Fussy eater children on holiday

[Colinswheels]

Hi, just wondering how people whose kids are fussy eaters manage this on holiday? We went away all inclusive for our last holiday and our kids ate pasta every single night. One of our DDs is usually a more adventurous eater but she seemed to regress on holiday! This was fine as we were AI and it was their holiday too so I figured they could eat what they wanted within reason.

I'm now very tentatively planning a future holiday to Marrakech and wonder how we can balance going to the kind of restaurants me and DH would want to go to without worrying that the kids won't eat anything! We definitely wouldn't want to go AI on this type of holiday.

Does anyone else have this issue or do your kids just have to get on with it on holiday?

I have two dc with afrid/asd and one with allergies. We try to relax as much as possible and accept they may not eat certain things. I do pack a few bits.
One holiday dc1 lived on ice cream, yoghurts, bananas and bread he survived. If we go to a restaurant I'd just make sure there's something they can eat eg plain rice, chips or plain chicken. They both accept that the rest of the family shouldn't miss out because of them. They still join us for meals. I find they often have smaller meals but more regularly (more like snacks).

Do they eat bread / sandwiches?

In most cases if all else fails, supermarkets exist in foreign countries.

We always self cater. Oldest with ASD couldn’t cope with restaurant eating several times a day. She likes to roll out of bed and have a quiet start in our own accommodation. The youngest is extremely fussy (just starting the process for ASD screening). We manage best when we can buy our own food. As a result they love a foreign supermarket.

pre DC Marrakech would be our type of place but we haven’t attempted with the kids yet. In Marrakech bread is readily available, omelette, chips, beautiful fresh vegetables. I would have thought small cafes and street food would be safer than lovely restaurants.

How old are they? i wouldn't take kids to Marrakech. You'll probably end up ill at some point.

Best to check out the restaurants before you go.

I have a vegetarian fussy eater child. We mostly self cater on holiday, but do struggle if we want to eat out - pizza and pasta are the main choices.
We have been on a cruise which was fine as there was a huge buffet which changed every day, so my kids could always manage to construct a meal out of the things they liked. Buffet food is also good because they can try new things and just go back for something else if they don't like it.
Least successful holiday was to France, as vegetarian choices are a bit limited there. Austria was surprisingly easy as everywhere we went had several veggie choices

I think Marrakech would be fine with fussy eaters. I think most children will eat fairly plain couscous, and restaurants will go out of their way to make less spicy or plainer foods for children. But as another poster said, you can always resort to buying bread/rolls from a supermarket and fillings to make your own sandwiches. My daughter was still quite fussy when we went to Tunisia when she was very young, and there was always enough plain food, couscous, chips, or ice cream to tide her over. As you said, it doesn't matter too much what they eat within reason for a couple of weeks.

Be careful eating out in Marrakech, I got food poisoning from street food at the market, it’s not exactly the highest level of food standards. They have restaurants with pizza and fast food so you’d be fine there.

They will eat plain foods including bread, chips etc.

They will probably be around 9 and 15 by the time we actually get round to going so the problem may have partially resolved itself by then, although my older DD is currently getting worse not better!

We have done years of resort type easy holidays and I'm itching to get out and see the world again now!

I would probably feed them in advance to you eating out and then at the place you are eating they could get a small meal if they like something on the menu and or desert.

You sound a bit like us OP either AI or self catering … we did go on a safari and the kids managed though . I don’t book anything in the UK without having checked the menu to make sure there is something .

I think it's very easy to blame stomach problems on food hygiene, but like Egypt, most of the bugs which make tourists ill in Morocco come from handling money, which is often really filthy. My advice has always been to use hand sanitiser religiously every time you touch any money and then again before eating anything. In countless visits to Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia, we've always eaten in local restaurants and food markets, and none of us have ever had a stomach upset.

If they aren't ND beige eaters then maybe a holiday with no boring food would bop their fussiness on the head and introduce them to a world of flavour?

Try eating out at lunchtime and buying bread etc for the evenings?

The main square in the evening is full of pop up restaurants and I've never had food poisoning from them,

Most restaurants will do a plain couscous or similar and plain bread is common as a side.

DD had ARFID and so we just went SC when she was younger.
We used to feed her something "safe" before we went out for a meal and then I knew that if she only ate a bit of bread or whatever she would be ok. Sometimes she would ask to try something or agree to try something we suggested but we never pushed it having "watched her push 20 euros around a plate" as DH put it too many times.
We generally preferred SC with younger DC anyway

Big breakfasts and lunches. Mine fills up on chips and bread if there's nothing else they like.