Twenty dinners that children like and that take under half an hour to make: from pancakes and tacos to oven-baked salmon and pasta with broccoli. All of them can be split up on the plate so the fussy child takes the pasta and you take the sauce. With a weekly plan, and the three tricks that get children to actually eat.
It is quarter past five, the children are hungry in the way that ends in tears in twenty minutes, and you have no idea what to cook. This is the list our nannies work from on the evenings they get dinner going before the parents come home. Nothing takes more than half an hour, everything has been served to real children, and most of it can be made with what is already at home.
Twenty dinners
| Dish | Time | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Pancakes with berries and cottage cheese | 15 min | Batter in five minutes, fry while the children lay the table. Cottage cheese adds protein, frozen blueberries add colour. |
| Pasta with meat sauce | 25 min | Make a double batch, freeze half. Grate carrot and courgette into the sauce, nobody notices. |
| Sausages with mashed potato | 20 min | Instant mash is fine. Put a slice of cucumber and tomato on the side. |
| Tacos | 20 min | Everything in bowls, everyone builds their own. The one thing children under ten never get tired of. |
| Chicken breast with rice and sweetcorn | 25 min | Cut the chicken into strips, fry with a little soy sauce. Rice in the rice cooker. |
| Fish fingers with potatoes and peas | 20 min | Oven at 225, fish fingers and potato wedges on the same tray. |
| Oven pancake with bacon | 40 min | Five minutes of work, the oven does the rest. Lingonberry jam on the side. |
| Meatballs with pasta | 20 min | Ready-made meatballs are not cheating. Fry, boil pasta, grate cheese. |
| Tomato soup with toasted cheese sandwiches | 20 min | Chopped tomatoes, stock, a splash of cream, blend. Sandwiches in the frying pan. |
| Pytt i panna (Swedish hash) with fried egg | 20 min | Leftover potatoes and meat, onion if the children can handle it. A fried egg on top. |
| Chicken quesadillas | 15 min | Tortilla, grated cheese, yesterday's chicken, fold, fry. Cut into triangles. |
| Beef patties with onion and potatoes | 25 min | Minced beef, egg, breadcrumbs. Flatten, fry. The onion in its own bowl. |
| Oven-baked salmon with potatoes and dill | 25 min | Salmon pieces and potato wedges on the tray, 200 degrees for 20 minutes. Crème fraîche and dill. |
| Pasta with broccoli and parmesan | 15 min | Broccoli in the pasta water for the last three minutes. Olive oil, parmesan, a little lemon. |
| Roast chicken with root vegetables | 40 min | Thigh fillets, carrot, potato, parsnip, oil and salt. Into the oven, go and play. |
| Pancake cake | 20 min | Pancakes layered with cottage cheese and berries. A Saturday dinner that looks like dessert. |
| Rice pudding | 40 min | Make it dinner on a cold evening, with cinnamon and apple sauce. Protein from the milk. |
| Pizza on a ready-made base | 20 min | Tomato sauce, cheese, and the children add their own toppings. Pineapple is allowed. |
| Home-made chicken nuggets | 25 min | Chicken breast in pieces, dipped in egg and panko, oven at 225 degrees for 15 minutes. Sweetcorn on the side. |
| Pasta with tuna and peas | 15 min | Tinned tuna, crème fraîche, frozen peas, warmed through the pasta. The cheapest dinner there is. |
A week, planned for you
| Day | Dinner |
|---|---|
| Monday | Pasta with meat sauce (double batch) |
| Tuesday | Fish fingers with potatoes and peas |
| Wednesday | Tacos |
| Thursday | Pancakes with berries and cottage cheese |
| Friday | Pizza on a ready-made base |
| Saturday | Roast chicken with root vegetables |
| Sunday | The meat sauce from the freezer, with fresh pasta |
Three tricks that get children to eat
- Vegetables first, on their own plate, while the food cooks. That is when the child is hungriest and eats carrot without thinking.
- Split it up. Pasta, sauce and cheese in separate bowls. The child who doesn't want sauce takes pasta and cheese. It is the same dinner.
- No negotiating. What is on the table is dinner. If the child doesn't want to eat, that is fine, but there is no other food. The sandwich at bedtime undoes everything this has taught them.
What you don't need to worry about
That your child eats the same five dishes for a year. That they don't eat vegetables for a week. That the portion is three bites. Children regulate their appetite over days and weeks, not per meal, and what matters is what is available, not what gets eaten tonight. Keep the table calm, serve variety without pressure, and wait. It usually loosens up around six or seven.
How we do it with our families
On the evenings the nanny is with the family until six, she often gets dinner going: potatoes on, chicken in the oven, vegetables chopped. The parents come home to an evening that has already started, and the children have eaten their cucumber. Because it is the same nanny every week, she knows which five dishes work in your home.
Would you like a nanny who picks up from förskola (municipal preschool, from age one), makes a snack and gets dinner going before you get home? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your home.
Read more: Fussy eaters · Packed lunch for children · Vegetarian food for kids
Frequently asked questions
What is the easiest dinner children like?
Pancakes, pasta with meat sauce, sausages with mash, tacos and chicken with rice. Five dishes almost every child eats and that take under half an hour. Rotate them and you have a week.
How do you get children to eat vegetables?
Serve them first, when the child is hungriest, in small pieces beside the plate rather than mixed into the food. Carrot, cucumber, pepper and sweetcorn usually work. And eat them yourselves, without comment.
Should we cook separate food for the children?
No, it makes everyday life twice as hard and teaches the child that there is children's food and grown-up food. Cook one dish that can be split up: pasta on its own, sauce on its own, vegetables on their own. Everyone takes what they want.
How much should a child eat?
Less than you think. A portion for a three-year-old is about a third of an adult's. Children regulate themselves over a week: one day almost nothing, the next day three helpings. Look at the week, not the meal.