meal planning/fussy child HELP :-/

DigForVictory

Google "you don't have to eat it" - a lot of picky eating is headology & taking some of the confrontation away is a blinking pod start!

That said our rotten picky little sister turned out to be lactose intolerant - so cover bases.

Thanks to a misunderstanding, my signature special tomato sauce contains cabbage. The lads have no idea & decades later still scarf it down with gratifying enthusiasm.

ciderwithrosie_2

My mum used to grate onion into her cooking, so it couldn't be spotted by picky eaters but still added the flavour.

TBagpuss

If she doesn't eat rice or pasta then I would suggest letting her have potato instead. Do you have a microwave? If so, let her have a baked potato instead of the rice or pasta.

Talk to her about what she does like, and think about what types of things would work - reserve some tuna if you are making tuna in sauce, and she can have it plain on/with her baked potato, for instance.

Does she eat soup? it's cheap and easy to make, you can make it in bulk and freeze it, and it's relatively easy to adapt recipes to her tastes.

At 12, she is old enough to start to cook for herself - when we were growing up, my parents tried to cook things we would all eat, but there was a standing rule that if you didn't want what was being cooked, then (provided you said so so it wasn't wasted) you were free to make something different for yourself, whether it was a bacon sandwich, or a more complicated meal. (the rule was also that if you made a meal for yourself, you also had to clean up afterwards)

Also, talk to her, and encourage her to try small amounts of new things, without being judgmental if she doesn't like them. IS she able to say *why* she doesn't like the things she doesn't like? I'm asking because I've met people who don't like white rice but found they were OK with brown, and who didn't what rice but did eat bulgar wheat - the texture was different enough not to be disliked!

Also ask her about the sauces - for instance, if you made a casserole, could she eat the meat if you picked that out so she had meat which had been cooked in gravy but didn't give her any gravy, for instance?

Has she had / does she eat noodles?
What about stir frys as another possible menu choice?

meritaten

okay - my kids didn't like boiled rice - but chuck in some peas and sweetcorn and they gobbled it down!
not keen on mash? Do baked potatoes - you can scoop out the inners and make lovely mash for the mash lovers and DD can eat the bakies. and everyone loves wedges!
I did the grated onion trick too - you cant really make curry without onions! and it has the added bonus of cutting down the cooking time!
my DIL wasn't keen on 'wet' food either - so, if doing say a 'chicken casserole', I would keep one portion of chicken out and wrap it in foil and roast it for her for the last threequarters of hour of cooking casserole. She would happily eat spag bol if I gave her a small portion of sauce and mixed it thoroughly into her pasta. and covered it in cheese.
sometimes a bit of lateral thinking will give a simple solution.

splishsplash

I still portion everything I cook into individual portions for freezing - very handy for fussy people or someone who just doesn't feel like having what the rest of us are having.
My middle child used to pull the onion out of everything and had a real problem with textures - meat in particular. As a child she would suck the meat for ages then spit it out. It used to do my head in.

However, take heart. We were eating out at a molecular gastronomy type restaurant at the weekend, where the same child (now 21) chose dishes with ingredients like duck hearts, scurvy grass, seawater, seaweed, mosses and other such delightful things... even I quailed at some of them.

They really do grow out of it.

maman

I've found that using serving dishes rather than plating up meals helps. Children see the adults and others helping themselves and, in time, they'll try for themselves. Children also seem to like the sense of control it gives them rather than the parents deciding what they'll eat in advance. It works particularly well with vegetables as children can take the ones they want and the quantity they'll eat and come back fro more if they wish. Same with sauces/gravy for those preferring dry food.

xHannahx

Our 3 year old is fussy. She says things are "yuck" without even trying it. Don't offer her anything else and if she is hungry she eventually eats it after a long protest. She eats it once realises getting nothing else.

suki1964

boredjellybean wrote: »

she will eat potato things, though not as keen on mash
tonight she had waffles & fishfingers with peas & cleared her plate
I try & cook things she likes & I'm trying to think of things I can batch cook & freeze to grab when we're having something she really doesn't like

I too can't abide mash, yet will eat potatoes any other way

It really does sound like a texture thing

With mash, when you cook it for your own teas, save a portion. From cold you can make hash browns or croquettes. Another way I will eat mash is as duchess - stick it in a piping bag and make swirly mounds and then grill- cheaper then potato waffles and easy enough to do for the whole family. Can even batch cook them and freeze for speed

When doing a chilli or something you serve with rice or pasta serve with wedges or jacket spud instead. Even stuffing pittas or wraps

Try to keep to the meal plan you can afford and willing to make, just make the small changes so she is also included on the main meal

cat4772

My daughter doesn't like onion, mushroom or tomatoes. last night she managed to eat spaghetti bolognese with finely chopped onion and mushroom in a bolognese & passata sauce.

I do subscribe to the "eat a meal or bread and butter alternative" theory. My husband doesn't and he cooks 4 nights a week; he's either prepared to act as a short order cook or to suffer a day or two of moaning until they eat what we're eating. Our family holiday in July is going to be fun!

Cat.x

thriftwizard

I developed a system that whoever didn't like whatever I was cooking for everyone else - and with 5, there was always one - could have a "mini-pizza" & salad. Which was a pitta bread spread with tomato puree and grated cheese, grilled. If they wanted anything else on it or with it, they had to prepare it & clear up after themselves. No clearing up, no more optional mini-pizzas.

Curiously, after the first initial flush of enthusiasm, they often couldn't be bothered & chose to eat the thing they thought they didn't like after all. That said, there are some real issues, still in existence today; one's a dedicated vegetarian, one doesn't like anything containing pig products, and one, left to himself, would eat nothing BUT chops, bacon, sausages & ham! But they're all big enough to cater for themselves now, and everyone else occasionally, and clear up too.

I grew up having to eat anything I'd balked at the night before for breakfast next morning, cold. I was determined not to inflict that on my own kids, as I did have a very real issue with milk and often spent days either with awful stomach aches after cold, stodgy rice pudding, or hungry until lunchtime. Before anyone thinks my parents were abusive, this was standard practice at the time (1960s-70s) as recommended by doctors & teachers, and food intolerances were not yet recognised. We were also very broke! So I probably pandered to my own kids a bit too far, but sheer weight of numbers & practicality forced me into the "mini-pizza" compromise. The unanticipated benefit of it is that all 5 of them can & indeed do cook from scratch when (and if) they choose to & three of them love to do so.