What can i feed the fussiest eater in the world?

squeaky

This thread may help:-

Ideas for cheap meals, fussy son

tomfun

If you are on a tight budget, pasta would be a good choice ,mixed with sweetcorn and a tiny bit of butter.

Slim4Summer

Thanks guys I'll give those ideas a shot

BitterAndTwisted

My poor, foolish sister used to cook three different meals every evening, pandering to her two kids' ever-changing likes and dislikes.

In her position, I would have offered only one meal choice and left it to to them to eat or not eat from their plate as they chose. Only rule: eat least two bites of everything on the plate. Easy to say, hard to do, I know but this was what I did when I was a full-time nanny and the kids ended up eating nearly everything we offered them in the end. Or at least were willing to try

Jess01

Hi all,

I've been a lurker on this site for a while, and think you are all amazing people, and very kind and compassionate whilst firm and fair... am hoping for some of that wisdom now! I need help with food budgeting/planning and sticking to it! I have several obstacles that I don't want to use as excuses, but make it trickier for me to be thrifty and clever;

1. I can't cook. I currently stretch to boiling pasta and scrambling eggs. I have tried cooking chicken, but am so unconfident about cooking that I worry I've not done it right, spend the entire meal chewing slowly to check it feels right and not enjoying the food. End up throwing half of it away, waste of time and money! Am willing to learn more, but that leads to problem number 2;

2. I live alone in the worlds smallest flat. (I'd call it a shoebox, but that would be extravagant!) I have no freezer, and no room for one, so no batch cooking / freezerable foods that can be saved. My kitchen is literally in a cupboard. Literally. It consists of a fridge and a tabletop electric oven with a hob on top. In order to fit in into my cupboard alongside the worlds smallest sink, it's cramped sideways and awkward to use. Cooking becomes the worlds biggest hassle.

3. I have quiet a busy job, and in London so 2 hours per day minimum are spent commuting. I always mean to make time for breakfast but it never works, then snack at work (again, I mean to bring a packed lunch and then find I don't have time, or my bread at home has gone off, etc). By the time I get home (never earlier than 7.30pm I'm too tired to worry about cooking and given that I can't cook it's a waste of time, so I snack more. Occassionally I stretch to pasta or omelette.

In addition, I am the worlds fussiest eater. Seriously, I cut out entire food groups. However, I'll try not to focus on that too much, as I want to try to overcome this and start eating better. I just need the motivation and willpower to do it. At the moment though, I live pretty much on chocolate, cheese, bread, potato, cereal, eggs and pasta. And pizza, on the odd splurge. So not only do I need to watch my wallet, but I also need to improve my diet!!

I reckon at the moment I spend probably £30-40 p/w on a weekly shop, some of which inevitably gets thrown out... then £20+ on snacks and lunch at work... then possibly the odd few pounds here and there, on the corner shop on the way home from work etc. Combination of bad habits, hectic lifestyle, no willpower and the fact that cooking is stressful! But this can't go on, I need to sort it out! How much would you think I should budget, and then what sort of foods would you then buy with this to get through the week?

So, any ideas on how to improve this would be great! Any easy to cook things, quick and simple with what I have, cheap but healthy... the only things I'll definitely veto right away is fish and nuts. Am willing to try everything else! Any advice on how to kick the excessive chocolate/cola habit would be gratefully received too.

All advice/tips/despairing virtual slaps are welcome...

xxx

bluetimone97

You could invest in a slow cooker, it is only small so takes up no space and dinner will be ready when you get in so less chance of giving into snacking temptaion. Can't really mess cooking up with a slow cooker either just bung it in and it cooks itself.

Jammie_Dodger_2

hi jess
Like you I have a completely unworkable kitchen,no large cooker space so have a multicooker and a tiny grill/oven the size of a toaster.
I too only have to cook for myself and although I had a tabletop fridge, the only place for it was in the old larder cupboard and this proved too hot and so I am now freezerless too.
However I can cook yet do not do too much now the family have flown.
If you can cook pasta you are off to a flying start, pasta sauces are so quick and easy to cook and can make no end of different meals. There are lots of recipes on here as you may well know, I'm sorry I am not techie enough to do links.
If you can start with a simple recipe and some time, at weekends maybe, to shop for ingredients for the recipe and something quite easy to make nice lunches, maybe even some leftover of your pasta dish.
Does your fridge have a small freezer compartment at the top?
Your lunch sandwiches or pasta will keep ok until you need them in here.
Start of simply at first even if it is only boiled egg and watercress sandwiches with mayo for lunch. Your sense of achievement will mean you will gain confidence with every dish.
Baked potato with a topping is a very simple but appetising meal and you can bake more than one together and microwave or warm it up the second night with a different topping.
Try and leave a breakfast snack ready the night before, cereal already in bowl just needing milk from fridge.
You have two hours of train time to read recipe books to see if any take your fancy and sound easy to make. The library
should have some.
Pack fruit and eat on train as healthy breakfast or make into fruit salad and keep in fridge for snacks too. If you can make smoothies you can use up any fruit that look past their best and help with the cola habit too.
I went cold turkey on cola and found elderflower cordial to replace it. Cant say there was any reduction in sugar intake with that though.
If you can address your healthier eating as a job just like your work until it becomes easier maybe that will give you incentive to try things even though you may be tired when you get home.
You have already made the first positive step by posting on here and i know lots of other people will no doubt come and answer you better than I can. I wish you all good luck with it and keep posting you questions and achievements as we will love to hear how you get on.

LeeSouthEast

Another vote for a slow cooker. Turn it on (or put it on a timer) when you leave. Good cooked idiot-proof food 10 hours later. They're small, easy to use, easy to clean, and produce tasty results.

And any idiot can do it :P

PasturesNew

You never said if you have a microwave.

Breakfasts: bananas are great

Quick/easy snack meals: toasted cheese sandwiches (cheese/onion, cheese/tomato, whatever) can be done in a dry non-stick frying pan. I chuck in 2 pieces of bread (use the long-life, Tescos is 65p and a loaf lasts 10 days so it's not gone off) into the pan so they toast on one side, tip them out, put cheese/fillings onto one of the toasted sides, place other toasted side on top, place it back into the frying pan to toast the outsides. Use a spatula to flip it.

10p pasta packets (Tesco), I like to knock these up in the microwave with half a tin of peas.... cook the noodles until they're done, then tip in half a tin of peas. Also works well with tins of "kidney beans in chilli sauce" which are usually under 40p from Tesco and you use half, so have that meal 2 days in a row.

Omelettes: easy, one frying pan.

Spanish Omelettes: sliced/par-boiled spuds, sliced onions, fry those then chuck in any other bits of veg you've got and mixed herbs, possibly some cheese ... and cover with 2-3 whisked eggs. Flip the whole pan (I use a plate to do this neatly).

Jacket potatoes/cheese: but don't buy jacket potatoes, buy normal potatoes and have 2-3 of them.... they're a lot cheaper than buying the ones that are labelled as Baking Spuds.

Just take one meal at a time, so find one thing you think is achievable and swap that out for something pricier you'd have had. Don't try to do it all at once.

Banana custard... I get in instant custard and if I want a snack and have bananas then I'll make up a couple of spoons of instant custard in a small dish with a banana.

You can make flapjacks in a microwave with no baking: In a 1 pint pyrex dish, melt 4oz butter and 4oz sugar. Squirt in a generous amount of golden syrup (I use the squeezy bottles as they're easier to manage/not messy) and squeeze in about 1/5th of a small bottle. Stir that round. Shove in as many oats as will fit, mixing them into the butter/sugar mix. Place in microwave and cover loosely; nuke for 3 minutes. Pour out into a dish, leave to set. http://hubpages.com/hub/Quick--Easy-Microwave-Flapjacks-Recipe-on-a-Budget

Sometimes I buy a pack of 8 sausages and make up 2 sausages and mash, the other 6 go in the fridge wrapped in 2s. I can then nuke 2 sausages/mash the next day too ... or make a sausage sandwich, usually with a splash of whatever sauce I have.

There's no point buying in loads of stuff and trying to over-achieve on day one. Just take one dish at a time and you'll build up over time.

Just think about everything you're eating and how you could do it/buy it cheaper.

Jess01

Thanks for the replies so far - it already seems like less of an unachievable task! Bananas and custard - I can't believe I never thought of that one!!

Yes I do have a microwave - sorry I completely forgot to say in my original post! I don't have any kind of freezer compartment in my fridge, but I assume if I can get myself into the habit of making sandwiches, or leftover pasta, they'll keep ok in the fridge until the morning, then last until lunchtime? I have access to a microwave at work so can heat things up quite easily.

Will definitely look into the slow cooker idea. Not really heard about them much before, but idiot-proofing sounds like a great idea!

Feeling much more positive already - I've already forgone my mid-afternoon snack at work and I'm not missing it one bit!

Thanks guys xx