How do you feed a family meal when they all like/dislike different foods?

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That's about it really. One doesn't like something the others do, etc, etc, so mealtimes are a real pain and there is lots of waste.
Help!

I'm with trice too. I cook good food and they either eat it or they don't. I used to stress about it but eating was becoming a war zone with kids staring at plates of food so now I don't bother. There will always be something that will get eaten i.e. if they don't like the meat, they will like the veg etc. I do tend to cook fairly normal food (casseroles, roast chicken, fish pie, sausages, pasta with various sauces etc) and hide certain things (dd1 doesn't like mushrooms but will happily eat creamy bacon pasta sauce with mushrooms grated into it). Rule is you have to try anything that's new and may leave it if you really don't like it.

I love to cook Indian and Thai food from scratch and eat it fairly spicy so on those days I do cook separately for the dcs (they are 4 and 8)

Yes, Bella. We used to do that a lot too. And even now (and dd2 is 16), if the rest of us are having a 'salad type meal' I do her a 'baby pot' of cucumber, carrots, red pepper, cherry tomatoes as she won't eat salad leaves.

212 - I think lots of children don't like casserole type things. Dd1 certainly didn't, even if she would happily eat all of its components individually. If I really wanted that sort of meal, I'd have the potatoes and vege to go with the casserole and then quickly cook dd1 an omelette to have with the potatoes and vege, instead of the casserole.

Oh and if you can, get them used to spices ASAP. My two have been eating mild curries, chillis etc since they were tiny!

OP, I'd suggest a combined approach. Say 5 days a week you can cook things you know everyone will like, but experiment once or twice a week with risky ones that may not be so popular. That way you can give them the opportunity to keep trying new stuff but minimise the waste / hunger issues. Sometimes they may surprise you on the experiment days!

We don't really have any meals that everyone in the family loves, and most meals there is one person who actively hates the main part of it. So we do the main meal with variations thing. I don't agree with the theory of if they're hungry enough they will eat it, I have tried it and the result has been angry, upset mealtimes. I would rather go to a little bit of extra effort and have everyone eating happily instead of being starving or forced to eat things they really don't like.

some interesting tips, thankyou.
I like the idea of sticking with the usual meals but introducing some new twist a couple of times a week.
Think I might also get all 3 DCs to write out a fave food list and hope somewhere in the lists there might be some areas of agreement.

Lasagne is the same as spaghetti Bol IMO so that wouldn't fly and chicken is chicken whether it be a strip of poached chicken or a nugget.

Sounds like you have pandered to them and now they aren't moving.

DD1 will happily eat spag bol but hates lasagne.

I do one meal, with some very basic substitutes for those who really can't eat part of it.

e.g DS1 won't eat couscous and DS2 won't eat potatoes, so they have the same meal as the rest of us, but some bread instead of the couscous/potatoes.

They both like pasta, but DS2 doesn't do sauce, so I'll open a tin of tuna or grate some cheese for him.

DH won't eat prawns, so if I'm doing prawn stirfry or biryani (v. popular with DCs!) I serve his portion before adding the prawns and he has a vegetarian version

Sometimes it means one of them hasn't had a great meal, but over a week they all do OK.

We have one meal and we talk about how everyone gets something they love and something they don't love in a week. We have allergies in our house so that makes life complicated enough, thank you.

I'm very clear that they don't have to like it, but they do have to try it.

I get them to eat their age in mouthfuls of things they are "practising". So if you are 3 you have 3 mouthfuls; by the time they are 10 they should be able to force down a plateful of food they are not keen on if they need to at someone's house.

We have a veg box delivery and quite often the only food in the house will be beetroot. It has made me a much more inventive cook, as I try and find ways to make (say) parsnips delicious.

That said, DS2 (6) just won't do parsnips, no matter how I disguise them. (Even as cake) We try not to give them to him.

I was a terribly fussy eater and very worried about trying new foods so I'm determined that my children learn to try stuff, and keep trying it as I cook it different ways. If they have a good try and they are not keen that's completely fine. I hate cucumbers but I make a big show of finding a way that I don't mind eating them, because I know many people in my family like them.

Next stop: tuna (bleeeeeughh)

I was a fussy eater as a kids - normal was cooked that I never liked and I didn't eat! I wouldn't feel comfortable with pushing that situation on my dcs. However my pickiness was chopped away by my dh, constantly feeding me foods I didn't like - one spoonful at a time...until I gave n and started liking most things.
So our approach with the dcs is I cook things I hope they'll like - I try out new recipes every week - ds will eat anything...craves new flavours, dd is still fussy but she only has a couple of things that she refuses to eat - mushrooms and creamy stuff - not liking 2 things is fine.

I was from a cook one meal for all household and it did me no good. I chose not to eat it when I didn't like it and that got mee in a critical condition with an eating disorder so I won't inflict that on my family. DH and I have different tastes so currently I batch cook some meals we both like and some we individually like e.g enchiladas for us both, steak pie and curries for DH, veggie lasagne and quiche for me. I try and make a meal we will both enjoy at least twice per week and on the other nights I will make one meal fresh for either of us and the other will have one of the frozen homecooked meals that way it is no extra work of an evening when I am preparing the food. DS is only 1 year old so I am trying to give him as many flavours as possible and I hope he will fall somewhere in between my DH and I so we can enjoy meals without e having to make another something for him.

I do one meal but may vary it slightly. Ie. DC doesn't like fish, so he may have chicken nuggets, but we all have the same veg.