To just eat these meals for a couple of weeks?

[spoonielife95]

I have an autistic DD who is awful with food when it comes to dinners - will only eat 2 or 3 dinners on rotation and not much of it either which means that she is underweight. I have spent hours in the kitchen cooking up things I think she will like to no avail. It also doesn’t help that I don’t eat meat and she does and she doesn’t like vegetarian food either - so I end up cooking 2 dinners a day and then a third if she refuses the first time round (I can’t just leave her to starve if she refuses her food because she has a genuine reason of her autism and she doesn’t need to lose any more weight at all).

We have had some meals before from a specialist frozen dinner shop - COOK - they do handmade and homemade food with proper ingredients and then just freeze them for ease - and she’s actually enjoyed these yet I guarantee if I cooked it exactly the same way at home she wouldn’t touch it.

It is literally exhausting me working out what to do for dinner each night - WIBU to just stock the freezer up with 2 weeks worth of dinners and eat them for a couple of weeks just until I can figure something else out for her eating and to take the pressure off a bit?

She eats quite a lot of fruit and she eats picky bits for lunch including dairy like yoghurts etc.

Forgot to add - I would also add vegetables and sides to the dinners like rice, pasta, etc

I would, and I wouldn't stress about it either. She will be eating, it won't be a battle and it will make your life easier. If you can afford it why not. Let go of the mum guilt and go for it.

They’re quite expensive but I’d say in this case it’s money well spent - they seem good quality and basically close to homemade food so I can’t see the harm if you’re sure she’ll eat them. Might be a chance for her to branch out too - it might be the packaging etc that make them “safe” for her.

How would that be unreasonable? That sounds perfect!

I used cook a while back and they were lovely meals. Only stopped as I’m trying to lose weight but I’d use them again for sure.

Go for it.

I get it btw - my 9yo is the same and has 4/5 dinners on rotation.

Cook meals are excellent quality meals. Crack on.

I don't think that would be at all unreasonable. How old is your DD? If she's very young, she might get a bit too much salt, but you say she doesn't eat much anyway. Must be very difficult for you.

I don't think that's a problem at all, and I don't mean to be goady, but what are you expecting to happen in 2 weeks time to change her eating habits? How long has this been going on for? (Again: I don't think there's anything wrong with what you're proposing but confused as to why you think it will change in a fortnight - unless this is a recent thing).

Sounds fine, but would it help to alternate them with the 2-3 homemade dinners that she will eat? Just because it sounds like it could become even more difficult for you if she decides she only wants these Cook dinners after eating them for 2 weeks.

Thank you everyone for the quick responses - I feel a bit better about it all now! I just had that niggling guilt ebbing away at me about her having ready meals but as PP’s have said - it is really good quality and not processed etc. Money wise - I’ve worked out that I can do dinners for both of us for 2 weeks for around £80-85 and then I’ll just have to top up breakfast and lunch bits which will only cost me around £30 a week so I’ll actually be saving money because I can normally spend around £100-120 per WEEK because of having to buy back up dinners etc because DD is so fussy.

Regarding the salt - one of the dinners I think she would enjoy is a chicken curry and a whole portion has 1.73g of salt and she would probably have about 1/4 of that… 1/2 if she enjoyed it POSSIBLY. Is that good or bad?

Realistically I don’t think anything will change after those 2 weeks, I think it’s mainly and selfishly just to give me a bit of a break (!) however I’m hoping that if she enjoys some of the meals I might have other options to add into her rotation once or twice a week going forward 🤞

@galacticpixels yes that’s a good point and a good idea, thank you!

It's perfectly reasonable to do this, you need a bit of a break from the stress - Cook meals are excellent, IMO.

You don't say how old your daughter is, is she old enough to participate in choosing and help cook Gusto/Hello Fresh type of meals?

Forgot to add - DD is 8

@Westfacing thats quite a good idea, I know they’ve had some special offers on too recently so even if she doesn’t like it, it won’t be too much of a hit financially! Thanks!

Thank you so much for posting this. It is such hard work getting sufficient nutrition into DS. So good to feel I’m not alone and you have a solution for me to try!

[DS (occasionally): Can I have this super high calorie sugary thing?
Me: YES!!
DS takes one bite or forgets all about it for half an hour
Me:?
DS: I’m not hungry now/it’s got a red speck on it/it was too sticky/I was busy doing Pokémon]

You need a break, I need a break.

I’ve just been looking at a 2 person Lakeland Rice Cooker on Amazon. Very tempted - anything that makes some aspect of life less exhausting.

You’ll probably get a bit sick of them but equally glad of the break so give it a go and gradually reintroduce other meals. Always handy to have on standby anyway.

DS is 8

Great solution. For my asd son I serve what he likes and try to add something for him to'try' but no pressure. I try to find cheats to make the meals healthier. So he likes breaded chicken so I get breaded chicken breasts, rather than nuggets. I make chips from potatoes. I blend veg into gravy and bolognaise sauce. I'd do this then keep trying. But if this is what your dc eats that's fine

Could you keep the packaging and use it for homemade meals or would she notice

If it means your child is eating- do it! Don't feel guilty, you're doing your best.

Sounds fine

Better than a cheese pasty

That option sounds amazing! You sound like a great Mum.

over at our house, it’s either chicken nuggets, fish fingers or pasta pesto on rotation! No veg AT ALL.

Cook meals are amazing. Healthy and delicious. The only issue I can see is the cost, but you've already worked out it's cheaper.. so absolutely go for it! I would very happily live on Cook meals (and feel to my family every night) if we could afford it!