...to not know what to cook that my whole family can eat?

[FuckertyBoo]

So, these are the dietary ‘requirements’, though some are more like preferences -

Me: pescatarian & gluten free, trying to avoid ‘bad’ carbs
Dh: hates eggs, cheese, aubergines, courgettes, cauliflower, will not call anything like soup & sandwich or jacket potatoes ‘a meal’
Dc1 (4yo): cannot eat anything remotely spicy and also hates eggs
Dc2 (14mo): will not be spoon fed and is very messy if he tries to spoon feed himself. So it really needs to be finger foods to save my sanity and my floor !

It’s not possible is it? To come up with meals we can all eat the same I mean. Any suggestions much appreciated.

It looks like you are the faddy one and your restrictions are the ones making it most difficult. Lots of meals would suit everyone but you. Big bibs and paper on the floor for the baby or insist on spoon feeding.
Sunday roast, casseroles, pasta bakes, stir fry and tortillas, really any normal family meal for everyone else and a substitute for you.

Salmon, sweet potato wedges, asparagus (I make a sauce from creme fraiche and pesto too which is nice but not essential)

Poached salmon, peas, sweetcorn and chips/boiled potatoes. Little one may make a bit of mess with the salmon!
Fish cakes - may be easier to cut and eat with fingers.
Pizza, leave out cheese on DH's. With salad.

What are ‘bad’ carbs please? Not being narky I just need to know so I can make some suggestions.

First thoughts :
Quorn fajita but do some plain Quorn for the 4yr old and use gluten free wraps for yourself. Serve with lots of different salad veg and sweet corn either on the cob or not as all children love corn!

Quorn nuggets served with sweet potato wedges and veg.

Salmon parcels with new potatoes or wedges and veg/salad (could do fish fingers for the dc)

Life was so much easier when my mother had a young family....Whatever she cooked we all had to eat or go without...

Do you think I’m a faddy eater? Huh, I thought I was pretty normal 🤷‍♀️. I mean, the avoiding bad carbs thing is a fairly recent idea I had, as I thought it was meant to be healthy.

I thought it was quite normal to be cutting down on meat and bad carbs.

The gluten free I definitely can’t budge on at the moment. That’s not faddy, that’s doctor’s advice.

Ah x post with lots of suggestions. Thanks all .

‘Bad’ carbs are things like white rice, white potatoes, white pasta & bread - can’t eat those anyway, refined sugar.

Paella could work (without chicken).
Does pasta count as bad carbs?

So I guess I mean refined carbs?

Pasta dishes using rice pasta (put protective mat on the floor for spillage)

Oh I’ve never tried any of the pasta substitutes. I always imagined they’d be rancid. Will give a go, thanks!

I feel your pain
Dd - vegetarian, no eggs, allergic to Quorn
DS- pescatarian, not keen on vegetables, doesn’t like sauces or spices
DH- doesn’t really care but does quite like meat
Me - not keen on chicken after salmonella last year, don’t eat fish but most other things are ok (allergic to peppers)
We have a lot of wraps with various fillings on the table and help yourself
Quite often I cook fish for the boys and me and dd have Paneer curry or courgette fritters or similar

What about pasta dishes with brown pasta instead? Or use something like couscous?

I mean faddy in the sense of choosing a restricted diet for none medical reasons. If you want to lose weight just have less of what everyone else has.
I've no idea what "bad" carbs are but if you are GF then you are pretty much limited to rice or potatoes aren't you? If you don't want to eat meat when everyone else does just substitute your own meat with extra veg or veggie version. DS is veggie but I mostly manage to cook us all the same basic meal. If I do a stir fry for example I'll cook the meat separately and some nuts for DS and add just as I serve up.

My husband is a coeliac, so we've tried most of the gluten free pastas. Rice/corn pasta is pretty good now (and is lighter on the stomach too).
Tesco do a brown rice pasta in the normal pasta section too

Do whatever you want for jacket potatoes and bung a chicken breast or similar in the oven for DH to have alongside. Do an extra potato while the oven's on.

Next day serve everyone else "stuff on pasta", and you have the same stuff on the leftover potato.

Bean based fajitas/ refried beans type of thing are popular here. You don't have to include chilli but a single fresh chilli without the seeds doesn't add much heat. Don't know if there is an acceptable non-bad-carb for the wrap.

Savoury pancakes (made with gf flour). Fill with creme fraiche, mushrooms, broccoli, salmon?

Fish pie
Veggie based wholemeal pasta dishes
Quorn lasagne made with wholemeal pasta
Quorn chilli and brown rice
Lentil casserole with mashed sweet potato topping
Fish kebabs
Quorn sausages, peas and mashed root vegetables with onion gravy

This for the toddler www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/clear-pvc-floor-splash-mat-b1675.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIm7uYg-yJ4QIVAkPTCh3NLwmMEAQYASABEgLgl_D_BwE

Fajitas with corn wraps? Can leave out spices and vegetables that you dont like.

Similarly if you can all eat corn wraps theres lots of Mexican food you could have as if you can make it from scratch you can leave spices out.

Stir fry? Can make it with meat substitutes, and can put in whatever veg you want.

I have to agree though that it is your requirements that are most restrictive as you also mentioned in another post that you dont have refined sugar, refined carbs or meat. In which case you could look at meals suggested for the "whole 30" diet.

Thanks again. These are all great.

graziass, I don’t especially want or need to lose weight. I thought refined carbs were linked to things like diabetes, (a relative has recently lost two limbs to diabetes), and heart disease? So I was trying to avoid. Isn’t it quite mainstream advice to do this now? Mediterranean type diet? I’m not talking about Atkins or Dukan.

But, I’d definitely go for refined carbs over cooking four different meals every evening! And I don’t know about the meat thing... is being pescatarian faddy? I thought it was pretty easy going on the whole preferring-not-to-eat-meat spectrum...

Why is the doctor advising no gluten?

So, it’s a bit of a saga, but I have had weird skin problems for years, itchy all body rashes and rosacea etc. Then I had some sort of mild allergic reaction (according to GP) to something. I had what looked like a coeliac rash and some other symptoms, but was tested and I’m not coeliac. The GP said there is no way to test for a milder allergy / intolerance but that cutting out gluten might help.

I think DH sounds faddier than you, tbh. Unless he's the one cooking, he can't arbitrarily decide that soup/sandwich/baked potato isn't a meal.

Quorn shepherd's pie done with sweet potato (assuming sweet potato is an OK carb?)
Burrito bowls – brown rice & black beans, various veg eg chopped avocado, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, grated cheese for those who like it, hot sauce to spice it up for everyone who likes spice
Fish finger sandwiches with a big green salad & sweet potato wedges, and DH can lump it
Baked salmon parcels and polenta