This post was sponsored Tai Pei, all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
Toddlers are tricky. They have strong opinions, limited vocabulary, and that combination doesn’t always mix. A lot of the biggest battles I remember with my siblings (and myself) growing up revolved around food, and this has been one of my chief concerns as Penny grows up. We love food and eat a wide variety of flavors in our house. When Penny was born, Justin and I agreed not to be a cook-two-meals house. Thus far we’ve been relatively lucky; we have foods she doesn’t care for, but Penny general eats what we set in front of her. I’m not sure if it’s just my kid, or if it’s how we’ve been introducing foods.
My entire technique to introducing food to Penny revolves around one concept: try new things and make food fun.
Variety’s the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.
~ William Cowper
When we started Penny on food, we did Baby Led Weaning and really went all-in with different foods. It’s important to note that we don’t have any serious food allergies in our family, so the “waiting X days before introducing something new,” was not something our pediatrician was concerned with. Penny’s first food was avocado. The next day she got a strawberry. Through it all, our rule is “she eats what we eat.” If we made burgers, she’d get some patty and bun. If we ordered Asian food, she’d get some veggies and a dumpling. We still do this. If she absolutely refuses a new food – because not everyone will like everything – we heat up leftovers, but she always has to try the new food first.
I’m so glad I stumbled on Tai Pei Frozen Foods at my local grocery store. They’re incredibly tasty (yeah, I couldn’t believe it with a simple microwaveable frozen meal, either!), have loads of fresh veggies, with no preservatives or artificial ingredients. I love this. It takes a load off of my mind when I’m grabbing something quick for Penny and myself to know that the ingredients are the same as what I’d be putting in my wrok if I were making it from scratch. It also makes it so easy to introduce kids to new flavors (and if you pair it with a chance to use chopsticks, meal time is a whole new adventure)! Although chopsticks might make their delicious fried rice a little trickier to eat.
It’s hard to pick a favorite item they offer, but Penny LOVES the Chicken Chow Mein and Beef and Broccoli (which is really cool with the frozen fried rice). I love that I microwave it for 6 minutes and it’s ready to go. Give them a try! You can find out more about Tai Pei’s delicious options here, and use the store locator to find where Tai Pei single serve is available near you (in the frozen food section).
Be sure to check out the giveaway below for a chance to win a Walmart gift card valued at $100 or – if you’re super lucky – $500!!
“I-C will randomly select 13 winners from all program entries and will facilitate fulfillment of the winning prizes.”
So I am a completely unreasonable picky adult eater. I mean I’m not going to starve rather than eat something with cilantro in it, but BLECH! So I am super aware of trying to expose my kids to lots of flavors so they don’t have my hangups. Thanks for the ideas.
Looks delish!!!!