Quick weekday dinners for fussy kids

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

Until now my childcare arrangements have spared me having to make weekday dinners for my two fussy eaters. No longer - from next week it’s all on me and i’m Dreading it.

Help me with your best tips for quick and healthy weekday meals for a pair who are vegetable-avoiding beige-loving harsh food critics.

What can I stock the freezer up with?
What is super-easy?
How often can I actually feed them beige food without feeling guilty?

Help help help!

Beige food twice a week I think max.

• spaghetti Bol
• lasagne
• chicken casserole and rice
• chicken curry
• fish, potatoes, peas (not freezable other than the fish in breadcrumbs
• shepherds pie
• chilli and rice

Etc etc but with fussy eaters they won’t improve without being challenged again and again to eat wider things

I am lucky in that my children will eat some veg, but they are insanely fussy and only like the blandest of bland foods. They will eat scrambled eggs, cod in butter with rice, pasta with cheese, roast chicken breast with boiled potato or noodles. No other meat, and nothing with a sauce.

I use the frozen cod fillets, you can bake them from frozen in the oven wrapped in foil with a blob of butter or at a push even microwave them.

My children wouldn't eat a single thing that the pp listed and it's not for want of trying.

pasta twists cooked with peas, sweetcorn and any greens (I use frozen leeks and courgette) they will tolerate. drain and add sliced cooked sausages, dress with olive oil and a twist of black pepper. The pasta drinks the oil so it isn't saucy.

picky tea: crusty bread, cheese, cold meat, cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber. If they don't like crusty bread do it with toast or wraps and let them build towers.

Cabrese (again with bread)

toasties and soup.

quesedillas, tacos, fajitas etc: you don't have to add spice if not liked and its an easy way to get salad or veg in.

You can put lots of hidden veg in Happyspud's menu suggestions - tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery, leeks, mushrooms, etc - as long as it's diced finely (a bit of a faff, I know, but if you batch cook, it's not as arduous). Pulses count as one of your five-a-day too so don't dismiss the humble baked bean.

My little niece "hates" mushrooms but has been eating them quite happily at our house for years without realising.

It depends how old/gullible they are but as a toddler my eldest used to eat everything if it came with 'dip'. Dip could be anything I'd blitzed served in a pot so she could dip her food in. A thousand veggie possibilities there.

My son loves tortilla wraps so I've gradually started doing different things with them. I'll sometimes cook a breaded chicken steak and so him a chicken wrap with salad, peppers, lettuce etc. Or the soft shell tacos are great for filing with various things - mince, chicken, even chopped up burgers. Try and adapt the things that they do like in different ways rather than giving them something totally new that will blow their mind

In our house the freezer contains
chicken fingers, quorn nuggets and sausages and turkey & chicken breasts with various coatings.
All quick and easy to cook and serve with either pasta or potatoes or rice. Chuck a load of veg or salad on and it's not too painful. Homemade Pizza, mac n cheese, filled tortillas, and hot dogs also all go down well.
Luckily mine aren't too averse to veg or salad but they won't eat anything too involved or mixed together (urghh it's touching the sauce!) and sadly both despise fish.

Ah yes my eldest has a terrible aversion to things that are mixed together, it’s a real challenge to get him to eat anything with a sauce.

@AvengerDanvers95 my god I thought only my child hated anything in sauce! You’ve described her meals to a tee. Her current favourite is pasta with cheese, butter and Marmite (a Nigella recipe) but she’d eat plain pasta if she could. She’s ok with some veg but there’s no hiding anything.

Fresh pasta is extremely good for a quick after work kids meal. Keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Following. Fresh filled pasta used to be a go to here but dd1 decided she no longer likes it. We fill our freezer with curry, bolognese, chilli and a few other bit but definitely need some more ideas!

Hidden veg macaroni cheese www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3-veg-mac-n-cheese
Tuna burgers www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5863/tuna-sweetcorn-burgers
Hidden veg meatballs realfood.tesco.com/recipes/sunitas-secret-veg-meatballs.html
Turkey burgers www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4833/spiced-turkey-burgers
Cheese and ham pancakes
Risotto supervalu.ie/real-food/recipes/mummycooks-hidden-veg-risotto
Secret veg pasta bake www.ocado.com/webshop/recipe/secret-veggie-pasta-bake/23305
Rice pop chicken recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/main-courses/chicken-goujons-with-rice-pops or cornflake nuggets realfood.tesco.com/recipes/cornflake-chicken-nuggets.html
Cheese and tomato bread pudding recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/leftovers/cheese-and-tomato-bread-and-butter-pudding
Mini toad in the hole www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/mini-toad-holes
Chicken pie www.motherandbaby.co.uk/family-life/family-meal-ideas/eating-for-two-tasty-chicken-and-potato-pie-by-annabel-karmel
Chickpea meatballs www.myfussyeater.com/veggie-chickpea-meatballs-for-kids/
Sweetcorn pancakes www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/s/sweetcorn-pancakes.html
Cauliflower cakes www.healthylittlefoodies.com/cauliflower-tots/
Pasta bake www.ocado.com/webshop/recipe/secret-veggie-pasta-bake/23305
Hidden veg risotto

My DS won't eat any sauces or 'wet food' at all but he likes

Chicken goujons- I make them in batches and freeze (chicken dipped in flour then egg then breadcrumbs)
Tacos- fry mince, add taco seasoning and a bit of water, cook for 10 mins till dry. then use the crispy taco shells, ds has cheese, chopped up cucumbers and tomatoes in too
Roast chicken
Chicken pie- fay ripleys recipe is lush and has no sauce
Stir fried beef - marinate the beef in sauce before cooking so it dries out in the pan cooking, serve with rice and grated carrots.
Halloumi burgers and veg sticks
Grilled fresh tuna and chips
Chicken kebabs- he'll eat anything on a stick.

Do they like pizza? I make a tomato sauce for the base and whizz up tons of veggies and keep it in batches in the freezer. I encourage them to make pictures or faces with the pizza using different toppings but even if I can’t convincr them I know they’ve had lots of hidden veg in the first place!

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions on this thread, I've picked up some new ideas.

And special thanks to @Ricekrispie22 for the links!

My veg averse DC's would quite happily plough through a stir fry stuffed full of different veggies. Wouldn't have got them to eat any of them if served a different way. Might be worth a try.