If you live with a toddler right now, and have cooked them dinner only to receive feedback it's "too wet", "too orange" or just "no" — welcome. You're among friends. Please accept my knowing nod and unbroken eye contact of solidarity.

One week they're obsessed with blueberries and smashing broccoli like they're hot chippies. The next, they're acting like you served up a plate of grass clippings.

But as any seasoned parent will tell us, clever hacks do exist, in the form of strategically teeny shifts and shortcuts born from pure survival instinct.

So I asked a bunch of parents for the best mealtime tricks and hacks their household stands by — ones the rest of us will be kicking ourselves over that we didn't think of them months (or several children) ago.

Here's what they said.

"I call it a smoothie power-up."

"When my toddler isn't even touching his safe foods, my biggest breakthrough was learning not to panic, just pivot."

Jo's go-to is what she calls a "smoothie power-up": banana, "whatever berries we have left in the crisper, plus spinach leaves, cinnamon, a scoop of any nut butter… basically whatever I can get away with." She blends it with Bubs Organic Grass Fed Toddler Milk Drink also for an extra nutrient boost.

"He loves the taste, and it honestly gives me peace of mind if dinner was an absolute flop. I know he's at least going to bed full (and getting some vitamins and minerals he definitely side-stepped earlier in the day)."

For Jo, it's not about replacing meals. "It just takes the pressure off. Sometimes it's a smoothie night. That's parenting in this era."

"A friend of mine put us onto Bubs. I like that they have a certified organic formula that's also been independently tested for more than 400 contaminants, so it gives me real peace of mind knowing my child's getting premium nutrition."

For toddlers with more sensitive tummies, she said there's also Bubs Easy-digest Goat Milk Toddler Drink. "It's made with A2 goat protein, so it's naturally easier to digest and more gentle on little tummies. A few mum friends swear by it."

"The 'how would you eat this' trick."

"Our kids have devoured many mountains of broccoli and carrots pretending to be wood chippers. It cracks me up."

Hayley's hack: asking kids to roleplay. How would you eat this if you were a mouse? How would you eat this if you were the Hulk?

"It's so funny to watch, and they enjoy taking turns coming up with the next animal or character or gardening tool (?!) they're pretending to be. It seems to melt away the stress and pressure from dinnertime, because their imaginations are too busy to realise they're actually eating."

"Rebrand the meal, rebrand the mood."

Brittanie said that just reimagining the names of mealtimes worked a treat in her house.

"If food was served on a big plate and I called it dinner? Immediately rejected. If I popped the same bits in a muffin tray and called it a picnic? Squeals of excitement.

"It also works by calling any meal a platter, a snack, anytime of day rebranded as brunch. It seems to make the exact same meal… somehow more approachable? Whatever works, we're running with it."

"Meatballs are a no. But sausage balls? Yes."

Linda is also a fan of the toddler PR spin department. "Salmon is simply called pink fish in our house. Broccolini is also "tiny trees". My son hates meatballs but will accept a sausage ball, and sardines are "Charlie's food", which is our dog!"

"My son also lives for risotto and allegedly hates dahl, but "yellow risotto" he accepts."

"They'll eat anything if something's sprinkled on top."

Ange lives by the power of the sprinkle. "There's something to be said about toddlers and agency. If they feel like they're involved, suddenly meltdowns are nowhere to be seen??"

"It can mean sprinkling anything from grated cheese, chia seeds, even the crushed remnants of the crackers they abandoned earlier that day. My daughter has her ritual: she loads her spoon with food, and sprinkles something on every individual bite before eating."

"They'll actually eat what they've grown."

Mollie swears to avoid the battleground in the highchair, it starts in the garden.

"The kids and I planted tomatoes, potatoes and cucumbers, without real hope of them actually growing, because I have no clue, no green thumbs here… and I sure didn't expect it to change dinner."

It's now a daily race outside to check "how our vegetable friends are doing", which the kids "get to wash and prep (I chop, they taste test)."

"They've been the ones keeping the garden watered, so it's almost impossible to say no to the veggies they've personally supervised."

"We get our steps in before the food in."

Some parents swear the real strategy has nothing to do with the food whatsoever.

"When I'm organised, I take the kids out for a walk — only up our street and back — before we sit down for dinner," said Emily.

"They actually work up more of an appetite and calm that 5pm chaotic energy, instead of following me around the house requesting snacks every 5 minutes."

"No idea why eating in weird places has so much appeal."

Yan realised some toddlers don't want new recipes. Only a change of scenery.

"Strangely she'll eat twice as much if we've set up the picnic rug for breakfast on the loungeroom floor, have lunch in our camping chairs on our driveway, or go for a "balcony dinner" at her grandparents' house."

Same food, new location. I'm taking notes.

"We stopped mixing everything together."

Daniel realised his toddler didn't really hate the taste of the meal, just the fact it wasn't… deconstructed.

"Must be his obsession with construction sites — he wants to do the building himself. If the meal looks ready to eat with no elements to put together, then no thanks. He prefers a dollop of sauce, a pile of plain pasta, and a tiny mountain of cheese so he can DIY to his heart's content."

"My daughter must be allergic to abundance."

Harrie swears some toddlers just hate to see an overcrowded plate coming.

"I feel like when I give her the meal in full, it overwhelms her so she refuses it. But if I try placing only two or three bites in front of her, she polishes it off and asks for more."

Psychology. Always psychology.

Shop Bubs Toddler Drinks from Chemist Warehouse, Coles, Woolworths, Big W, Baby Bunting and Amazon.

Bubs Toddler Drinks are not suitable for children under the age of 12 months.

Featured image: Unsplash.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Bubs

Parenting is an adventure A whirlwind of nappies and naps. Tantrums and cuddles. It's also the most rewarding job in the world. But beyond that bundle of joy in your arms can be a sea of uncertainty. Just know you've got this, even if you don't know what 'this' is just yet. How do we know? Because like you, we've experienced it all. Bubs was borne through a parent's intuition – a vision of the importance of setting little ones up for a lifetime of health and nutrition. It's about feeding only the cleanest, contemporary Australian nutrition to their bub.