Family meal ideas that a five year old will actually eat

[BabyofMine]

Evening meal has become a complete pain, five year old doesn’t seem to like anything and I’m not a natural cook and have got to the point where I stare at the fridge/freezer/cupboards and have a meltdown every day knowing she’s going to refuse anything.
This is definitely a “me” problem because she eats absolutely fine with my parents, eats school dinners fine and eats anything when we eat out.
I honestly think I’m just a rubbish cook and at the very least VERY uninspired to the point I can’t even think of good ideas anymore.

So I’m begging you lovely mumsnetters, I know there are excellent cooks on here, please share your most failsafe meal ideas that young children like!

Spag Bol
Filled pasta with pesto

Chicken and wraps/rice
Sausage and mash

A thing that always goes down quite well in my house is a roast chicken. Easy and straight forward to cook (as long as you remember to put it in the oven on time) and we often just have it with some roast potatoes and gravy for ease, with some raw carrot sticks on side (as she will not eat cooked!) and fruit for pudding.

Or sometimes I do wedges with the roast chicken and salad (she won't eat the salad but again will just eat raw carrots) and a pot of sour cream and chive dip / salsa on the table for people to dip into.

Macaroni cheese with peas in.

Pancakes with grated cheese in for first course with raw veg sticks, then with lemon and sugar for afters.

Beef burgers in buns with whatever veg on the side she will eat.

Prawns also go down quite well here - the frozen raw ones are quick to cook and I just do some pasta on the side with some butter melted on it. Lemon to squeeze on prawns. Very stress free cooking.

My 4.5 year old eats plain pasta, sometimes plain rice, jacket potato, sausages, breaded chicken, garlic bread, wraps, pizza, pitta bread, naan, sometimes plain chicken, plus a few vegetables. I just make sure a couple of these items are included in every meal we have, so we have fajitas, various pasta dishes, lots of different curries and stews, stir fries, all sorts of things. It's all available on the table and he can choose what he eats. It's worked for my older DC, he eats all sorts now.

Sit down with them and make a written list. A lot of kids get fussy around 5-6.

One of mine they didn't like what was for dinner till I pointed out it was on the list they'd made and then just got on with it

I try and serve peppers, cucumber sticks, sugar snaps etc as a snack so I know they've had something fresh and healthy.

I know what vegetables they'll eat happily.

My pair won't eat a lot of the same things. They're both fussy but opposite.

My very fussy Dc1 who is 7 loves risotto, just Parmesan and a few peas. Creamy pasta, either carbonara or cream cheese with crispy bacon or leftover chicken with peas and broccoli on the side. Spinach & ricotta cannelloni. Bangers & mash or toad in the hole and bbq bean & sausage casserole with plain rice or jackets. My other 3 Dc eat most meals, he doesn’t, very fussy and no tomato based stuff. I don’t cook different stuff, I modify, put something on there he will eat, serve it and if they don’t want it, I have tried.

My seven year old is still fussy with certain things. Hates anything with onion in and mushrooms. She used to eat but went off bolognaise. Hates pesto. Hates anything fish.
She likes….

• jacket potato with cheese and beans
• a stir fry using favourite veg with noodles
• sausages with potatoes n veg or beans and mash
• pizza
• roast dinners
• chicken drumsticks
• boiled eggs
• beef casserole with carrots
• macaroni cheese with bacon. Peas and sweetcorn on the side
• burger - often leaves the roll though

Toad in the hole... never fails and when my DC were younger was my go-to for playdates!

My 2 and 4 year olds favs are

Spag bol
Roasts (chicken or gammon)
Toad in the hole
Bangers mash veg
Pie mash veg
Pasta bake
Pizza
Meatballs
Enchiladas if mild
Fish breaded
Mild chilli
Curry, butter chicken
Full English

4 yr old isnt keen on beige food, nuggets etc but youngest will eat chips or similar daily if given half the chance.

We tend to eat all the above on a rota. It's boring for us but theure never keen to try more dinners

Pizza (sometimes with chips)
Egg and chips
Sausage and chips
Fishfingers and chips
Pie and chips
Pie and mash
Curry and naan
Chili and tortilla chips
Quesadillas
Fajitas
Tacos
Beans on toast
Spaghetti hoops on toast
Ravioli on toast
Jacket spuds
Soups
Sandwiches

Following for inspiration!
My two are becoming fussier and we now have the same few meals and it's driving me mad!

Shepherds pie
Spag bol
Chilli and rice
sausage mash and beans/peas and gravy
jacket potato
pasta bake and salad
lasagne
home made soup and crusty bread
pie and veg - either beef or chicken and leek
toad in the hole
fajitas/enchiladas
fish and chips and peas

What will she eat?

You don’t have to me a fantastic cook. My fussy eaters will eat:

Pizza - they all like different frozen ones, ones has a dairy allergy so we make her one with either free from base or naan bread. All have to be margaritas.

Sausages - will eat them on their own, with fried egg (no yoke), 2 min noodles, spaghetti (plain), beans, Yorkshire puds & gravy.

Chicken nuggets/popcorn/goujons - not spicy ones so no southern fried

Hotpot - I’ve been working on perfecting this for about a year. Just found a recipe online. All 3 have started to enjoy it.

deconstructed cottage pie, only one eats mash and they all like their food separated.

Hotdogs - get her to stick spaghetti through the hotdogs to look like octopus’s. If she’s making things herself she will be more than likely enjoy eating them

Omelettes, scrambled eggs, have to be plain

Tacos, Nachos- I’ve adapted the mix/meat recipe over time to suit what they like, not to saucy, no chunks of veg or onion in it. Everything is served on the side for them to try.

Korma - I use one ready meal and then cook extra chicken tenders and some chips, the sauce is enough to stretch to all 3 DCs, the extra chicken can be dunked if they like the sauce and the chips for the one who dosnt eat rice.

Stew - it’s a mission but they are getting better at eating it.

Dough balls are a good side. You can buy ready made pizza dough and your dd can help you roll them or even make her own pizza. Mine love the pizza express ones.

Burgers, beef or chicken. I’ve found that the Aldi chicken steaks are the nicest for chicken burgers. For beef burgers the cheapest ones tend to go down best rather than the thick quarter pounder ones. Sometimes we do homemade but it’s usually easier just pulling them from the freezer.

Bacon & pasta is a firm favourite.

meatballs & pasta - no sauce

It sounds like this isn't really about the food, if she will eat else where it's unlikely to be a sensory thing or genuine dislikes. Does she have school dinners? To be honest if she does, I'd continue to serve your regular family meals, have an element in every meal that she will eat. Put all food in the middle to self serve and try not to buy into the negotiation or get stuck in the trap of continually asking for her to eat a bit more (easier said than done I know).
Eat as a family at the table and regardless of whether she's eating or not have the expectation that she it's at the table until the rest of you finish eating.
If you can serve a dish in its component parts it's a bonus. Wraps, chicken, veg, cheese, salad, sauces give more control than plated fajitas.
Pasta with a separate bowl of sauce, bowl of chopped bacon, bowl of sweetcorn, bowl of cooked diced peppers, bowl of cheese. Etc etc

I am a pretty decent cook but children can be very fussy eaters. My 3 turned their nose up at meals for years. 2 have significant sensory issues which didn’t help. Anyway I persisted and now they are all great eaters. Don’t make a big deal out of it. Get feedback on sensory issues and address them, DS cannot tolerate the texture of onions still so I blitz anything with onions. Keep getting them to try things but in a very low pressure environment and as many days as possible cook stuff they do eat so every day isn’t a battle. Ours eat Italian, Mexican, Indian, sushi (I can’t cook this one but it was the ultimate success) everything really. They are a joy to cook for now.

Anything they can construct themselves
So fajitas, tacos, lettuce wraps, Chinese duck pancakes.
Just have the components separately so they can add what they want. Add some random things they will eat. This might mean fajitas becomes a wrap with cheese and sweetcorn but I’m happy with that!

Definitely recommend assemble your own dinners. My 4 year old is often shattered after a day at school and after-school club, so those days are like that. Some kind of bread (wraps, pittas), some meat (souvlaki, fajitas), veg or salad (mostly for me), sauce or a dip, and cheese. The little one sometimes just eats the bread with cheese or hummus, but is more likely to eat more if they can put it together themselves. It's also super easy to make - I will marinade something in the morning and then just cook it off when I get home

We also do noodle soup this way actually- the 5 year old might just have noodles in stock with carrots and sweetcorn…

Eat at a table together - then your child can see that you like the food too. We used to do a menu plan together at the weekend and everyone had a say - then they had to try it if they'd agreed it in advance - small children don't like surprises. We had a laminated timetable on the fridge that can be consulted at any time - now they're in their teens, it's on Google Keep.
Determine if they are "splashy" or dry children - mine hate meals without sauces and demand ketchup or mayo if its something that doesn't have one - so stews, fish pie with cheesy mash topping, cottage pie & pasta was always more popular than fajitas, wraps, veg sticks. If your child likes their food dry / separate, then have the sauces available on the side for you adults.
Everyone at our table has to wait to get down until everyone else has finished unless they've completely cleared their plate - then they can get down & play.