Do you cook separate meals for you/dh and the kids?

[pinkwhistle]

Just wondering how many mumsnetters cook something for their children different to what the "grown ups" are having?

I know it is sometimes necessary to modify meals for very little ones, but ds is a bit fussy and also dd has certain allergies I have to be careful of, so I sometimes make one thing for them and something else for us! Maybe about twice a week...

I have a friend with a 6 yr old dd and 2 teenage ds's, and she regularly cooks 3 different things - one for her, one for dd and one for the boys!

Anyone else?

We modify. Ds might have mince, tomatoes and rice when we have chilli. If we have fish he gets homemade chicken nuggets. The only other thing I have started to do is hide vegetables in all our food, rather than serve them on the side. I now plate all the meals in the kitchen, when I used to use serving dishes and people could choose.

My mum is the fussy eater, so I sit her far away from ds so he can't see she gets a special meal. My brother is vegan, and so when he comes on holiday ds will probably eat a bit of his and a bit of ours.

My kids are starving when they come in from school and they eat about 5ish. I try not to cook stuff they don't like and will very occasionally do a 3/1 split. Otherwise the 3 that like spag bog never get it, because no 4 doesn't. We eat about 8ish, most of our meals fit in around whichever kid is wherever, ie, boys brigade, trumpet etc etc etcMine are older too, but sall have seperate bedtimes. It's hard trying to take them places, check 4 lots of homework, reading practice etc. Interested in the foodies among you, organic etc. How do you find the time and where do you get recipes/ideas from? Any info...

moondog, yes, he's still around. A bit mellower maybe.

pinkwhistle..'sitting at the table is a boring alternative to playing'!!??
You think that being with people who love you,talking about your and their days,serving and eating good food is BORING!!??

'Making food fun'?? Food is fun enough as it is!
Disguising and tampering with good food is sacrilege. It should be respected for what it is.

Mind you,even I might need a ketchup smiley face as a distraction and a disguise if I was forced to eat a vile mix of starch,salt,chemicall fillers,gristle and mechanically removed meat...oh sorry, I mean chicken nuggets.

In answer to Elliots q below about whether I get hungry in the evening. Not really although I did go through a phase of sending DH out to the petrol station for some chocolate.... And I don't have breakfast until I get into work so 8.30 ish.

We're terrible about meals in many ways, but DD (11 months) eats with us most of the time. She stopped eating babyfood at 8 months, so even her packed lunches for nursery are adult-ish (she has rice in yogurt and carrot soup today, which looks babyish but actually I'm perfectly happy to eat it) plus almost two clementines, and "oriental green beans" (I shook some sesame oil and a bit of rice wine vinegar into the container before I microwaved them for 30 seconds -- she prefers things with taste).

I grew up eating with the family, at 7:30, meat, veg, and carb, followed by a salad, followed by dessert (usually fruit). You ate as much as you wanted of each thing on offer, and if you truly couldn't stomach the main, you were not allowed to complain, and you could make yourself a peanut butter sandwich in the kitchen afterwards. My mother wouldn't knowing cook things I hated, though, or if she did would often make sure that there was a really substantial side dish I'd eat.

The "no complaining" rule meant that the time she served up bad fish, my father and I pushed it around our plates desperately until she actually took a bite and said "But this is inedible!" Worse yet was the time he made dinner with a bad cold and rolled the meatballs in powdered sugar instead of flour, and because of the cold couldn't even taste his mistake. We had
a very polite conversation in which we agreed that the meatballs tasted "unusual". The meatballs we ate. The fish was replaced by omelets. I think the experience of watching the grownups eat food they didn't like and be polite about it was educational, though.

Lol california girl!
Our home was/is roughly like that.
I remember making a moussaka when I was 13 and accidentally mincing a really salty ham thinking it was beef (Eh!!??)
My sister was the first to try it and spat it out saying 'This is disgusting!!' She was given a row and lecture on table manners by our parents until they then had a mouthful and responded accordingly.

When I was 12 I made a spaghetti bolognese (which in those days meant mince, tomatoes and onions with spaghetti in our house). Because the only mince in the house was lamb mince, I decided to get creative and put fresh rosemary in rather than dried mixed herbs. Unfortunately it was dark when I went outside to pick the rosemary, so we had lavender flavoured spag bol . My Dad said it was delicious though and had seconds.

Bless him,Prufock! What a guy!