Healthy dinner ideas with a fussy husband!

[Snowwhite12345]

Looking for some meal suggestions as I feel like all I do is cook the same meals again and again!

My husband is SO fussy when it comes to veg and salad so I find it hard to bulk meals out

He will only eats carrots, Brocoli (osasionally ) and marrow fat peas, no form of salad (I love to habe salad with most dinners)

We tend to have chilli's, curries, spag bowl, flat wraps, chicken tandoori Wraps etc, all very boring and basic but all tend to be made from scratch (But I do love cooking and tend to prepare meals in advance)

We would usually have dinners with rice / baked potatos / chips (plus salad for me)

I do always measure rice/ pasta for appropriate portion sizes but we both find ourselves hungry in the evening

But looking for some different meal suggestions that we can both enjoy and find filling

Is your question "what can I make that is different from normal but doesn't include vegetables that aren't broccoli, carrot or marrowfat peas?" If so I think the only way you manage "healthy" is by letting hour husband have his veg on the side and picking out veg he won't eat. It's not "healthy" for you to only have a side salad with everything. But if you want a greater variety of flavours you could try:

Pad thai
satay
Teriyaki
Bibimbap
Tagine
Thai green/red curry
Massaman curry
Vietnamese phô
Other middle Eastern flavours like ras el hanout, harissa, dukkah

Jamie Oliver has some good features on fussy eaters (here's one) and some of these might be suitable - they have helped my kids get more veg, even the really fussy one.

A what?

A what?

I've never heard of an eggcorn either but if you think it's easy to guess what it means.

EG Damp squib, old wise tale.

Have you tried red lentils in things like bolegnese? They cook down to practically nothing so you can't really tell they're there.

If he's okay with sweet potato, how about roasted butternut squash? Or a butternut squash based sauce. The Oh She Glows blog has a delicious smoky butternut squash mac and cheese sauce which is really nice with roasted brocolli.

Add finely chopped celery when you're frying the onion for things like bolegnese.

Grated courgette also cooks down well into things like spaghetti bolegnese. Particularly if you don't know it's there!

How about a veggie cottage pie (you can add meat to it if you prefer) but comcentrate on the veggie side instead

Stir fry using the veg he will eat?

Fajitas

You sound like you're talking about a child. I take it you don't actually have kids as you wouldn't be pandering to this. And it's spag bol/ bolognese. No idea why you're calling it spag bowl.

A damp squib is right though? :D

What about some fun restaurant style lettuce wraps? Butter lettuce cups, filled with seasoned ground turkey or shredded chicken, peanuts, shredded carrots, chopped up broccoli, mini bell pepper matchsticks, etc. with a delicious dressing (sesame ginger, miso, Thai sweet chili sauce, ponzu).
You can make it even more fun my arranging all the fillings on a large platter using a variety of bowls and ramekins. Go crazy with the choice of toppings: diced avocado, sliced water chestnuts, cilantro, cooked ramen noodles, shrimp, the possibilities are endless. Google PF Changs copy cat lettuce cup recipe for a good start.
This meal is always a smash hit with picky eaters and it's so fun to play with the presentation.

Jamie Oliver's early cook books are good too. This one is perfect for fussy eaters:

https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/jamie-oliver/jamie-s-ministry-of-food-anyone-can-learn-to-cook-in-24-hours/9781856132848?gadsource=1&gbraid=0AAAAADZzAIAbLZCF4iZh2xu4HmgPUUDp3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkPbanZmchwMVGZlQBh1njgclEAQYASABEgIOmfDBwE#GOR002000290

Really simple recipes and delicious.

A damp squib is right though? :D

Autocorrect is my escape goat in this situation. I mean, it's not rocket salad.

Here's a recipe generator. You put in what ingredients you have and it comes up with recipes.
https://www.supercook.com/#/menu

I like chicken breast baked in a tomato puree, paprika, lime and honey sauce which I often have with crusty bread and salad but you could substitute whatever sides you wanted into that.

Chick pea curry?

My husband can’t eat lots of things (for a medical reason) but he cooks as much as me and comes up with new recipes.

It’s unfair to leave it all to one person, I think that’s why people are reacting like this. It’s like he has given you all the work of cooking AND is being fussy. It’s unbalanced.

I don’t know how you can find him attractive with an attitude to food like his. Honestly, it’s so child like. Why are you pandering to him?

I feel for you OP - my exDH was really fussy about food and I invariably ended up eating what he liked or eating from the canteen at work which often used garlic which he also hated. But the only veg he would eat were potatoes and onions. He also liked pepperoni on pizza which reeks of garlic 😣He loved putting Branston pickle in his sandwiches - which was full of veggies like carrots, swede etc etc. 🙄He was a moron!!
Thankfully my lovely DH now will literally eat anything I put in front of him - if he's not keen on something he will eat it first and then make a comment afterwards - so that I know to skip that in future. It is bliss 😘
From what my ACs tell me - exDH has not changed in some 20+ years later - but not my monkeys or circus now - it is his wifes! 😅

Are you actually serious 🤣🤣 because he doesn't like all vegetables and salad??

Some of these replies are ridiculous 🤣🤣

@Mainoo72 unsure how I'm pandering to him?? Gosh, I simply asked for meal suggestions!! There are plenty of people who don't eat vegetables!! Along with many other things that people don't eat!

Thank you to those who have given useful comments, and actually responded to the question I asked!!! Rather than the relationship advise comments !! Clearly he's an awful person according to many of you!!

I didn't think someone not liking vegetables could be so controversial.

People come to mumsnet for advise, to to be shamed and made to feel awful!!

I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but unsure why people waste their time with stupid responses if it doesn't actually answer the question that was originally asked 🤦‍♀️

This. He, and everyone, should be grateful to have food. I'd be concerned for his health with the lack of veg.

How about tray bakes? Loads of different combos but plenty of healthy chicken and fish options. Things like salmon, new potatoes, lemon wedges, broccoli, green beans, asparagus and herbs, or chicken breast, sweet potato, red onion, peppers, cherry tomatoes, plenty of paprika.

Although they may include veg dh doesn't like its easy enough to pick out the bits he does.

If you can get away with blending veg into sauces shakshuka is pretty healthy.
You could also make a pea and broccoli fritata.

As a change from spag Bol, there's a Pinch of Nom recipe Creamy Roasted Red Pepper & Chicken Pasta. It contains red peppers and mushrooms but you can't really taste either of them, it's more like a creamy tomato sauce.

My DH apparently didn't like sugar snap peas but I put them in a stir fry and he didn't comment so I carried on putting them in.

I have an eating disorder that I struggle with and I wish I'd never read through these comments.
Some shitty people here.

Hope your DH enjoys the meal suggestions he's had here OP x

Does your partner cook all your meals?

@NotReyt sorry to hear this, people really don't think before they say things!
And some don't even attempt to say things in a nice way! Some people on here really are shitty unfortunately, and it's a shame for those who always offer amazing advice!