Do you cook several different meals for one sitting to suit everyone?

[WhyNotSmile]

I grew up in a family where the dinner options were the good old "Take it or leave it". There were one or two things my sister or I couldn't stomach, and Mum wouldn't make those unless one of us wasn't there, but by and large we were expected to eat what was put in front of us, whether we particularly liked it or not. We didn't have to clear our plates, but nor were we allowed to turn our noses up at anything. We're both pretty good eaters now; neither of us is fussy and we will both give most foods a try.

I remember being surprised to hear from friends that their mums would cook two or three different meals each evening so that everyone could have something they liked. Sometimes these would be totally different meals - lasagne for one, say, and pie with chips for someone else etc. Most of these people seemed to be really picky eaters even as adults.

Is this something that people do? Do you com a different meal for each person? Does it lead to picky eaters? Or is it that a child is picky and it's less hassle to cook different meals? Or is it just a coincidence that the people I've known who had this are picky eaters?

I don't think I would ever bother cooking separate food for different people (except in the case of allergies/vegetarian etc). I would expect DS to eat what was put down, more or less. Am I being harsh?

[Spatial]

Not as a matter of course. Sometimes I will adapt things, eg put chorizo in for DS but leave it out for DD, add some chilli after DDs helping is put out etc.

On a leftovers day, they often eat different things, primarily as there is often only one helping of each thing left.

Very occasionally DH and I will have something special like seafood, which DS is allergic to, or something we know they wouldn't like, but that's fairly rare.

[KiteKit]

I do quite a bit of the time. Dd is very fussy and would not eat as varied a diet as myself and dh so at least a couple of times a week I cook stuff she will eat such as roast chicken, bolognaise, curry, pasta etc and we all eat it the first night, i keep enough for a second dinner (or in the case of bolognaise etc I bag it up in individual portions and freeze for dd) that way dh and I eat something else that we enjoy the second night but all I have to do it cook some rice / pasta for dd and she has a proper dinner too.

I never mind doing that for her as I like to know that she has a proper dinner as she is very skinny and has always always been hard to feed.

Through sheer perservence we now have her at a stage where we have about 10 or 12 family meals which I suppose I am happy with. If I could change one thing about her I would wish for a child that ate without fuss and enjoyed food - but can't have everything and she is great in so many other ways!