Food ideas for vegetarian and fussy child

[CalleighDoodle]

My ds is 8 and frequently refuses to eat his meals. Both sets of grandparents are fed up. Im fed up. After school club just gives plain pasta when he wont eat the meal.

Things he will eat:
Jacket potato and cheese
Tacos
Tomato pasta
Burgers (vegetarian)
Fish fingers

He wont eat stews.

Please, for the love of God, can someone give me some ideas of relatively plain meals?!

Quesadillas? Basically flour tortillas filled with cheese (and anything else you can sneak in) and pan fried.

Quiche
Vegetarian lasagna

Omelette. Veggie sausages. Halloumi?

Quiche and lasagne he wont touch at all. Halloumi was also a bug fat fail. He has gone right off sausages too. He used to love them. Then MIL served them for Every. Single. Meal. every time she saw him.

You've said vegetarian and then said he eats fish fingers so I assume hes pescetarian.

My pesce fussy teen loves Spinach and Ricotta tortellini with either cheese sauce/cream cheese or philly stirred in.
Linda McCartney has some really nice meat alternatives. He loves the 'pulled pork' burgers and the pies.
Tuna pasta is another favourite.

Eggy pie Mash potato in a shallow dish Crack an egg in a sink hole in the mash cover in mozzarella cheese add ham/tomato if tolerated

Potato wedges with fish fingers and veg or omelette/egg
Blend different veg into the pasta sauce
Noodles
Savoury pancakes
Homemade pizza with a blended veg sauce and cheese. Use pitta bread as a base when you need something quick.

Sausage rolls or pasties
Toad in the hole
Noodles
Egg fried rice
Pasta with houmous

This was a fast one for lunch here.
Pasta boiling in a pot.
Add a full egg for each child and hard boil.

Drain pasta. Stir in some mayonnaise.
Grate some cheese into the pasta.
De-shell the egg and also grate it into the pasta.
Stir and serve.
You could add frozen peas to the pasta if you like.

Veggie toad in the hole
Pizza toast Tomato sauce on crust off bread with cheese herbs and whatever veg you can get away with
Dippy egg and toast

Homemade pizzas
Paella
Omlette
Savoury pancakes
Could try other types of pasta (tuna sweetcorn, pasta bake, macaroni cheese)

My DS has ARFID so perhaps I am approaching this from an extreme fussiness perspective, but for me it’s not a case of recipe inspiration but of identifying his safe foods and ensuring every meal has at least two safe foods as options.

Is he eats pasta will he eat rice and or noodles?
If he eats veggie burgers will he eat other veggie meals with the same ingredients?
Will he try other fillings for his jacket potatoes, e.g. what he likes in his tacos?

Boiled egg & toast
Beans on toast
Crumpets
Pancakes
Small plain pizza
Quorn sausages
Quorn nuggets
Potato waffles
Rice
Crackers & cheese

Looking at his likes/ dislikes is it more about texture/ appearance than taste?

If so, any kind of fish, just put breadcrumbs on his.
Spag bol, but if he's not keen use very little of the vegemince on his portion.
Homemade pizza, for convenience pitta bread works just as well. Tomato purée, grated cheese & whatever toppings are to hand.
Cheese & potato pie
Ready to roll pastry, stick whatever filling in you like, cheese, meat substitutes etc.

Will he eat rice and noodles? If so there's loads you can make.

If he's fussy about texture/ appearance he might eat more if he can serve himself, rather than it being plated up.

Any veg, chips, roasties or mash?
tbh, he already eats hugely more diverse than my DS did at that age, except that (with much hard work) we also got DS to eat a few veg.

Eggy bread.
Mixed fish stir fry.
Scampi and chips.

Eggs arent liked. Except in pancakes. Youre right it probably is texture and appearance as last week he was looking forward to macaroni cheese, came to the dining table, looked at it and refused to even try it.

He will eat pizza all day long, but thats no good.

Ive no issue at all getting him to eat veg. And he loves a salad. It is substantial main meals that are the problem.

came to the dining table, looked at it and refused to even try it.
This I would not allow. They have to at least try it.

How much cooking does he do? Is vegetarianism his choice or yours? Does he help write the shopping list etc.

Soup with pasta in.

He loves pizza but that is no good

I think you may need to rethink your approach. With a child who refuses food all food is good food. Pizza is a great source of calories and nutrients. You have the dough which is filling and usually made with iron enriched flour, tomatoes, cheese and other toppings if he will accept them. What’s not to like?

Have a look at Division of Responsibility. It’s a way of thinking about food that takes off all the pressure. If there is a psychological or sensory element to his refusal, this should help...not necessarily with adding safe foods, although it might, but mainly with getting everyone to relax a bit around the dinner table.

My son is also 8 and vegetarian. Popular meals for him are:

Spaghetti, mixture of veggies, pesto and grated cheese, sometimes with chopped up veggie sausages
Cheese and onion quiche
Quorn crispy fillets in wraps with salad and peppers
Curried veg with pilau rice
Jacket potato with beans
Pasta, chopped tomatoes, veggies, rocket and spinach 'meat'balls

Oh, also meat free pieces in katsu sauce, sugar snap peas, rocket, onion, peppers with fine egg noodles.

Thank you. Lots of ideas to try.

I know you said he won’t eat sausage, my 6 year old vege DS was the same but loved when I did ready to roll puff pasty topped with vege pesto and vege sausages with the sausages very thinly sliced. Can put veg on too if he likes it.
Also vegetable fingers - like fish fingers but with veg inside for a change?
Giant Yorkshire pudding filled with veg?
If my son has had school dinner that day I also let him have a picnic tea for lunch - either peanut butter or marmite sandwiches for either protein or b12, fruit, yogurt and crackers. You don’t have to have two hot meals every day. It’s hard, my son is fussy too.

Things my almost veggie son will eat
Fajitas made with quorn and what ever veggies
Stir fry made with quorn and rice or noodles
Korma curry ... more quorn and veg with naan and rice
Cheese pie - Brie wrapped in puff pastry
Veggie sausages in rolls with beans
Roasted veg and tomatoes puréed into a pasta sauce
Omelettes filled with cheese and veggies and chips
Pasta salad made with avocado feta and tomatoes and spinach
Falafel with pitta hummus and crudités

If it's appearance, have you tried serving his differently?

So eg put his macaroni cheese in a small dish and liberally cover it with grated cheese so he doesn't have to look at it first.

Lots of things can also be cooked in bun trays/ ramekins etc. Once he's learned to really enjoy the taste, he'll quite possibly get over the appearance of the usual way of serving.

Eg I think spaghetti looks like worms, and I wouldn't eat garlic bread that looked like it might have a soggy texture because it had been touching the sauce. However I've eaten spaghetti enough times to ignore the appearance, and as an adult wouldn't put my garlic bread where it touched the pasta sauce.

Cannelloni, tortillas and the hollowed out shells from jacket potatoes are also good for hiding the meal inside.