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?

Iv teens who don't always eat pack lunches during the week. I buy slightly more expensive pre packed stuff like bread sticks, popcorn, crackers, packed biscuits then lob in couple bits fruit. They top their lunches up as they eat bits but saved huge amount of waste.

Ok, so I've just picked up DD from school and she is moaning that the pitta bread I put in her lunchbox today was too thick..ffs

Interesting and proves OP’s point.

F so can come back to this

Interesting and proves OP’s point.

That should say other posters’ point.

Oh for crying out loud, it was too thick? It's time for some straight talking. Tell them, in no uncertain terms, that all this fussiness means there will be no money for xmas presents. They're old enough to know there's a national crisis. DS wants steak? Well when he's earning his own money, he can have all the steak he wants. Until then, he'll get what he's given and bloody well like it. Don't fall for all this 'super taster' bollocks, how come they didn't 'super taste' previously liked foods before?

Don't worry scientists, this mumsnet poster says its bollocks.

"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"

That's because you are pandering to it. The first PP has the right idea.

Stop throwing perfectly good food in the bin. And stop pandering to the weekly changes of likes and dislikes. They eat what they are given or they don't have anything.

DS wants steak? Well when he's earning his own money, he can have all the steak he wants

I have no objection to buying steak if he ate the bloody stuff...excuse the pun!

So tell her to stop being such an ungrateful whiny little shit?

This could be me. I ended up under consultant care as a child as I wouldn't eat things I didn't like or fancy and under the eat or go hungry options I chose the latter until I lost too much weight. I am still the same. I cannot explain it rationally, one week eggs are okay and the next I vomit if I try to eat them.

I am commenting to give techniques I use. I have a shopping colour chart where some foods are green, always safe and edible, amber where I may or may not eat them and red where I will starve rather than eat them. I try to have one food that is always safe for me when I meal plan. Also certain cuisines work well for me so I will eat anything Mexican and never eat Italian. A lot of it is texture for me though, which is why one brand is okay and the other isn't.

Starting to suspect I may be ND 😂The point of typing all this is to say that the only way all of this works is me taking responsibility for my own food because otherwise someone will go crazy. This is why I think you need to listen to the people who say let them be responsible and cook two days a week each so they have a safe meal. Also good practice later on. If one won't eat red meat and the other won't eat anything that isn't chicken how about veggie options?

I didn't put it quite like that but yeah pretty much!

Christ, for nt kids they eat what they're given and are greatful for it.
By all means involve them in meal planning and cater for real dislikes but moaning about cornflake brands? No chance. Disrespectful and wasteful.

Immensely difficult. In my house we have a veggie and two kids with allergies, one who is very fussy. Total nightmare unless we have exactly the same things every night

Sometimes at secondary they don’t eat because they don’t have time. Lunch break can be 20 mins by time they’ve gone to locker etc they decide they can’t be bothered. My DS has made his own packed lunch since y3 as I said I will pay for dinners or make your own 😆

Provided there are no undiagnosed special needs …..

the OP needs to get a grip of parenting her children, not vice versa and the children need to stop being so ungrateful and demanding.

cereal is for breakfast (or empty teenagers who have already eaten a meal, not ones who have refused a meal).

my teen and preteen plan our weekly menu plan & do the online shop. Sometimes I override things, usually we discuss a balance!

there are meals I sometimes don’t fancy that night. But they’re preagreed (& sometimes cooked ready to eat when I get in from work). So it’s what we have.

a couple of nights going hungry and you’ll probably be able to have more constructive conversations about food cost and food waste. ….. put a value on what you’re binning! Aim to save it & give that to the food bank instead! Then they can see they could feed another family instead of putting it in the bin.

the current arrangement sounds entirely selfish! The only good point is that you are acknowledging the waste.

My DS is only 9 so not same age, but I do say take it or leave it. There's no alternatives. So in that way it's not costing any more.

Dinners will always have an element of 'a favourite safe' foods so won't starve if doesn't eat anything new or not common.

Packed lunches often don't get much eaten out of them as if he's in a rush to get out and play he'll just eat a minimum of something quick. If there's food left in his lunchbox we that's what he gets for his after school snack. It doesn't just go straight in the bin! But because he doesn't eat well when he has packed lunches he only has them once a week as school dinners he's not allowed to just leave it and run off outside!

Yep I’m in the same boat with 3 and 2 year old. I now don’t give them anything else, it’s either their tea or nothing. I got so fed up with it all

DS2 is 21 now, but when he was a teenager he would be the same. One week asking me to buy something because he loved it - then randomly changing his mind after purchase.

DD is 11 & also takes a packed lunch to school which is sometimes eaten & sometimes not. As you say, how are you supposed to control that? March into school and stand over them until it's all gone?

Also I’d ask your teen to make their own packed lunch if they’re being fussy

I agree with the satter method.

Save leftovers so there's no wastage, but there's also no pressure to clear your plate like others are suggesting which is proven to just lead to obesity.

It removes the value from foods like chocolate cookies and ice-cream and places all foods on equal ground. Some days they will eat how you perceive to be badly other days they won't but there's no big fuss.

Everything is storable in a tub in the fridge or freezer, and you have a stress free kitchen.

We started planning dinners and lunches together, so my fussy teen has a say and choice and is working much better...And there is much less waste.

Saying have this or make your own had the opposite effect as he'd be much happier having pot noodles for dinner! Also leaving the table with dinner 1/2 eaten results in snacking or eating rubbish later...

He makes his own lunch twice per week and has one at school. There is always a period of trial and error as pasta does end up overcooked in the thermos and wraps can be soggy when there's too much sauce and I probably wouldn't eat it either.

I wouldn't be forcing breakfast either. They can help themselves if they are hungry. I don't eat for at least 4-5 hours after I get up.

Our 11 year old son is like this but we ensure x y or z is finished before buying a new item. I’ve been trying to reinforce the difference between disliking and not fancying to him at the moment as he regularly tells us he doesn’t like something when he had it the week before without issues. Our daughter 13 is fine and eats the majority. I know what they like and dislike so for example if we have something with sweetcorn in I attempt to minimise the amount our daughter gets but giving her additional other veg giving our son the extra sweetcorn and vice versa with mushrooms as examples.

Lot of people on this thread have never dealt with true food refusal/fussiness issues, even in neurotypical children. My DD has almost dropped off the centile lines altogether despite being on 50th until age 2 and reducing milk significantly. Now 5 and under dieticians but every single day is stressful. So maybe stop with your "cereal isn't for children who've refused a meal". If it's that or no calories in 48 hours you're just going to go for it. Dietician says the same. She doesn't care what she eats anymore as long as the calorie intake increases.

Crikey. Because the food is stuff they'll eat sometimes and not others, they don't have a diagnosed eating disorder or SN, I think I would:

1. Ask for suggestion for each for dinner. that they cook. either together or by themselves.
2. Cook meals that you can afford, that you know aren't on the "totally will not and cannot eat because genuinely don't like" list. That does not include stuff that's been cheerfully loved the week before, or stuff that's rejected for brand reasons.
3. Remove crackers/toast/other options.
4. Definitely get own lunches and breakfasts. Whining about not liking something is less fun when you're the one that's made it.
5. Acknowledge complaints re. foods when made, but counter with "ok. that's what there is today - but when you do your meal plan you can put something different on the list next week" Hand the problem back to them.
6. Talk about money. There's no WAY my teens would dare select steak and salmon - really expensive foods - and then declare them disgusting. But we are pretty skint so they would be totally delighted with the steak in particular!! I don't know how you get round this but I would be pretty pissed off if this happened in my house and the kids would know about it. They absolutely would not get to chose v expensive options if there was a chance they'd reject them an hour later.

I think that because of the "loves one week not the next" element, there is possibly some other thing going on here - are they seeking attention, are they anxious about something else that's happening and this gives them control? I'd be sympathetic about what's going on elsewhere, but the actual food whining, I'd give short shrift, because it seems like it's a whim one day to the next and not genuine aversion.