Foolproof family recipes for fussy eaters

[Triedandtestedfood]

My 3 and 5 year old DC are becoming increasingly fussy in their eating. We all eat together on the whole. What are your tried and tested foolproof recipes that you know all your family will enjoy?

Baked potatoes with lots of butter. Tbh with a salad or peas that's a perfectly good meal, but some tuna mayo or beans/cheese make it better still.

Fajitas worked brilliantly for us as it meant we could assemble slightly different combinations for each person.

mine are “fussy” but would eat a LOT of foods but only in certain combinations or styles of cooking - eg no jacket potatoes for dc1, but all other potatoes mostly bearable. Dc1 eats sandwiches but only ham and cheese or tuna mayo and only on high quality bread or crunchy rolls. Dc2 will only eat cheese if it has been grated. The list goes on! Lots of trial and error and reintroducing foods without comment - they change their little minds a lot !

Pasta with bolognese, pesto or tomato marscapone sauce

Plain pasta with a smear of butter and a heap of sweetcorn and broccoli (lacks protein but ok once in a while!)

macaroni cheese

cauliflower cheese with air-fried potato waffles

mild chilli con carne and rice - more beans for dc1, as few as possible for dc2 at this age

home made shepherds pie

mild chicken curry (Thai green or something similar to a tikka masala) with rice and whichever veg they currently agree to

fajitas - chicken or just peppers. Neither liked identifiable, large pieces of onion at this age so I would cook those separately for dh and me

Pizza, although dc1 only eats home made so that’s rarely something I bother with!

salmon teriyaki with noodles and stir-fried carrots and broccoli. They won’t eat salmon any other way

Smoked haddock poached in milk with mashed potato and peas - dc2 doesn’t really like mash except in certain situations (like shepherds pie and with smoked haddock)

Christmas dinner!

PS dc1 got fussier and fussier until age 10 but now age 15 eats a fabulous and varied diet - from ramen to radishes. Even declared mushrooms are “okay actually” recently!

But has been YEARS getting here. Was very restricted around age 8-11.

Stay endlessly patient and don’t give up.

Toad in the hole
Naan pizzas
Hidden veg katsu https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/chicken-katsu-with-extra-veg-sauce.html
Cheese and tomato risotto
Sesame noodles https://www.myfussyeater.com/sesame-honey-chicken-noodles/
Enchiladas

I read an article recently saying that ChatGPT is amazing for this. You tell it all your likes and dislikes and it makes suggestions. I haven’t tried it yet but have been meaning to

Quite difficult without an understanding of what your children WILL eat. But FYI, my fussy eater eats:

"plain" food such as baked/roasted chicken with steamed veg or a steak with veg or similar. She used to like jacket potatoes with butter but is dairy intolerant so potatoes are limited to roasties or chips - but I can do both in the air fryer.

She also loves yorkshire puddings so I have been known to make those as her carb.

She also is happy to eat bolognaise, to which I add a great deal of added veg! And she loves spaghetti and meatballs, or pasta with pesto (vegan) and bacon.

Burgers. I can sometimes sneak in some avocado.

And I'm slowly getting her to eat small salads with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Meals where there is a bit of choice involved and everyone gets to make their own meal from the ingredients provided.

So tonight we had noodles in miso broth with boiled eggs and a choice of veg. The noodles are just the microwave packets, but you can make your own from dry if you really want. Miso is itsu, you just add to boiling water. Everyone gets a boiled egg and then raw chopped peppers, baby tomatoes, spring onions, coriander, and some sautéed chard (from the garden, I’ve got too much so it’s going in everything). Everyone gets to choose their veg, add extra sauces (soy sauce, sesame oil, Dh and I add chillies).

Same concept applies with tacos, fajitas, flatbreads, etc. If I put veg on a platter on the table, they’ll eat it but not always if I serve it on their plates. Being able to make the choice matters. No reason you couldn’t do the same with pasta or jacket potatoes or whatever.

mini chicken burgers and Parmesan chicken made to Annabel Karmel’s recipes. Homemade meatballs but only if they’re the size of large marbles! Steamed prawns with a side of boiled rice and veg of your choice. (My fussy eater is good with veg). Lasagne in small portions with a large side of garlic bread!!

Sausage casserole. Make it as normal with as much hidden veg as you can. Then add tins of baked beans. Now you've got beans and sausage 😁 all my family DC love it.

DS1 wasn't very picky, but DS2 went through a toddler phase when the only veg he would eat was carrot, broccoli, anything potato, garlic and onions. We have some pretty good buffet restaurants so I would take my mum, my aunt and the two of them there for a treat every few months. My aunt is a notoriously fussy eater. The range of food there meant that the aunt and the kids could try a tiny portion of many different foods. It certainly helped broaden their taste range.

Like some others have suggested, potatoes and shepherd's pie. The kids also liked couscous with corn (panfried with garlic, simmered with some chicken stock and topped with toasted pine nuts).

Thanks so much everyone, some useful suggestions here. They - typically(!)- eat the totally different bits of a meal. My 3 year old enjoys meat, my 5 yo seems to have gone off it a lot. Same with fish. Minced based dishes used to be an easy win but now being left more than eaten. Build your own meals around a main dish is a good idea!

ok my 6 yo will currently eat:

pasta & tomato sauce (only totally smooth or ketchup!)
macaroni cheese
Pastry from pie or pasty - only filling she has actually eaten has been cheese & onion
potato smileys / waffles / fish dippers
pot noodle
rolls / sarnies / wraps with cheese, red pepper (until recently she ate cucumber but now doesn’t like it)
beans / spaghetti hoops on toast
pizza (cheese & tomato)
any kind of crunchy savoury snack (crisps, poppadums, crackers, nuts, rice cakes etc)
Greek yoghurt
Anything sweet and fruit

so from this I basically make her ‘versions’ of what we are having & occasionally include something new or that she “doesn’t like” that we’re having, so she will at least try it. Eg: if we have fajitas she’ll have them with a filling she likes, if we have homemade bolognese / pasta dish she’ll have the pasta with a different sauce, if we have roast dinner she’ll have potato smileys and fish dippers (she’ll occasionally eat a Yorkshire pud, gravy and mint sauce), etc

I make an effort to eat healthily (all the food groups) and make family meals from scratch and she has always enjoyed helping me cook and mixing up ingredients, so even though her diet is what it is at the moment I hope I’m setting a good enough example for her as she grows and her tastes mature / change!