Recipes for very fussy children

[Remmy123]

My children are so fussy I've ended up giving in and cooking what they want which isn't much : pesto pasta/spag bowl/ sausages and chips etc

I need to get out for this rut

what are your family go to meals esp fir fussy kids?

I use a lot of recipes from a kiwi lady. My fussy eater is the website. My kids love a lot of her food especially the chicken curry with lots of hidden veg. She also does lots of healthy snacks etc

Can you provide a list of what they will all.eat; what none of them.will eat and what some will eat.

Spaghetti bol
chilli
chicken pesto oasta
salmon pesto pasta
scampi
roast dinner
sausages / chips
pizza

one of my kids will only eat half of that list and has become incredibly fussy I'm not sure he wi I'll change any time soon - he also has a very small appetite so that doesn't help

the above meals only contain hidden veg as they will t eat any

... oh am any tops how to deal with fussy eaters also welcome 😄

That's not too bad a list!

You could try varying those meals slightly, for gradual change; small steps to gradually expand the list - e.g. adding a different veg or some lentils into the spag bol, or trying lasagne, switching from pork sausages to chicken sausages. Bacon pesto pasta is delicious, we have it with mushrooms, courgette and cherry tomatoes.

What ever happened to the options "eat this, or don't eat" that I was raised with?...

@Hedonism thank you that is a good idea ... half my issue is finding ideas like that! I'm very basic in the kitchen

Hidden vegetable burgers
Sausage rolls with ketchup and salad!
Meatballs
Risotto
Enchiladas
Naan pizzas
Hidden vegetable shepherds pie
Frittata

@C1N1C i did that and they don't eat it then it gets to bed time and they are starving and it becomes a shit show

But I think I'll try that again now they are getting older.

@Fivemoreminutes1 anazing thank you very much!!!

In shocking news: not everyone does the same thing....

Do they like rice? Rice and bits as we call it is simple to make. Cook rice let it cool a bit, then scramble a couple of eggs in a frying pan or wok, add the rice and mix into the egg, add peas, ham or chicken or cut up sausages or whatever really!

One of mine didn't like sauces or gravy for years. If we were having chilli or spag bol/cottage pie, I just made her a little burger with some of the Mince. If we were having fish pie, I just gave her a plaice or salmon fillet. Over time she graduated to things with a white sauce and then moved on to casseroles, etc.

It took years to realise that the issue was cooked tomato- she dislikes it even now at 24.

I don't know what you do about the vegetables. Have they not grown up watching you and yours tucking into veg? If they eat fruit it's probably not a deal breaker.

Do you involve them in preparing food? Shelling peas is a good one. Ribbons of cabbage sauted in butter with a squeeze of lemon are very different to boiled cabbage. Ribbons with butter. Baby trees instead of brocoli.

Cherry tomatoes and cucumber spears in a little ramekin, carrot batons or grated carrot, etc.

Well sometimes it's sensory and a child would rather go hungry than eat something they don't like.

My son is suspected adhd awaiting assessment and has quite a limited diet, but I've learned over the years that as long as it is balanced (ie protein, carbs, fruit/veg) then it doesn't matter too much if it's the same few things on repeat.

My son is won't have anything mixed together, and won't have any sauces.

So for bolognese I would do what a PP said and do plain pasta with a burger on the side. Or for sweet and sour chicken, plain rice, plain chicken. I'll then do a little pot of the sauce for him to try, or dip pasta into, but he hasn't tried that yet....

I have set up a monthly menu with 20 meals my two will eat (DS has sensory issues and DD randomly doesn't really like potatoes). They do eat veg though and fruit (they prefer crunchy raw veg to cooked, so I keep pepper out from the sauce). The extra 8 days are filled with a takeaway once a week, pasta pesto while we have a curry etc.
I would love to get them eating chicken (other than skin on roast thighs) and rice (DS will pick the chorizo out of risotto, and we have lamb kofta with naan, but nothing else except rice pudding).

It's not going to actually widen the items that they eat initially, but what about:
Chicken breast roasted with pesto on the top, with roast potatoes. And once that is ok, try it with pastry in place of the potato.
I do salmon with pesto on top, wrapped in puff pastry - but as above, why not move stepwise to adding new things?

If they eat spaghetti bolangase, why not put mashed potato on top to make cottage pie, then either slowly make the base less tomato-based, or switch to lamb mince for shepards pie.

The eat chicken and scampi, so would they eat home made chicken nuggets?

Basically start by taking what they currently eat, and presenting in a different format, before making small changes to widen what they eat.

I think the other thing op is to make sure mealtimes don't turn into battle grounds and stressy.

Just serve the food and let them.eat what they want with minimal encouragement rather than "eat this, have a bite of that, fingers in bowl to hold something up, etc". Young children don't need more than 10 minutes to eat what they want and need. After 10 minutes, if they ask nicely let them.get down, wash their hands and run off to play with a cheery, no matter, dinner's at 6 and hopefully you will eat a little then. There is certainly no pudding for those who aren't hungry enough for lunch.

However, between lunch and dinner there is no grazing other than a small cup of juice or milk and one biscuit or small bunch of grapes/apple slices, etc, at 3.30ish. No toast, no sweets, no frubes, no ice-cream, no raisins, etc.

Thanks so much fir taking the time to respond with great ideas!

Thanks for this.