Help with meal planning for picky eaters

goldfinches

This sounds awfully difficult for you, I don't think I'd find it easy to cope with at all and I think you're doing brilliantly to even have the energy to search for alternative approaches so do give yourself a big pat on the back. 

One thing that did occur to me, which might be completely crackers, is that lots of puddings are quite nutritious when you think about their ingredients especially fruit ones and that it might be easier to persuade your children that they both like apple crumble with custard or strawberries with vanilla yoghurt or pancakes with stewed apple and blackberries etc. That might give you a bit more breathing room with meal planning so that you could make their first courses smaller, or you could even eat pudding first sometimes just to get everyone eating together to make you feel better. 

Best of luck trying out whatever ideas you think may help, goldfinches.

becky170

Thanks for all the ideas 😁 I think keeping it simple and doing little tweaks to accommodate everyone is a good way forward. Comments about raw vs cooked veg are correct in that my daughter will eat raw carrot and peppers but won't touch the cooked stuff. My DS is 9 and my DD is nearly 6 so they are old enough to start cooking my themselves, they often will help with baking but will try to get them involved in making main meals. I also like the reminder about having puddings as part of a nutritious diet. I am off to meal plan now....I just asked DS for a meal idea and all I got was I don't know! 

powerspowers

becky170 said:

Thanks for all the ideas 😁 I think keeping it simple and doing little tweaks to accommodate everyone is a good way forward. Comments about raw vs cooked veg are correct in that my daughter will eat raw carrot and peppers but won't touch the cooked stuff. My DS is 9 and my DD is nearly 6 so they are old enough to start cooking my themselves, they often will help with baking but will try to get them involved in making main meals. I also like the reminder about having puddings as part of a nutritious diet. I am off to meal plan now....I just asked DS for a meal idea and all I got was I don't know! 

Asking for meal suggestions is a non starter most days in our house, then there’s the cardinal sin of asking what he wants to eat tomorrow whilst he is eating todays dinner. It’s just too much for him. 

Good luck with your kiddos, it has gotten easier for us