to say fussy eating makes food budgeting really difficult.

[Comedycook]

At my wit's end! Financially we are doing ok, thankfully, but the price of food is getting ridiculous. I'm spending so much money on food. I could cut down and I'm a pretty good, imaginative cook, but my DC are making it so difficult.

Examples...DD always has eaten corn on the cob. Made it last night to go with dinner...wasn't touched. Asked why not.. apparently it gets stuck in her teeth. But she happily ate it last week.

This morning, gave her a bowl of cornflakes...moaned she didn't like the brand of cornflakes and it ended up getting binned.

Ds is a teen...he takes in packed lunches. Sometimes he eats them, sometimes he doesn't but there is no way to predict whether or not he will or won't so it creates so much food waste.

What I find the most frustrating is when they turn their noses up at food they've previously enjoyed.

I really hate wasting food.

Anyone else in the same situation?

None of that would be acceptable in our house:

Corn on the cob - that's the veg tonight, you need veg to stay healthy, even it it's not your favourite you still have to eat it. It's not a nightmare food because you ate it last week - going forward you can suggest an alternative veg for x-dinner but it has to be healthy, cheap and easy to cook.

Corn Flakes: sorry it's not your favourite brand, thank you for telling me and I will try not to get it again but for now this is what we have - we do not put perfectly good cereal in the bin!

Packed lunch: non negotiable. You have to eat to stay healthy, either packed lunch or school lunch but once you've decided on one you have to eat it and you get a chance to choose again tomorrow (or next week depending on how your school rules work)

@NewBlueShoe how old are your kids? Mine are 12/14. I cannot force them to eat. I send my eldest to school with lunch...I have no control once he's there as to whether he eats it or not

At that age I’d just be saying is what it is. That or toast.

Yeah I’d be saying you eat it or you’re hungry
Stop pandering to this nonsense

You can't make them eat. Go ellyn satter. You provide nutritious food and enough of it. They decide if they eat it. No fuss, no arguing.

@Comedycook my oldest is 10 so I won't pretend to know what having older children is like but that's always the rule in our house, including for DH and myself who often eat less preferred foods practical reasons.

On the packed lunch for instance could you not just tell him not to take it if he isn't going to eat it??

I feel your pain. My kids don’t even like the same food. It’s so frustrating

I get fed up cooking multiple meals every day

100% this.

If they eat it, they eat it. If they don't, they don't. Make sure every meal has at least one food you know they will almost always eat so there's never "nothing" and leave it at that. No bargaining, no forcing, no battles.

Same here - house full of ND people, no one meal suits everyone and one will not eat substitute types of food or certain jars. I have no clue how they will manage if they ever meet someone/ have kids. But that's a worry for another day. Have to have a constant supply of certain cereal, the right milk, and hope they eat.

at those ages they should be able to understand.

tell them that money is tight and they need to help reduce waste.

with regards to packed lunch - I stopped making those for dc when they started secondary. they pack their own. they can judge their own appetite the best. if they don't eat their sandwich at school they transforn it into a toastie after school.

Yes my DC don't like the same thing either. My ds likes carrots ..DD hates them. Dd likes pork, beef, fish..Ds only eats chicken.

My ds has been a fussy eater since toddler hood. As a baby he ate everything...then overnight he just changed. The list of things he won't eat is huge. Only eats chicken, no other meat or fish. Won't eat cheese, eggs, sandwiches etc. Will eat pasta but must be penne or fusilli..won't eat spaghetti. Won't eat any sauce on pasta. No special needs by the way.

Can DS make his own sandwiches in the morning? He's more likely to eat it.

Do you get them involved in meal planning? Have a list of possible meals and let them choose in advance, then that is this week's menu. Possibly allowing the occasional opt out to be replaced with beans or egg on toast.

Sounds ridiculous especially from your son if he has no special needs.

What happens if you just say 'well this is what we're having tonight, eat it or be hungry' and don't pander to him?

My DSS is the worlds fussiest eater and it’s infuriating. He does this annoying face and just says ‘I don’t like that’ even when he’s literally never tried it in his life. When we go to the supermarket now we just have a section on our list that says ‘beige food for DSS’ as he’ll pretty much only eat chicken nuggets, chips and pepperoni pizza. We’ve wasted so much money trying to get him to eat other stuff that we’ve given up trying.

At that age they're more than old enough to understand that money is tight, and what you buy needs to be eaten.

If they eat it, they eat it. If they don't, they don't

If they don't eat their dinner, I don't make an alternative. They can eat crackers, breadsticks, something else instead but I'm not doing it. However, the food waste is the problem. So much ends up going in the bin.

Also I could probably cope with the fussy eating if it was consistent. It's the fact they will eat something one week and the next week declare it's disgusting.

I won't make another meal...he will eat cereal, bread, something like that. But I have spent time as money on his dinner which is frustrating

My DD is very similar to your DS with fussiness around food, plus she's coeliac so some of her foods are very expensive. It drives me crazy when she refuses a food that she tolerated the week before!! I now get tough and say that if it's a previously tolerated food, and she's turned her nose up at it now, she gets it back at the next meal or the next day.

I always make sure there's only one 'challenge' food on her plate. She gets to pick some aspects, some days, but if she's chosen it then it gets eaten. She's 10.

She costs me a fortune compared to my other DC who eats most things.

I think I'd start encouraging more involvement with making dinners themselves tbh. Maybe once a week each of them can make the family meal. Might encourage a bit more conscious thought around what gets used in cooking and eaten.

Yes, and the food shopping.

what we do as well for a main meal is not dishing it up, but let everyone serve themselves.

leftovers then can be made into other dishes another day.

op can you give your dc to cook a family meal once a month? they would need to agree on what to cook and how and to budget.
great skills to build for the future

Can you meal plan together? Just thought that might help - give them a list of dinners and they each choose two and veto one - something like that?
I'm also trying something new once a fortnight. So I tried curry this month and chilli last month. Just anything to get them out of their comfort zone.

This morning, gave her a bowl of cornflakes...moaned she didn't like the brand of cornflakes and it ended up getting binned.

Your children are 12 & 14? Just don't make her breakfast, she can make it herself. Then at least if she decides she doesn't like that brand, it's not already in a bowl with milk and so won't get binned.

At that age, I think meal planning together and making a shopping list is a really good thing to do, they need to start learning about planning and budgeting. You can use it as an opportunity to discuss food costs, i.e., branded cereals are expensive (it's pretty much always the same contents, different packaging). Let them serve themselves and then you can re-use what is remaining. Get them to look a recipe books or online like BBC good food and choose something to cook (maybe at weekend when more time).