Meal Ideas For Incredibly Fussy DD11

[BrandyandBabycham]

Really struggling! DD is gluten free too which complicates things further. I so envy families that can sit down to eat together & the kids will pretty much eat anything. DD has sensory issues so some of the fussiness is to do with food textures rather than taste I think. The other problem is that she will like something then the next day tell me she hates it! So difficult & I am triggered up to a point as DM has a skewed relationship with food & used to put me on wacky diets as a teenager when I didn’t need to lose weight at all. The last thing I want is for DD to develop an eating disorder.

Does she cook at all. If not why not see if she will help you cook something relatively simple.
It might help you if you can talk to a counsellor about your own experience and strategies for coping with her issues.

I am exactly the same position. DD ate better 4-5 years ago. I do make her try things occasionally and we’ve had some success adding some things in, she seems more willing to try than she was previously.
What will your DD eat? Mine is obsessed with pasta with a sauce I make with hidden veg, I’m tempted to give it to her twice a week but I’m scared she will go off it!

I’d also like to say I was extremely fussy at their age, really fussy. I’m not now at all!

My DN generally can only handle one texture and can’t handle strong flavours.
When he comes over for tea, I usually do something like:

Hidden vegetable risotto supervalu.ie/real-food/recipes/mummycooks-hidden-veg-risotto
Macaroni cheese www.myfussyeater.com/one-pot-mac-cheese-with-hidden-veg/
Shepherds pie www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/hidden_vegetables_05418

His mother increased his list of accepted foods by making very small changes in preferred foods.
She got him into eating fish by making fish cakes and gradually increasing the proportion of fish to potato each time. She also put fish in a nice cheesy, creamy fish pie with plenty of mash and he’d eat it fine!
He also didn't really like eggs, so he started with egg fried rice that only had minimal amounts of egg, and gradually increased the egg amount each time. Now he doesn’t mind scrambled eggs.
He went from chicken nuggets to nuggets with less breading to pieces of a grilled chicken breast and eventually to chicken with noodles or rice.
Try using pizza to expand her diet. Make pizzas yourself and mix it up a bit with different cheeses, different veg, meats, and even different pizza bases (we use pitta breads, naan breads and tortilla wraps).
Let her pick the condiment. Sometimes it helps to temper overwhelming smells or textures with a sauce or condiment of choice. This will give her some control and help to introduce new foods while being paired with something familiar.

Can you give examples of current likes and dislikes? Textures etc
I think with things that go in and out of favour it is ok to continue to serve small portions and just ask them to have a couple of mouthfuls as tastes will keep changing and they might decide they like it again. Also, as they get older they need to learn that they won’t love every dish but part of family life is having each persons favourite every now and then even if they are not a fan. Just make sure there are elements she will enjoy e.g if not a fan of casserole serve with a veg and potato that she does enjoy.

She won’t eat any fruit, no vegetables except potatoes, tends towards carb heavy foods. I can’t remember the last time she ate fish apart from fishfingers but she could demolish a whole steak. We don’t eat together as a family except sometimes on a Sunday, which makes me sad.

Can you get her involved in looking at recipes and planning? There are so many gluten free recipes/alternatives now