melas for 1 veggie, 2 meat eaters & a fussy toddler.........

[oaktree]

we want to start eating evening meals together more but I'm finding it really hard to find things that please everyone. 18m old willonly eat hard finger food (fish/chicken/meat balls etc & veg) - won't go near any pasta/potato/rice/sauces & won't use any cutlery. DS & Dh like meat but I am veggie. have tried stirfries but toddler won't eat them. nieiher child will touch toad in the hole.......can anyone help?!

Message withdrawn

Don't indulge 'em.

In my house I enjoy roaring
'I'm the cook and I decide what we eat.'

Story
End of

(Three year old has gone 3 nights with no evening meal.Looking very thin. He he heh)

Meatballs are a great idea if your 18mth old eats them already, add veg / tomato sauce & spaghetti for DS & DH and put Quorn meat balls in yours. You can always do some sweetcorn to have on the side too.

I think it is lovely that you want to have meals as a family Oaktree, and to be encouraged. It will be helpful for your fussy child to see the rest of you enjoying a wider range of foods. Also, don't force the cutlery issue. 18 months is quite young. He/she will learn from your example.

I don't eat meat (but do eat fish) and we eat as a family at weekends but the kids have their tea separately as DH is home too late in the week. Until recently DS wouldn't touch fish except fishfingers so it was a challenge finding a meal everyone would enjoy! I would make sure there was at least one thing on the table that each person would eat without a fuss. Everyone eats what they want from that selection. I do encourage them to try everything but there have been meals where a child only ate sausage then apple and the other only ate pasta then cheese. It balances out over the week. (In fact because we often have a cheese course and a fruit pudding we usually manage to get protein, vitamins and carbs in the same meal)

DS isn't big on sauces except tom sauce with pasta but if I make veg stew and serve his veg using a slotted spoon he will eat it.

I'm with Moondog on this one. They'll eat it if they are hungry.

As a vegetarian, how can you bear to cook meat for your DH?