Anyone with kids knows the struggle of finding something your child will eat come meal time is just another unneeded headache in an already stressed parents busy mind. Odds are the main meal that has been made for family dinner are “icky” or the kiddo “don’t wan it” no matter what. Any small side is just the same and anything that can easily be prepared is also unwanted. So what is there to do? Well, in house we do what we call, a Peasant Meal.
Peasant Meal Origin Story
When I was little, I was the dreaded picky-eater in the family. Lots of tastes I just didn’t care for but more so was the texture of food. Which is something I still have issues with to this day (pork and ground beef could make me gag). Yeah… the late in life Autism diagnosis came by total surprise. What I did like to do was spend hours watching documentaries on the history channels and animal planet. As a child. Yeah, who could have guessed Autism. I still prefer to spend my time doing this. And one of the main things I noticed in these documentaries was that the ‘peasant’ classes all ate similarly no matter the geographic region. They all either ate some variety of oatmeal or a semi-balanced ‘Peasant Meal’ as my Grandma and I began to call them.
How to Make The Peasant Meal
Peasant meals are designed to be easy, quick, and affordable on top of being as healthy as possible. The first thing you have to remember to make peasant meal is that it is YOUR kid you are making this for. Personalize this all to your needs, likes, and wants. Next, let’s remember the core food groups that are normally shown in the Food Pyramid.
Personally, for the Peasant Meal, I cut out the ‘sweets’ food group. This is only because I give them a small candy or a chocolate if they eat most of their food. Besides, they normally get juice with their meal and lord knows that is filled with enough sugar. So of the five remaining groups you want to make sure that at least three or four are on your kid’s plate. I normally try and give them a ‘main course’ of some sort. Normally this is a PBJ, noodles or Mac and Cheese. This takes out a good chunk of the food groups we want but I usually have it count for the ‘bread’ category.
After that we have veggies and fruit. Honestly, we normally skip veggies. The only ‘raw’ veggie my kids like is carrots. So we if have those, they get some, otherwise my eldest really loves pickles and if you squint a bit they still technically count as veggies, right? However, my family LOVES fruit. We normally always have some sort of apple, orange, blueberry, strawberry and sometimes even bananas on hand. So for this I’ll ask what each of them want or pick on my own. These are almost always eaten first.
Milky protein is up next and what kids don’t love cheese? Sometimes we get them cheese sticks but honestly my oldest likes just sliced cheese the most. My youngest likes shredded cheese the most so if I don’t mind having a mess to clean he’ll get a handful. But yeah, I normally just slap down a couple slices of cheese for them.
Meaty protein. If you have a picky eater you’re dreading this like me. They sometimes like chicken and steak but it’s rare and I can’t blame them, not a lot of meat I like either. I always give them a small slice of deli meat. This is mostly because while I make their food I’m wrapping pickles in cheese and meat slices and eating them as fast as I can. So they get a small bit of deli meat, normally pepperoni, that they rarely eat. How do I off set that? Well, if they aren’t having a PBJ, then I spoon on a couple scoops of peanut butter for them. Sometimes they even dip their fruit in it, but more often than not the oldest (four) uses a spoon and the youngest (one) either uses his fingers or just… licks it right off the plate.
And that’s it! That’s the base for a Peasant Meal. Insanely easy and borderline charcuteri board. Sometimes they will get more or less of one food group or no ‘main course’ of it at all. Either because they don’t want one, they aren’t very hungry to begin with, or because I’m just… not in the mood. Sometimes dealing with little hellions is draining.
Oh, for drinks, my kids either get waters, juice or a chocolate milk. The milk (almond, we can’t do dairy) is only if they ask nicely or if I’m making one for myself though. And if they eat most of their food or at least try a bit of everything I give them a chocolate kiss at the end. They both love chocolate, like their Momma, and would do anything for it.
We pull out Peasant Meals all the time. Don’t like dinner? As long as they tried three bites of dinner they can get a Peasant Meal. All of us sick? Peasant Meals all around. All or most of us cranky? Peasant Meal. None of us slept last night and I’m running on little energy and no fucks to give? Peasant Meal.
Tips
Stock up on easy to ‘grab and go’ or ‘grab and eat’ food for you and the kids. If you make it yourself and stock it for later or if you buy it from the store, having something on hand they can eat quickly and easily that you deem healthy is the key to keeping them fed, even if they refuse to eat ‘normal’ meals.
Try and always have staples and major favorites on hand at all time.
Be patient. We’ve all had times when we did’t know what we wanted but knew what we didn’t want. They’re little and just as frustrated as we are. Their taste buds are also changing all the time.