To just want to throw fishfingers & chips at DC's every night.

[ninipops]

2 hours cooking dinner and 15min from putting it on the table everyone is done with 2 DC's deciding that tonight they are not eating. Makes me ask myself whats the bloody point trying to cook anything.

Same here. I often do now do a freezer-tea. At least they bloody eat it.

Has anyone else trotted out the line about starving children in other parts of the world?

How old are they?

I know the feeling!

Have you only just discovered the pointlessness of making any effort with meals for kids?

Save all the effort for the grown ups

Yanbu. We've just had Heinz chicken soup and crusty bread. Bloody lovely

What do you make that takes two hours?
I just shove stuff in slow cooker
No effort involved & tastes lush

that's why we are having hot dogs tonight...

Almost 4 and 2.5. THe younger one usually hoovers up anything put in front of him, the older is the fussy one but tonight they both decided that the apple sauce was the only thing they were eating. They have both eaten the same meal before and liked it but not tonight and unfortunately this seems to be increasingly the case. It drives me insane!

I can sympathise completely, nothing more disheartening and frustrating than lovingly preparing a nutritious, made from scratch meal, only for the DCs to prod it with a fork, before turning their noses up and asking for 'dippers and smilies' instead

Sweatpants - don't usually spend so long but as it's the weekend and DH is around to distract kids I thought I'd take the time. I actually enjoy cooking but I also enjoy people eating it once its done.

My dcs often have fish/chicken/veg fingers, either waffles or pasta and cucumber, pepper and lettuce for lunch/dinner numerous times during the week.

Its quick and they eat it, not the best meal but not the worst!

What are you cooking for 2 hours?!?

The max I usually spend on any meal is 30 minutes...an hour occasionally.

DS1 just had beans on toast. Last night was chicken risotto. It's probably 50/50 here between quick fix food and 'proper' food...

Tonight it was slow baked pork chops with veg, mash and applesauce. Chops go in the oven & then all the prep for the veg and apple sauce are done and they are cooked while chops are in the oven. There is some down time but that is taken up with the baby!

I just cook what DP and I like, and whether DS eats it or not is up to him. The key is to stop caring!

2 hours? To cook a pork chop dinner for the kids?

I don't mean to be rude but how?

Pork loins, new potatoes and veg is one of my 'easy' meals. Peel carrots and swede, put potatoes, carrots and swede in the steamer and turn on.

Take the veg out after ten minutes, let the potatoes cook another ten minutes. When the potatoes are finishing, cook the pork loins in a griddle pan.

From raw to plate in thirty minutes...and I am no whizz in the kitchen.

just find some other healthy-ish but easy stuff eg scrambled eggs and beans

I feel your pain. Thing is, after eight years, I've decided that getting nutrition into them by whatever means is the key thing and since they'll eat their own snot, but hopefully grow out of it, I believe that mine will also grow into more varied adult food. At the moment, they love meat and two veg, anything in breadcrumbs (mostly homemade but not whitefish fish fingers) and anything with pasta. So mostly that's what they get. They are deeply suspicious of most stews as they fear (correctly) that I'll put nasties like onions in them, so mostly I don't make them.

And there are weeks where it's fish fingers three times, pasta pesto twice and lord knows what on the other two days.