to give my kids stir-fry for tea?

[AradiasDaemon]

They think IABVU! They are 19 months, 4.5 and 14. It's a perfectly nice one, with egg noodles, sweet chilli sauce stuff and veg they quite like (baby sweetcorn and carrots etc). They have refused to even so much as touch it. Not a morsel has passed their lips. I spent 5 whole minutes slaving (not shaving autocorrect wtf!) over a hot wok to make that.

AIBU to give up and give them toast. Or Nutella on toast. Or not let them have anything till they have at least attempted to eat it.

Tbf we haven't had it ever in a while but still...

Pffft!

I think the 14yo should at least try it, the younger ones - not so sure. How does it taste to you, OP?

I think some kids get overwhelmed with a lot of different flavours and textures and stir-fries can be a bit of a concoction sometimes!

I love them as an adult but I remember not liking them much as a child. I also suspect the sweet chilli sauce might put them off.

Mine love stir-fry... But my 6yo won't have sauce in/with anything. However, I have found that if I mix some crunchy peanut butter with teriyaki sauce, I can at least coat the noodles/chicken (and some of the veg - nothing soggy here, 6yo will only eat raw). I wouldn't describe it as delicious, though I seem to hoover up leftovers - but it's a step in the right direction from "no sauce" to something acceptable to humans.

We've not got much further than cream cheese with pasta in the cheese sauce department, but pesto > sun-dried tomato pesto > passata/onion garlic sauce was a successful transition.

Oh, there's no joy in cooking for small children!

"milk to line their stomachs"

yes, before they go out on the piss

'Before they go out on the piss'

Just to clarify it wasn't dipping sauce as such, it was one of those things you get next to the stir fries in Tesco. It was supposed to be stir fried in, but I have to say, I had mine and it wasn't very nice. I ended up caving and letting 4 year old have some cheese baguette, he's not normally too bad and will try more things since he started on school dinners. The baby ended up with a variety of random things and fruit and the 14 year old ate most of it in the end.

DH on the other hand ate it all! I won't be doing that particular concoction again in a hurry. Sorry DH!

Good boy DH

What's wrong with vegetables and noodles. I don't understand why they'd be boring.
can't bear sweet chilli though, black bean or usually just soy sauce here.

Slightly tangential, but those of you who feed toddlers noodles, how do you do this, and what do they eat them with cutlery wise? I have tried cutting them and not cutting them, but although DS seems to like the taste, he struggles with actually getting them into his mouth.

DD is 4 solasum but still finds noodles a challenge, tbh I just give her a fork and close my eyes to the mess!!

My eldest DD is very picky but likes pancakes and sausages so I made her mini toad in the hole, got her to help because allegedly that can help combat fussiness. She wouldn't eat it. An hour's battle just to get her to eat the sausage part! Kids AVU!!!

I don't understand the like it or lump it stance some parents take with their kids in regards to food. If I don't like something I won't eat it and I would extend the same courtesy to my kid.

Glad you sorted things in the end!

I wonder if there's a way of making the stir fry taste better than I do. I buy the M&S deal with chicken, veg, noodles and a sauce. Can someone give me their run down of what goes in when and an idea of how to get it tasting Its best. No matter how it try I'm doing something wrong. Ds14 loves stirfry just not mine. Do I put all the noodles In together. Mine never tastes like it should. If I could get it right it's such a easy and tasty tea for us. Thank you.

Life's far too short to argue with kids about food. I would have gone with the nutella option if they really didn't like dinner. Once they get to a certain age, they make the alternative themselves. However, they have to have had at least 5 mouthfuls of the original dinner first.

My kids eat really well though. I'm not sure I'd be quite so laissez faire if they'd only ever been into chicken nuggets.

I just fry the noodles with some scrambled egg, a handful of frozen veg and some soy sauce. My kids are picky but they'll eat it.

Longhardroad I'd do chicken then veg then sauce then noodles.

I'm veggie dd not (quite, but likes some veggie stuff).

Stir fry here is veggie usually with own made sauce

basic one is soy, chilli, coriander, honey splash vinegar,
Chow mein - honey, soy, ketchup, chilli
Sweet n sour - tropical juice (it should be pineapple I know but tropicals what we have in!), vinegar, soy, ketchup, sugar, chilli, flour to thicken.
Satay - peanut butter, soy sauce, chilli, pinch sugar, coconut milk (usually leftover from a curry).

As for toddlers eating noodles no worse than pasta, 'dirty wain's a happy wain' . I started dd off on noodles with plain chicken and baby gravy.

If not to spicy YANBU. They should be eating that kind of stuff. Don't cave! Offer a nice pudding as an incentive if they eat it. (Well, obvs its past dinner time now, but in the future!)

Mine had stir fry tonight. Teriyaki sauce is our preferred one - sweet and not spicy.

I guess - what struck me is that "not a morsel passed their lips". So - they ganged up on you and pushed you against the wall. And - they WON!

It is never an option at our house. Dd1 recently summed it up for Dd2 - "you don't have to like it, but we still need to eat it". The little one tries to be cheeky sometimes - won't eat much and later on asks for food (=cookies). The answer is always the same -- "if you are hungry - your plate of unfinished food is waiting for you".

And, there is absolutely no desert unless most of the food is eaten.

Be strong!!!

I wouldn't give them toast if they refused to eat it as that is bother for you. I would let mine have yoghurt and/ or fruit for pudding though (little one is 20months, older one 7). I do generally expect them to eat what they are given, especially older one. If younger one doesn't eat I assume he's not hungry

If they don't like it they don't like it. Why on earth wouldn't you make them something else? Can't believe some posters would let their kids go hungry just because they didn't like a meal. Not everyone likes everything and at a very young age it's just trial and error. Those packets of sweet chilli sauce are pretty grim so if they tried it and didn't like it I would think fair enough. All these stories of kids being forced to eat food they don't like before they can eat anything else are fucking grim. It's no wonder there's so many people with food issues.

Actually. I take the opposite view. I was raised by just -post - war parents where food was scarce and their parents had lived through real food deprivation. Their attitude, passed on to me, is that liking the taste of a meal is great, but it's not a necessity in order to eat it. You eat for purpose - energy and nutrition - as well as enjoyment of the flavour. Enjoyment is the icing on the cake, as it were. Put bluntly, it ain't all about you. Someone has taken the time to shop and cook and you show appreciation for that.

I find it hard to see that the "don't like it, don't eat it" attitude is morally superior, as people often seem to like to say. Horses for courses and all that.

Agree 100% with XiCi

Libraries that's how I was brought up and that's how my children are being brought up (tbf they do usually like my cooking). I would never force them to eat something, but they really can't be that hungry is they won't eat.

No food issues here.

I've never cooked my dcs a second dinner ever.

But I've never tried to give them veg & noodles either!