My dc are so fussy & difficult about food, it's getting me down - can anyone help please?

[Honey1975]

My dc's were both good eaters as babies, ate all fruit & veg and liked them.
As they get older they have become
more and more fussy and now pretty much refuse to eat anything they used to. To make it even harder whatever one likes the other one doesn't! Examples:

Won't eat brown bread despite us always having had it.
Have a meltdown if there are crusts on sandwiches.
Won't eat bananas, previously loved.
Suddenly don't like strawberries
One likes mash potato the other won't touch it
One likes meat, the other is not keen
Both used to like eggs, one now doesn't like the look of 'the yellow bit'
One likes macaroni cheese (as do me & dh), the other won't touch it
DS doesn't like any green veg, dd will eat green beans at a push
DS pulls a face at any vegetable and has to be made to eat some
Neither of them will eat fish
They complain if things aren't cut or presented in a certain way; big meltdown usually follows (me & them)

The sort of (nice) meals that my mum cooked for me at their age they would be horrified at & wouldn't eat. I remember just eating what I was given!

I've tried to meal plan but it is so damn complicated trying to please everyone I'm failing at it.

They both have school dinners but say they are not nice & so I don't think they eat much of them.

I just don't know what to do and it's getting down as I feel like I'm trying to cater for 4 different likes & dislikes & I'm worried they're not getting enough variety.

For info DS is 9 and DD is 5.

Can anyone please give me some advice on how to deal with this? Thanks

Mine had to turn the same meal twice in a row before i gave up and binned it. They didnt get offered toast instead either or they'd have lived on the damn stuff - fruit only. They rarely turned the food down a second time as skipping a meal had made them hungry.

Thanks so much for your thoughts. Appreciate it!

No advice, only sympathy. My dc are 8 and 5, and they are very similar. I find meal times extremely stressful. I am veggie, the dc and DH are very plain eaters, so I cook 2 meals a lot of the time as it is.

Well, after pretty much a week of at least one child (of 2) complained about every single meal, culminating in DS (8) thing over an hour to eat half a chicken breast, a tablespoon of sweetcorn and half a pack of noodles, and me screaming like banshee, I have gone through with my promise/threat.

I am of serving only ham, bread and cheese, with whatever salad veg/fruit comes to hand, for every meal. On meal 3, DS said "This isn't anything like a proper tea....". But until the dc put in some effort into eating, I am putting no effort into cooking and shopping.