Recipe for a spicy tomato lentil soup I had recently, courtesy of my friend.
One bowl and a little bit, served with crust bread and butter was comfortably filling and satisfying.
2 mugs red lentils. Cover with cold water & simmer until soft (skim off the froth)
2 med onions, 2 carrots, 2 cloves garlic, chop fine.
1 veg stock cube in 1/2 pt boiling water.
2 cartons passata
1 tsp each of smoked paprika, ground cumin
ground coriander, curry powder (hot or mild, to taste) celery salt, sugar. Add more heat if required with chilli.
Add all to cooked lentils & slow simmer 45 mins. Taste & add salt n pepper then add chopped fresh coriander or parsley. Cook longer for better flavour. I just add extra spices as needed. Whizz up if you want it smoother.
OP, what you offered sounds fine. My ds is the same. He looks in the fridge and announces there's never anything to eat, when what he means is he can't go through the effort in making anything for himself.
Sometimes he'll complain when it's sausage and bean casserole instead of pizza or burger, so he'll announce that he's going to KFC instead. I don't object but he ends up eating what we've cooked anyway.
They'll eat it if they're hungry enough and if they really can't stand what you've cooked, they'll find something eventually.
Really odd how some posters seem to think you should just drop everything, to go to the shops if your dd turns her nose up at your meal.
Also, not everyone has their main meal in the evening. Jacket potato with tuna mayonnaise and possibly a generous blob of butter, and salad is substantial as an evening meal. It's hardly a couple of celery sticks!