Fussy family fed up of over £100 a week food shop

[Tattooedmama]

Please please give me your tips on food shopping, if like me you have fussy members of the house.

I have a 14 year old who will live on southern fried chicken and chicken kievs
Have always had varied meals, but lately he will eat hardly anything we cook (need to be more firm)

My partner is so so fussy on alot of things which is highly irritating because as an adult he needs to start trying new things to save our finances, we cant afford over £100 a week.
He hates most veg except peas, carrots, sweetcorn.
Wont have stuff like casserole, lasagne, veggie curries etc which i want to try as the cost of chicken for 6 of us.

Whats everyone elses food budget and how do you keep it low?
Am i being harsh? Im fed up, because i will eat most things and sick of boring food or cooking different for everyone.

Theres 2 adults, 2 teens, an 8 and 2 year old.

He likes cheesy pasta, but not macaroni cheese?

Make it regardless, call it cheesy pasta and once he's eaten it, tell him he's a moron.

he likes cheesy pasta with bacon and chicken

Text him and ask: "How about chicken carbonara then?" It might be that he is put off by "exotic" (?) names of food. In fact what he has described is chicken carbonara, but call it cheesy pasta and he likes it.

Does he realise that macaroni is just a shape of dries pasta. Macaroni cheese literally is cheesy pasta.

Anyway, stop asking and just serve up the talk meal.

Crikeys, I think you are doing extremely well feeding a family of 6 for £100 a week. This has made me feel really guilty as I’ve been to M&S this morning and spent £45 on just me 😩 But I’m feeling very down at the moment so part of me thinks why not?
Other posters have given you some great ideas so good luck OP with turning your fussy family around.

Op, my mom used to give us all dinner at the table when my dad got home and we’d be told, this is what’s for dinner, I’m not a restaurant. Not one of us is a fussy eater, there are two things I won’t eat, kidney and liver that’s it. Your DP is being ridiculously difficult.
My six year old son loves food, he doesn’t eat much in the way of quantity, but he watches me cook and loves to experiment. His favourite cuisines are Thai and Nepalese. I got him used to strong flavours very early on.
Cook for your family, eat together and let DP make himself beans/cheese toast whilst you go out to work.
If you pander to him like this, you’re sending a bad message to your kids.

Plus, they’re still growing, they need a balanced diet, not pasta and salty cheese with bread!! DP can have this if he likes, he’s done his growing. From now on, he does his own dinner in the week.

I spend that for me and my 10 year old

Your DH is setting a terrible example to your kids. Can you get him to watch a few episodes of eat well for less with you?
There are 5 of us, including one fuss pot and 2 vegetarians. We tend to eat mainly veggie meals with meat as an addition on the side.
I cook one meal per night.
We eat it sat around the table and I expect them to politely eat it.
I dont make food that someone strongly dislikes, I'm not sadistic!
If people dont fancy what is on the table (rarely happens) then they still sit and chat and get themselves toast later.

Was he always like this or has he developed this stupidness later?
I have to ask, because obviously his issue is not the flavour of things, but the names.🤦How are his views on immigration

Recipe tin eats is a good food blog with great recipe ideas.
A few cheesy pasta ideas that taste great.

Can people tone down their criticism please? Moron, stupidness etc are not necessary. I don’t know if the OP’s partner has ARFID or not but people who do have exactly these types of restrictions on food. From the outside the restrictions seem arbitrary and silly but they are entirely real to the person as are all sensory sensitivities. You wouldn’t mock a person with sound or touch sensory sensitivities so why do that to someone with taste (and usually smell) sensory sensitivities?

I do appreciate the issue of food and money waste makes taste sensory sensitivities a touchy issue for other people, yet the person cannot help it.

And just to preempt the inevitable reply that the OP’s DH is ‘just fussy’ and not ill, there is no definitive diagnosis that separates fussiness from AFRID, only duration, severity and impact on life help distinguish the two.

This is not sensory issue. If you read OP's posts it clearly shows it's a food name issue.

Everyone has foods they prefer to eat but real life isn’t like that. We’ve always prepared one meal (usually DH has he is a good cook and enjoys it) and that is the only option. No snacks available as an alternative.

Plus, they’re still growing, they need a balanced diet, not pasta and salty cheese with bread!!

For one meal a week this will be fine. You’re being dramatic

OP just cook them dinner - give your DH the toddler version of the name and tell them there’s no alternative.

This is not sensory issue. If you read OP's posts it clearly shows it's a food name issue.
Nope, this is what other posters said in order to mock the OP's DH. What the OP said was:
Thing is he likes cheesy pasta with bacon and chicken, there isnt alot of difference between that and macaroni cheese

Of course from the OP's, yours and my perspective the two foods seem almost identical, but the whole point of sensory sensitivities is that they make things feel/seem/sound/taste different for the individual who is experiencing them. These two dishes ARE different for the OP's DH.

My DS who has ARFID will eat cheese and pasta but in two different dishes, he will not eat cheese with pasta. Of course this sounds really unreasonable to me, but the whole point of the subjective point of view that gives rise to these differences is that they are different.

I found it cheaper to buy bigger packs of meat and split it into 2/3 meals but there is only 4 of us in the family. For example, I hut the big pack of mince and that will make a cottage pie and a spaghetti Bolognese. We shop at Lidl and spend approx £80 a week