to feel rather deflated by

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

My children declared that they really loooved tonight's dinner "thank you so much mummy, you're the best..." etc.

What was this culinary masterpiece? Veggie sausages, beans, oven chips when will my homemade nutritious meals get the same reception ...? With the exception of lentil stew and hidden veg tomato pasta sauce they rarely appreciate or even like my meals [feeling unappreciated emoticon]

Gah.

[DanceParty]

Know what you mean! My son (30 yrs old !!!) told me after I'd been away for a couple of weeks that I didn't need to cook those 'fancy' recipes.......just plain food would be fine!!

Fancy recipes include: veggie meatballs in passata, macaroni cheese (with vegetables), chicken noodles with pineapple. [embarrassed]

Told him he could cook for himself, then. His response? Does that mean less housekeeping money? Kids - they never grow up !!

[Sukebind]

I am with you on this! Any attempts at culinary 'adventure' (spag bol, shepherd's pie, macaroni cheese, etc.) are met with crying, wailing, disgust, etc. I love food and cooking and eat just about anything and would really enjoy to cook lovely meals for my children but they end up in the dog or the bin.
What's worse is that the one and only time I had to take my DCs to McDonalds one of them insisted on the horrible nuggets and then declared it was the nicest meal she'd ever had. all at once!

[brettgirl2]

I can't imagine bringing up children vegetarian, kids like meat, so probably its harder.

The favourite meal in our house is roast chicken, closely followed by lasagne, lamb steals and fishfingers

yanbu though

[Mrsmorton]

I'm always a little baffled by replacement meat. Surely it's really processed?
Rehydrated Textured Wheat Protein (63%), Vegetable Oil, Water, Pea and Wheat Protein, Flavourings, Rusk, Stabiliser: Hydroxy Propylmethyl Cellulose, Textured Wheat Protein contains:, Wheat Starch, Flavourings contain:, Dextrose, Salt, Onion, Yeast Extract, Colour-Red Iron Oxide, Rusk contains:, Wheat Flour, Salt

That's a lot of stuff that has been played with in the name of protein. Just something I've never really understood.

OP, beans and oven chips is comfort food. I could do with some right now

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

Yes veg sausages are processed so are all processed foods and tbh as part of a balanced diet blah blah I am bored now...

I am fed up because the kids prefer the processed crap to my cook from scratch with care meals. With the exception of pasta and pizza.

Dd 2 is going to cinema with friends on Sat - they are taking them to McD's after dd has never been, she will no doubt love it!

[2tiredtocare]

Would kids who have never eaten meat miss it? I wouldn't have thought so

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

My kids will probably try meat/ fish as they grow up and eat out more but it is not true that all kids like meat.

[WorraLiberty]

I wonder if it's a salt thing?

Processed meals are quite salty and people tend to use less and less salt in their home cooking.

I still cook with salt and my kids much prefer home cooked meals, although they love a frozen pizza and chips once a week or so too.

[LangenFlugelHappleHoff]

brett really?

kids like meat

That is rather a ridiculous statement to make. And probably offending to people who have attended to their childrens dietary needs through a vegan or vegetarian diet.

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

I do use salt and pepper when cooking (in proportion) seasoning is very important. But I find no matter how expertly seasoned the dish my conservative children prod and shudder at unfamiliar foods. Dh is also pretty fussy in his way, I am sure I was too as a child. I still remember the horror of the night 'mum made me eat sweet potato' and how I choked it down ... took 20 years but I love it now!

So I have hope for the future blind optimist

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

Didn't take twenty years to eat a sweet potato btw!

[WorraLiberty]

I was the same OP

My Mum cooked everything from scratch but she was obsessed with bloody potatoes...we had them with every single meal!

I lived on processed food and pasta for the first 3 years after moving out

[WorraLiberty]

You should probably have cooked it longer

[WorraLiberty]

The first time my DS1 had pizza in a restaurant, he cried and said "It's full of beetles Mummy"...I said "Errr no, they're olives!"

[TheProsAndConsOfHitchhiking]

I remember when I was young and my second cousin came for tea at my Nanna's house (who I lived with) we must have been about 8 maybe 10.
She went home to her Nanna (who she lived with, My Nans sister) and said 'I'm not going for tea at AuntieProsNannas House again she has really posh peas and they are yellow!'

She meant sweetcorn

My Dc will eat most things I cook but will quite happily eat processed crap too, I cook most nights but on a monday I tend to give them nuggets, pizza or something like that as we all have about an hour time slot before bed to eat .

[TheProsAndConsOfHitchhiking]

Hmm am I right about her being my second cousin? My Nanna and her Nanna were Sisters

[WorraLiberty]

I don't know. I got sidetracked...laughing at the sweetcorn

[AhCmonSeriouslyNow]

ProsandCons - yes, second cousin sounds right to me!

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

Cousin anyway definitely

My kids will eat peas but won't touch sweet corn 'cept the youngest who likes a nice corn on the cob (cooked in foil with a bit of butter - lush).

Yes being Zen is wise. But not always attainable in the face of children gagging on your loving prepared dinner ... I am honestly a decent cook. They love my cakes of course.

[brettgirl2]

oh fgs how easy is it to offend on here ? My point is only the more choice you have the easier it is. If I had said 'kids like jelly or polo mints' no one would have said that is offensive to vegans/ vegetarians.

Sorry op didn't realise my totally innocently meant remark would hijack the thread

[DustBunnyFarmer]

My two (8 & 5) used to be right fussy buggers, but they are coming around to my home cooked nosh. My SIL visited a couple of years ago with her new squeeze and he sat open-mouthed with amazement as they wolfed down my chicken cassoulet (with chorizo, beans, lentils and umpteen veg) with couscous. On the other hand, he was one of those freaky eaters you see in documentaries on BBC3, so maybe that's no surprise. He found my cassoulet extremely challenging. SIL dumped him not long after.

I've been testing their comfort boundaries more and more of late. We've done a few years of stealth veg in sauces, but I'm chopping it into larger and more overt chunks as time goes on. If they whinge, I point out they've been eating it for a couple of years already & I know it's not the flavour, so get over it. They have recently told me I cook lovely dinners, so I'm winning them round.