What can i feed the fussiest eater in the world?

Gingham_Ribbon

Pizzas I can help with as we've got it down to a bit of an art in this house.

DH was Dominos crazy when we met. He had one from there every week. Now he doesn't like them as he says ours are better.

Until we got our breadmaker, we used the morrisons or Tesco value bases. They're plain with no sauce on. I used to mess about reducing tins of tomatoes and cooking herbs and garlic in it to make a pizza sauce, but now I just use a little morrisons bettabuy passata straight from the jar and sprinkle a little herbs over it, then add my toppings, then some mozzarella.

Also nice - mix passata with olive oil and crushed garlic. Add to pizza base to make garlic bread. Or crush garlic, add it to softened butter with some dried parsley. Spread over pizza base, or make little slices through a bagette and spread it in between the slices.

Oh, we split the dough and have one veggie pizza (for me) and one with sliced spicy sausage (for him.) You can buy small bases in Morrisons.

wigginsmum

I made HM pizza yesterday with a base recipe from here (post #10), and it was lovely. DH wolfed it down and said it's the nicest thing I've ever cooked in 8 years. Believe me, it was much nicer and cheaper than bought bases, and so easy to make.

foxychik

thank you all - gotta go now - OH has arrived home as finishes early on friday and baby has woken.

will check over weekend for any more ideas.
xxx

Dead_Eye_Jones

well i am a fussy OH, how do you deal with my kind? well 1st off if you do the cooking well your in control straight away! My laziness is > my fussiness so therefore I have a tendancy to go for what im given lol

My tips though would be to go slow, start with the odd part of the odd meal. I lived of frozen chips etc for a god 5yrs but then one day there werent any and a wholesome Jacket was offered (not forced). Slowly but surely boiled, baked, steamed, etc potatoes started cropping up and slowly with increased exposure I began to trust and enjoy such foods. This is much the way children need to be introduced to new foods !

Accept that there are things that will never be eaten. Dont worry about that for now, just concentrate on the healthy alternatives to things you know he will eat. Perhaps also make a point of the money you save on fresh fruit/veg etc. Its still totally amazing to realise tht there are still people who think healthy living = expensive living - unbelievable isnt it?!

As to the whole change of lifestyle in general, be careful to involve him else you drift apart...

GL

gerretl

Good point Dead Eye Jones.
It may be worth asking OH what things they will not eat, full stop. Do not then give it to them to see 'if they have changed their mind' It is an insult to their intelligence.
Try using vege mince for a bolognese, without telling OH. It is tricky to tell the difference.

foxychik

hi again, just had time to look in while LO is going to sleep.

thank you all, particularly Dead Eye Jones - always good to get both sides.

i actually spoke with OH about this last night and thought i got nowhere. however, when he got in from work he made me guess what he had for lunch - a buffalo burger from the farmers market in town!!! i could not believe it.

anyway, thank you all for making me feel so welcome. i will keep you posted.

Rage_in_Eden

Well there you go - he's not quite a big mac slave just yet.:D If you want to wean him of McDonalds may I suggets you get him to watch "supersize me?" by Morton Spurlock - put me and Mr Rage right off even their ice cream thingys..... :eek: as for the veg - a little tale. When I met Mr Rage (when I really didn't know any better) he would eat only carrots and peas (and he comes from the land of the kilt and the root vegetable is king!). Anyway, we'd been living together for a good few years when we were at his parents for full roast dinner where he actually asked if there was any more veggies - brocolli and stuff - his dad looked as if he was going to faint! So, it can be done.. the other day he even said "I really like salads" - now that caused me to nearly faint :rotfl:

Kylie

OH just looked over my shoulder, read a couple of posts and cottoned on that I hide vegies in his meals - apparently unsuccessfully....

May have to be sneakier in the future!

lynzpower

Its really a tough one, and depends more on your OHs mindset than it will do about how good (or devious!) a cook you are.

If they are committed to not changing then there you have it, and there is no point in flogging the preverbial dead horse.

IS there ANY veg he will eat at all? WHat about pasta? You can make a basic pasta sauce using passata, onions, bit of garlic, mushrooms add or subtract whatever he will/wont eat.

My OH was the same until recently. I didnt have to go down the harsh route, but was prepared to if it came to it. You cant control what OHs do Im afriad ( OH has high cholestrol and I usually find mars bars in his bag) but in saying that if they are committed to "junky"food- if you cant beat them join them, by making homemade burgers with lettuce, onions, toms on the burger a la gourmet burger style, or a HM pizza or nachos with HM guacamole/ salsa etc.
Or this which is the only way I get fruit into my diet as I cant stand it usually
http://www.waitrose.com/food_drink/recipes/recipesearch/recipe/jun03-02.asp

If he wont eat any of these, send him to get some pot noodles and have done with it!!! Id also be tempted to make a really nice roasted veg lasagne, or something that smells and looks amazing for self & if he wants to microwave himself some rubbish ready meal then he can do. Harsh? Moi?

benjacksmum

Please can somebody help me! I have been trying in vain to sort out menu plans in order to save money and stop the 'what are we having for tea?' syndrome which can lead to ecpensive takeaways. However both my sons are making this virtually impossible to do!

The worst offender is DS1 who is 6, DS2 is only 3 and he does try, bless him, but alas he ends up copying his elder brother who is sat pulling faces at whatever is on his plate.

I have to admit that maybe the root of this problem has come from me and DH who have never really had a healthy (or cheap!) diet until recently as now we are trying to change things for the better.

I have thought that maybe the solution to this is to sit everybody down and list favourite foods and build and expand meals from this until we are where we want to be with a 4 week menu plan with meals nobody fusses over. Reward system is probably going to be along the lines of earning smilie faces on a chart and when he goal is reached maybe a treat like a little 'treasure find' from a car booty or a trip to the best park (6 miles away). However, I am not looking forward to the prospect of eating DS1 based meals until he 'develops' his taste.

Anyone got any tips they can give me on this or any suggestions on how to make them less fussy. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am now coming to dread mealtimes. Yesterday for example, we had a tuna and sweetcorn pasta bake, which in theory DS1 should have liked as he likes all the individual ingredients. However, he ended up crying, paddying and bursting into tears at the first sight of it. :huh:

Thanks in advance,

A very worn out Ang. x