Meal times with fussy primary children. Need meal ideas please.

[C0untDucku1a]

I’m losing my patience. I’m sick off thinking of meals they JUST WONT EAT. This morning they asked for steak and chips for dinner. I made steak, wedges and veg. They ate the broccoli, cauliflower and potato wedges. They complained the peas tasted funny and the steak was too spicy. Husband is delighted with all the steak leftovers for his lunch tomorrow.

Anyway, this is daily. Every mealtime is difficult.

I need meal ideas before i offer up tomorrow’s meal of spaghetti bolognese topped with grated cheese and the frustrated tears of mother.

I have a fussy lot but find meals that they construct themselves a lot more successful eg, tacos, crudités on a platter with chicken drumsticks. If I put it in the centre of the table, everyone can take what they like. 2 of mine have ASD and their good issues are very complicating but we are limited to meals like lasagne, hamburgers, tacos, roasts, spaghetti and meatballs.

I have nothing mind blowing to contribute! Just watching really!

We do homemade chicken nuggets or fish goujons once a week which always go down well.

They love fried potatoes so always do double portions of new potatoes to fry off the next day

VERY basic risotto (I.e rice and cheese)

Pasta with soft cheese and smoked salmon or bacon

Marinated chicken strips /kebabs

I always give them a plate of salad/crudités to eat when they come in from School starving and then serve a couple of veg in bowls at dinner.

They wont eat lasagne. One wont eat meatballs. But yes tacos sometimes work but they dont eat a lot of a taco meal.

I dont eat meat which doesnt help

One loves humous. One thinks it is the work of the devil.

Fajitas. Fried strips of steak, or chicken, or mixed fish with stir fry veg and guacamole. Mine used to like making them!
Omelettes, with veg/bacon/chorizo etc.
Baked potatoes with tuna mayo/chilli/bolognese and a side salad.

They also love dumplings so basic stew goes down well (as long as the meat is soft and there’s not a mm of fat on it )

This is not advice but just a recognition of your pain and a bit of a happy ending! Both my kids have been difficult to feed (please note the absence of the word ‘fussy’ 😤). Our ds is asd, our ds is nt. DS is a better eater than DD. I once wept in Sainsbury’s down the phone to Dh as I was at an absolute loss as to what I could buy DD to eat. She just would eat plain pasta or gnocchi.
This academic year they have decided to eat hot dinners in school, first time for both. They eat every bastard thing on their plate. Everything. I just......

I find when we go to my friends house, who has four primary children / toddlers, they eat beautifully all six sat together. Whatever quick meal she throws at them. Bastards.

I actually suggested we try stew to dh yesterday. Hmm

I find macaroni cheese or stuffed pasta go down well with everyone in our house. You can experiment with things to add to the macaroni cheese. Butternut squash works surprisingly well. I often do a 'hidden' vegetable pasta sauce for stuffed pasta.

I feel your pain. Will they meal plan with you, that’s what I’m trying and their CM did. Plus a discussion about sometimes everyone has to compromise and if they don’t eat it they will go hungry. Surprising what they eat when there’s no choice. Gd luck it’s incrediblely frustrating!

I’d go with everyone chooses a meal for the week and the others compromise (adding in veg you know they like and bread and butter if they need filling up). Sometimes kids have small appetites and I’d theyre not underweight or going to bed hungry I’d try not to stress about every meal (easier said than done)

Every evening my fussiest kid eats (selection of the 3-4 veg he likes), 1-3 roast potatoes, and 1 serving of some kind of protein he likes (boiled egg will do). We don't find this hard to cater for, regardless of what the rest of us might be eating (we cook the veg every night, anyway, and always boil some potatoes ). Fussiest-DC will also have chips, pieces of pizza or nan bread in place of the roasties.

2nd-most-Fussy-DC eats slightly more variety, but almost the same evening meal daily.

I was talking about this last night, my two like opposite things.
dd2 (4yrs) won't touch meat unless it's sausages (they have to be just cooked and as pale as possible), will eat frozen peas but not cooked, pasta (sometimes) with sauce.
Dd1 (6yrs) is a bit better but thinks all poatoes other than chips and crisp are horrid, will eat chilli, stews, but no visible veg other than sweetcorn (sometimes)!

I completely feel your pain, I worry about the lack of veg, variety and am completely bored of them complaining they don't like it. I'm a good cook and always said I would never pander to fussy eaters!

creative when my two were preschooler and toddler i used to call them jack sprat and wife

After school club fed them tonight. Daughter had the hotmeal. Son refused it and had a sandwich

Omlette (made in the toastie machine) with beans
Tuna pasta (pasta + tuna + mayo)
cheesy pasta
fishfingers.
Ham sandwich if they have had a hot lunch and I can't be arsed arguing!
The rest of the time they eat what they are given or go hungry!

Forgot! Before dinner when they are super hungry I make a little pot of raw cut up veg - they usually eat it all!