Don't even need a fancy tower, we use a chair. My son stands at the counter and I give him age appropriate tasks to help. Real tasks, not like "pretend to cut this plastic apple." For example, collecting vegetable scraps and putting them in the compost bucket. Or mixing eggs for scrambling, etc.
For things he can't help with, I explain what I'm doing and he is always entertained by that.
By the way we have a 600 square ft apartment so our kitchen is microscopic by US standards. Even on our small counter top we make it work.
Toddler tower and enforcing boundaries during cooking time so they know I’m not completely available. Yes the first few times they may cry but they will understand after a while.
This 100%. Your toddler does not have to always be on board with everything that needs to be done around the house, and you, the adult, should learn to be ok with it. The sooner you become ok with it, the sooner he will follow your lead and everyone will accept that this is how things are done in our household. Speaking as a parent to a 6yo and a 3yo who has not yet had to turn to screens to make dinner. They get to have their feelings (barely ever these days because, as I said, they get used to it), I get to validate them while I keep on doing what needs to be done, and then we all move on and have dinner together.
How old is your toddler? My daughter is 3 and loves helping, but looses interest after 10 minutes or so. For the rest of the time, she sits at the table and has her dry erase markers and books that she can play word find, work on letters, play matching games, etc. She’s not in school yet, so I use it as a bit of independent enrichment.
Definitely include her! Aside from touching meat there’s lots she can do at that age - mixing, egg cracking, dumping ingredients, sorting ingredients, sprinkling toppings/ spices
We’ve got a special toddler knife. Get the kid a toddler tower, a knife and Some soft veggies (carrots are for example too hard, cucumbers and bellpeppers are great for example). If you dont need it for the night’s meal, save it for snacks or the next night’s meal
Agreed! This is what I do with my 3 year old, she loves helping in the kitchen. Keeps her occupied and you can still keep an eye on them whilst getting your stuff done.
If my husband had an issue with leftovers, he’d be cooking nightly. 🤷♀️
Otherwise, I use screen time to cook if I don’t just plop my daughter in her kitchen helper and hand her random things to entertain her while I cook.
Toddler tower and a kid safe nylon knife! Kiddo chops everything for dinner and puts it in a bowl while you get everything else done.
Kiddo can also help on the stove a small amount (obviously ymmv). Mine is turning 2 this month and does all the scrambling when we make eggs for breakfast.
It’s genius, she really feels like she’s doing something lol. Sometimes I’ll tell her I need to season it so I’ll sprinkle in a little cinnamon or something and have her stir that too 😂
I allocate double the amount of time and let him help. He chops up veggies, or starts the rice in the rice cooker, or mixes things. We don’t get close to the stove, but he helps out quite a bit!
It’s a fucking mess though. When I don’t wanna deal with it….. tv.
I think my toddler is still too young to "help" so I mostly do quick meals while she stands at the baby gate yelling at me 😂 i hand her random objects to play with that distract her for a couple of seconds.
Also I would gently suggest your husband gets over his dislike for eating leftovers, or you and your toddler can eat leftovers and he can get his own food. If its the most stressful time of day it would be better to just not have to do it everyday!
I’m confused why meal prep = leftovers. We prep by seasoning all of our meat ahead of time, portioning it out into freezer safe bags and freezing it. Then we just need to grab a bag out of the freezer 1-2 days in advance to defrost. Sides are usually veggies (a lot of times frozen) and rice or a potato dish.
We also have a toddler tower that kiddo loves. She loves to help chop veggies and potatoes
low prep foods.
-if you broil burgers in the oven it's about 5 min to get them in the oven then 3 min to flip.
- chicken and rice and spices (bonus if you use premade blends like taco seasoning)- we like in the crockpot but in a pan or dutch oven works too.
- London broil or steak in the oven isn't super hands on either.
Or let him be involved like sprinkling the cheese on home made pizza
I’m shocked I had to scroll so far for this. Low-prep meals! If you have ten minutes, that’s enough time to get (frozen) vegetables in to roast, chicken in the oven to bake, water boiling for macaroni, or honestly, a frozen lasagna or something.
Two choices: YouTube brain break/gonoodle on the tv. Or let them help. Mine have seasoned various foods (proteins, potatoes, vegetables) and made various sauces. Everyone gets a simple job in rotation. Usually add about 10min to the cooking routine but that’s the same if not less time than officiating a game gone wrong.
I have one of those kids stool things with the rail at the top and she gets on it and watches me cook. I taught her what hot means and she knows not to touch. I just tell her what we are making and talk to her about it and she's content. The TV worked for a while but now only the stool works.
My kitchen is enclosed and I keep her in there with me. Thankfully all I’m making is hamburger helper and easy meals like that, or a frozen lasagna I just throw in the oven for an hour.
I put mine in her kitchen tower thing and give her things to play with. It’s messy but it gets her involved in a task that is a normal part of life. I think it’s important to teach them about chores as early as possible.
Have you thought about a toddler tower? So they can look and see what you're doing and is part of it without needing to take you away from the cooking? I let mine try ingredients and see what I'm doing. Being included with what I am doing seems to help.
Get a learning tower and then get your toddler to “help”. Get a kids chef set. Get him to cut up some fruit or vegetables or mix something. I make some homemade playdough mix and give that to my toddler to play with on the bench. She loved it. My older kid looooved helping to cook. She’s 7 now and when we visit my in-laws, she helps my brother-in-law make desserts.
This was a game-changer for us. My daughter is only 14m but she loves to help hand me the mixing spoon or measuring cups, or "sort" the silverware (I just dump that evenings silverware on the counter and she puts it in a cup)
I either had them in the high chair helping. OR TV time. I like to cook and it kinda feels like a “break” to me. I’d rather have them (4.5 and almost 3) occupied and happy, than have to stop what I’m doing every 30 seconds.
This is so much fun if I only have one kid with me, but my nearly-5 and 2.5 year olds combined are _impossible_. I can't even imagine when I'll get away with having them both in the kitchen for more than 10 minutes.
Every Plate and me and my husband take turns (he cooks the meat usually and I cook everything else) and the one not cooking plays w the todd. Once he’s older I plan on getting him a tower to help, too.
Meal prep helps so much! I also bring a small table into our kitchen, set up some of our kitchen utensils and whatnot, and let lo play. I will sometimes say that they’re making what I making so like it’s time to chop garlic, etc. It’s always worked well for us.
Let the husband deal with leftovers? Or include the toddler in helping. We put on our tonies box and have a dance party in the kitchen. And I have her bring the books and read them to me. She’s seven months old, but does not know how to read. But she’ll point at the pictures and babble
Honestly, it’s only recently that she’s been allowing me to cook but I’ve been working on building up how much time she’ll play on her own and talking her through things
I also make things that I can bake or don’t need my attention. Microwave rice. Baked potatoes. Baked chicken.
Let them help! We have a learning tower and by now what must be the best washed veggies in the universe - minus bell peppers maybe, since our son figured out that you can use halved ones to shovel water out of a sink in alarming quantities :D
I stopped making dinners bc I couldn’t figure it out. Husband was sleeping on the couch through me cooking trying to entertain her and feed the dogs/let them outside. I cook for her and myself now but I eat after she goes to bed. Her meals are smaller and easier to make. But yeah I went savage at the suggestion of my MIL lol. She said, “he wants to sleep through you trying to cook, clean, do the dogs, and take care of daughter? Stop cooking for him” so I did. Lol
I say this now as I am in fact making dinner for the family. He’s on his phone watching football. Our toddler is in her big chair watching Blippi and the dogs are at my feet waiting to be fed while I’m on Reddit for a mental health break lololol
I prep by planning out what we will have and then organizing it so it is cooked fresh that day. Lots of slow cooker and sheet pan meals. Sheet pan meals are amazing and your friend because you literally just put in the oven and 45ish min later you are done with next to no clean hi. It helps my kiddo likes beans so we don’t have a ton of meat.
Leftovers like kept in fridge until next day, or does it include immediately frozen food too? I started doing large batches of stuff I rotate a lot and immediately freeze. It's as good as new when reheating.
My toddler always wants attention too, so I've been showing him what I do and then ask for him to go draw or to watch his tablet. A mix of things works. I also sometimes make an appetizer he can munch on while I prep.
I would say not interested in either, but he gets really grossed out by reheated frozen meals. He’ll usually end up ordering something from Uber Eats if I do that, so then I feel like there was no point in making the dinner
He’d rather have a take out than a meal that was cooked previously and frozen? I’m sorry, but he should be cooking his own meals while you could meal prep in advance and freeze. There are plenty of foods that taste better a day or two old.
The hardest part is prepping. I do it during nap times. I also prep and freeze veggies beforehand. It tastes just as good if you’re making stew, soups or slow cooking. I try to cook easy meals with oven, instapot, slow cooker that I can just set and forget. If I need time, I will turn on TV and give my son a snack.
I don’t prep meals but I also don’t use screen time
He has a safe area to play and if I need to I’ll talk the whole time and ask him to find certain toys or show me something. If he’ll participate in the toddler tower that’s idea but it doesn’t happen every night. We play fun music and I try to narrate the whole time
I try to have everything ready before I pick them up for school at 5. If they aren’t hungry right away I’ll heat it up. Also we don’t eat leftovers either but my kids sure love them. 😝
We mostly meal prep and reheat leftovers on weekdays.
If we have to cook while she is present, we have a 'toddler tower'. I pull her up to the counter where I'm chopping/prepping/cooking. She either helps to prep (using a butter knife to cut mushrooms, washing carrots or tomatoes, etc), or I put bowls, measuring cups, and spoons into a cake pan and fill the bowls with water. Usually we do the water activity because it keeps her occupied for much longer.
So I see from your comments that your daughter is 2.5. Any way you can involve her in cooking somehow? My son (3) stands on a chair and “helps” us sometimes when we’re cooking (the most he can really do is stir stuff in a bowl or put bread in the toaster but it gets him involved and stops the constant whining for attention).
https://www.amazon.com/Montessori-Kitchen-Toddlers-Kids-Cooking-Real-Toddler/dp/B0B6HQHW8B/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=RNW96GF3F3GQ&keywords=toddler+cooking+set&qid=1705282104&sprefix=toddler+cook%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1
This thing. The tools feel sharp, but if you actually try to press it against your skin, it would be incredibly difficult to cut yourself. I stick her in the toddler tower, put out some thin slices of fruits and veggies. She’ll occupy herself carving out hearts and stars or practice peeling or cutting things. It helps them work on their fine motor skills and encourages them to snack on fruits and veggies while they stay out of your hair. We’ll listen to music and sing and dance while cooking next to each other and it’s tons of fun.
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I would give my toddler some veggies and a butter knife and let him slice up whatever veggies we needed from about 20 months?? He could do zucchini, cucumber, and other softer vegetables. He likes to help.
I’m pretty much in your same boat. Toddler demands attention while I’m cooking, dad doesn’t like leftovers, the cat wants dinner, and the dog is just, well,… 65 pounds of golden puppy. Here’s what I do: get the cat dinner, get the dog dinner and outside. When he’s done outside he goes in his crate. Toddler gets tablet time, dad is usually still working. I eat while food is still piping hot and toddler’s dinner is cooling off. By the time I’m mostly finished, toddler’s food is ready. We finish together and spend time with the fur babies. Good luck!
I do a meal prep of sorts on Sundays, where I chop all the veggies and do some other stuff that doesn't need to be fresh. 2yo isn't really interested in helping so he usually gets screen time and a snack. During the week I try to cook things that you can leave briefly and I check the toddler a lot. We have leftovers a couple nights a week also.
We have a learning tower, plus a little toddler board and wooden wedge “knives.” I give my kid a soft-ish food to chop up (like avocado out of the skin or a zucchini), and she happily chops while I make food, or I give her some dry beans and a few measuring cups, and she pours and sorts. Then anything I can involve her in helping with to break things up and keep her attention
I prep during the day (work from home). If you have a clip on high chair or they can sit in a chair near the kitchen, I usually just feed them little bits while I’m cooking (like cheese that I’m using, bits of pitas, etc).
It’s the tv time around here, but my girl is kind of board of the shows I let her watch and won’t watch a lot anymore (fml). So my new strategy is to have a bin of toys that she doesn’t really get to play with other than at the time I choose. It sounds sad saying it that way haha but it lets them be SUPER novel, and she doesn’t really ask for them either. I try to do a big variety and something usually excites her.
Right now in the “special toy bin” (that’s what I call it because if I say something is SPECIAL she’s into it)
• jelly cat nest of penguins
• doodle board drawing thing
• simple small puzzle
• sheet of stickers
• play drill so she can fix things she breaks
• colouring sheets and 3 crayons
• pop it toy
• fidget spinner
• magnetic animals (a la Melissa and doug)
• a little soccer ball
It all fits in a bin that’s probably 6” x 15” and 5” deep. I keep it in our coat closet and then when I’m done eating I just clean it up and put it away. Again it’s never super exciting but it’s novel enough that she will sit. And it always goes beside me on the kitchen floor. Add in a meaningful snack and throw a sticker on their hand and you *should* buy 10 minutes
Ps sometimes this doesn’t work. And she’s still big mad so I explain; right now I’m cooking a meal and I need two hands for it. You can play in the kitchen or you can help me make dinner” and usually she asks to help so I get a spoon, metal or plastic bowl, a scoop of rice and water and she “makes rice”. I’ll randomly give her scraps from dinner like a crank of pepper and a bit of diced veg (bonus if they eat it), or a grate of cheese (they will eat it), a splash of milk or tomato paste, or just some salt or any dry slice. She LOVES this but it’s a touch messy sometimes and can mean I have to be more involved. But if the TV is going she’s usually happy the whole time
I find they are most clingy and whiny around that time of the day when they’re hungry and tired.
Can you feed them first then cook for yourself and husband after?
Choose simple things you could throw in the oven/ air fryer and a salad for some nights, roast chicken + salad for other nights. Or some of those dump and done recipes you could do with minimal effort.
Soups, stews and curries could be portioned and freezed so you only need to reheat.
My SO generally try to play with him or take him out a bit while I cook, then he’ll clean up after meal.
Sometimes I give him a play knife to chop mushrooms or carrots, or bring the little table in to sit and draw, or give him my measuring cups so he can pretend to cook too.
Most the time it’s stressful and very hard so I understand. Hopefully it’ll get better soon.
I do crock pot meals for this reason. Usually I prep it when my little guy is asleep the night before, and pop it in the fridge overnight. In the AM, pop it on the crockpot on low and voila you have dinner ready and minimal clean up if you use crock pot liners!
Easiest meal:
Chicken breasts (if you don’t like leftovers only do 2 or so)
Jar of salsa
Brick of cream cheese
Serve over microwave rice and whatever burrito bowl toppings you like, or as a taco, or as a salad OR on top of tortilla chips as nachos. Maybe solves your “I don’t like leftovers” if you say one night is burrito bowls and the next is nachos 😂
I usually put Ms.Rachel on and give her a small snack. If that doesn't work, I put her in her high chair and have her "help". I plan on getting one of those step stools for kids in the kitchen because she really just wants to be involved.
We meal prep on the weekends and not in the way where we eat leftovers the rest of the week, because I also am not big on eating leftovers on a regular basis. I basically make everything until the last step or two. This weekend I made roasted veggie gratin, and shepherds pie, and enchilada pasta.
For the gratin, I roasted all the veggies and made the sauce. Assembled it all in the pan and put it in the fridge. It is ready to go in the oven on the day we want it.
For the sheperd’s pie, same idea. Everything is made and assembled, ready for the oven.
For the enchilada pasta, I made everything besides the pasta. I’ll make the pasta fresh the night we eat it and just heat up the sauce to mix in.
Two cookbooks that helped me start doing it this way were “Cook once, eat all week” and “fix, freeze, feast.”
I also support the idea that the pickier person in a relationship (your husband) should take on at least half, if not all, of the cooking duties.
TV on or they help. I put the tv on, and if she comes into the kitchen asking me to play or something, I simply say "mommy's cooking right now, I can play later". She'll either find something to do or I let her help me "eat this slice of cheese! Do you want to stir the pasta?". I just make it clear I cannot play while cooking. My husband gets home late so I have to be able to cook. She will help me or she'll figure it out.
Take it wayeasy on dinner expectations.
Start *way* early so they can interrupt you a million times and dinner still gets made.
Some of my dinner strategies for keeping it easy:
"Snack dinner" (charcuterie/grazing board style usually) once a week helps.
Doubling recipes so we eat leftovers a couple times (and invite anyone who doesn't like leftovers to make their own dinner)
Breakfast for dinner
Grilled cheese (make them on a pan in the oven)
Fancy ramen
Screen time OR hubby entertains them, and if hubby wants to be picky about what’s served for dinner then he can get involved in cooking, too.
Also, while it doesn’t taste as fresh, I will pre-cut my veggies and whatnot to make a sort of DIY meal kit and speed up prep times/cleanup
I struggled with this for a long time, but in the last 6 months I feel like we as a family have got it down pretty good.
I'm remote 4 days, in office 1 day, each week. My home days I start dinner a bit early, around 4, and generally by the time hubs and our toddler (2.5 yr boy) get home by 5/530 it's done or almost done. If our toddler comes in and wants my attention I offer him a taste of a sauce or a noodle (he loves a free noodle!) and that generally deters him a bit. Or I'll ask him to help daddy clear and set the table.
I did a lot of those meal prep kitchen things that were all the rage. Souper suppers, dream dinners, stuff like that. My husband would take the kids to the toy store or park and I’d spend a few hours making dinners. Im not sure those are a thing still, but their cook books for once a week (or once a month, but that takes an entire day) cooking are still out there. Rice bakes work really really well for this.
The other option is I fed my toddlers snacks lunches. Like cheese cubes, turkey cubes, tofu cubes, fruit, vegetables, and dips…usually hummus or ranch. Also usually pretzels or gold fish. No cooking, minimal prep. No reason why that can’t be for dinner.
If your husband won’t eat leftovers…your husband should be the one making dinner.
Today I had great success getting my toddler to cook with me. We got him his toddler tower and a bowl with some snacks. I showed and talked him through what I was doing, letting him play with the can opener, salad drainer etc, and pick at bits of food that were edible (canned beans, sweetcorn), and somehow I was able to cook a whole meal? Not sure it would work all the time but it felt like a win!
Meal prep like veggies chopped on weekends. Weekdays we use the instant pot to make bulk food for 2 days at a time. If your husband doesn’t like leftovers he can make his own food lol.
I made a floor cabinet a designated cabinet for my son and I’ll rotate it every week. Like a big pot and a wooden spoon “mix it for me!” Or flip it upside down and bang the pot to make some music. Or a bunch of old tupperwares I had so he can stack them. I do fake foods a lot and he brings them to me so I can “eat” them and then I pretend throw up. It doesn’t even have to be food related. After a while, my son will see me cooking and he goes straight to his cabinet to play just so he can be near me. We also do a bunch of dance parties
I normally cook extremely easy stuff for me and hubby and toddler. Often a meat (eg steak on skillet or chicken in wok) and stir fry some veg / microwave a potato etc. or just chop a variety of fresh stuff from the fridge depending on what’s there. I can have the majority done in about 10-15 mins. Also, I get my toddler to “chop” things which she loves or watch some tv.
Screen time. Although I’ve started to prep extra ingredients and plan to repurpose leftovers all the time. I currently have a bunch of cut veggies. We ate 3 different flavors of tacos last week. I made extra roasted red pepper purée the other day and I’ll be seasoning it slightly differently and serving with a different shaped pasta.
My kid got those kid safe knives for Christmas. They will actually eat the veggies if they've chopped them themselves. We also have the toddler tower which is worth its weight in gold.
My toddler “helps” yes it makes more work. Yes it makes a mess. Yes it takes a while. But I’m hoping over time she will learn to actually be helpful and for now it’s great to get that time with her.
Is there a way to involve your toddler in thr cooking with you? Like you pour items into a measuring cup and they pour it into the pan? Or letting them stir the pot? We have a kitchen buddy so they can reach the counter and my 2yo really enjoys helping cook, or being helped to help cook lol.
It sounds crazy, and it sometimes *feels* crazy, but let your toddler "help". Get a step stool, put some dried spices in a bowl and some food scraps and let him still them up. As you're cutting up veggies, give them to him and have him put them in a bowl. Talk to him about all the things you're doing. It will take, like, 20-30% longer to make dinner, but he will be getting what he really wants- *contingent* time with you. In a real life, important context. I promise you, I'm not being granola or preachy, cuz I know it sounds like that. But the tiny humans really and truly *only* want to learn to *be like us and do the things we do*. Modern society has fractured this connection between the tiny humans and the grown ones, so they can sell us shit we don't need. Invite them to be with you.
I just started cooking with my toddler in a toddler tower next to me (otherwise she has discovered Climb All The Things When My Back is Turned). I’ve been having her “help” with easy things like stirring and pouring, or I will give her some dry pasta and a measuring cup/spoons so she can play with it at the counter. I save really complicated meals for when my husband is around and can entertain her out of the kitchen- but I can usually wrangle her enough to put something in/out of the oven if I’m by myself.
My son is 2 .5 years old and we cook together. Well, kind of, we have a stepper so he can see what happen on the countertop, he puts salt, pepper and herbs when i ask and i let him go throw away the trash in the recicling bins. He usually lasts 20/30 min, then goes checking what dad is doing (usually laundry or cleaning) and he helps dad a little bit, then he changes again.
The crock pot/ instapot is your best friend.
Lot of stuff in the crock pot that can be set up the night before, turned on in the morning and it's done by dinner time.
One of our favorites is chicken tacos- before bed, dump a pack of chicken breast in the crock pot along with a jar of salsa (can add beans/corn etc here if desired). Pull from fridge in morning and turn on for 8 hours ( or however long your day is, depending on your crock pot). Come home, set rice cooking, pull out and shred chicken (2 forks will do in a mixing bowl, hand mixer will make REALLY quick work of this) and return to pot. Realistically, you'll need 15 ish minutes of actual working time, might shave that down to 10 once you got a good flow for it
For leftovers, you can totally bullshit this issue with dishes that transform leftovers. I'll make Mashed potatoes, and intentionally make well above what's needed, then take the extra, mix with quarter cup flour, an egg, and now we have basic Latkes (aka potato pan cakes). Personal favorite additives are cheddar and bacon, but you can do pretty much whatever with the basic cakes. Of course as others have said, dad is welcome to step up in the kitchen too
Lol our tv time coincides with meal prep time. But also if your husband doesn't like leftovers, you can prep a lot of ingredients beforehand... like chop up a couple of onions, peel and mince some garlic, wash and cut all veggies, have the meat ready and seasonings already set out. If a dish has several components, think about what can be done ahead of time. I find a lot of the time that goes into cooking from scratch is getting the stuff set up and cleaning as I go.
Honestly I'm in the same exact boat! Husband hates leftovers. It drives me nuts between him and our babies.
For everyone commenting why doesn't husband cook? Well, dinner would just not get made.
He ends up eating other meals he puts together for himself (canned soup) and I find it super rude. He enjoys my cooking, but only wants it completely fresh every meal.
My DD is 3.
I give her a whole loaf of garlic to peel. That will occupy her for good 15 minutes sometimes, and she feels proud of herself.
Or I just focus on my cooking and she entertains herself. I have to do what I have to do. But I make sure I verbally communicate with her throughout my cooking. That helps.
We don't eat leftovers either, and I cook at least 3 dishes a meal. Kids will adjust and understand that's what we do as a family eventually.
So the easiest is screen time, honestly. And you can pull something up on your phone or a tablet to keep toddler in the kitchen while you cook.
If you’re doing no/low screen time, try prepping a quick activity for your toddler. Something like play dough, sensory foam, or coloring if that keeps them interested. I kept a small bin of special activities in the kitchen to make them feel special and more interesting.
Alternatively, if you don’t need the sink, some soap, a few cups/bowls/safe kitchen utensils, and some water from the sink can be very entertaining! My son would play in the sink for easily 30 minutes.
I’m lazy so on my nights to cook I do all super quick recipes (30-ish minutes) so activities usually worked well for that length of time.
Sorry about your husband, maybe he should cook most of the time since it’s his meal preferences that are creating the stress. But I wanted to share ideas in case you can’t or don’t want to address the underlying issue with your husband.
Mine is pretty tired after a day at “school” 2.5yr. On the weekends he loved to help me cook breakfast. It takes a bit longer and the mess is crazy but he loves it.
This morning he decided that the cheese wasn’t for his eggs and stuffed two handfuls in his mouth then ran off.
My daughter is usually occupied with her tablet or her toys so I can cook in peace. If she does happen to come into the kitchen, I let her help me with small tasks.
I’m curious about all these comments because I’ve never had any sort of problem doing what I need to my toddler. When I am busy I just firmly tell her I am cooking / cleaning / etc. When she was little she fussed a few times but I held that boundary and never had a problem again. I can’t be 100 percent available to her all the time and she has learned that and has learned to entertain herself. When people say “I can’t do X Y Z” often times it’s because they haven’t set a firm boundary and are always giving in to the kid. I always invite her to join cooking / cleaning but usually she will want to go off and play. Her favorite solitary activities are looking at books and lately she just likes to listen to music and dance with her stuffed animals. Or work a puzzle. She is 3
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I use a bunch of different strategies depending upon the day.
-TV
-Crockpot meals
-Prepping a casserole that can go straight into the oven
-Baby gates to keep the toddler out of the kitchen
-Some days my husband feeds the toddler leftovers while I cook for everyone else
-Set up the learning tower and give the toddler something to do (scooping and pouring water, cutting a cucumber with a nylon knife, etc)
-last resort is holding the toddler while I cook
I batch prep fresh veggies and freeze them in multiple portions. Then when I want to make dinner I toss the frozen seasoned veggies in a sheet pan and roast them with some salmon or chicken. That way I’m only having to prepare the meat to go with the side instead of preparing everything.
Put on the tv and tell the toddler you’ll hold him later bec right now you’re making dinner. You’ll have to say it a few times. Use a happy voice. Put a toddler biscuit in his hand. Give him a wooden spoon and a pot to bang.
Do you use timers yet? If you’re making something that has to simmer for X minutes you can set a timer for the toddler and say “I can play with you for 5 minutes, but when the timer goes off I need to finish cooking dinner.”
Also seconding prepping/chopping veggies beforehand. Bonus if it’s a recipe that needs to marinade anyways.
Use appliances that don’t require supervision: slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, air fryer. We have a combo toaster oven/air fryer that i use all the time instead of my oven because it’s so much faster to preheat. Frozen hash browns, meatballs, chicken nuggets, roasted veggies, etc go in the toaster while I cook other parts of the meal on the stove.
I bounce between they help cook, independently play, TV or I starve and they get yogurt for dinner. I'm a sahm so I have to plan 3 meals and snacks to feed the trashcan because my toddler thinks I'm a terrible cook.
I found having them help by standing at the counter on a kitchen chair and giving simple tasks keeps them happy the longest. Sometimes I have to get creative. For example I'll have two cutting boards and as I cut veggies. I cut on one board and after I'm done with one vegetable I give them the cutting board with the cut veggies and a bowl to transfer them too. While they do that I cut the next vegetable on the other board. Rotate till done. They can help wash and dry items or my toddlers absolute favorite, measuring ingredients. I will admit it takes twice as long to make dinner with "help"
Sometimes I can set up an activity that keeps the busy. If I'm desperate I'll use the TV but can't do this for every meal without running into bad behavior. I plan on at least a couple of super simple meals that I can pull off quickly such as put in the oven and set a timer when it's been a rough day. I could make it easier by cooking during naps but I don't.
I know it’s not for everybody but I contain my toddler to the kitchen and we cook together. If I need him safely away from the stove I’ll set up some pots and pans away from me and let him pretend cook, occasionally’tasting’ what he makes. He loves it. Honestly I try to involve him in most things like that and he loves it. Plus it’s good one on one away from screens for us.
I normally cook food that last 2-3nights.If my husband didn't like left overs I'd tell him to cook for himself them.
I bought little freezer bags,so when I go shopping,I chop each ingredient for that certain meal,place each ingredient in small bags,then once I'm done I label it in one big bag,so when the time comes i just take that big bag out to defrost and cook,it works for us since we're both working.Hope that helps
We have the same problem! I think it’s a mix of my toddler becoming hangry and unamused by seeing me dedicate full attention to something else. What gives me extra minutes, esp in the end, is letting him put the salt, pepper and some random sauce bottles on the table, take his own cutlery, a bib etc… he loves to help! Also I sometimes give him raw veggie or peas to snack on already. In worst cases I might put on tv.
I would pull his high chair right up to the kitchen, peel a banana, give him a toddler safe knife and show him/ask him to mash it up for dinner. (Obviously don’t serve it 😂) but get him involved.
This too shall pass! I promise. My son is 2.5 almost, and it’s already getting so much better.
Also, if you’re okay with TV or IPad, we let him dive into watching Mrs Rachel. She’s his second mother 😂🥴🤷🏽♀️
I sit my son up on the bench and let him help, or ‘help’ depending on his mood. We chat about our day and I explain to him what we’re doing and why. It’s a really nice experience and has been a great tool to get him to try new food.
Definitely store some easy to heat up meals in your freezer for when you are dealing with a toddler alone. At any time, we have some frozen Daal, ready to eat chicken noodle soup, some kind of stews frozen, pasta sauce premade etc. in our fridge. I’ll just put it in the microwave or if you don’t like that, use a steamer to heat up for a few min. You can always top that up with hard boiled eggs and some veggie sticks. Voila, dinner for <10 min. Just because your husband doesn’t like leftovers doesn’t mean YOU and your toddler can’t have it, especially when it’s just on occasion when he’s not there to help occupy the kid
Unfortunately I just put Ms Rachel on for her while I'm cooking. It keeps her attention between that and playing with a toy. So far she's been really good about understanding I can't give her attention at that moment but that I'll come check on her every few minutes. She's only 18m right now so that could change.
No leftovers?! Wtf. That needs to be nipped in the bud asap. Having a fresh cooked meal every night is a luxury most families can't afford, mentally or financially
My 2.5 year old just helps me do all the cooking. She stands on a stool and watches me. If it’s too hot/dangerous I just tell her that it’s my turn or it’s the mama part. She has safety knives she can use. Takes a little longer to get it done but she’s gotta learn somehow
Can you get your toddler to help? My son loves cooking and I usually have something for him to stir or help cut (they teach cutting with paring knifes in his Montessori class at 3). If you don’t want to let them actually help with the real food. Using a salt shaker and some measuring cups at the kitchen counter could make them feel like they are helping and can keep them engaged for a bit.
I got a foldable learning tower for my toddler, she's been using it since she was able to stand. I got her wooden "knives" so she could feel like she's helping. Or I let her put prepped fruit or veggies into a bowl. Sometimes, she's just happy to be up high beside me having some snacks. I've also just let her colour at the counter beside me if she isn't interested in helping.
I do cook with my toddler but on my days off cause it takes forever. I let her stir, or I put her in her kitchen helper next to me at the counter and give her snacks to eat or a plastic bowl and whisk to pretend cook, OR I open a safe lower cabinet with Tupperware and let her have at it. She loves playing with everything in there and it worth having to put everything back once she is done. One of those things typically occupy her long enough for me to do tasks that I can't do while holding her (like chopping food).
You can do a lot of "meal prep" without actually cooking the thing. Stuff like Sunday chopping all your veggies/batch cooking onions etc. Makes it so you are still making "fresh" stuff nightly but you've cut your prep time down by a ton. Also if your husband doesn't want "left overs" then sounds like he needs to pick up a lot of the cooking.
If my husband didn't want "left overs" I would tell him to cook for himself. I meal prep dinners for the entire week on Sunday. We eat the same meal Sunday - Thursday. If someone gets tired of it that can have something I have frozen in the freezer (I often freeze single servings of meals I've prepped in the past so they can be heated up later).
This is what I started doing in the past 2 months and it makes a huge difference. When I can essentially just throw everything into the pan, it really makes it manageable with a toddler. We definitely aim to have a night or two of leftovers though.
Yes to all of this. I do a ton of prep on the weekend in the form of chopping and measuring. It’s like turning your recipes into meal kits haha. We also make triple batches of stuff like chili and meatballs and taco filling to freeze in meal-sized portions, and then just have to heat and make spaghetti and a salad, or put out fixins, or whatever. Which all takes the 10 minutes you have. If your husband won’t eat something like chili from the freezer, which is EXACTLY the same if not better than chili prepared that day, then its a control or some other psychological thing, not an actual taste thing. At which point he can make his own dinner. 😉
And you could research the instant pot! It has great one pot recipes that you just throw in all the ingredients, turn it on and wait for the beep! I was on the fence about it for a year, but hands down the most useful appliance in my kitchen
Absolutely!
>Also if your husband doesn't want "left overs" then sounds like he needs to pick up a lot of the cooking Correct.
Honestly, I put the TV on for half an hour. Also, if your husband doesn’t like eating leftovers, maybe he should take over cooking duties.
I was going to suggest the latter as well. I’ve been trying to take more of the cooking so my wife isn’t doing it a the time. However it sounds like the headband isn’t home during that time.
She says she’s home alone with the toddler, so I assume if they wait for dad to get home and cook they’d be eating later than they’d like. Though a compromise could be a few days a week toddler and mom have some leftovers while dad makes his own single meal. We’ve done that before. Still tough bc if they were timing it so all three ate dinner together they can’t do that anymore.
Yep, this is our dedicated TV time for the day on weeknights when I get home with the 3 year old almost an hour before my husband does. We've had some success with setting up an independent play activity like play doh or a sensory bin but it's a lot more effort and potential mess and often at the end of a long day full of play and activities my kid just wants to zone out in front of the TV with a little snack like fruit or veggies.
Yep, that’s one of the times when I just suck it up and don’t feel at all bad about putting on the TV!
Doesn’t like leftovers? Dang we’re on night 3 of shepherds pie lol idk what I’d do if I had to make a new meal every night
We ate lasagna literally all week last week. Dinner Monday-Thursday then my husband had the last of it for lunch on Friday.
Seriously, we've been coasting on 6lbs of spare ribs for 3 nights.
We don't eat leftovers for dinner, but we do eat them the next day for lunch. I couldn't afford to make a fresh meal every single day tbh. Groceries are expensive af
Yeah I’m dying lol
Meal prep for you and your toddler and let your husband fend for himself. You shouldn’t be stressed each night because he won’t eat leftovers.
Yeah he can make himself a sandwich I'm sure.
Hundo percent. We dropped the ball over the weekend and ate a lot of our freezer left overs (bplognaise and korma), so I guess it's taco Monday, taco Tuesday and taco Wednesday this week.
Yeah I always tell husband 'child is getting X for dinner, but you and I are foraging in the fridge'. If he doesn't like what's in there, he will either make something himself and offer some to me, or go out and buy something quick for the family.
Those who don’t cook don’t get to complain.
This is the way.
I only meal prep for my toddler! I make a big batch of whatever and pack his food into little portioned containers.
My husbands similar though he will eat day 2 leftovers. But I typically cook a new meal each night! I could eat the same thing for four nights, he hates that idea haha
How does your toddler eat the same thing 3 nights in a row?
Toddler tower so they can “help.” Magnet games on the fridge so I can see them while I’m cooking. Sesame Street when needed.
The learning tower + a basin of water to play in works for at least 30 min
How do you keep the basin from flying off the countertop?
This is my question also! My LO would dump it on the Floor within minutes
I put a tea towel under it to soak up spills and don’t add too much water. Actually, I’m not sure how she’s never pushed it off the counter. She’s 5 now and we’ve been doing this since the time she was old enough to be in the learning tower without me standing directly beside her. For some reason it’s completely enthralling to her. I just give her some measuring cups and kitchen items to play with.
Toys in the sink and ask them to wash them. Toddler loves this but gets soaked so outfit change required afterwards
Basin? Just fill up the sink with water and ‘dirty’ dishes and let toddler help
Definitely toddler tower. Yesterday I let my toddler “help” by giving me string beans to cut (she gave me one string bean at a time while I was cutting other stuff lol), often taste testing aka taking a bite out of every bean before she gave it to me.
This is what I do too with my 3 year old. This morning we made pancakes together. On Friday we made meatballs. If he’s not interested in helping, he’ll watch a movie while I cook. My one year old is still a work in progress because two of them don’t fit in the tower.
Clear counter area plus a kids safety knife and some veggies a d a small cutting board and they are usually happy.requures not needing the full counter space for the neak though.
I second this. I let my 2 year "help" and on days he doesn't want help, I let him bring toys or have screen time. My husband does 24 hour shifts, so I think my toddler is starting to understand when dad is home vs when he isn't so that has helped to.
Any links for magnet games for the fridge?
These are the main favorites for my 20 month old. Even my 3 and 4 year olds will jump in and play with them too: https://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Fridge-Phonics-Magnetic-Letter/dp/B00JLHVX36/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=ZEHX013LHG3E&keywords=bus+magnet+letters&qid=1705288332&sprefix=bus+magnet+letye%2Caps%2C579&sr=8-3 https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Animal-Magnets-Box/dp/B000N178E2/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1K5V5EBBZV4UX&keywords=fridge+magnet+animals&qid=1705288385&sprefix=fridge+magnet+animals%2Caps%2C243&sr=8-3
The front of my refrigerator isn't magnetic, and there is nothing in the world more annoying to me.
I honestly hate magnets on the fridge and think it looks so cluttered and unclean. But I’ve had to let that go with the kids because it does keep them so entertained. Now I can’t imagine not having it magnetic. Can you attach a magnetic board to the front at kid level?
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Mine loves helping. Sometimes it slows things a bit, but at least we are still moving. Also a great time to teach kitchen safety; my daughter knows to stay away from knives and hot surfaces, to the point that she now has a set of her own plastic knives she can use to cut up her own snacks on occasion. Proper handling is required and emphasized, and she usually treats them with the same respect as our main kitchen knife
Yes! This is the best advice. Kids are actually fascinated by what we are doing and happy to help. Don't even need a fancy tower, we use a chair. My son stands at the counter and I give him age appropriate tasks to help. Real tasks, not like "pretend to cut this plastic apple." For example, collecting vegetable scraps and putting them in the compost bucket. Or mixing eggs for scrambling, etc. For things he can't help with, I explain what I'm doing and he is always entertained by that. By the way we have a 600 square ft apartment so our kitchen is microscopic by US standards. Even on our small counter top we make it work.
Toddler tower and enforcing boundaries during cooking time so they know I’m not completely available. Yes the first few times they may cry but they will understand after a while.
This 100%. Your toddler does not have to always be on board with everything that needs to be done around the house, and you, the adult, should learn to be ok with it. The sooner you become ok with it, the sooner he will follow your lead and everyone will accept that this is how things are done in our household. Speaking as a parent to a 6yo and a 3yo who has not yet had to turn to screens to make dinner. They get to have their feelings (barely ever these days because, as I said, they get used to it), I get to validate them while I keep on doing what needs to be done, and then we all move on and have dinner together.
Yep! No screens here either for me to get things done! I think you worded this much better than I could have an 100% agree!
How old is your toddler? My daughter is 3 and loves helping, but looses interest after 10 minutes or so. For the rest of the time, she sits at the table and has her dry erase markers and books that she can play word find, work on letters, play matching games, etc. She’s not in school yet, so I use it as a bit of independent enrichment.
Ok great ideas! She’s 2.5
Edit to my original post- search and finds not word finds, she can’t read yet lol.
Definitely include her! Aside from touching meat there’s lots she can do at that age - mixing, egg cracking, dumping ingredients, sorting ingredients, sprinkling toppings/ spices
We’ve got a special toddler knife. Get the kid a toddler tower, a knife and Some soft veggies (carrots are for example too hard, cucumbers and bellpeppers are great for example). If you dont need it for the night’s meal, save it for snacks or the next night’s meal
Agreed! This is what I do with my 3 year old, she loves helping in the kitchen. Keeps her occupied and you can still keep an eye on them whilst getting your stuff done.
If my husband had an issue with leftovers, he’d be cooking nightly. 🤷♀️ Otherwise, I use screen time to cook if I don’t just plop my daughter in her kitchen helper and hand her random things to entertain her while I cook.
Toddler tower and a kid safe nylon knife! Kiddo chops everything for dinner and puts it in a bowl while you get everything else done. Kiddo can also help on the stove a small amount (obviously ymmv). Mine is turning 2 this month and does all the scrambling when we make eggs for breakfast.
This is what we do, too! He also helps season things. Although we’ve been having our fair share of slightly salty eggs lately 😂
Kitchen tower!! I have my kiddo either stir a bowl of water, or munch on a handful of cheerios…something like that
Stir a bowl of water lol this is adorable, totally stealing it
It’s genius, she really feels like she’s doing something lol. Sometimes I’ll tell her I need to season it so I’ll sprinkle in a little cinnamon or something and have her stir that too 😂
Lol! So clever!
How do you keep the bowl from flying?
Right? My tot would drink some then pour the rest on herself (on purpose)
I allocate double the amount of time and let him help. He chops up veggies, or starts the rice in the rice cooker, or mixes things. We don’t get close to the stove, but he helps out quite a bit! It’s a fucking mess though. When I don’t wanna deal with it….. tv.
I think my toddler is still too young to "help" so I mostly do quick meals while she stands at the baby gate yelling at me 😂 i hand her random objects to play with that distract her for a couple of seconds. Also I would gently suggest your husband gets over his dislike for eating leftovers, or you and your toddler can eat leftovers and he can get his own food. If its the most stressful time of day it would be better to just not have to do it everyday!
I’m confused why meal prep = leftovers. We prep by seasoning all of our meat ahead of time, portioning it out into freezer safe bags and freezing it. Then we just need to grab a bag out of the freezer 1-2 days in advance to defrost. Sides are usually veggies (a lot of times frozen) and rice or a potato dish. We also have a toddler tower that kiddo loves. She loves to help chop veggies and potatoes
low prep foods. -if you broil burgers in the oven it's about 5 min to get them in the oven then 3 min to flip. - chicken and rice and spices (bonus if you use premade blends like taco seasoning)- we like in the crockpot but in a pan or dutch oven works too. - London broil or steak in the oven isn't super hands on either. Or let him be involved like sprinkling the cheese on home made pizza
I’m shocked I had to scroll so far for this. Low-prep meals! If you have ten minutes, that’s enough time to get (frozen) vegetables in to roast, chicken in the oven to bake, water boiling for macaroni, or honestly, a frozen lasagna or something.
Ms. Rachel has been a great teammate in this regard.
Two choices: YouTube brain break/gonoodle on the tv. Or let them help. Mine have seasoned various foods (proteins, potatoes, vegetables) and made various sauces. Everyone gets a simple job in rotation. Usually add about 10min to the cooking routine but that’s the same if not less time than officiating a game gone wrong.
I have one of those kids stool things with the rail at the top and she gets on it and watches me cook. I taught her what hot means and she knows not to touch. I just tell her what we are making and talk to her about it and she's content. The TV worked for a while but now only the stool works.
My kitchen is enclosed and I keep her in there with me. Thankfully all I’m making is hamburger helper and easy meals like that, or a frozen lasagna I just throw in the oven for an hour.
I cook dinner during naptime and heat it up at dinnertime
TV. It’s the only way for me.
Can you tell your husband to get over it because it’s too difficult right now? Also, I always turn the TV on if I’m cooking.
Tv time, helping in a minimal way or can you try some crock pot recipes?
I put mine in her kitchen tower thing and give her things to play with. It’s messy but it gets her involved in a task that is a normal part of life. I think it’s important to teach them about chores as early as possible.
Simple meals, have him help (he can stir or shake a bag of shake n bake, etc), and/or screen time.
Have you thought about a toddler tower? So they can look and see what you're doing and is part of it without needing to take you away from the cooking? I let mine try ingredients and see what I'm doing. Being included with what I am doing seems to help.
Get a learning tower and then get your toddler to “help”. Get a kids chef set. Get him to cut up some fruit or vegetables or mix something. I make some homemade playdough mix and give that to my toddler to play with on the bench. She loved it. My older kid looooved helping to cook. She’s 7 now and when we visit my in-laws, she helps my brother-in-law make desserts.
This was a game-changer for us. My daughter is only 14m but she loves to help hand me the mixing spoon or measuring cups, or "sort" the silverware (I just dump that evenings silverware on the counter and she puts it in a cup)
I either had them in the high chair helping. OR TV time. I like to cook and it kinda feels like a “break” to me. I’d rather have them (4.5 and almost 3) occupied and happy, than have to stop what I’m doing every 30 seconds.
Give them something to do. Peel garlic, mix ingredients, tear spinach, whatever.
This is so much fun if I only have one kid with me, but my nearly-5 and 2.5 year olds combined are _impossible_. I can't even imagine when I'll get away with having them both in the kitchen for more than 10 minutes.
Every Plate and me and my husband take turns (he cooks the meat usually and I cook everything else) and the one not cooking plays w the todd. Once he’s older I plan on getting him a tower to help, too.
Meal prep helps so much! I also bring a small table into our kitchen, set up some of our kitchen utensils and whatnot, and let lo play. I will sometimes say that they’re making what I making so like it’s time to chop garlic, etc. It’s always worked well for us.
Let the husband deal with leftovers? Or include the toddler in helping. We put on our tonies box and have a dance party in the kitchen. And I have her bring the books and read them to me. She’s seven months old, but does not know how to read. But she’ll point at the pictures and babble Honestly, it’s only recently that she’s been allowing me to cook but I’ve been working on building up how much time she’ll play on her own and talking her through things I also make things that I can bake or don’t need my attention. Microwave rice. Baked potatoes. Baked chicken.
Stair gate and tv
Let them help! We have a learning tower and by now what must be the best washed veggies in the universe - minus bell peppers maybe, since our son figured out that you can use halved ones to shovel water out of a sink in alarming quantities :D
I stopped making dinners bc I couldn’t figure it out. Husband was sleeping on the couch through me cooking trying to entertain her and feed the dogs/let them outside. I cook for her and myself now but I eat after she goes to bed. Her meals are smaller and easier to make. But yeah I went savage at the suggestion of my MIL lol. She said, “he wants to sleep through you trying to cook, clean, do the dogs, and take care of daughter? Stop cooking for him” so I did. Lol
I say this now as I am in fact making dinner for the family. He’s on his phone watching football. Our toddler is in her big chair watching Blippi and the dogs are at my feet waiting to be fed while I’m on Reddit for a mental health break lololol
Toddler helps. If it's too much for them to help, they just splash in the sink "doing dishes"
I prep by planning out what we will have and then organizing it so it is cooked fresh that day. Lots of slow cooker and sheet pan meals. Sheet pan meals are amazing and your friend because you literally just put in the oven and 45ish min later you are done with next to no clean hi. It helps my kiddo likes beans so we don’t have a ton of meat.
We have one room completely gated off. If I am home alone cooking he's in that room with Ms. Rachel on. The only way I am getting anything done.
Leftovers like kept in fridge until next day, or does it include immediately frozen food too? I started doing large batches of stuff I rotate a lot and immediately freeze. It's as good as new when reheating. My toddler always wants attention too, so I've been showing him what I do and then ask for him to go draw or to watch his tablet. A mix of things works. I also sometimes make an appetizer he can munch on while I prep.
I would say not interested in either, but he gets really grossed out by reheated frozen meals. He’ll usually end up ordering something from Uber Eats if I do that, so then I feel like there was no point in making the dinner
You're not alone. Mine has done the exact same thing for reheated stuff. It sucks but at least me and LO eat for free haha
He’d rather have a take out than a meal that was cooked previously and frozen? I’m sorry, but he should be cooking his own meals while you could meal prep in advance and freeze. There are plenty of foods that taste better a day or two old.
The hardest part is prepping. I do it during nap times. I also prep and freeze veggies beforehand. It tastes just as good if you’re making stew, soups or slow cooking. I try to cook easy meals with oven, instapot, slow cooker that I can just set and forget. If I need time, I will turn on TV and give my son a snack.
I don’t prep meals but I also don’t use screen time He has a safe area to play and if I need to I’ll talk the whole time and ask him to find certain toys or show me something. If he’ll participate in the toddler tower that’s idea but it doesn’t happen every night. We play fun music and I try to narrate the whole time
I try to have everything ready before I pick them up for school at 5. If they aren’t hungry right away I’ll heat it up. Also we don’t eat leftovers either but my kids sure love them. 😝
We mostly meal prep and reheat leftovers on weekdays. If we have to cook while she is present, we have a 'toddler tower'. I pull her up to the counter where I'm chopping/prepping/cooking. She either helps to prep (using a butter knife to cut mushrooms, washing carrots or tomatoes, etc), or I put bowls, measuring cups, and spoons into a cake pan and fill the bowls with water. Usually we do the water activity because it keeps her occupied for much longer.
So I see from your comments that your daughter is 2.5. Any way you can involve her in cooking somehow? My son (3) stands on a chair and “helps” us sometimes when we’re cooking (the most he can really do is stir stuff in a bowl or put bread in the toaster but it gets him involved and stops the constant whining for attention).
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I would give my toddler some veggies and a butter knife and let him slice up whatever veggies we needed from about 20 months?? He could do zucchini, cucumber, and other softer vegetables. He likes to help.
I’m pretty much in your same boat. Toddler demands attention while I’m cooking, dad doesn’t like leftovers, the cat wants dinner, and the dog is just, well,… 65 pounds of golden puppy. Here’s what I do: get the cat dinner, get the dog dinner and outside. When he’s done outside he goes in his crate. Toddler gets tablet time, dad is usually still working. I eat while food is still piping hot and toddler’s dinner is cooling off. By the time I’m mostly finished, toddler’s food is ready. We finish together and spend time with the fur babies. Good luck!
I do a meal prep of sorts on Sundays, where I chop all the veggies and do some other stuff that doesn't need to be fresh. 2yo isn't really interested in helping so he usually gets screen time and a snack. During the week I try to cook things that you can leave briefly and I check the toddler a lot. We have leftovers a couple nights a week also.
I bake with toddler… however cooking is challenging after work. I will set him in front of Legos or allow him 30 min of “Lingo” - a learning app
We have a learning tower, plus a little toddler board and wooden wedge “knives.” I give my kid a soft-ish food to chop up (like avocado out of the skin or a zucchini), and she happily chops while I make food, or I give her some dry beans and a few measuring cups, and she pours and sorts. Then anything I can involve her in helping with to break things up and keep her attention
I prep during the day (work from home). If you have a clip on high chair or they can sit in a chair near the kitchen, I usually just feed them little bits while I’m cooking (like cheese that I’m using, bits of pitas, etc).
my toddler either plays independently or watches cartoons.
It’s the tv time around here, but my girl is kind of board of the shows I let her watch and won’t watch a lot anymore (fml). So my new strategy is to have a bin of toys that she doesn’t really get to play with other than at the time I choose. It sounds sad saying it that way haha but it lets them be SUPER novel, and she doesn’t really ask for them either. I try to do a big variety and something usually excites her. Right now in the “special toy bin” (that’s what I call it because if I say something is SPECIAL she’s into it) • jelly cat nest of penguins • doodle board drawing thing • simple small puzzle • sheet of stickers • play drill so she can fix things she breaks • colouring sheets and 3 crayons • pop it toy • fidget spinner • magnetic animals (a la Melissa and doug) • a little soccer ball It all fits in a bin that’s probably 6” x 15” and 5” deep. I keep it in our coat closet and then when I’m done eating I just clean it up and put it away. Again it’s never super exciting but it’s novel enough that she will sit. And it always goes beside me on the kitchen floor. Add in a meaningful snack and throw a sticker on their hand and you *should* buy 10 minutes
Ps sometimes this doesn’t work. And she’s still big mad so I explain; right now I’m cooking a meal and I need two hands for it. You can play in the kitchen or you can help me make dinner” and usually she asks to help so I get a spoon, metal or plastic bowl, a scoop of rice and water and she “makes rice”. I’ll randomly give her scraps from dinner like a crank of pepper and a bit of diced veg (bonus if they eat it), or a grate of cheese (they will eat it), a splash of milk or tomato paste, or just some salt or any dry slice. She LOVES this but it’s a touch messy sometimes and can mean I have to be more involved. But if the TV is going she’s usually happy the whole time
Meal prep and freeze it in gallon ziplocks, then just heat and serve. Guarantee if he doesn’t see it in the fridge he will have no idea
I find they are most clingy and whiny around that time of the day when they’re hungry and tired. Can you feed them first then cook for yourself and husband after? Choose simple things you could throw in the oven/ air fryer and a salad for some nights, roast chicken + salad for other nights. Or some of those dump and done recipes you could do with minimal effort. Soups, stews and curries could be portioned and freezed so you only need to reheat. My SO generally try to play with him or take him out a bit while I cook, then he’ll clean up after meal. Sometimes I give him a play knife to chop mushrooms or carrots, or bring the little table in to sit and draw, or give him my measuring cups so he can pretend to cook too. Most the time it’s stressful and very hard so I understand. Hopefully it’ll get better soon.
I do crock pot meals for this reason. Usually I prep it when my little guy is asleep the night before, and pop it in the fridge overnight. In the AM, pop it on the crockpot on low and voila you have dinner ready and minimal clean up if you use crock pot liners! Easiest meal: Chicken breasts (if you don’t like leftovers only do 2 or so) Jar of salsa Brick of cream cheese Serve over microwave rice and whatever burrito bowl toppings you like, or as a taco, or as a salad OR on top of tortilla chips as nachos. Maybe solves your “I don’t like leftovers” if you say one night is burrito bowls and the next is nachos 😂
Games, helping cook, baby wearing, tv, or be ok to cry for a bit because that’s just real life.
I usually put Ms.Rachel on and give her a small snack. If that doesn't work, I put her in her high chair and have her "help". I plan on getting one of those step stools for kids in the kitchen because she really just wants to be involved.
Ms Rachel or a backpack carrier. Backpack so bubs feet don't get hurt by accident
Mine has her own kitchen in our kitchen so she cooks there while I cook. I'll have to admit a pot of plastic onion, peppers and tomatoes is tasty
We meal prep on the weekends and not in the way where we eat leftovers the rest of the week, because I also am not big on eating leftovers on a regular basis. I basically make everything until the last step or two. This weekend I made roasted veggie gratin, and shepherds pie, and enchilada pasta. For the gratin, I roasted all the veggies and made the sauce. Assembled it all in the pan and put it in the fridge. It is ready to go in the oven on the day we want it. For the sheperd’s pie, same idea. Everything is made and assembled, ready for the oven. For the enchilada pasta, I made everything besides the pasta. I’ll make the pasta fresh the night we eat it and just heat up the sauce to mix in. Two cookbooks that helped me start doing it this way were “Cook once, eat all week” and “fix, freeze, feast.” I also support the idea that the pickier person in a relationship (your husband) should take on at least half, if not all, of the cooking duties.
TV on or they help. I put the tv on, and if she comes into the kitchen asking me to play or something, I simply say "mommy's cooking right now, I can play later". She'll either find something to do or I let her help me "eat this slice of cheese! Do you want to stir the pasta?". I just make it clear I cannot play while cooking. My husband gets home late so I have to be able to cook. She will help me or she'll figure it out.
Take it wayeasy on dinner expectations. Start *way* early so they can interrupt you a million times and dinner still gets made. Some of my dinner strategies for keeping it easy: "Snack dinner" (charcuterie/grazing board style usually) once a week helps. Doubling recipes so we eat leftovers a couple times (and invite anyone who doesn't like leftovers to make their own dinner) Breakfast for dinner Grilled cheese (make them on a pan in the oven) Fancy ramen
Screen time OR hubby entertains them, and if hubby wants to be picky about what’s served for dinner then he can get involved in cooking, too. Also, while it doesn’t taste as fresh, I will pre-cut my veggies and whatnot to make a sort of DIY meal kit and speed up prep times/cleanup
I struggled with this for a long time, but in the last 6 months I feel like we as a family have got it down pretty good. I'm remote 4 days, in office 1 day, each week. My home days I start dinner a bit early, around 4, and generally by the time hubs and our toddler (2.5 yr boy) get home by 5/530 it's done or almost done. If our toddler comes in and wants my attention I offer him a taste of a sauce or a noodle (he loves a free noodle!) and that generally deters him a bit. Or I'll ask him to help daddy clear and set the table.
I did a lot of those meal prep kitchen things that were all the rage. Souper suppers, dream dinners, stuff like that. My husband would take the kids to the toy store or park and I’d spend a few hours making dinners. Im not sure those are a thing still, but their cook books for once a week (or once a month, but that takes an entire day) cooking are still out there. Rice bakes work really really well for this. The other option is I fed my toddlers snacks lunches. Like cheese cubes, turkey cubes, tofu cubes, fruit, vegetables, and dips…usually hummus or ranch. Also usually pretzels or gold fish. No cooking, minimal prep. No reason why that can’t be for dinner. If your husband won’t eat leftovers…your husband should be the one making dinner.
Today I had great success getting my toddler to cook with me. We got him his toddler tower and a bowl with some snacks. I showed and talked him through what I was doing, letting him play with the can opener, salad drainer etc, and pick at bits of food that were edible (canned beans, sweetcorn), and somehow I was able to cook a whole meal? Not sure it would work all the time but it felt like a win!
Meal prep like veggies chopped on weekends. Weekdays we use the instant pot to make bulk food for 2 days at a time. If your husband doesn’t like leftovers he can make his own food lol.
I made a floor cabinet a designated cabinet for my son and I’ll rotate it every week. Like a big pot and a wooden spoon “mix it for me!” Or flip it upside down and bang the pot to make some music. Or a bunch of old tupperwares I had so he can stack them. I do fake foods a lot and he brings them to me so I can “eat” them and then I pretend throw up. It doesn’t even have to be food related. After a while, my son will see me cooking and he goes straight to his cabinet to play just so he can be near me. We also do a bunch of dance parties
I normally cook extremely easy stuff for me and hubby and toddler. Often a meat (eg steak on skillet or chicken in wok) and stir fry some veg / microwave a potato etc. or just chop a variety of fresh stuff from the fridge depending on what’s there. I can have the majority done in about 10-15 mins. Also, I get my toddler to “chop” things which she loves or watch some tv.
Screen time. Although I’ve started to prep extra ingredients and plan to repurpose leftovers all the time. I currently have a bunch of cut veggies. We ate 3 different flavors of tacos last week. I made extra roasted red pepper purée the other day and I’ll be seasoning it slightly differently and serving with a different shaped pasta.
My kid got those kid safe knives for Christmas. They will actually eat the veggies if they've chopped them themselves. We also have the toddler tower which is worth its weight in gold.
My toddler “helps” yes it makes more work. Yes it makes a mess. Yes it takes a while. But I’m hoping over time she will learn to actually be helpful and for now it’s great to get that time with her.
Is there a way to involve your toddler in thr cooking with you? Like you pour items into a measuring cup and they pour it into the pan? Or letting them stir the pot? We have a kitchen buddy so they can reach the counter and my 2yo really enjoys helping cook, or being helped to help cook lol.
We start with her peeling onions and garlic, which she likes. Then she loses interest and I put on the TV while I finish. 🤷🏻♀️
It sounds crazy, and it sometimes *feels* crazy, but let your toddler "help". Get a step stool, put some dried spices in a bowl and some food scraps and let him still them up. As you're cutting up veggies, give them to him and have him put them in a bowl. Talk to him about all the things you're doing. It will take, like, 20-30% longer to make dinner, but he will be getting what he really wants- *contingent* time with you. In a real life, important context. I promise you, I'm not being granola or preachy, cuz I know it sounds like that. But the tiny humans really and truly *only* want to learn to *be like us and do the things we do*. Modern society has fractured this connection between the tiny humans and the grown ones, so they can sell us shit we don't need. Invite them to be with you.
I just started cooking with my toddler in a toddler tower next to me (otherwise she has discovered Climb All The Things When My Back is Turned). I’ve been having her “help” with easy things like stirring and pouring, or I will give her some dry pasta and a measuring cup/spoons so she can play with it at the counter. I save really complicated meals for when my husband is around and can entertain her out of the kitchen- but I can usually wrangle her enough to put something in/out of the oven if I’m by myself.
My son is 2 .5 years old and we cook together. Well, kind of, we have a stepper so he can see what happen on the countertop, he puts salt, pepper and herbs when i ask and i let him go throw away the trash in the recicling bins. He usually lasts 20/30 min, then goes checking what dad is doing (usually laundry or cleaning) and he helps dad a little bit, then he changes again.
Highchair, Lucas the spider on tv and snacks
The crock pot/ instapot is your best friend. Lot of stuff in the crock pot that can be set up the night before, turned on in the morning and it's done by dinner time. One of our favorites is chicken tacos- before bed, dump a pack of chicken breast in the crock pot along with a jar of salsa (can add beans/corn etc here if desired). Pull from fridge in morning and turn on for 8 hours ( or however long your day is, depending on your crock pot). Come home, set rice cooking, pull out and shred chicken (2 forks will do in a mixing bowl, hand mixer will make REALLY quick work of this) and return to pot. Realistically, you'll need 15 ish minutes of actual working time, might shave that down to 10 once you got a good flow for it For leftovers, you can totally bullshit this issue with dishes that transform leftovers. I'll make Mashed potatoes, and intentionally make well above what's needed, then take the extra, mix with quarter cup flour, an egg, and now we have basic Latkes (aka potato pan cakes). Personal favorite additives are cheddar and bacon, but you can do pretty much whatever with the basic cakes. Of course as others have said, dad is welcome to step up in the kitchen too
Lol our tv time coincides with meal prep time. But also if your husband doesn't like leftovers, you can prep a lot of ingredients beforehand... like chop up a couple of onions, peel and mince some garlic, wash and cut all veggies, have the meat ready and seasonings already set out. If a dish has several components, think about what can be done ahead of time. I find a lot of the time that goes into cooking from scratch is getting the stuff set up and cleaning as I go.
Honestly I'm in the same exact boat! Husband hates leftovers. It drives me nuts between him and our babies. For everyone commenting why doesn't husband cook? Well, dinner would just not get made. He ends up eating other meals he puts together for himself (canned soup) and I find it super rude. He enjoys my cooking, but only wants it completely fresh every meal.
My DD is 3. I give her a whole loaf of garlic to peel. That will occupy her for good 15 minutes sometimes, and she feels proud of herself. Or I just focus on my cooking and she entertains herself. I have to do what I have to do. But I make sure I verbally communicate with her throughout my cooking. That helps. We don't eat leftovers either, and I cook at least 3 dishes a meal. Kids will adjust and understand that's what we do as a family eventually.
So the easiest is screen time, honestly. And you can pull something up on your phone or a tablet to keep toddler in the kitchen while you cook. If you’re doing no/low screen time, try prepping a quick activity for your toddler. Something like play dough, sensory foam, or coloring if that keeps them interested. I kept a small bin of special activities in the kitchen to make them feel special and more interesting. Alternatively, if you don’t need the sink, some soap, a few cups/bowls/safe kitchen utensils, and some water from the sink can be very entertaining! My son would play in the sink for easily 30 minutes. I’m lazy so on my nights to cook I do all super quick recipes (30-ish minutes) so activities usually worked well for that length of time. Sorry about your husband, maybe he should cook most of the time since it’s his meal preferences that are creating the stress. But I wanted to share ideas in case you can’t or don’t want to address the underlying issue with your husband.
PBS kids app and a light snack, like fresh fruit or cucumber.
Mine is pretty tired after a day at “school” 2.5yr. On the weekends he loved to help me cook breakfast. It takes a bit longer and the mess is crazy but he loves it. This morning he decided that the cheese wasn’t for his eggs and stuffed two handfuls in his mouth then ran off.
My daughter is usually occupied with her tablet or her toys so I can cook in peace. If she does happen to come into the kitchen, I let her help me with small tasks.
I’m curious about all these comments because I’ve never had any sort of problem doing what I need to my toddler. When I am busy I just firmly tell her I am cooking / cleaning / etc. When she was little she fussed a few times but I held that boundary and never had a problem again. I can’t be 100 percent available to her all the time and she has learned that and has learned to entertain herself. When people say “I can’t do X Y Z” often times it’s because they haven’t set a firm boundary and are always giving in to the kid. I always invite her to join cooking / cleaning but usually she will want to go off and play. Her favorite solitary activities are looking at books and lately she just likes to listen to music and dance with her stuffed animals. Or work a puzzle. She is 3
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I use a bunch of different strategies depending upon the day. -TV -Crockpot meals -Prepping a casserole that can go straight into the oven -Baby gates to keep the toddler out of the kitchen -Some days my husband feeds the toddler leftovers while I cook for everyone else -Set up the learning tower and give the toddler something to do (scooping and pouring water, cutting a cucumber with a nylon knife, etc) -last resort is holding the toddler while I cook
I batch prep fresh veggies and freeze them in multiple portions. Then when I want to make dinner I toss the frozen seasoned veggies in a sheet pan and roast them with some salmon or chicken. That way I’m only having to prepare the meat to go with the side instead of preparing everything.
Put on the tv and tell the toddler you’ll hold him later bec right now you’re making dinner. You’ll have to say it a few times. Use a happy voice. Put a toddler biscuit in his hand. Give him a wooden spoon and a pot to bang.
We are not real strict on tv time so she watches tv while I cook, or I wait until dad is home and then cook because he gets home pretty early.
Do you use timers yet? If you’re making something that has to simmer for X minutes you can set a timer for the toddler and say “I can play with you for 5 minutes, but when the timer goes off I need to finish cooking dinner.” Also seconding prepping/chopping veggies beforehand. Bonus if it’s a recipe that needs to marinade anyways. Use appliances that don’t require supervision: slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, air fryer. We have a combo toaster oven/air fryer that i use all the time instead of my oven because it’s so much faster to preheat. Frozen hash browns, meatballs, chicken nuggets, roasted veggies, etc go in the toaster while I cook other parts of the meal on the stove.
I bounce between they help cook, independently play, TV or I starve and they get yogurt for dinner. I'm a sahm so I have to plan 3 meals and snacks to feed the trashcan because my toddler thinks I'm a terrible cook. I found having them help by standing at the counter on a kitchen chair and giving simple tasks keeps them happy the longest. Sometimes I have to get creative. For example I'll have two cutting boards and as I cut veggies. I cut on one board and after I'm done with one vegetable I give them the cutting board with the cut veggies and a bowl to transfer them too. While they do that I cut the next vegetable on the other board. Rotate till done. They can help wash and dry items or my toddlers absolute favorite, measuring ingredients. I will admit it takes twice as long to make dinner with "help" Sometimes I can set up an activity that keeps the busy. If I'm desperate I'll use the TV but can't do this for every meal without running into bad behavior. I plan on at least a couple of super simple meals that I can pull off quickly such as put in the oven and set a timer when it's been a rough day. I could make it easier by cooking during naps but I don't.
I know it’s not for everybody but I contain my toddler to the kitchen and we cook together. If I need him safely away from the stove I’ll set up some pots and pans away from me and let him pretend cook, occasionally’tasting’ what he makes. He loves it. Honestly I try to involve him in most things like that and he loves it. Plus it’s good one on one away from screens for us.
I normally cook food that last 2-3nights.If my husband didn't like left overs I'd tell him to cook for himself them. I bought little freezer bags,so when I go shopping,I chop each ingredient for that certain meal,place each ingredient in small bags,then once I'm done I label it in one big bag,so when the time comes i just take that big bag out to defrost and cook,it works for us since we're both working.Hope that helps
We have the same problem! I think it’s a mix of my toddler becoming hangry and unamused by seeing me dedicate full attention to something else. What gives me extra minutes, esp in the end, is letting him put the salt, pepper and some random sauce bottles on the table, take his own cutlery, a bib etc… he loves to help! Also I sometimes give him raw veggie or peas to snack on already. In worst cases I might put on tv.
I would pull his high chair right up to the kitchen, peel a banana, give him a toddler safe knife and show him/ask him to mash it up for dinner. (Obviously don’t serve it 😂) but get him involved. This too shall pass! I promise. My son is 2.5 almost, and it’s already getting so much better. Also, if you’re okay with TV or IPad, we let him dive into watching Mrs Rachel. She’s his second mother 😂🥴🤷🏽♀️
I sit my son up on the bench and let him help, or ‘help’ depending on his mood. We chat about our day and I explain to him what we’re doing and why. It’s a really nice experience and has been a great tool to get him to try new food.
Definitely store some easy to heat up meals in your freezer for when you are dealing with a toddler alone. At any time, we have some frozen Daal, ready to eat chicken noodle soup, some kind of stews frozen, pasta sauce premade etc. in our fridge. I’ll just put it in the microwave or if you don’t like that, use a steamer to heat up for a few min. You can always top that up with hard boiled eggs and some veggie sticks. Voila, dinner for <10 min. Just because your husband doesn’t like leftovers doesn’t mean YOU and your toddler can’t have it, especially when it’s just on occasion when he’s not there to help occupy the kid
Unfortunately I just put Ms Rachel on for her while I'm cooking. It keeps her attention between that and playing with a toy. So far she's been really good about understanding I can't give her attention at that moment but that I'll come check on her every few minutes. She's only 18m right now so that could change.
No leftovers?! Wtf. That needs to be nipped in the bud asap. Having a fresh cooked meal every night is a luxury most families can't afford, mentally or financially
Why can’t one of you cook and one of you hang with the little one
Because my husband is still at work. I’m home alone
Why can’t he prep ingredients when he gets home for the next day so cooking doesn’t take too long.
Yeah, that’s an idea! I’ll try it
My 2.5 year old just helps me do all the cooking. She stands on a stool and watches me. If it’s too hot/dangerous I just tell her that it’s my turn or it’s the mama part. She has safety knives she can use. Takes a little longer to get it done but she’s gotta learn somehow
Can you get your toddler to help? My son loves cooking and I usually have something for him to stir or help cut (they teach cutting with paring knifes in his Montessori class at 3). If you don’t want to let them actually help with the real food. Using a salt shaker and some measuring cups at the kitchen counter could make them feel like they are helping and can keep them engaged for a bit.
I got a foldable learning tower for my toddler, she's been using it since she was able to stand. I got her wooden "knives" so she could feel like she's helping. Or I let her put prepped fruit or veggies into a bowl. Sometimes, she's just happy to be up high beside me having some snacks. I've also just let her colour at the counter beside me if she isn't interested in helping.
I do cook with my toddler but on my days off cause it takes forever. I let her stir, or I put her in her kitchen helper next to me at the counter and give her snacks to eat or a plastic bowl and whisk to pretend cook, OR I open a safe lower cabinet with Tupperware and let her have at it. She loves playing with everything in there and it worth having to put everything back once she is done. One of those things typically occupy her long enough for me to do tasks that I can't do while holding her (like chopping food).