To only give kids shit food?

[Crocsandshocks]

Bear with me. I'm cultivating an inner scream.

I try to make a real effort to cater to my kids tastes. They are completely and entirely different to mine. I like curries, Thai, veg stir fries, tofu, lentils etc. I'm pescatarian. My kids have different tastes. They like ham, pasta, bolognase, Burges, fish fingers, sausages etc.

I try to meet them in the middle and though I dislike cooking meat, will cook it a couple of times a week and offer up soups or Dahl and flatbread or something the other days.

I have started getting hello fresh. I deliberately ordered a chicken flat bread Street food one, as I thought they would like that (I adapted my portion to use mushrooms instead of chicken).

It took 50 minutes to cook it. I burned my finger in the process. It used up most of the baking dishes and frying pans. When I served it just now, one moaned constantly about the topping on the corn. The other rocked on his chair and sat with legs acimbo, with bits of food hanging out of his mouth.

I was a hot sweaty and sweary mess. Over half of each of theirs was left untouched. I've refrigerated what leftovers I can and am going to sneak it into their packed lunch tomorrow.

However, I am a bit broken. They're getting ready for bed and are now claiming they are hungry 😩AIBU to just go back to shit food? Like frozen pizza and pesto pasta.

My kids eat quite well, but they are plain in their tastes. I think this is true of lots of kids.

What you describe in the OP isn't necessarily shit food though. Pasta, cottage pie, quality fish fingers, home made breaded chicken/burgers with potatoes and veg - there's nothing wrong with that kind of food at all.

Did you answer your own post?!

@Icanstillrecallourlastsummer , it seems to be a muddle / quote fail regarding a post from @RedLemonade but I don't know why or how!

Is pesto pasta really a shit food?

It's not worth making yourself miserable over food. Cook a meal, serve it, if they don't eat, they wait until breakfast. Add a daily fruit and veg smoothie/vitamins if you're worried about lack of nutrients.

Unless there is a compelling medical reason why the kid can’t eat a certain item, I would serve the meal you have chosen (healthy of course) and if they don’t eat they go hungry. No alternatives. It won’t take long.

I feel your pain OP. I have 3 kids who all like different things, 1 will at least try stuff but the other 2 won't. Dinner times can be stressful.

I do rely on frozen shit a lot. But also try to do things like omelette, homemade chips, tortilla pizza wraps (tortilla, pizza sauce, grated cheese. Like homemade pizza with no faff). Basic and perhaps bland but fees a bit more wholesome than sausages and fish fingers.

One day OP. One day we will be able to cook one meal and one meal only at dinner time. In the meantime, 🍷🍺🍸🍹

Is pesto pasta really a ‘shit meal’? I make it every so often with roasted veggies and olives, bit of lemon squeezed on top and it’s a delicious meal! I’d never consider that a ‘shit meal’.

Sorry, on a bit of a tangent. I feel your pain because my DC find a way to complain about every single meal I make, even ones they all like to eat. If I make jacket potatoes as an easy meal everyone will eat, for example, they groan and say it’s borrrringggg. I just make what I want now and let them whinge, if they don’t want to eat it then that’s their choice and they don’t get anything else.

Oh OP I feel for you! Some of the replies you’ve had in this post are extremely unrealistic and not very empathetic too…

I don’t have much advice but I was that kid growing up, the only thing I would eat was plain pasta in butter and chicken nuggets. My poor mum was exasperated and obviously would rather me eat something then starve to death!

If it’s any consolation, I grew out of it when I was about 18. I went backpacking and had to eat different foods and it was the best thing I ever did. Now I am pretty adventurous with food although I do still love kiddy food. Some people just like different things, but most kids are fussy little sods!

Just do your best (which sounds like you are already doing a grand job), if I can survive 18 years on plain pasta they will be fine! 😂

Mine were the same, and to be honest, I did give up to a certain extent. I couldn’t afford to throw away so much food. My ‘compromise’ was a lot of homemade wedges or mashed potato as they’d eat that, and I served a bowl of salad with every meal, and they both picked out the bits they liked. It wasn’t ideal but I kept my sanity.

They are 21 and 23 now. The eldest is vegan and obsessed with healthy eating. The younger one who wouldn’t even touch a fish finger, is now pescatarian. She lives by the sea. They both send me pictures of their dinner every day, and they eat so well. Yes I want to bang my head on the table. They both have strong, slim healthy bodies, and they’re happy.

give yourself a break op 😀

How do you guys have different tastes? If those aren’t the goods you eat, then how did they end up being the goods your kids will eat?!

Instead of just giving them food with no nutritional value I would actually just start cooking a decent meal and telling them that's their dinner and to eat it.

Mine would live in spaghetti hoops and toast but instead of just doing that every day I've started to tell her she will eat what I cook. It's nutritionally dense food; beans, tomatoes, pulses, nuts.... and it's going to set her up for life health-wise, and therefore mental health-wise.

So I've gone that way as I think the other way creates more problems than it solves. The effects on our bodies of eating a diet of toxic and/or foods that lack nutrition are dire and worth avoiding.

Just give them food they like it’s not worth the stress and I absolutely hate wasted food

Why not try giving them wholesome versions of what they like instead of imposing your Woke ideology about lentils, tofu etc.
Fish fingers is what they see in ads on TV so that's what they want. They are children remember that OP you might have a calmer family.
Fish in UK is all certified from sustainable sources.
Read the labels in Iceland or make your own. I used to make pizza. They and their mates loved it.

Woke ideology about lentils 😭

We started getting HelloFresh just for me and DH a while ago as the kids wouldn’t eat it. They had pasta pesto or pizza or nuggets.

No point wasting the good stuff on them if they won’t eat it.

Do you have a slow cooker ? Good for things like bolognaise etc , you can also cook a full chicken In it too ready for when you get back from work, my dd eats things like homemade chicken nuggets with chips and always lots of fresh salad cucumbers peppers tomatoes etc. you can get frozen homemade pizza dough that you just roll out and add a ready made tomatoe base sauce chuck some cheese on and let the kids do their toppings. Pasta is always a staple she likes the spinach pasta that takes 3 mins to boil with salad and breadsticks, it’s hard cooking diff meals to suit everyone but if I make something for myself like a curry I’ll make loads and freeze the rest so I have quick and easy meals ready. Sometimes it’s scrambled egg beans toast or spaghetti maybe just concentrate on trying to get more veg in the meals so sausage casserole instead of just sausages with mash or homemade cottage pies that can be frozen.

For your own sanity you need as far as possible to get everyone eating the same meals.

You can go cold Turkey as some are suggesting - what is put in front of them is what they eat and no alternatives other than go hungry. This was my mother’s philosophy! I did it with my own children but from a very young age…. it’s probably a bit cruel to introduce this method at the ages they are.

Or as others are suggesting, find some compromise dinners. Serve the healthiest versions of what they like. Hide puréed veg in sauces, stir nut butter into smoothies, make your own chicken nuggets from decent chicken, etc. That’s probably what I’d do in your situation. And for a lot of kids this beige dinner love is just a phase and it passes.

"Woke ideology about lentils and tofu"

😂😂😂

My kids eat fish fingers but I am under no illusion that they are from sustainable sources. The only way to be truly sustainable is to not eat fish in the first place.

But that's another thread

Would they eat salmon OP?

My kids like poached salmon flakes into rice or noodles mixed up with some carrots or peas and some soy sauce. Or salmon flaked into some pasta shells with peas.

They also like to make their own fajitas. They get a wrap each and their own choice of protein and veg to go in the middle, sprinkled with a bit of sour cream and cheese.

They also like chicken stir fry or mild curries made with chicken or minced lamb.

My DS has an eating disorder and it’s an absolute nightmare, I have to take him food everywhere. He went through a not eating at all stage (literally; nothing for a week), then got him onto junk food, now he’s on and off old favourites.

Forcing a child to eat something is detrimental to their mental health.

My son likes mince based dishes and these are easy to freeze, you could also use quorn mince? I often buy a big pack of mince, make it with some passata and freeze it - it can then become tacos/wraps (try having toppings out to choose from) or bolognaise if he’s in a phase of eating those. Salads are always deconstructed but encouraged to eat some. Curries can be tricky for kids - have you tried mild ones? The one from the Chinese foreign foods section is the only one my DS will eat, i Chuck it in the slow cooker with some thigh fillets and the chicken all breaks up if you leave it long enough. Butter chicken or korma also nice mild curries to try - you could make a batch of sauce and do a veggie and a meat. Brilliant to freeze and when you cook the rice cook extra to freeze too.

Decent chicken goujons/chunks and sausages instead of cheap frozen ones, make a big pot of mash next time you make it and freeze, same with wedges. Yes, it’s not amazing food but they’ll be fine!! Serve with some veg they like and done.

i do think you think home made pizza is way harder than it is - it’s so much better than shop. But at the same time… shop is fine! Maybe some fresh ones from the counter where they can choose veggies too.

Are they actually hungry? I’ve found that mine eats well at school for lunch but often doesn’t fancy a full on evening meal after having some light tea at wrap-around care. During mid-week she’s happy with a baked potato or beans on toast and we tend to do bigger meals with more variety on my non working day or weekends.

I also collect at 6 and have very little time before having to do bedtime so evening meals midweek are never going to be intricate affairs in my house.

Are you definitely sure they're properly hungry by mealtimes? Ime that's a pretty quick way to distinguish real, genuine dislikes (which I would cater for by offering a very boring simple alternative when that's the main meal of the day) from "wouldn't choose this over chicken nuggets but will grudgingly eat when hungry if no alternative is on offer".

OK, done what you all told me. Gave them pesto pasta tonight with a salad (which they ignored) plus home made Eton mess.

Middle class status is restored. I miss my woke lentils though. 😂

I haven't caught up with the thread since this morning. I have a very similar problem op. I plan also to add vitamin fuelled smoothies to our day, mason jar salads (exciting?!!) and a policy of only saying nice things about your dinner. I also plan keeping left overs and reserving them for complaints of hunger later on. Don't have the energy to cope with this at the moment though.

I haven't caught up with the thread since this morning. I have a very similar problem op. I plan also to add vitamin fuelled smoothies to our day, mason jar salads (exciting?!!) and a policy of only saying nice things about your dinner. I also plan keeping left overs and reserving them for complaints of hunger later on. Don't have the energy to cope with this at the moment though.

Sounds sensible. 👍

I don’t understand the pizza thing! Do you think people are telling you to make your own pizza dough? It’s literally taking a bought pizza base, sticking on tomato purée, cheese, some ham and pineapple or whatever. It’s just the same amount of effort as pasta, Dahl or salad, or whatever, surely? I mean fair enough, probably not that much healthier than a frozen pizza, so I can understand that argument against it, but not the effort thing.