What to cook when one child hates potatoes?

[DomesticGoddess31]

DD (4) hates potatoes. I fought against it for a long time but now I've come to accept that perhaps she does indeed have a genuine dislike for them. I love potatoes so its very annoying! I've also got a 16 month old who did love potatoes and especially mash and has recently gone off them. I Don't cook potatoes very often for our evening meal as I didn't want to fall into the trap of cooking separate meals for everyone.

So many of the meals I want to cook involve mashed potato, shepherds pie, fish pie etc.

How do others handle this situation? Should I just cook stuff like shepherds pie, jacket potatoes, fish pie and make DD something else?

[sophie150]

Definitely don't do separate meals- that's a slippery slope...
Does she like sweet potato? You can substitute most potato based dishes with sweet potato. Sweet potato chips are particularly yummy. Or experiment with butternut squash/ carrot/ swede/ celeriac mashes as a topping for shepherds pie.
If you're a fan of 'bake' type meals you could make a fish pasta bake with a cheesy/ breadcrumb topping? That would be a nice alterative to fish pie.

[Cambam2010]

I am watching as I also have a child (DS5) who will not eat potatoes and it does make things hard at times.

[CrumblyMumbly]

Ditto (DD) 4 has always hated potato in any cooked form even from weaning. She will happily eat them raw though! Tend to do a portion of pasta for her even with roast dinner (yes slippery slope/rod for back etc!) I'm hoping that when she starts school with free hot meals, she might be less choosy (or more hungry).

[OldBeanbagz]

I wouldn't go down the route of seperate meals as you're making work for yourself.

I would keep offering it and hope that it's something she grows out of. Maybe in the mean time you could scoop under the mash for her helping of shepherds pie?

I've found DS (who's not overly keen on potatoes) will eat things like 3 root mash (potatoes/carrots/swede) or will eat the top of the shepherds pie if it has ketchup on it. He'll also eat baked sweet potato.

[Buttercup27]

Cauliflower mashed up is a nice alternative on shepherds pie etc.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

I sympathise - DS never liked potatoes (Still doesn't, and he's 20 now. Not even chips)!!

I did try persisting, hoping he would grow out of it, but he never has. He would always eat pasta, rice, all sorts of pulses and grains. But not potato, ever. He just doesn't like the texture.

When you make your pie fillings for fish pie, cottage pie, etc, set some aside before you add the potato topping. Then just serve that with vegetables. Or add a pastry crust (frozen, of course, not made specially) Or just serve with the vegetables and some crusty bread.

[DomesticGoddess31]

Well she wont eat anything mashed really. Never has. She's never liked sweet potato either so I suspect its a texture thing. Think I'll follow your advice EvansOvalPies. Thanks all!

[SpaghettiMeatballs]

My DD hates potatoes too. She has done from 6 months so I don't think she will grow out of it now.

I do pasta, rice or even a piece of toast to replace the potatos even if that does make for a bit of a weird combination dinner for her.

I've never thought of doing a pastry top though on shepherd's pie and the like. That's a great idea. Thanks.

[museumum]

I make cottage or fish pie with potato slices on top and ds just doesn't eat them. I make sure there's plenty fish/meat and other veg.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

Or Yorkshire Pudding? I did those too. Sometimes homemade for a Sunday Roast, but you can get decent frozen ones too. Not the healthiest option, but filling, as long as lots of veg on the side

Re the pastry - my DC always maintained they hated casseroles and stews. But if I added the pastry lid, they'd say "Ooh, that was a lovely pie, Mum"! Children are so funny.

[balletgirlmum]

I love potatoes but dh & dd don't.

I tend to do rice or pasta for them eg tonight we've had pork steaks, boiled potatoes & veg but they had rice instead.

They do both like sweet potato (I don't) so sometime I do that instead.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

For rice, if you pop a little bit of turmeric into the water as it's boiling, the rice comes out yellow (like saffron rice, but much cheaper). Mine used to love that when they were young.

[greencottage]

I don't like potatoes. I have brought up two DC to adulthood never having bothered with the things. I cook sweet potato, butternut squash, turnip, swede, celeriac, rice, whatever. I use sweet potato on top of shepherds pie; and celeriac is delicious (good on fish pie), so is mashed swede. Actually they're all much nicer than potato. If I used more than a couple of pounds of potatoes a year I'd be surprised.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

Keep cooking potatoes.
Dd1 hated them.Now she likes mash,roast and baked potatoes (but still dislikes chips)

[stargirl1701]

I spent my entire childhood hating potatoes. My parents and I came to an agreement that I would eat one new potato (or equivalent).

[YeOldeTrout]

I have 2 who aren't that keen on taters (except for crisps & chips).
It's not tough to chuck a small amount of pasta in with boiling spuds. And separate again when done. Don't see the problem.

[stargirl1701]

I still dislike potatoes in all forms at nearly 40.