To make one fecking dinner!

[Crinklesmile]

I am growing to hate tea time in our house

DH will eat anything set down to him, and can cook
Eldest DD is vegetarian, and hates cheese
Middle DD hates rice, pasta, veg except carrots, most sauces, pretty much a beige eater
Youngest DD will eat most things me and DH eats- but is starting to reject certain things when her sisters bitch about them

Wibu to implement an eat it or eat cereal type rule?!
I'm starting back to work this week and can't face anymore multi-dinner faffing.

The two older kids are teens, youngest is 4.

Help!

I used to have to cook dinner for the whole family as a teen, could you possibly get them to help out cooking with dinner and then they'll figure out how much of a pain they are?

It's dead simple, Here is your tea. If you dont like it get something else by yourself. Any one over 16 takes turns at cooking for the family. The vegetarian can leave the meat and have extra veg, 4 year old is picking up some very bad vibes from the others! I had one fussy child out of 4. There was no mercy. She could have a small portion and go hungry

YANBU. They eat what they are given or they don't eat.

Let the teens cook a healthy dinner once every week each. Thry might get fed up with all the different requests. At least it gets you out of the chore twice a week.

The teens menu plan and come up with one main meal each day that they can either all eat or that needs minor adjustments.Their alternative is that you meal plan and they eat what they are given.Make them work to a budget too.

I think the suggestion that the older two cook is good. They arrive in from school at 4.10pm ish and I leave at 4.45pm so school nights are out....but weekends could work.
I'm thinking eat it or sort yourself could work well. Realistically they can suggest a few options and I can veto the rest.

It's soo frustrating, even something as simple as lasagne (quorn mince), the eldest is picking all the cheese off, and middle is scraping all the pasta out , it makes me furious!

My sister was a vegetarian who didn't like any vegetable apart from carrots. The only thing that made her less fussy was making her sort and cook her own meals. It's worth a try.

Well, tbh, lasagne is a poor choice in your house, isn't it.

Don’t say they can have cereal or that’s what they will do

ForaSheepAsALamb
Made with quorn mince- 3 of us love it.
This is my point exactly- I have not a single meal that all my kids will eat, without picking or rejecting!

I’m kind of alright with them picking out what they will eat from a dinner so the lasagne wouldn’t really bother me too much. Grating if it’s every meal.

Excellent suggestion for them to cook though. If you meal plan you could extend it to as long as they let you know they can cook themselves something simple and you’ll make sure there’s supplies there (beans on toast, toasties etc.) but if they don’t opt out then they will be expected to eat what’s served.

Calzone do you think not?

Oh and don’t forget to enforce cooking seperateltly means leaving the kitchen as you found it.

*Separately

Oh toasties! Yeah both can do them no bother.

The older two wash and dry dishes/do bins/recycling etc- pretty sure they wouldnt want to do two sets but its heading that way.
I'm putting the little one to bed and getting a food rota/plan drawn up with the older two.
Start a new job tomorrow and I just need some dinner order

How about burgers and chips with veg for those that eat it. And a veggie burger for the vegetarian? Similar for hotdogs.

Fajitas with meat cooked separately?

I do agree with the one meal rule though!

Baked potatoes, omlette or soup are all pretty healthy and easy to make/heat up.

If the fussiest 2 are teens the answer would be to cook for your, DH and youngest DD. The other two get a budget and must shop for and cook their own dinners during the week. You all take turns in cooking weekend dinners (apart from the youngest). All have to try these dinners. If they don't like them they get beans on toast or some such easy dinner.

Bolognaise with quorn mince, pasta and cheese on top for those who like it, bolognaise with mash/tinned spuds/cous cous for middle dd. Depending on age, get her to make the cous cous?

Veggie Shepherd's Pie - BBC Good Food. It's onions, oil, carrots, tomatoes and lentils, topped with sweet potato. I've made it like that once, but now prefer to just make the filling and serve it with crusty bread. I'd put a link in, but I seem to have forgotten how to do it

We eat a lot of quorn and veggie food as I don't like cooking multiple meals - we have a eat your dinner or go to bed hungry rule (cereal isn't an option!) also adapt one meal for everyone. Refusing to eat rice and pasta needs to be nipped in the bud, it's most family's mainstays eg I cook pasta with veggies and capers then serve Parmesan and fried pancetta separately.

I could have written your post 4 years ago - was becoming a battle ground even tho I only cook hot meals at the weekend (they get a hot meal at school Mon-Thurs and Fri is pizza).
So I sat with them all and wrote a list of maybe 8-10 meals that everyone would eat and for the next 2 years I only made those meals. Nothing else and if they didn’t eat it they had toast. It got boring very quickly but it stopped me having that frustrating feeling of cooking and then no one eating it.
We’ve still got the list but have gradually added other things to it and I’ve found the older 2 getting more adventurous as they’ve gotten older but that list saved my sanity at the time.
I also forced one of them to be in the kitchen with me at every meal time and take it in turns (even tho that drove me mad sometimes) so they could appreciate how much effort goes into it and they could learn how to cook.

I'd let them get on with picking/scraping. Not your problem! I would only allow something they're not keen on as an alternative- one of mine would live on cereal and the other can't get enough toast, so bread and butter is all they can have if they reject dinner.

I would also add the rule that its okay not to like something but you don't comment on it. This would stop the teens dislikes being copied by the 4 year old. They are old enough to be able to politely pick out what they can eat and leave the rest.

These suggestions are brilliant, I needed to hear them.
That's just it, especially the older two, just don't seem to be very flexible at all.
Baked potatoes are a great idea.
Reading through the comments I realise its my middle dd who is the pickiest, and hardest to cook for so I need to get her on board.
Agree, they need to curb their complaining around their little sister.

Will look up the BBC good food recipe- it will work (I hope)