Small tweaks/shortcuts - easy(realistic) improvements to diet?

[FedAndWatered]

Single parent here, working full time, with two sen teens. I am trying to make realistic improvements to diet and be proactive in organising food. There are significant challenges at home and you guessed it, there is no support. I am currently struggling and juggling and at the edge of my capacity during the week. I think even small tweaks will add up and become habit for my autistic teens and prepare them better for adult life.

What works for other busy people in terms of easy improvements to diet or having healthier meals?

I am even thinking I could have things prepped on Sunday, on a good week.

Years ago when I was with my useless ex, I used to make three dinners on a Sunday and freeze them but I am completely out of the way of this and don’t recall how I managed to make this work.

What do other people do?

One child has ARFID and will never deviate from their very restricted diet and one child will be honest and tell me what they think (honesty can be overrated at meal times). And potentially I will end up eating it by myself!
If I am better organised perhaps this will be much easier.

I have a 4 week meal plan with a shopping list. It has recipes I know everyone will eat and means a lot less thinking and planning for me each week.

I also prep veg like soffrito, soup bases, and chopped onions or peppers and freeze them so I can just throw a handful in when I’m cooking. It saves a lot of waste and makes recipes seem much less time consuming and overwhelming when I’m tired. It can effect the texture though so it might not work if your child has ARFID.

I try to make something that will last for 2 meals e.g. enough bolognese sauce or curry for 2 nights, then just make the rice/pasta fresh.

I try to find healthy options that are also convenient e.g. frozen veg I can just put in the microwave/steam for a few minutes, wholegrain microwave rice sachets.

I try to plan for the week we are having, so if the kids have an after school club or I’ve got a late meeting I make sure that I’ve cooked the night before so we can have leftovers (or plan something I know I can make quickly like pesto pasta, where I’ve bought or pre-roasted some chicken. So all I have to do is boil the pasta and slice some cherry tomatoes to stir through with the chicken and sauce).

We have a lot of tray bakes (the roasting tin cook books are reliably good for ideas) or one pot casserole/tagine/curry type meals where it’s just a bit of chopping and then everything can go in together and cook without too much input from me whilst I do other things. Although this might not work very well for a child with ARFID if there are lots of foods they don’t eat or have issues with foods being mixed together.

Sympathy. My dd had a very restricted diet age 6 to 14 (I treated it like arfid but it was never diagnosed) but she grew out of it thank goodness.

I have two magnetic mini whiteboards on my fridge on which I write a weekly meal plan every Saturday, and a shopping list. Meal plan also has a notes column, things like “dc1 parents evening 6pm” so I know when I’m going to find cooking os unusually time pressured.

Meanplanning starts with me asking family for meal suggestions (only about four times EVER has this yielded a result but I always ask). Then I check fridge and freezer for things that need to be used up. Then do a skeleton plan .

Make a note on my shopping list of anything significant I ALREADY have that must be used eg a cauliflower or half a pack of puff pastry

Then I do the weekly shop - I don’t fullyplan the meals ahead of the shop because I like to take advantage of special offers.

Having a detailed plan helps a lot because I pre-think all the choices; sometimes the meal order is determined by use by dates on chicken or salad.

Also I always have a meal on standby that my dc will like - just in case of a work crisis or I’m unwell. Green pesto, pasta and peas is something my kids love and can cook themselves.

I've tried batch cooking on weekends, but it didn't work for us. I don't really want to dedicate so much time for that on a set day.

What worked is to batch cook whenever we have the opportunity. So things like lasagna, stew, cottage pies, roast chicken, pasta sauces... get multiplied by 2 or 3. We might actually starts multiplying by 4 lol, it's not that much more efforts anyway as long as you have an oven that fits 2 large dishes.

There are also things like chicken nuggets, meatballs (with different meats and seasoning) that are handy to have as a base that you can add different sauces to. Just make sure you freeze them flat so they don't stick together, and then out them in a large bag.

Things we had to buy:

• large baking dishes (I like the metal ones as they are very light, but we also have pyrex ones. Ceramics are a pain to clean IME and super heavy)
• large cooking pot for stew
• an electric chopper! This saves so much time for bases like onions, carrots, celery etc.
• some method to freeze portions. You can buy silicon molds on Amazon that allow you to freeze stuff into cubes/blocks. If you're limited in freezer space, then the most convenient are plastic boxes or aluminium disposable baking trays.

Don't know how well fruit & veg go down, but I always have at least 1 of my 5 a day at breakfast. Don't forget tinned or frozen fruit count, or 30g of dried fruit, or a small juice.

I feel it starts the day off well.

When I was working in London, I found it easier to get up half an hour earlier and put a dinner on in the slow cooker. Then, when we got home from work, tired, cold and hungry, it was nice to walk through the door with dinner already cooked! I just had to cook the potatoes/rice/pasta to go with it.

I am not sure if a child with Arfid will eat those type of dinners though? Does DC mainly want to eat beige food?

Is the teen with ARFID able to prepare their own food? That would mean a little less for you to do. If they eat beige and you don't already have one, an air fryer will be good for this as less likely to burn/set on fire if neglected.

Is the other teen able to cook for you and them once or twice a week? Even if it's just a jar sauce pasta dish? Heinz sauces are non UPF, taste OK and are often on offer.

What do you all have for breakfast and lunches? If you work in an office, can you take leftovers that might otherwise be uneaten for lunch?

Can you agree a list of dishes you and non ARFID teen will eat on rotation? Is there anything that the ARFID teen eats that you can all eat together?

What about simple meals sometimes, omelettes, baked potatoes? Either routinely, or as the alternative if teen doesn't want what you've made.

Also do things like make a basic ragu that can then be turned into bolognese, chilli, lasagne? Or chilli where the leftovers then get used in enchiladas by baking in wraps? Likewise leftover roast into a pie (with pastry or mash topping as appropriate), curry or with egg and chips etc?

I would buy as little as possible short life fresh food where you know it might get wasted and concentrate on keeping your freezer stocked with healthy(ish) foods that can quickly and easily be turned into something edible.

ETA - yes, a slow cooker could be another help. But what will help depends on what sorts of foods they will eat and how much they're able to do for themselves.

Dc with ARFID will eat beige food, with the exception of occasional spag bol or slices of steak, but I will have to make sure everyone else doesn’t.

I’ve got the instant pots and the airfryer etc. DC2 comes back from school having masked all day and worn out, so I have to apply zero pressure there.

For breakfast I usually do scrambled/poached eggs/porridge/avocado and toast (on advice of doctor since DC2 is on meds to help them focus and will be put off eating at lunchtime).

Could DC2 eat a protein bar at lunchtime, if they don’t feel like eating much?

Unfortunately DC2 is eating a cookie and juices. Short of joining the canteen staff at their school, I don’t think I can do much.

Switch to wholemeal pasta and rice. Healthier and I prefer the taste now.