Help me feed my fussy DH

[talilac]

Yes, that does say DH.

Before anyone says anything like "let him fend for himself", he's really very lovely, he works extremely hard and does not have a lot of time to sleep, let alone cook. I would like to show him some appreciation by making him some nice meals.

But he is sooooo damn picky. According to my MIL he was one of those kids who wouldn't let one type of food touch another on his plate. Thankfully he's mostly grown out of that.

Plus he has health issues - high cholesterol and a family history of heart disease - which means that a lot of the food he likes is supposed to be out of bounds.

By choice he'd live off crisps, biscuits and Macdonalds. However he does like salads and a lot of different vegetables when presented with them.

He does not like (deep breath)

• Any kind of chicken except boneless breast fillets. Although he'll eat roast chicken, but not the ready cooked kind.
• In fact any meat served with bones, apart from lamb chops.
• Meat cooked any other way than well done.
• Fat on meat, bacon, ham etc.
• Sausages
• Anything offally.
• Any fish apart from fishfingers, fish & chips and non fishy smelling/tasting salmon (so has to be well masked with other flavours)
• Any seafood.
• Anything thats hard to chew (he also has sensitive teeth) like thick cuts of meat, nuts, etc.
• Baked beans
• All but the most straightforward of Cheese (ie Cheddar, parmesan, swiss all okay, blue, brie etc not)
• Anything overly garlicky

He should not be having

• Processed food
• Much in the way of fatty food or ingredients
• Too much sugar

Okay. So thats it I think. We currently eat a lot of salad, soup, jacket potatoes and pasta and I really need some new ideas..

Thank you oh so much for any ideas..

Risotto
Vegetarian chilli
Vegetarian curry
Omelettes
Stir-fries?

Stuffed veg -- peppers/squash/courgettes

it doesn't sound THAT bad really.

have you tried making your own burgers, if he likes McDonalds?

chicken (breast) and veg stir fry with noodles?

broccoli and cauliflower bake?

Lentil burgers
Tofu & veggie kebabs

Yes you are right it probably just feels like he doesn't like anything when in fact he doesn't like the things I like to cook..

Stir fry is good, as is home made burgers. He doesn't like risotto (sorry forgot that one on the list). Veggie chilli, yes will try that.

I am rubbish at stir fries, anyone got a foolproof way to do it?

cut veg small, hot pan, not too much oil, cook on high and quickly.

talila I don't eat any of the things your dp won't eat, (except baked beans) either!

so I don't know if this will be at all helpful but the things I like to eat (apart from all the things you already eat which are my favourites too) are

very straightforward vegetable stews of any kind (not highly flavoured, spiced or garlicy)

things in wraps or pittas like avocado, cheese, salad, beans, quorn, etc

roast veg with lentil roast

pizza

things like shepherds pie made with lentils and mash
does he like mash? or just jacket pots?

I bet you could do loads of different kinds of salads. I love those. Will he eat camembert? I don't like it raw but do like it baked with a selection of veg to dip. What about eggs? I like non runny egg meals. Omelettes, quiche, frittata, stuff like that?

have you tried him with quorn? mind you it is quite processed. But is good for people who can't tolerate the different textures of meat. It's very smooth textured and before flavouring is bland.

oh sorry reread and realised eggs and cheese not ideal for health reasons

Thanks Franny loads of good ideas

He can have some eggs and cheese just not loads. He's not keen on quorn, or tofu.

You've got a batch cooking thread somewhere haven't you with loads of veggie recipes? I'm going to go look that up..

does he like lentils and beans? something like Rose Elliot's Bean Book might be good as has lots of 'plain' kind of stews and pies etc - she isn't a very adventurous spicy kind of cook, usually

I must admit my list of 'can't eat' is longer than your dh's
being a vegetarian lets me off the hook of a lot of it - I don't have to explain why I can't eat ham with bits in, or fish that tastes of fish, etc
tell him to go veggie and just explain he doesn't like strong cheese and people will stop noticing so much what a complete fusspot he is

I like your plan..

But he wouldn't make a good veggie as he does like meat - he likes stews (as long as they're not too thick) and chilli and shepherds pie and things like that... But he's got to cut down on all of that stuff because of the cholesterol.

To be honest I don't really know how much he likes lentils and beans! I don't tend to cook them much unless I stick them in something meaty, he eats them then but I wonder what he'll think of them as the main ingredient. I shall find out.

lentil shepherds pie seems to go down pretty well with meat eaters as it is earthy and savoury, and the texture is good
it should be on that bulk cooking doc somewhere, or just search my name and lentil shepherds pie