Ideas for very fussy child for meals

[Slimjimtobe]

Trying to work on it but currently he eats

beige food (nuggets and sausages)
pancakes pizza and Yorkshire puddings (again beige)
pasta and potatoes and veg but no sauces
meatballs once dry (airfryer)
the horrible processed ham
he doesn’t like beans but will eat tinned spaghetti if the sauce is drained off

he loves his breakfast and drinks milk and likes fruit

my other child eats everything eg prawns curry

I’m just wondering if anyone has any inspiration to make dinners a little better

i do try to make proper sort of dinners with mash and veg and then his bit of processed stuff on the side

Following as in the same boat with my four-year-old!

Toad in the hole, have some vegetable available and he might try them if he sees others eating them with food that he likes.

Plain pasta with meatballs or chopped up sausages, the rest of you can have tuscan style pasta with tomato and sausage or meatballs.

As he likes mash and ham, maybe try mash and sliced gammon joint. Also perhaps try things in the mash such as cheese, finely chopped cooked cabbage (colcannon) or diced fried onions.

Would he try pasta carbonara made with just ham and egg, it makes quite a dry dish.

He might like falafel, as they're similar looking to meatballs, perhaps try some cous-cous with them.

It must be very draining always worrying about what your child will eat. Hats off to you!

My Ds1 very similar and I'm afraid has got worse with age, now 17. He's similar with sauces. His favorite meal is plain pasta with nothing on, not even cheese! I'm lucky if he hits one a day fruit and veg. The meals he eats are:

• Chili con carne (puree tomatoes and other veg together for the sauce). He won't eat spaghetti bol but he eats this maybe because of the Tortilla chips?
• Steak or steak pie at a push
• Roast chicken (breast, no skin, no gravy)
• Macaroni cheese (at a push)
• Sausages and jacket pots
• Gnocchi with mozzarella melted in oven
• 'Picky bits' done in oven (chicken bites, ribs, scampi for us, chips - I do a big platter and then we all pick) with crudites/ hummus (he will eat a few raw carrots)
• corn on the cob
• Chinese roast duck (only thing hell eat from Chinese)
• home made burger with bacon and cheese

Much of the time I cook for us and he has something beige in the oven with potatoes or rice and maybe an apple. I try and aim that he eats the same food as us 3x per week. Going abroad is a bit of a nightmare...

Tomato risotto
Macaroni cheese
Hidden veggie sausage rolls with ketchup!
Sweetcorn fritters with ketchup
Ham, cheese and tomato bake
Frittata
Cheese and ham pancakes

Coat chicken chunks or goujons in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Fry both sides then into oven to finish off. Serve with homemade potato wedges.

Would that work?

Thank you all so much! I do cook gammon here so I might try to slice in thinly for him. The homemade breaded chicken would be better and everyone in the house would eat it. appreciate the ideas. dh is fussy but eats very healthily so it’s not a problem just a lot to juggle

My DS is 15 and eats a restricted diet. I have found it easier to approach meals in terms of 'structure' rather than conventional looking meals. So each dinner has a portion of carbs, a protein, and two or three portions of fruit/veg.
So if the rest of us are having spaghetti Bolognese he might have spaghetti with boiled egg and peas; fish and chips he has fish fingers with bread and butter and sliced apple, chilli he has plain chicken with rice and
carrot sticks etc.
I look at he family meal and replace the element he doesn't like with something he does. Makes for some weird combinations but he doesn't mind!

I totally get you. I’ve been trying to do that - so I will do the meatballs in sauce and spaghetti and just so his separately in the airfryer.
He likes homemade pancakes so I use two eggs to ensure protein as he doesn’t eat a lot of meat really.

I would consider pasta dishes that use butter or oil (maybe even flavoured oil). I do pasta coated with garlic butter so that it's moist but not wet, chopped chicken and broccoli. It's really tasty and may edge him away from totally dry. If he won't eat chicken or broccoli just sub them for ham, sausages or what ever he will eat.

If he eats chicken nuggets could you try home made breaded chicken breasts with some kind of stuffing, either mozzarella or garlic butter, again increasing exposure to moist foods but not wet?

If he will eat pancakes and Yorkshires you could try adding finely grated veg into the batter. You can also grate veg in with your mince when making meatballs. If using beef, fried then blitzed mushrooms and onions are undetectable.

How about home made potato cakes? (kind of resemble beige fodder but gives you an opportunity to sneak things in with the potato.)

Fish fingers
Veggie burgers
What about potato hash with his ham or sausages.
Could you do a big Yorkshire pudding with sausages or toad in the whole.
And maybe try including the sauces that would usually go with the things your taking them out if as a dipping option.so.NO PRESSURE.but just as u would usually put down his sausage and Yorkshire or sausage and mash.ob the side put a dippy bowl of gravy.
Or with his meatballs and pasta put the Bolognese sauce on the side.so maybe he might on his own with viciousness try dipping it in.you could really enthusiastically do it's yourself.kust grab a piece of sausage and dip it in the gravy "ooh yum"
Leek and potato croquettes.
Does he like eggs.so omelette.
Or fried egg ham and wedges
Would he try sweet potato.
Filled pasta tortellini.you can get ham filled ones.
If he likes ham would he transition to bacon.
A potato ham and veggie or pasta bake.

Could you involve him in cooking.say you need advice on the taste of something.or feel YOUR meals are bpooooring so want to try some new ones and to pick recipes yo do together.
Get him involved in food prep.make him chef.
Also do other stuff like baking cakes and cooking.make lovely stuff and make him feel proud and even trying his bakes/ food