Shopping/meal planning

[AlternativelyWired]

Dd is tricky to say the least. She has a list of what she will eat but this very much depends on the day. What she ate yesterday might not be ok today but might be ok again in a few days. I used to shop weekly especially in lockdown when I relied on deliveries but she's become trickier since then. I am also tricky and find it impossible to meal plan or even decide hours ahead what I'd like for dinner. So partially due to increased costs and needing to shop at Asda rather than Waitrose I have been shopping most days. I can't decide if this a good thing but the daily question of what shall we have for dinner is really making me tired. I feel like I haven't got the energy to think of what we can all eat and am pretty much resigned to cooking or making two or three different things. Dd will go hungry rather than eat something she doesn't want or like. I'm rambling on, sorry. I'm just having a moan really and looking for solidarity.

I find cooking and meal prep really difficult, so you have my sympathies. Do you have a freezer where you can get a selection of things in then cook them from frozen? Fish fingers, pasta meals, beefburgers, chicken wings, sausages etc. We keep in frozen part baked rolls and tins of soup for when we don't know what to eat. We don't do complex meals and have recently bought an air fryer and that will cook a meal in 10 mins from scratch. Cheaper for electricity too.

Can you get a core set of stuff in that you know you and dd like? Perhaps take her shopping with you and get some things that can be stored rather than lots of fresh stuff which will go off? We buy lots of frozen vegetables for example. What does she like to eat?

You need 1 meal plan for your family, with options for your DD incase she doesn't want the family meal that is being offered. The food your DD doesn't eat can be someone's packed lunch the next day.

The other options should be quick and easy, such as a frozen jacket potato cooked in the microwave or a cheese salad.

I agree you should be sensitive to your DD, but it should not dictate what the entire house eats and make you stressed out.

Does your DD prefer eating meals or snacking? I like to have 1 meal every 1-2 days, and graze the rest of the time. I have a handful of cherry tomatoes here, a few plums there, some ritz and humus.

I struggle with meal planning too. It requires thinking for a task that I do through feeling - even if I have chicken on the plan, and miraculously remembered to defrost said chicken, there’s still no guarantee that I’ll feel like cooking or eating it.

DC making faces or refusing food deflates me. Ds has actual sensory issues, dd has grown up in a weird environment where food is concerned (it’s not fair not to listen to her preferences when we take his into account).

it all gets on top of me regularly. I try to keep a decent store cupboard and freezer so I can pull different meals together. I’m so envious of people who can just eat a stir fry or soup to use up what’s in the fridge. My brain doesn’t work like that. My appetite can shut off completely if I get put off by something.

I actually think I’d manage better eating the same thing everyday if there really was no choice at all. The thinking bit wears me out.