What do your kids eat when you go out?

MommyToAshley wrote: We went out for dinner last night and Ashley wanted shrimp and broccoli. Well, guess what, they don't make a shrimp and broccoli plate on the kids menu. So, I ordered a dinner that had shrimp in it and added an extra side of broccoli and got an extra plate for her.

I wonder why a lot of restaurants don't offer better choices on the kid's menus? If we go out with friends, Ashley will ask for what the other kids are ordering, but she seldom eats it. So I usually end up ordering something she will eat (Usually chicken or steak and a vegetable) and split it with her.

What do you do?

amynicole21 replied: Oh man, Sophia won't even LOOK at broccoli, let alone shrimp She's all about the chicken fingers or cheeseburger and fries.

Boys r us replied: If Braedon would ONLY eat so well!! WE try and try to get him to try things and he refuses. Very Picky!

When we go out, he'll eat Chicken nuggets or if they have peanut butter & jelly he'll do that..sometimes a grilled cheese and if we do mexican he'll eat a taco.

That's the extent of it!

MommyToAshley replied:
Oh... don't get me wrong, Ashley's all about fries too. I try to limit them to once or twice a week though. She has them almost every Friday for our playdate.

Last year, if you asked her what her favorite foods were she would have said, "Chicken and broccoli" ... now if you ask her, she will say "chicken, broccoli, and fries!"

redchief replied: Our kids have pretty good ranges of food likes, so it's never been all that much of a problem for us. Chicken strips and hamburgers have always been favorites when they were kids.

luvbug00 replied: Mya will have usualy chicken fingers of grilled cheese. But her ultimite favorite food is popcorn shrimp ( a la redlobster ) she adores it!

kit_kats_mom replied:
ROFL. Miss S will look at the broccoli. Trust me. She looked at it long enough to tell Woody that she was allergic to it and so she wouldn't be eating it. LOL

amynicole21 replied:
Hee hee! She's "allergic" to lots of things these days

mckayleesmom replied: We rarely order them something off the kids menu's...they usually just give us extra plates and we give them some of what we are having...They will eat anything. Mckaylee usually eats the soup and salad that came with our meals...then shes full by the time the actual meal comes.

luvmykids replied: Kylie is the shrimp eater, otherwise it's mac n cheese. Colt is all about steak and potatos, so I usually share with him, and Macie will eat anything.

C&K*s Mommie replied: I often think the same thing. I wish restaraunts would follow the lead of places like Wendy's and McDonalds and offered healthier things.

As for restaraunts that are not buffets, we try to get them mac n' cheese. If that is not available, then spaghetti, or pizza. Seldom do they eat chicken tenders, or hamburgers in restaraunts so it is a waste of money for us.

In buffets they eat a good selection of vegetables, fruit and main entrees. They love Chinese food (we eat it alot) so they get protein from the chicken they eat. They like coconut shrimp, mushroom (fungus as Chris calls it ), green beans, noodles, and rice are usually the faves. Oh and more mac n' cheese!

Boo&BugsMom replied: Tanner is partial to fettechini alfredo. He has always been a pretty good eater though and will always try stuff when we tell him he has to, or eat a certain portion. I'd like to think that it's partially because we've always instilled some good 'food discipline' in him. He is, however, the average 4 year old and wants to always order something kid friendly when we are out...chicken fingers, pizza, or a corn dog. If we ALWAYS went to Italian places, he'd be in heaven! He's also big on wheat noodles...I wish more restaurants would use wheat noodles versus the egg or white noodles, personally.

Kaitlin'smom replied: humm anthing with cheese mac-n-cheese, grilled cheese. Supprising Kait is not that fond of fries she would rather have apples or cottage cheese. Bob Evans is the best childrens menu I have see. A really good varitey of food and lots of choises for side items. Its also a favorite place of hers.

coasterqueen replied:
OMG that is freakin' hilarious! What a GENIOUS you have Amy! I wish I would have come up with something like that when I was little. I had to put the food in my mouth and then couch it into a napkin.

coasterqueen replied: I guess I don't even give Kylie a choice. I just read her what's on the kids menu and she chooses from that. It's usually chicken fingers and fries or spaghetti. She always gets fruit.

Guess I'm guilty of not giving her better choices when we go out. We don't go out that often.

Brias3 replied: Mason's the pickiest out of my kids but they've all been through their "picky" stage. He'll usually be the one to go for something off the kids menu- chicken fingers or some type of pasta. None of my kids will touch a hamburger Ryan and Aliyah have always had a more mature taste. They'll likely share a regular adult meal at a restaurant for the variety. They both are big seafood eaters. Most of the time, I'm pretty safe with getting them an appetizer shrimp cocktail or an order of calamari to share and then a side salad each. They'll eat the chicken fingers and fries when we're doing a fast food type thing but certainly don't prefer it.

ZandersMama replied: Zan always splits with me. He likes veggies so he usually shares my salad, then he has some of my pasta or whatever.......hes not a picky eater as long as there is pepper on everything he eats.

Boo&BugsMom replied:
Hey...fruit is good for you! Give yourself some credit! It's better than my one daycare girl. Her parent's figure if she's eating cookies, at least she's eating 'something'. Well, that is what dad last said anyway. And they wonder why she's so picky . And I mean PICKY. She forms a new definition of the word, to say the least.

JP&KJMOM replied: Mine will mostly eat what is on the menu. CB or Chicken tenders. Only if we eat seafood do they want something other than that and they usually split an adult order of fish with nothing left when they are done.

coasterqueen replied:
Thanks. I guess Kylie always orders a salad too. Salad and fruit are usually a given when we go out to eat. I just don't give her any other main course choices. Maybe because most of the time when we go out to eat it's either a pasta place or the one place in town that Kids eat free (if you choose off their menu).

My3LilMonkeys replied: I usually get one kid's meal of chicken & french fries for the girls to split and then they'll both eat off of our plates too. They like a variety of foods - Madison especially. She'll eat anything you offer her!

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Usually when we go out, it's for breakfast... so i mean it's not like there's a whole lot to choose from anyways... pancakes, eggs etc... so we usually order a regular sized pancake plate for them, and split it between them, I give them my toast, and we order extra sausages.

If we do go out for dinner, they'll split something off the kids menu and/or share with us... they're not big burger or nugget eaters.

3_call_me_mama replied: We have the same issue when we eat out. I hate the thought of them eating burgers, fries and nuggets all teh time when we do. I usually try to get spahgetti or grilled ch8icken. Most places we go have a choice where you cna sub brocolli or somethign else for fries so we do that. A lot of places have a kids steak on teh menu so they might get that. I hate ot get them mac an cheese cause it's usually easy mac and that is gross! Sometimes when they kid menu is less than desirable I order an adult meal and they split it Or i give them some of what i have. We know what places have decent kid menus and which ones dont' so we try and avoid those that don't. OR we also have been know to jsu tpurchase sides (broccoli, corn potatoes or whatever and agrilled chicken breast. (DH always orders a caesar salad and you can get chicken or shrimp with it so we jsut order that and the kids eat it. ) Most places are pretty good if we explain that I don't feed my kids that stuf. they accomodate well.

CantWait replied: We usually order off the kids menu. A lot of places we go to offer healthier choices, sometimes I mix and match items and create my own meal.

martzfam27 replied: Lucas really likes stake or grilled chicken. If we do mexican he'll do either a taco or casadilla. If its chinese he'll order egg drop soup or chicken teriyaki. But usually we'll go to McDonalds and he'll get chicken nuggets and fries. I noticed recently that a lot of places are offering more healthy choices now adays more then when Patricia was growing up

Cece00 replied: My 3 yr old will eat basically anything. Esp salad, he loves it.

My 4 yr old likes the usual "kids menu" fare & fights eating the salad, though he will eat some fruits...actually, he'll eat anything you tell him he HAS to eat, but he's not happy about it

Thank goodness he is compliant & my 3 yr old just loves to eat...so we dont have much trouble.

Kirstenmumof3 replied: My kids usually order off of the kids menu. But Emily seems to be ordering from the regular menu now. One time in Toronto I took Spencer to a resturant that didn't have a children's menu, so I ordered him a Ceasar Salad and baked pretzels (they were huge, he got 3 and only ate 1).

ediep replied: Jason will eat chicken and fries, mac-n-cheese (only if it looks exactly like the Kraft one), pasta with butter, rice, or if we go to a diner or perkins he'll order pancakes.

Usually if we go somewhere that I know he won't wat anything like mexican, I 'll bring him some mac and cheese from home

Boo&BugsMom replied:
That's funny. Tanner is the same way. He doesn't like the mac and cheese if it looks too slimy or if the noodles are way over cooked. It has to be the Kraft kind, and even then, he goes one step further and asks to have some sort of character shape. We usually just skip over the mac and cheese on the menu because then it's just a waste of money. Heaven forbid he eat REAL cheese with his noodles.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: Salad, grilled cheese, fruit, chicken nuggets (not strips..they won't eat them) and they both love broccoli. Actually they love most vegetables...corn on the cob is a good choice for kids. And pasta or mac n cheese is a fave.

They don't like fries

Our Lil' Family replied: We've ordered off the kids menu once...never again. He ate on the chicken fingers for two days. Total waste of money. So now we just share what we have. Last night DH gave him some grean beans, I gave him some steak and baked potato and he had some bread.

BJ~Bre's Mommy replied: Thankfully I don't have a picky eater. I usually order off the kids menu but if I want something different for her then I will order off the adult menu or sometimes I will give her some of mine.